Death in Mexico

The BBC reported today that a politician from Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party was slain while driving. This is the latest and most high-profile of the more than 1,000 deaths that resulted from drug-related violence this year.

Mexico is a place of unrest, and yet, reporting on the state of this violence doesn't get much press. Reporters are targeted for asking too many questions, but there seems to be little discourse about our neighbor to the south other than how to keep people from crossing the border. It seems obvious to me that what goes on in Mexico should be of great concern to us. We have abandoned the war on drugs for the war on terror -- and we're losing on both fronts.

It's true that some of the violence can be linked to the weapons smuggled from the U.S. to Mexico. Mexico has strict bans on purchasing weapons, but the relatively lax laws here allow the drug cartels to be just as well armed as the military there. While we're so concerned with our safety when it comes to border security, we should think about what Mexico has to gain from better checks on weapons at the border as well.