The Warzone Inside Mexico: Veracruz State
Along the serene coast of the Gulf Coast inside Mexico's lush Veracruz State, there is serious cancer eroding this tourist destination: the Zeta and Sinaloa drug cartels. The was between these to cartels for drug related money has murdered 323 people so far, up from 52 last year. If you are local resident, or tourist and you run to the Police for help, you might reconsider. Locally, the police there are so corrupt their nickname is, "polizeta". The situation for this corruption is so severe that the city of Veracruz has "fired" all of its 900 municipal and 100 others. In their place are Mexico's Naval Marines. Yet, the killings continued without a blink as another 16 were killed in drug related battles. The tourist industry has also taken a major hit on this beautiful city.
Veracruz State, like all the other Mexican states, suffer from rampant police corruption because most policemen earn $450 a month and have only a middle school education. The officers even have to bribe their superiors many times for a patrol car. When they get the car, they use it to extort more money from traffic violations.
Veracruz, is a key Mexican port and the State's largest city. Its next largest city, Xalapa, suffered the same fate and its police force were all fired also due to drug cartel influences. These mass firings were mandated under a new Mexican law stating that all policemen must pass a lie-detector test. The mass firings will really only stoke the issue of unemployment and many of the officers fired will now be hired by the drug cartels.
Catch-22.
