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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (132432)	8/14/2005 2:21:27 PM
From: carranza2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793838

I didn't realize there was so much material out there to read. Drugs and their export to the US have been a staple of the Mexican underground economy for years. Smuggler's routes into Texas, NM, Arizona and California have been established for perhaps centuries. When the drug trade was relatively small, the total impact was not huge. A little marijuana, a bit of brown heroin, no big deal. As US drug consumption increased and cocaine came on the scene, and especially after the alliance between the Mexicans and the Colombians became cemented, the economic and political impact of the trade became enormous. The upper tiers of the Mexican Government have been involved to the extent that the Executive Branch sells what is called a "plaza" for a certain region. A "plaza" is in effect a franchise much like a MacDonald's by which the Government sells the drug runner the right to do business without a problem for a down payment and a cut of the profits. Plazas are sold and resold after each election and can be cancelled upon a failure to pay. "Plazas" are subdivided by regions, Tijuana, Cd. Juarez, Guadalajara, Nuevo Laredo, etc. Very big business. Probably the purest form of laissez faire capitalism on the face of the planet.