Antonio Navalón
People rarely perceive the significance of what is happening around them until those events become history. Such is the case with Mexican cartels, which went from being mere suppliers of private vices to becoming global threats in the form of narco-terrorism.
The visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Mexico calmed, at least formally, the waters of the relationship between the two countries. It could not be otherwise. No matter how much the United States intervenes in defense of its internal stability across the southern border, no one should expect a military operation like those of the past. First, because we are not in 1848. Second, the territory taken from Mexico occurred many years ago. And third, because today, more than ever, the fusion between the two peoples is so deep that it is almost impossible to undo.
In reality, and no matter how much they want to deny it, the bilateral relationship is necessary. No one denies it: we are collaborating. But it is another thing to ask how far that cooperation goes, what intelligence is shared, and what is the reality—the one that is brewing behind the scenes—behind this relationship.
Urbi et orbi, the United States has been building an immense sound library against organized crime. It also includes many Mexican voices: some collaborators end up in high-security prisons, others simply disappear under the relentless logic of drones, now converted into the flaming sword of a modern god.
This is not going to end soon. What is visible is fentanyl, drugs, or weapons, but the truth is more profound. The United States will not have stability or security until it resolves the structural problem of the 3,600 kilometers of border it shares with Mexico. Crime, at this point, is no longer just fentanyl or arms trafficking. The same thing happened in the United States with the Italian mafia: there was a before and after the casinos. Murders, bribes, protection money, drugs, and prostitution financed the first investments in Las Vegas and Havana, transforming the mafia into a criminal group with strategic and financial ambitions.
It is very difficult to calculate how much an organization as large, professional, and effective as the Mexican cartels have become can earn: they are true narco-terrorists who threaten not only Mexico and the United States, but the entire world. However, some estimates claim that Mexican cartels generate more than $30 billion a year. This is an approximate figure, but it reflects a growing phenomenon.
They no longer need to bribe politicians: they create them. They no longer buy police chiefs: they appoint them. The relevance of organized crime goes far beyond drugs or weapons. Today, drug traffickers are involved in mining, key industries, and even decision-making in multiple shareholder meetings, thanks to the economic power they have accumulated.
The transformation and success of Mexican drug trafficking make it an element of strategic readjustment. Its influence could even intersect with the interests of powers such as China, a leading empire of soft power, in the conquest of strategic minerals in Mexican territory. Meanwhile, US agents are deploying resources against fentanyl, but how many are working to uncover the front men and financial networks behind the mining and business networks?
Blood and fire. Crime and pain. Drugs. These elements are only the tip of the iceberg; today, the real challenge lies in the banks, large corporations, and positions of power occupied thanks to the accumulation of the organized crime empire. An empire that, due to its magnitude, is increasingly difficult to separate from the legitimate structures of pure power. Although born in illegality, it already influences the economic, social, and political development of Mexico and the United States.
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