Making our Monsters
How we support the rise of the cartels
Did you cheer when they captured El Chapo? Are you all caught up on Narcos on Netflix and anxiously anticipating the release of season 2? Were you disappointed when Breaking Bad ended? Have you ever been known to quote Scarface, “Say hello to my little friend!” in that cheesy Al Pacino accent? You are not alone in you infatuation with drug superstars.
Americans have a deep fascinations with drug dealers, their lavish lifestyles and their extravagances. El Chapo reportedly paid $3 million dollars to escape from prison in 2001 and an estimated $50 million for his last escape. While most Americans only dream about winning this type of money in the lottery, this was a small price to pay for a man estimated at over $1 billion and at the head of a Cartel making an estimated $3 billion annually. Pablo Escobar rose up from humble beginnings and poverty to become head of one of the most successful Cartels ever. At their height in the 80’s and 90's, the Medellin Cartel was making $420 million a week. It’s reported that Pablo was making so much money that he wasn’t concerned about losing $1.2 billion annually because he was hiding his money in holes and bunkers where rats and water were destroying it.
At the forefront today are not the cocaine cartels of Columbia, but the Mexican cartels who are using social media to flaunt their lavish lifestyles: beautiful women, yachts, expensive cars, gold plated guns, and even exotic cats. The most notorious was a man who called himself “Captain Anthrax,” who posted numerous photos of himself and his extravagances on the internet. He was even so bold as to post a photo of him next to Paris Hilton. His efforts to blur out his face in all the photos did not keep international authorities from ultimately learning his identity as 34 year-old José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa and ultimately arresting him.
Our infatuation is nothing new. It is rumored that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby was based upon George Remus, Cincinnati attorney by day and prohibition era “King of the Bootleggers” by night. Remus was famous for his generosity to the local public, but more well known for hosting outlandish parties where it was not uncommon for his guests to leave with exorbitant gifts.
So what is the issue? It sounds like the American dream. People from humble beginnings rise up to be heads of powerful empires with wealth to spare, living lifestyles most of us will never realize. What these men don’t want you to see is the atrocities they have committed and will continue to commit to achieve this power. Their polish on the surface belies the monsters they are underneath. George Remus chased down his wife in a public park and shot her in the stomach in front of terrorized onlookers. This pales in comparison to the killing committed en-mass by the Colombian cartels of the 90's and the Mexican cartels today.
Entire towns in Mexico are being slaughtered. Dismemberment and beheading are common motives. At a 2008 celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day in the city of Morelia, grenades were thrown into a crowd of revelers. The most horrid act was when Hugo Hernandez was kidnapped, dismembered, and his face was skinned and sewn onto a soccer ball. The acts are too numerous and the photos to gruesome to post here. In a savage game for power, only the most ruthless and barbaric rise to the top. The unfathomable rewards of success are worth the high consequences for losing.
And who is providing this bounty, this reward? Unfortunately, we are the benefactors of these monsters. Our infatuation does not stop with interest in their lifestyles; we are the ones funding it. The irresistible wealth and power that drives these men to commit these crimes is primarily funded with American wealth. In the last ten years, Americans have spent over $100 billion annually on illegal drugs. To put this in perspective, this is 1/6 the amount that all local, state, and federal agencies have spent on education ($621 billion). If you are having trouble with those statistics, then consider that in 2007, a research team from the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth completed a study that found 67% of US dollars had traces of cocaine on it. In 2009, they repeated this study with refined techniques and found that the percentage was now 85–95%.
If we really want to stop the illegal drug trade, we are going to have to take a long look in the mirror.
In other news…. please read this fantastic story about ISIS from Security Executives. See below:
Here are some other publications from your professionals at Security Executives:
Invasion of the Bloodsucking Parasites
Reefer Madness, an Uncharted Path
Full Body Scanning — A Search Between Privacy and Security
Why Are Americans Bringing Guns to the Airport?
How to Survive in a World Gone Mad
Bomb Voyage, What Does it Mean to You?
Homeland Security is investigating mysterious vessel that washed ashore in Florida
Disclaimer: All information provided on our blog is from open network information sources. They are for informational and entertainment purposes only and we are not providing medical, legal or other profession advice. Any information used from our blog is at your own risk.
