Drug Cartels And Terror Groups Essay

In the fight on terror the proliferation and ideology of these groups seemingly are able to cross borders on many scopes. While there are many ways the terror groups gain access to the United States one of the most under checked ways is the porous border to the South. This border between the United States and Mexico has long been a problem in the instance that the drug cartels have had freedom of movement in between the two countries unchecked. What else is the reach these groups have within the United States? Most cartels have links and access to not only guns but also street level criminal organizations and have penetrated most cities. The drug cartels are responsible mainly for drug smuggling, but also have known to corner the market on

The question at hand is how the drugs are being transported into the United States. Other common factors between the two groups are common, shared consumers and compartmentalization. If these groups both have a connection in terms of operations and the actions taken in order to finance themselves, can there be any connection between the two groups? In the case of connections and working relationship, that is still widely left undetermined due to lack of full concerted research on the matter. But there are some instances where the lines are blurred in terms of what actions the groups are taking and where they are conducting operations. The FARC, a revolutionary group in Colombia, is listed as a terror organization and has links to other terror groups along with drug cartels. What would happen if these groups’ lines further blurred? If in the next decade the FARC becomes a full terror group such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda? Or even worse what would stop the Mexican Gulfo or Sinaloa Cartel to begin a working relationship with ISIS or jihadi networks in order to conduct operations in the United States? Furthermore, what happens when the lines blur to the point of what constitutes the difference between a terror organization or a drug trafficking