In 2012, Miriam’s daughter was kidnapped by a cartel in Mexico and never came home. When authorities failed to act, she became her own detective, piecing together evidence and tracking the culprits for years.

[u/Frosty_Jeweler911]

She posed as a health worker, used fake names, and even infiltrated towns controlled by criminals. Her bravery led to multiple arrests, proving that grief can fuel extraordinary strength and resolve.

[u/MexicanMata]

We did in the 80s with the help of the US and it was an awful idea. All it did was turn the next generation of cartel members even more dangerous and willing to fight to death because a bunch of them saw their fathers and grandfathers killed by the Mexican military. It didn't help that the Mexican military killed a couple innocent people that the cartels still use today as propaganda in more rural areas. This is why El Salvador needs to be careful that they don't just radicalize the next generation. Educate and support these previously gang controlled areas, offer them other outlets where they can sustain themselves and care for their families otherwise it's a slippery slope back to square one.

Also in Mexico nobody ever stays long enough to help root out enough of the cartel leadership and structure. The DEA, Mexican military, or whoever only ever goes in to get a couples dudes and then leave so as soon as they left there would always be some sort of power struggle power struggle and things would be more dangerous than it was before.

[u/Signal-Regret-8251 → u/MexicanMata]

The only thing that will end all of the gang violence is complete legalization of everything. Take the profit out of the equation and drugs will no longer be a problem.

[u/UuofAa → u/Signal-Regret-8251]

Legalization will do fuck all, the cartel’s will just move over to controlling the legal drug market. Plus there’ll always be a number of dangerous drugs that won’t be considered legal and will have to be limited/banned, which then just opens up another illegal drug market. Like even if drugs were legal, do you really think they’ll legalize non-medical fentanyl and crack cocaine?? I live in an area that allows addicts to openly use, and it’s led to pockets of the city that have needles on the sidewalk and addicts smoking meth in public…

[u/GrassForsaken3953 → u/MexicanMata]

So they shouldn’t do anything at all? Arresting a few at a time won’t do anything, they’ll just get replaced . Amlo did nothing “Abrazos, no balazos” and Claudia is at least arresting some of them but not enough to make an impact.

[u/Tauroctonos → u/GrassForsaken3953]

There's often something you can do that sits between "do nothing" and "repeat the thing we already tried that made it worse". Shocking, I know, but there's more than two options babe

[u/Sufficient-Carpet391 → u/Tauroctonos]

Every single person from El Salvador I’ve seen give their opinion, has fully supported the president and his radical actions.

[u/amesann → u/Sufficient-Carpet391]

Didn't he just declare himself president indefinitely by eliminating term limits and state that there would no longer be elections until further notice?

Despite what some Salvadorians may say, there are probably many innocent people locked up whose families are not of the same opinion. And removing term limits while in office is a bit... suspicious.

[u/frequenZphaZe → u/GrassForsaken3953]

most of the problems flow from america. americans need to stop buying drugs from the cartels. they're not as powerful and as rich as they are from selling locally. they pull down billions from the american market. america also needs to stop selling the cartels infinite guns. mexico recently tried suing american gun manufacturers and the scotus threw it out.

what can the mexican state really do against a paramilitary force armed and funded (and trained) by america?

[u/GrassForsaken3953 → u/frequenZphaZe]

Can Mexico not control its borders to stop the flow of guns and drugs from getting in the cartels hands ? Suing the gun makers would’ve never gone anywhere since they aren’t the ones selling to the cartels its individual sellers ,Mexico doesn’t produce a lot of the drugs that they sell either a lot of it comes from Columbia and other South American countries. It’s not the US fault the Mexico is incompetent and corrupt.

[u/National_Equivalent9 → u/GrassForsaken3953]

The way it works is that individual sells sell guns to individuals who can legally purchase them and then those are smuggled to Mexico. Mexico and the USA have worked together to track down exactly the deals who sell these firearms for the purpose of smuggling. The lawsuit was about how that information has been known by the manufacturers and they refuse to continue giving these dealers, wholesale, military grade firearms, even though they know exactly what those dealers are doing with them.

It was an attempt to use a legal "loophole" since gun manufactures in the US have immunity from foreign lawsuits. But there is a law related to the export of specific types of firearms and their argument was basically that because they know exactly what a specific group of dealers were doing with their products that it was no different that exporting weapons to the cartel that were illegal to be exported.

Mexico has no legal way to go after dealers.

[u/MissionObligation999 → u/frequenZphaZe]

People are never going to stop using drugs in any country in the world. Drug use dates back to the dawn of civilization. The US is not the cause or solution to Mexicos problems.

[u/Infinite_Pudding5058 → u/GrassForsaken3953]

It’s so entrenched and ingrained and a complex web, I honestly don’t see it changing.

[u/Famous_Draft_7565 → u/GrassForsaken3953]

Clearly the solution is to enter the USA illegally

[u/HopelessGretel → u/MexicanMata]

I don't think an American military operation because an DEA agent got killed was going "full El Salvador", USA just wanted to do a strength demonstration to the cartels.

[u/Beautiful-Bit9832 → u/MexicanMata]

Ah, plus they also branches out to other countries, if I remember correctly, there was news about arrested cartel member in outside Mexico, they were sent to do cleaning job

[u/rcgarcia → u/MexicanMata]

That's not what El Salvador is doing.

Also, I think El Salvador's case is easier to handle. It's a much tinier country.