Thu 2 May Mexico is the main source of heroin trafficked to the US, with some 75, acres of opium poppy production in But drug use in the US has shifted: addicts have increasingly swapped heroin for fentanyl β an ultra-potent synthetic opioid often manufactured in China.
The fentanyl crisis has been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the US. But it also seems likely to bring about what half a century of the militarized war on drugs has been unable to achieve: forcing impoverished farmers in rural Mexico to abandon the narcotics trade. Zilacayota is a picturesque village of indigenous Tlapaneco people living in adobe houses with no phone signal, doctor or paved roads. The trade gained widespread popularity in the s, after disease outbreaks and free trade agreements like Nafta made traditional crops such as coffee and maize unprofitable.
In some parts of Guerrero, vast poppy plantations are controlled by organised crime groups whose turf wars have turned rural communities into battle zones. It was in northern Guerrero that 43 trainee teachers were forcibly disappeared by corrupt police in September ; independent investigators believe they unwittingly commandeered a bus loaded with heroin.
Within two months, around 20, troops were involved in operations. Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption. But the biggest costs have been human: since , over , people have been murdered, more than 40, reported as disappeared and 26, unidentified bodies in morgues across the country.
Improved collaboration between the US and Mexico has resulted in numerous high-profile arrests and drug busts. While the crackdown and capture of kingpins has won praise from the media and US, it has done little to reduce the violence.
