Final Post: US/Mexico War on Drugs

Final Post: US/ Mexico War on Drugs

Map of Drug flow from Mexico to US

       This semester for our group blog project my group covered the issue on the “war on drugs” between the United States and Mexico. After our groups first meeting with each other we realized that this topic could cover so many different sub topics that ranged from the knights templar cartel, the affect of the drug trafficking on the border cities , and the economic issues just to name a few. We first covered the history and background information of the US/Mexico Drug war. This created context for the subsequent post, which was primarily focused on the capture of the Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. This was a major event and allowed our group to really unwrap how his capture has affected and will affect the both countries.

"El Chapo" Capture

Working on this blog post as a collaborative effort was almost effortless due to the fact that everyone in this group was really interested in the topic. We all had previous knowledge on the topic and we kept up with the current events in the media. As soon as we heard about “El Chapo’s” arrest we immediately notified each other and discussed how this would be the central topic of our next post. The group dynamic was really helpful in the research process. We each were able to focus on sub topics then bring in all of the research to incorporate it to the main theme we covered in our blog post. In order to look for data I searched various news outlets. I mostly looked for articles in the Mexican news so that I would be able to cross-reference with the American news articles.

This project was very helpful because it allowed me to search beyond the regular news outlets I usually look at. In terms of working with a  group writing a blog as a collaborative effort was definitely a new experience for me but really allowed me to strengthen my collaborative skills. The great part about this was that we were each interested in this topic which meant we all had some knowledge and questions to guide our research. I was able to learn more about the individual cartels that are in Mexico and how much impact they each have. Prior to this project I was unaware about the amount of drugs that the Sinaloa Cartel alone brings in to the Unites States in addition to how much power they hold. I also learned a lot about the relationship between both countries and about the agreements they have made regarding the current drug war.  In doing research on a current events I found that looking through multiple sources is very important, this helped eliminate some of the most obvious biases in the media. Having to keep up with a specific topic was my favorite part of the project because it kept me interested and alert within the media. I am glad that group work was a component of this class because although it may be difficult to schedule it allows you to share ideas and create something meaningful in a collaborative matter. 

Article by: Briana Sotelo