Mexican Drug War

Dillon Brosnan

May 25, 2011

Speech 1A

Information Speech: Mexican Drug War

I. Since 2006, there have been over 34,000 murders in Mexico.

II. Before I tell you about the current situation in Mexico, I figure its important to tell you about how all this got started.

A. Drug smuggling in Mexico can be traced back to one man, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, a corrupt Mexican Federal Agent, also known as "The Godfather"

1. He started off smuggling marijuana, and became Pablo Escobar's number one man in Mexico smuggling cocaine across the boarder, and was eventually controlling all smuggling routes into the United States.

2. Before he retired, he divided up Mexico leaving different families, or Cartels, in charge of different areas.

3. There are 8 current cartels in Mexico, divided into two factions.

a. The Juarez, Tijuana, Los Zetas and Beltran-Leyva Cartels on one side and the Gulf, Sinaloa and La Familia Cartels on the other.

b. There is a lot of history with these Cartels, alliances, rivalries and betrayals, but as of now this is how it is set up.

c. Both sides are fighting each other for better trade routes.

B. Now that I have given you some background on the Mexican Drug Cartels, I will let you know what is now going on down in Mexico.

III. According to the New York Times, since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, there have been 34,000 murders in the country.

A. 12 mayors were killed in 2010 in the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Michoacán.

B. The City of Juarez, a border town opposite of El Paso, is a highly coveted drug route, worth an estimated 40 billion dollars American, and has been the site of thousands of killings.

1. The Juarez Cartel is fighting the Sinaloa Cartel for the rights to the Juarez pipeline

2. This resulted in 2,600 murders last year in Juarez and predictions for this year top out at 3,000 drug related deaths.

a. As of February 2011 Juarez averages 8 murders a day.

b. Between February 17 and February 19 2011, 53 people were killed.

3. This all results in Juarez now being the official murder capital of the world.

C. Most of the fighting in these drug wars is between Mexican gangs who are "employed" by these Cartels as muscle.

1. For Example, Los Zetas cartel started as a gang of former elite soldiers from the Mexican Army, who were hired by the Gulf Cartel as muscle, to collect payments and provide protection.

a. After Osiel Cardenas Guillen, the leader of the Gulf Cartel, was arrested, Los Zetas took a more active role in drug trafficking and eventually split from the Gulf Cartel and formed their own Cartel, and both have been at war with each other ever since.

IV. The reason I picked this topic, and why I am interested in it, is due to a story I saw on CNN about El Pozolero, or "The Stew Maker".

A. Santiago Meza Lopez, also know as "El Pozolero", was arrested by Mexican Federal Police with a machine gun, two rifles, a hand grenade and body armor.

1. Under questioning, he admitted to disposing of the remains of over 300 people killed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, a former Kingpin in