Mexican Cartels and the Rule of Law
On the evening of July 11, 2015, Mexico’s most notorious criminal, Sinaloa Cartel boss, Joacquin “el Chapo” Guzman, calmly walked to the shower in his cell at Altiplano prison, a Mexican maximum security facility. He bent down next to a low wall, and disappeared from the view of the surveillance camera mounted on the wall of his cell. Some 18 minutes later prison authorities would find that he had slipped through a two foot by two foot hole in the floor of the shower, climbed down some 30 feet into a tunnel, complete with lighting and ventilation, and road a motorcycle on rails 1.5 kilometers to a nearby construction compound, in the nearby neighborhood of Santa Juanita, where he would disappear.
This was not el Chapo’s first escape from a Mexican maximum security prison. On January 19, 2001, he escaped from Puente Grande prison with the assistance of several government employees. Someone opened his electronically secured cell. Someone disabled the video cameras. Someone smuggled him onto a laundry truck in a burlap bag, and someone drove him out of the prison.[1] The subsequent investigation eventually lead to numerous accusations of corruption on the part of prison staff following the escape, with charges eventually filed against more than 70 prison employees.
In Mexico, the “plata o plomo” ultimatum has lead to widespread corruption. “Plata o plomo” means silver or lead. In other words, the cartels are offering a bribe to the public official. If the official refuses the bribe, the cartels threaten to kill the official, and often threaten to murder the official’s entire family as well. Faced with this ultimatum, is it any wonder that corruption in Mexico is so widespread? Law enforcement officers in the U.S. have also been targets of the “plata o plomo” approach, though to a lesser extent than in Mexico.
Cartel-Influenced Corruption North of the Border:
In August of 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a special report entitled, “On the Southwest Border — Public Corruption: A Few Bad Apples.” The report indicates the FBI works closely with many federal agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the DEA. The result has been more than 400 public corruption cases originating from the Southwest Region — and more than 100 arrests and about 130 state and federal cases prosecuted in 2010.[2] From 2004 to 2010, 103 CBP agents were arrested or indicted on corruption charges including drug smuggling, alien smuggling, money laundering and conspiracy.[3]
These cases of cartel-influenced corruption have not been limited to low-level employees. The arrest of Richard Cramer, a high-ranking official with ICE demonstrates that even top officials can be enticed by cartel bribes. Cramer’s arrest warrant indicated he advised drug traffickers on law enforcement tactics, and he pulled classified files to help them identify turncoats.[4]
The corrupting influence of the Mexican cartels is also affecting state and local law enforcement in the United States. For example, In December 2012, the FBI arrested members of the Hidalgo County, Texas Sheriff’s Department anti-drug unit, known as the Panama Unit. In April 2014 nine agents were convicted on conspiracy charges for drug trafficking, in addition to three drug traffickers who were working with the Sheriff’s deputies. Court documents revealed members of the Panama Unit stole drugs from local warehouses along the border, and worked for the cartels by guarding freight trucks carrying drug shipments north from the border.[5] The Justice Department recently created an FBI task force to make criminal cases in the Rio Grande Valley and begin to curb the corruption that involve local police units, federal border officers, courthouses, school boards, hospitals and ballot boxes.
It is also important to understand that cartel-influenced corruption has not been restricted to the Southwest Border region. Cases of cartel-influenced corruption are being uncovered in virtually every part of the United States. Take for example the recent case in the state of Georgia, where federal authorities concluded an extensive public corruption and drug trafficking investigation that spanned more than five years. The case resulted in the convictions of a Customs and Border Protection Officer from Atlanta’s airport, a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Deputy, and more than 10 drug traffickers who were responsible for the distribution of approximately 1 million pills of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and benzylpiperazine (BZP), a drug similar to ecstasy.[6]
Whether south of the border or north, cartel-influenced corruption of public officials threaten the good order and fabric of society. It also presents a clear and present danger to U.S. Homeland Security.
[1] Tim Weiner. New York Times. January 29, 2001. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/29/world/mexican-jail-easy-to-flee-just-pay-up.html (accessed August 6, 2015).
[2] Valdimar, Richard. Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine, “Public Corruption at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” Last modified June 20, 2011. Accessed September 10, 2013. http://www.policemag.com/blog/gangs/story/2011/06/corrupt-agents-at-the-u-s-mexico-border.aspx.
[3] Gannett, . The Pittsburgh Tribune, “Mexican drug gangs able to corrupt border patrol.” Last modified March 12, 2010. Accessed September 10, 2013.
[4] Rotella, Sebastian . Los Angelas Times, “Former U.S. anti-drug official’s arrest ‘a complete shock’.” Last modified Sept 17, 2009. Accessed September 10, 2013. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/17/nation/na-drug-charges17.
[5] Jose Luis Pardo and Alejandra Inzunza. Insight Crime: US Police Currputed by Cartels. October 14, 2014. http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/us-police-corrupted-by-mexican-cartels-along-border (accessed August 6, 2015).
[6]Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. Government Concludes Major Public Corruption and Drug Trafficking Operation. April 15, 2015. https://www.fbi.gov/atlanta/press-releases/2015/u.s.-government-concludes-major-public-corruption-and-drug-trafficking-operation (accessed August 7, 2015).
