Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon began the “war on drugs” in Mexico on December 10, 2006, only eight days after being elected. Partnered with the United States, he sent 6,500 troops into Michoacán where competing cartels fought over profitable territory. The war on drugs has been targeted to end any kind of drug trafficking. Since 2007, around 200,000 people have been killed and 28,000 were reported missing (Lakhami, 2016). So far, the only substantial impact the war has displayed is an immense amount of women who are victims to violence and corruption.
Since the “war on drugs” began in 2006, drug traffickers and the Mexican government have been fighting a tough battle. In Mexico, the drug violence is affecting all of humanity, but especially women. Women are becoming widows at dangerously increasing rates in which they are expected to fend for themselves in the demolishing economy of Mexico. Their husbands are being killed because of their involvement in drug trafficking, an easy yet risky way of making money. Women alone are not able to support their children or other obligations financially when their only source of income no longer exists. Their children are constantly scarred by the reality of their everyday lives that include drugs, violence, and death. Leading them to grow up much faster than they should be. Some children are left with no parents at all, becoming orphans who do not receive the proper nurture provided by their own family. As the children grow older, they will not be educated or protected enough to refrain from the possible recruitment by cartels and gangs. Living in a world where your child is almost destined to be involved with drugs is terrifying considering how much pain and destruction the war is generating. Almost every woman in Mexico knows someone that is involved in the drug trade. It seems as if the war is only spreading downward and is not seeing any success or improvement.
With the absence of a usual companion, woman are being efficiently drawn into the world of drug trafficking because they feel it is their only solution. Some turn to conforming because they have no other choice but to adapt otherwise themselves and their children will die. The number of women convicted for federal crimes in Mexico has increased 400 percent from 2009 to 2012 (Orlinsky, 2012). In 2016, Amnesty International, a global campaign for human rights, interviewed one hundred women prisoners and the results they received are shocking. Of the women, 33% were accused of involvement in an organized crime group, 23% were accused of narcotics crimes, 22% were accused of kidnapping, and 14% were accused of illegal possession of firearms (Amnesty International, 2016). Several of the women interviewed were accused of not just one, but multiple crimes mentioned. The population in federal prison are mostly made up of people with low income backgrounds. Among women in the federal prison system, 60% did not obtain a high school diploma while others had low levels of education as well (Amnesty International, 2016). Out of the one hundred women interviewed, seventy-two had children, the majority being single parents (Amnesty International, 2016). It is difficult enough being a single parent, but having a significant part in drug trafficking as well is problematic. The amount of women who are involved in drug trafficking is only going to continue as this war progresses.
A bulk of the women who were interviewed had poor education, low-incomes, and being a single parent in common. This is not accidental due to how women are being treated in the war on drugs in Mexico. Authorities perceive women as the weakest link in the business of drug trafficking. They are automatically noticed as an effortless target for arrest because drug cartels are increasingly recruiting women who have unsteady backgrounds. They use these women to get their dirty work done without having to experience the dangerous assignments. For example, women were statistically more likely to physically travel with Class A drugs than Class B drugs (Harper, 2010). If the women are arrested for a crime they committed, it does not impact the cartel in any way. These women are seen as irrelevant to the rest of the cartel, so losing someone is not a problem. They are nothing but convenient to the cartels because any consequence of the task was already obtained by the women. It is concerning that women have to risk their lives in order to make the bare minimum just to provide for their children. The war on drugs is forcing all of Mexico to harmonize into the world of drug trafficking. The women involved in this war do not have much of a choice or say in if they committed a crime or not. Women are frequently the first to be apprehended during a group of arrestees and immediately accused of being the girlfriend or wife of a criminal according to Mexico’s defense strategy. Mexican police automatically assume that the women are associated and involved with their partner’s criminal acts without evidence or probable cause. They are using women as a convenient way to meet required numbers and prove to the world that the government is doing its job and producing success.
Discrimination is also a major component that women face when discussing the war on drugs. In Mexico, single parents are recognized as suspicious if they solely do not have a male partner. Women are arrested and incarcerated because of this with no evidence, once again. The children of these women suffer as well now that their only parent is gone. When a situation like this occurs, family members commonly have to compensate for the mother’s absence by taking the children in as their own. Complications like this make it challenging for the family to help the accused women, especially since most of them are already involved in drug trafficking.
Mexican security will often purposely install evidence on women to force information about the drug cartel they are involved with. They are also known for exploiting detainees shortly after they are arrested by revealing their full names and exposing their physical identify to the media as well. Innocent until proven guilty does not exist to women, therefore, civilians are being breached of their rights. This can completely ruin a person’s reputation considering the laws are not being efficiently followed. Even if proven innocent in the end, the media can twist a lot of information that could potentially hurt ones position. Mexican police will also interrogate women and expect information to be given, or else consequences are issued indirectly. The police in Mexico will go above and beyond for their job, even if that means investigating outside of work. In order to stay out of prison, women are required to give up information about other people or cartels. This is a risky situation to be in when word travels fast and there is no remorse or toleration for people who snitch.
Although many women are involved with drug trafficking, they are actually the victims in this corrupted setting. Almost every parent would go to the ends of the earth for their child, and that is exactly what these women are doing. Before establishing punishment on convicted women in Mexico, courts should take into consideration the obstacles and situations women have to suffer through. Not every women involved in the war on drugs is innocent, but the lack of attention to what is going on will only expand more negative outcomes.
It has been an impossible experience for women to live a sustainable lifestyle in Mexico, which can serve to explain why such a massive amount are immigrating. Moving and settling into the United States seems like the perfect plan to escape this appalling lifestyle, but a recent conflict could turn success into nothing. If Trump does indeed build a Mexico border wall, the victimization and corruption of women will erupt like never seen before. Not all immigrants bring bad experiences and most of the women are just trying to do what is best for their family.
Attention needs to be brought upon the issue of women in Mexico because it is not them to blame, but the government’s lack understanding and cooperation.
There are various projects and organizations that focus on the forgotten victims of Mexico’s drug war. A project called “Innocence Assassinated” targets women in the Juarez prison, young people who grow up in neighborhoods overwhelmed with drug gang violence, “narco-refugees,” and orphans living in Mexico’s most dangerous city named Ciudad Juárez (Orlinsky, 2012). The members of the project document women who have been abandoned and children who grew up strictly in the drug war. Katie Orlinsky is the founder of this program who hopes to investigate the environment regarding the drug war and construct trustable relationships that are necessary to begin working with these type of members in the society of Mexico. She takes pictures as an authentic way to record the victims she works with. Showing the world what is happening to women in Mexico due to the war on drugs using photography is one of the only ways people can see it through their own eyes. Hopefully more can be done in the future that will concentrate on the victims being affected instead of focusing on the social aspects of things.
