The Mexican army announced this weekend that it had uncovered what they refer to as a “torture house” in Nogales, Sonora, just miles from the Arizona border. While raiding the house on Sunday morning, soldiers found a cattle prod and other blood-stained instruments of torture, as well as several rifles and ammunition.
News of the this gruesome discovery comes just as the Mexican government made the announcement last week that over 47,000 people have been killed in the country’s ongoing drug war over the past five years. Despite efforts by the Mexican government to contain drug-related violence, cartel attacks are becoming increasingly brazen, brutal and frequent. In the past year, the country has experienced a massive casino bombing, the dumping of dozens of bodies on a busy Veracruz highway in the middle of rush hour traffic, the continuing murders of journalists and now bloggers, as well as virtually countless incidents of kidnapping, robbery, torture and murder.
In addition to those 47,000 murdered, Mexico is also experiencing a crisis regarding the great number of individuals who have been disappeared. According to CNN, 5,300 individuals have gone missing in the country in the past five years. Officials warn that this number could be vastly underestimated, as many fear that reporting the disappearances could lead to retaliation from the cartels. Some of those missing could still be in the custody of Mexican criminals, forced against their will to work for the drug gangs. But many others are sure to be found in the unmarked mass graves that are popping up more and more frequently throughout the country.
The discovery of the torture house in Nogales, Sonora, is one more in a growing list of examples that Mexican drug-related violence is creeping ever closer to U.S. soil. Although crime rates in the border region have been in fact steadily falling for years, officials warn that this only tells part of the story. Many crimes go unreported out of fear of retaliation. In addition, many fear reporting criminal activity of concern that their unauthorized residency status will be discovered. And even if crime rates have in fact been falling recently, this is no reason to assume that if the drug war in Mexico continues to rage on, that it will not ultimately find us here in the U.S.
To many, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the U.S. is tremendously influential in spurring on violence south of the border, both through our nation’s domestic consumption of illegal drugs, and also our exportation to Mexico of most of the weapons being used by the cartels. In turn it is also apparent that we have an important role to play in developing binational strategies alongside Mexican authorities to cripple these powerful criminal organizations and ensure the safety of both countries’ populations.
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