Mexico's New Partner In Education

The drug cartels of Mexico have implemented yet another avenue of terrorism and disorder, and unfortunately this new terrorism reaches to one of the fundamental institutions of any civilized nation, the educational system. The criminal cartels in several cities have begun openly demanding that schoolteachers and administrators pay fifty percent of their salaries to the cartels. The demands are of course accompanied by the usual (but obviously quite real) threats of kidnapping, bodily injury, and death. Unfortunately, given the criminals’ tendencies to carryout their threats, and given the Mexican government’s inability to control the cartels, or even to provide any semblance of safety for its citizens, many teachers have given in to these demands. Others have left the teaching field altogether and sought work in other industries. On top of this, many parents have stopped sending their children to public schools, so even if teachers did not cave to the demands of the criminals, they could lose their jobs simply due to declining student numbers.


Police forces, the armed forces, and the federal government seem powerless to combat the cartels or to protect innocent citizens. The cartels are doing what any smart business operation would do – diversifying into other areas of profit making besides drug trafficking, gunrunning, and extortion. Even the cartels realize the value of “multiple streams of income.” The cartels’ expansion of their enterprises into extortion of whole industries in Mexico represents a new height in their audacity and their contempt of the legitimate government. From business owner and employer points of view, it will be harder and harder to resist the cartels’ demands for “protection money” or other payoffs. If the government does not act quickly, the educational system of Mexico may be crippled or even shut down. The gaming industry is under attack as well, as we have seen with the tragedy in Monterrey. How many other industries will be assailed by the criminal cartels (can’t call them drug cartels anymore, they have diversified) before adequate protective measures are taking by the Mexican government? The cartels are now at the point where they threaten the very economic viability of the Mexican nation.

At this point, to one on the outside looking in, it appears that the cartels are now powerful enough to threaten the very survival of the legitimate government of Mexico. Fortunately, it is the very power of each cartel that could, in the end, prove to be the best weapon at the legitimate government’s disposal. The fighting between the most powerful cartels limits their ability to mount a coordinated attack against government forces. Federal officials need to capitalize on this situation and use it to their advantage while there is still time. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the cartels could begin working together. After all, a calmer and more peaceful nation would be to their advantage, as long as they were in control of both the legitimate and the illegitimate economies of Mexico. Given the fear and fatigue that the Mexican people feel, they would welcome peace, no matter who might be “in control.”