Mexico’s Strategic Security Problem

Nine American women and children were killed by suspected drug cartel members in an attack in northern Mexico earlier this month, refocusing attention on the country’s long-standing drug and corruption issues. While hundreds of Mexicans die each year as the result of drug violence, this particular attack gained enormous attention in the U.S., because of the longstanding presence of American Mormons in the region and the senseless brutality of the killings.

The murders were initially thought to be the product of a territorial dispute between the rival Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels.  The two groups have for years, battled for control of drug routes that cut through the northern part of the country, predominantly to move heroin, cocaine and other narcotics into the U.S.