DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 138 December 1, 1999 The Drug War's Killing Fields Are Exposed TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS PLEASE SEE THE INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS FOCUS ALERT PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 138 December 1, 1999 The Drug War's Killing Fields Are Exposed The drug war's promotion of murderous violence was highlighted again this week with the discovery of what appear to be mass human graves. The grisly find took place just a few miles south of the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Media reports indicate anywhere between 100-200 people, both Mexicans and Americans, could be buried at the site. Those buried are believed to be the victims of a powerful Mexican drug cartel. Investigators who have found the grave expect to find bodies of many people who have simply vanished from the area in the past few years. Some of the disappeared were part of the drug trade, some were apparently informants cooperating with anti-narcotics agents, while others were just innocent bystanders who may have seen something the cartel didn't want them to see. Reports indicate that corrupt Mexican police officers may have assisted with the killings. This story is being covered widely in the media (to read several accounts, search MAP's drug news archive for the words "Ciudad Juarez" without the quotes). The general government spin, articulated by former DEA head Thomas Constantine and others, is that U.S. anti-drug forces need to get tougher on Mexican drug lords. This shortsighted view completely ignores the fact that it is the drug war that has given drug cartels their astonishing power and wealth. The drug war is also an incentive to use horrifying acts of violence in order to protect that power and wealth. While this story is quite disturbing on its own, a journalist interviewed on ABC's Nightline last night said that this discovery only represents "the tip of the iceberg." He said other towns along the U.S.-Mexico are caught up in the same sort of violence, and that the boldness of the violence, often taking place in broad daylight, is becoming more shocking each day. Please write a letter to the Washington Post, any other major U.S. newspapers, or your own local newspaper, to remind readers that the drug war is the cause of this nightmare, not the solution. Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO Source: Washington Post (DC) Contact: Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Note: for best results write your letter off line so you can spell check etc. then paste it into the LTE window at the address above. EXTRA CREDIT - Send a copy of your letter to other major newspapers in the US. Please don't use the CC or the BCC function; send each as a separate message. Source: The New York Times Contact: Source: USA Today Contact: Source: Chicago Tribune Contact: Source: Wall Street Journal Contact: EXTRA EXTRA CREDIT Send a copy of your letter to your own local newspaper or any other newspaper around the country. This is a huge story that will be covered almost everywhere. Find the Email addresses for your local papers at http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm Search for other articles on this or any other drug related topic that interests you at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/ URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n1296.a09.html Pubdate: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Author: Paul Duggan and David A. Vise, Washington Post Staff Writers Note: Duggan reported from El Paso; Vise from Washington. Staff writer Lorraine Adams in Washington and correspondent Molly Moore in Juarez contributed to this report. POSSIBLE REMAINS FOUND NEAR JUAREZ Mexican and U.S. authorities searching for scores of bodies that may be buried on the outskirts Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, said yesterday they found what could be human remains at one of four desolate sites where the investigation is focused. A U.S. official familiar with the search, meanwhile, said an unspecified number of informants for U.S. law-enforcement agencies may be among the more than 100 suspected victims of drug-related violence who have disappeared from this border region in recent years and may be among those possibly buried at the sites. The El Paso-Juarez area has long been described by authorities as a multibillion-dollar conduit for Colombian cocaine flowing into the United States, a corridor run by a cartel reputedly headed by a Mexican drug lord, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, before his death in 1997. According to an association of families of "disappeared persons" here, at least 196 people, including some Americans, have vanished in the region since the early 1990s, many of them informants and low-level associates of the cartel. To read the rest of this story, see: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n1296.a09.html SAMPLE LETTER (sent) The discovery of mass graves in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico is a terrible reminder of how far some people are willing to go to maintain control over an incredibly profitable black market. The increased willingness of gangsters to use murder as a business tool was an unintended consequence of alcohol prohibition, just like the violence of today's illegal drug market is an unintended consequence of the drug war. Sadly, it seems the violence employed by Al Capone and his cohorts was a mere shadow of the tactics used by those who run modern drug markets. In coming days, many politicians and commentators will be calling for a tough response to the grisly scene being uncovered in Ciudad Juarez. I hope citizens won't be fooled by such a call for more of the same. The only way to stop such violence is to stop the drug war. Responding with even more violence will push the drug cartels to greater depths. Historians examining the end of alcohol prohibition sometimes look at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago as a turning point in public opinion about the value of prohibition. That display of ruthless violence in 1929 left eight people dead. In Ciudad Juarez, the numbers could be ten or twenty times higher. How many more bodies will it take for us to stand up again as a nation and say no to prohibition? Stephen Young IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm Prepared by Stephen Young - http://home.att.net/~theyoungfamily Focus Alert Specialist

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