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Mexico Today

A Mexican soldier checks vehicles for drugs at a checkpoint on the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez. At the height of the narco war in 2008-09, this city on the Rio Grande had the highest murder rate in the world.

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Due to their 2,000-mile-long shared border, Mexico’s problems affect the United States. The U.S. government estimates that more than 70 percent of the illegal drugs—including marijuana, cocaine, and heroin—that are smuggled into the United States each year comes from drug cartels operating in Mexico. Since 2008, under a plan called the Mérida Initiative, the U.S. government has provided more than $1.2 billion in financial assistance to help the Mexican government wage the narco war. Mexico

and the United States have also worked together to stop illegal immigration while enabling Mexican laborers to find jobs in the U.S., as well as on initiatives promoting clean air and water. Many people believe that improving the economy of Mexico would reduce poverty, which in turn would alleviate problems like drug smuggling and immigration. Over the past 20 years, Mexico has been a leading proponent of free trade—allowing the exchange of goods between countries without imposing