Ciudad Juarez is known as one of the most violent cities in Mexico. The drug cartels have taken over the city and have continued to control the city. The city officials have been defeated over and over again; hopeless they still search for new ways to win this ongoing war.

Using technology in the United States has become a crucial part of it's survival, since our failure to use intelligence properly in the attack of nine-eleven. Mexico is now attempting to use use the same method in hope that they can be steps ahead of the cartel to ensure success.

The Drug Cartels are very violent organizations in Mexico. Between December 2006 and December 2010, there were more than 30,000 deaths in the country. The Cartels in Mexico have become very powerful since the Colombian cocaine traffickers were prevented from transporting their drugs through the Caribbean into the United States. In the 1970 the Colombian cartels transported the cocaine shipment either by plane or by sea. The United States with the use of radar could easily track them and confiscate their shipment. In the drug cartel technology usage will be used in the measure intelligence it is “investigating illegal drug trafficking” . (Buckley, John (2013-10-30) In the late 1980’s the cartel had to ship large shipments. The Columbian Cartel would do their shipment through the Caribbean . In this book it states that it “was easy guarded with the use of radar and since all drugs shipments were made by air or sea“. (Meisenhalter 129) The Colombian cartel was forced to subcontract the Mexican’s Drug Trafficking Organization and eventually they took over the cocaine trafficking routes into the United States. The Mexican drug trade ranges from $15 billion dollars to $30 billion a year dollars. This means that they will do anything to get their drugs into the United States. They have a motto “Plomo o Plata” (silver or lead) accept the bribery or we will shoot you, which has forced the Mexican civil servants, law enforcement officials, and security forces to take bribes. Even the high ranking federal officials and military personnel are not immune.

The fear takes over citizens and instead of fighting back in their community they lack protection; thus their natural reaction is to hide in their homes and keep their head down in public. It is had been known for years that they cartels have the upper hand in everything; victims of crimes fear retaliation if they report incidents to authorities.

In the past decade, two of Mexico’s anti-drug chiefs have been arrested for taking payoffs from drug cartels. Two Mexican police in the small town of General Teran were captured and decapitated. In the town of Los Romanos the entire police force quit after their headquarters were attacked by the cartel. The police have found themselves out gunned and otherwise outmatched. Mexico anti-drug chief, Noe Ramirez Mandujano was charged for accepting $430,000 dollars from the drug lords he supposed to be going after in 2008. Javier Coello Trejo, a deputy Attorney General who served in 1989 and 1990 as President Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s first drug czar, also admitted in taking large amount of bribes from Carrillo Fuentes cartel. General Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, head of the drug agency was also found to have taken bribes from Cartel Carrillo Fuentes. He was chosen by President Ernesto Zedillo because he dismantled the narcotics trafficker, Hector Luis Palma from the Guadalajara region. It was later known that General Gutierrez was pursuing the cartels that was in the interest of the Carrillo cartel. The United States officials learned that no one was beyond the reach of cartel by bribery or killing them.

Surveillance software owned by the Mexican army can do receive text messages from mobile phones, intercepting voice calls and emails, logging instant messages and even turn on a mobile phone’s microphone so it can be used to record and transmit audio. This software has been said to a be radar scanner that allows them to see through walls. According to the journal, Mexico President Felipe Calderon is very serious about the Mexican economy and fighting against the drug traffickers. He has deployed 45,000 members of his military and 5,000 federal police to fight drug traffickers. In order to remove all corruption means firing of government employees who are corrupt or not willing to do their task. The government would have to place hundreds and even thousands of police in jail.

For more than a century United States and Mexico have enjoyed friendly relations and some degree of integration. Mexico is now in the middle of a vicious drug war. Police are being bribed and in the United States border, gunned down. Kidnapping and extortion are common place. The Pentagon study concludes that Mexico is at risk of becoming a failed state. Defense planners have compared the Mexico situation to that of Pakistan, where the collapse of the civil government is possible. United States will place military and declare Marshall Law if the violence of Mexico spills over into the United States borders. For this reason, Department of Defense are using the radar software tools are for legal crime-fighting purposes, keeping Mexico “at the forefront of technological advances.” (El Universal) Mexico has been supported by the United States to install up to 107 monitoring stations for wiretapping communications nationwide. Mexico has their current contracts “hidden,” they have been criticized for not providing the information on what contract they have with business for these radar systems, however to prevent the Cartels to attempt to take over the company they use ghost company names.

Both Mexico and Columbia Cartels have continued to thrive for generations. Intelligence discovered by the Columbia National Police: Colombian Cartel both hired and forced engineering experts from Russia and the U.S. To design a submarine, which to secretly ship large quantities of cocaine to the United States. The Columbia Cartels, the Madellin and Cali, were the main cocaine drug traffickers in 1970’s to 1980’s. They were the most violent and sophisticated drug trafficking organizations in the world. What started as a small cocaine smuggling business has become an enormous multinational cocaine empire. They first started transporting cocaine hidden in suite cases to the United States. In the 70’s, cocaine cost $1,500 a kilo to process, and in the United States it could be sold for $50,000 a kilo. This attracted violent drug traffickers into the smuggling business like, Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, Pablo Escobar, and Carlos Lehder, a marijuana smuggler.

Carlos Lehder convince them that they could fly cocaine in into the United States. By flying direct they transported large quantities and the growing market for cocaine. They became the Madellin Cartel and made huge amounts of money. Reported intelligence collected stated that they used the profits to reinvest into technology for more sophisticated labs, better airplanes and even an island in the Caribbean where the planes refuel.

Pablo Escobar was a violent and the quest for power led to violence with the Columbian government. This led to the Columbia government going after the cartels, which caused their downfall. The Madellin leaders were all killed except for the Cali leaders, Jorge, Juan David and Fabio Ochoa, they turned themselves in to the Colombian government in the early 1990’s in exchange for a lighter prison sentence. They also helped the Colombian government to capture the Madellin leaders. Pablo Escobar, a Medellin leader is thought to be responsible for the murder of hundreds of government officials, police, prosecutors, judges, journalists and innocent bystanders.

The Cali cartel were very astute leaders, they kept a low profile and invested in legitimate businesses. They employed the techniques of terrorist groups by separating their workers into cells, with each cell knowing little about each other. They hired renowned lawyers to study the moves of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. prosecutors. Because of the new technology advancements in law enforcement, the cartel responded by they hiring and training top engineers to design communications equipment that could not be bugged.

After the destruction of the Colombian cartels, the young lieutenants realized that smaller groups were less vulnerable to attach by the Colombian government and the United States. They formed smaller, more controllable groups and began compartmentalizing their responsibilities. One group simply smuggles the drugs from Columbia to Mexico. The DEA and the Colombian National police believe there are more than 300 active drug smuggling organizations in Columbia today. Cocaine is shipped to every industrialized nation in the world and profits remain incredibly high.

United States continues to supplies Mexico with over hundred million per year in military and police assistance, including world-class weapons, training and intelligence. The United States is going after the money instead of the drugs. The drug traffickers have no problem losing the drugs and can easily replace them. The United States today has observed that the drug traffickers need money to pay the salaries of the shippers and processors, as well as the bribes that supplement the incomes of government officials on both sides of the border.

Whole regions of Mexico, Columbia or points in between have become dependent on the demand for drugs in the United States. It is because of the failure to stem the flow of drugs that United States officials started turning to tracking and seizing the money that resulted from drug sales. In the last decade federal and state law enforcement have seized over $8 billion in drug cash and assets. The drug traffickers invest in legitimate investment and hired financial and advisers in investing their money. This makes it hard for the United States official to separate the drug money from the legitimate money. (article FRONTLINE DO THE MATH : WHY THE ILLEGAL DRUG BUSINESS IS THRIVING)

Mexico's Cartels are using ultra-secret communications to ensure they continue to operate under the radar. They began using BBM (blackberry messenger) to send messages back and forth using code. The created the code system. Below is a found example:

62=0
83=1
71=2
49=3
57=4
66=5
35=6
21=7
18=8
96=9

Make an appointment = let's go to the beach
Appointment was made = it's warm
Which day = [depends on the day]
I am on my way = the beer are cold
I am on my way back = I'm with my wife
I am verifying = I have diarrhea
Mercedes = ticket is complete
Hamburger = is missing/short

When the United States enforcement forced the Colombian cartel to subcontract with the Mexican cartel, the Mexican cartel became very rich and powerful. The Mexican cartel took over the Colombian cartel cocaine routes to the United States. Today the Mexican cartels are involved only in transporting the drugs to the United States. The Mexican cartel uses all technology that is available to deliver the demand of drugs to the United States. The cartel kidnapped twelve engineers and forced them to build networks. Thus, United States continues to aid Mexico in their response of the cartels advancements in technology by providing electronic signals technology, ground sensors, voice-recognition gear, cellphone-tracking devices, data analysis tools, computer hacking kits and airborne cameras that could read license plates from three miles away.

The United States has sold several high tech helicopters and supplied them with drones, which the Mexican government was able to use to tap into the telephone calls of cartel Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman and capture him. Guzman used counter-surveillance scanners to detect transmitters hidden in rooms or on people. He was the leader of the Sinaloa cartel who built the drug business that went from Canada through Latin America, Europe, parts of Asia and Australia. The cartel retaliated with the kidnapping and killing of 43 students from Ayotzinapa. It is believed that local authorities were behind the disappearance of the students. The Jalisco-New Generation Cartel also ambush and killed 15 Mexican police and injured five. The killings occurred in retaliation of the death of Heriberto Acevedo (AKA “EL GRINGO”) a member of the Jalisco Cartel. In 2011, the coast were able to track a SPSS (Self- propelled semi submersible vessel) and apprehend the crew. They were also able to confiscate 14,000 pounds of cocaine. The Self Propelled Semi Submarine is less than 100 feet long and carries four to five crew members and up to 10 tons of cocaine. These sub-marines can travel up to five thousand miles. They are built in the jungles of areas of Columbia controlled by the guerrilla group FARC. The sub is made that it can loose its cargo and sink to the bottom of the sea very fast. The sub was spotted by a fixed wing aircraft, when they alerted the U.S Customs and Border Patrol Protection. They Customs Border Patrol Protection plane found the ship and then alerted the Seneca. The Seneca air control dispatched a smaller rescue boat and helicopter to intercept the sub.

(Narco Sub With 7.5 Tons of Cocaine Caught in Caribbean Aug. 1, 2011) These vessels come in four shapes: low profile vessels, semi-submersibles, fully submersible vessels and “narco torpedeoes” a canister that can be towed by another vessel. Drug traffickers have reportedly already built full submarines, equipped with a periscopes and electric motors, which are able to dive to a depth of 20 meters. The drug cartel have started to use drones to transport drugs to the united states. The drug traffickers in Mexico and Latin America are using homemade drones made by workers from aircraft factories that the cartels hire. The drones weight approximately 100 lbs. and can transport 100 kilos of cocaine per trip earning the drug traffickers $2 million a flight. The drones are made to be lightweight , easily transported, undetected, by radar, and strong enough to carry 100 kilos of cocaine.

(Cartel Are Reportedly Building DIY DRONES To Fly Drugs over the Border) I predict with the use of this technology by the drug traffickers in five years could cost us the war on drugs. They will be able to send the drones to the United States and be able to control them. They will program them to land into barely accessible terrain and then it will return to Mexico for the next trip without being detected. If the cartels send twenty drones a day it will profit $40 million dollars. The cartels will send decoys to find the anti-drug spotters. The drones could also be booby trap with explosives. The use of the drones and with the billions of dollars accessible to the cartel is no telling what they can do. On the other hand, the Columbia cartels also built their own drones that can travel from Columbia to the United States they will no longer need the Mexican Cartel. The United Nations in order to stopped the drug traffickers would have to declare the drug war as a terrorist attack and destroy their cocaine fields, labs, and drone factories. The United States Republican Michael McCaul, of Texas, the chairman of the Homeland Security Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, says the drug cartels should be considered terrorist organizations. Republican Mc Caul stated the drug cartels murder, plot, kidnap, and dismember bodies. They are also responsible for shootings, explosions, fires, and other atrocities. Michael McCaul has introduced a bill that would add Mexico ‘s dominant cartels to the State Department foreign terrorist organization list. The criminal organizations that are on the list are the Arrellano Felix Organization, Los Zetas, Beltran Leyva, Familia Michoacana Sinaloa Cartel , and the Gulf Cartel/New Federation. If this bill was approved it would allow law enforcement agencies to have increased power to limit cartels financial property and travel interest and imposed harsher punishments. (article: Mexican drug cartels considered terrorists)