Mexican border is freeway for drug trafficking

If you think Colombian when you hear the words "drug kingpin," you're hopelessly outdated.

The power behind U.S. drug traffic these days lies just south of the border, in Mexico. And it's becoming a literal blood bath.

At the heart of the storm is Nuevo Laredo, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just across the border from Laredo, Texas. The town of nearly 350,000 has been the site of more than 100 drug-related killings just this year, and there's little evidence that it's slowing down.

It's not just a matter of one drug dealer killing another. The violence — powered by sophisticated weapons including rocket-propelled grenades, bazookas and high-powered rifles — has included the chilling murders of two police chiefs and nearly two dozen police officers in the past 18 months, as well as six journalists who cover drug trafficking, according to a tally by the Christian Science Monitor and other news sources. There have also been kidnappings, some of those taken recovered, others missing or dead.

And there's no end in sight, despite optimistic claims by Mexican officials that the situation is being wrested under control.

On a smaller scale, the same carnage is being carried out in other border towns.

My husband has been watching the situation in Nuevo Laredo for some time. I largely ignored it for a long time, figuring that there were enough problems closer to my heart and home that needed my attention.

Perhaps that's part of the problem. Those of us who don't live along the borders are largely indifferent to what's going on there, unless we can see a direct impact on our pocketbooks or job security. Or even on our ability to meander over the border for a touristy day of bargain hunting.

But the problem is, in fact, in our communities. The Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs says that close to 90 percent of the cocaine sold in the United States last year came through Mexico, which is No. 2 when it comes to supplying heroin, No. 1 as a foreign source of marijuana and the biggest producer of methamphetamine. The Colombians aren't completely out of the process, either. Some of the drugs are produced there and transported to Mexico, where they're smuggled across the border.

The bureau reported in March that Mexican drug cartels control most of the 13 primary drug distribution centers in the United States.

If we can count them, why can't we put them out of business?