by Ed Galen Carpenter (Get the Book)The drug war across the U.S.-Mexico border has exacted a tremendous toll, according to Carpenter (Smart Power), a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Using government data, the author reveals that in 2009 the Mexican drug cartels earned nearly $34 billion from their trafficking in North America, using their wealth to buy off the Mexican public and to corrupt politicians who dare to stand in their way (those who refuse bribes are assassinated). Comparing war-torn Mexico to a "Latin American Somalia," Carpenter says the powerful cartels often donate food, clothing, and medical care to impoverished locals and are seen as "cultural folk heroes." The author balances Mexican assertions that the cartels' weapons are bought from U.S. gun shops with U.S. officials' denial of these charges. The spike in violence has hit farmers, ranchers, innocent civilians--and increasingly Americans, both tourist visitors to Mexico and border police. In the end, this is a devastatingly frank probe of the cartels and their corrosive influence on both sides of the border. --Publishers weekly
