News Analysis: Failed U.S.-backed drug war a boon to Uncle Sam's arms sales

Decades after the United States launched a multinational war on drugs with the help of its Latin American allies, the drug trade continues to thrive and brings huge profits to U.S. arms sales.

Just across the border with Mexico, the number of drug cartels has multiplied.

A handful of drug trafficking organizations, such as the Juarez, Gulf, Sinaloa and Tijuana cartels, once controlled the business. But today, there is a crowded field of upstarts, from Zetas to Knights Templar and Jalisco's New Generation, not to mention the drug dynasties that rose and fell, including the Beltran-Leyva Cartel and La Familia Michoacana, and numerous subgroups like Gente Nueva, El Tigre, and Los Artistas Asesinos.

As their names suggest, the lucrative trade also spread geographically. It used to be confined to the country's northern states bordering the United States, but now reigns over much of Mexico's heartland and southern Pacific coast, and has a presence in 23 of 33 states.

Proponents of the drug war may argue that many of these criminal organizations are just the splintered remains of once-powerful regional cartels whose capos have been captured or cut down by law enforcement. But the truth remains that the war on drugs, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year, has not made a dent in the use of illicit drugs, which is actually on the rise both in the traditional consumer countries like the United States and in the centers of production or transit like Mexico.

Why would such a clearly failed policy be endorsed? At least one interrelated sector is raking in huge profits -- the U.S. arms sales.

"Some 70 percent of guns seized in Mexico from 2009 to 2010 came from the United States," independent new website democracynow.org reported in 2011, citing a congressional study.

Following the revelation of "Fast and Furious," a secret U.S. government plan to sell weapons and trace them to Mexico's drug cartels, a variety of reports surfaced on the brisk arms trade between the two nations.

An article, which was published by the Montreal-based Center for Research on Globalization, headlined "The Mexican Drug War Has Become a Hot Market for U.S. Weapons Sales." It said, "U.S. private-sector suppliers shipped a total of 177 million-dollars worth of defense articles -- which includes items like military aircraft, firearms and explosives -- to Mexico in fiscal 2009" alone, more than was shipped to Iraq or Israel.

The weapons end up in the hands of not just Mexican law enforcement, but also organized crime. Both sides are potential clients of the country's ever-expanding security industry, as are those caught in the middle, if they can afford it.

Dozens of security companies and consultants were on hand at the Annual Security Fair in Mexico City to tout their products and services.

Oscar Loaiza Miguel Caballero, considered a pioneer in the industry, started up his business in 2007, mainly providing standard bullet-proof vests for Mexican security guards. The service accounted for 60 percent of his total sales.

Today, high-end bullet-proof leather jackets and coats for the rich has become his mainstay. Soft and supple, one such coat weighs 1.2 kilos and costs about 3,000 dollars. It can stop a bullet fired from a 9mm pistol.

Armored cars are also all the rage among the wealthy or well-connected. At the WBA Factory in Mexico City, workers dismantle, bolster and re-assemble automobiles. Thanks to the blast-proof flooring, 3-cm-thick windows and body armor, these vehicles can withstand the firepower of an AK-47 automatic rifle.

"Unfortunately, bulletproof cars are too expensive for most people," says the company's vice president, Esteban Hernandez, adding that a complete system of defensive devices costs between 30,000 and 100,000 dollars. Endi