Re: Notorious drug kingpin escapes | July 13

In Don Winslow's most recent book, The Cartel, he describes the elaborately choreographed escape of the head of the fictional El Federacin, the world's most powerful drug cartel. The book's time proximity to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's escape (it was just published in June) gives Winslow's story a prescient quality.

Winslow's account also undercuts the simplistic accusation (made by Donald Trump among others) that the escape is evidence of Mexican malevolence toward the United States. By portraying the global impact and political complexities of the illegal drug business, he shows that it is the marketplace that determines the direction of the drug business. Thus it is not a problem that will be solved by changing immigration law or policy. How would tweaking immigration policy have curtailed the illegal importation of alcohol during Prohibition?

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