[gatagato]

There are good points on both sides, in my opinion. Of course to claim that US are flanking/supporting drug lords would be an overstatement, but in the other hand it would be impossible to smuggle so much drug without having someone supporting you to the other side of the border. The lack of news on this could be easily explained by the fact that most of them don't get caught. And the fact that it's so hard to catch them could be explained by the facts that they KNOW how to don't get caught, and that some of those who should catch them turn their face/close their eyes. For money of course, but there are also many alternative ways, like to blackmail and to threat (and a threat coming from the same gangs that killed 40,000 people in 4 years should be taken very seriously).
The core of the problem lies somewhere in Mexico (120,000 + cartel members detained but only 8,500 convicted are numbers that make me think much more about Mafia than some bunch of drug dealers): OBVIOUSLY someone who's got the power is flanking them. But there must be also someone that is allowing firearms trafficking from the US to MX, and alien and drug smuggling from MX to US: and this can't be achieved just by sitting their ass in Mexico, not to mention money laundering. The difference between the two is that in Mexico they need to be flanked by extremely powerful people, while all they need to do in the US is to take control of some of those who play some key role: customs workers, border patrol and people like that, no need to bribe Robert Mueller.

127 Border Patrol and Customs Workers Arrested for Corruption
Thursday, June 09, 2011
CBS News

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Largely because of the spreading influence of Mexican drug cartels and illegal alien smugglers, 127 agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have been arrested, charged, or convicted of corruption, including drug smuggling, since 2004.

Testifying on Thursday before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery and Intergovernmental Affairs, Alan Bersin, commissioner of the CBP, said: “Since 2004 in October, 127 CBP personnel have been arrested, charged or convicted of corruption. This breach of trust is something that we do not stand for, and while seven years and tens of thousands employees have been besmirched by this, these evidences of corruption, we take each and every one of them seriously.”

In his prepared testimony, Bersin said 127 employees were involved in “acts of corruption, including drug smuggling, alien smuggling, money laundering, and conspiracy.”

It's a long article, you can read it here
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...l-arrested-cha


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489 arrests (of which 160 have been CBP employees), 38% increase in overall complaints against CBP employees since 2004, 267 corruption-related investigations of CBP employees underway: these numbers speak by themselves, it's no longer a matter of "some cases": this is organized crime with growing tentacles

There's also an interesting news about US allowing the Mexican police to stage cross-border drug raids from inside the United States (so called boomerang operations).

U.S. Widens Role in Mexican Fight
Published: August 25, 2011

Mexican commandos have discreetly traveled to the United States, assembled at designated areas and dispatched helicopter missions back across the border aimed at suspected drug traffickers. The Drug Enforcement Administration provides logistical support on the American side of the border, officials said, arranging staging areas and sharing intelligence that helps guide Mexico’s decisions about targets and tactics.

Officials said these so-called boomerang operations were intended to evade the surveillance — and corrupting influences — of the criminal organizations that closely monitor the movements of security forces inside Mexico. And they said the efforts were meant to provide settings with tight security for American and Mexican law enforcement officers to collaborate in their pursuit of criminals who operate on both sides of the border.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/wo...ef=todayspaper

At least, it seems that drug cartels still aren't able to do within US borders what they are able to do within MX ones.