CARTEL OIL: HOW DEEP DO DRUG LORDS GO?

So Mexican drug cartels are into stealing and smuggling their
country's oil? What else are they into? Who's running Mexico, a
government or drug lords?

So many questions now.

Only recently it was determined that drug cartels were getting too
entrenched into Mexican society that something had to be done about
it. So then-new President Felipe Calderon declared war. He began
sending federal troops into areas with orders to wipe out the bad guys.

The world quickly learned that the cartels were not only strong, but
they were militarily strong. Cartels won battles, ruled cities. An
example is our sister city, Juarez. Thousands of troops haven't
stopped the cartels from conducting business as usual, which is
everything involved in the multi-billion-dollar drug trade --
thousands of brutal murders, kidnappings, extortions ...

That has been scary. Only optimists have dared say the government,
with the help of U.S. dollars, is taking control. Others point out
that it's getting worse, not better.

Now to learn that billions of ill-gotten dollars in drug trading --
mostly U.S. drug users' money back to Mexico -- is not enough for
these cartels. They are now selling smuggled oil to U.S. refineries.

And who knows what else!

It's long been speculated that a reason the drug trade goes on,
stronger and stronger, is that so many people in Mexico rely on the
cartels. The drug lords are often looked upon as Robin Hoods and
heroes to the citizens. Drug money, in its trickle-down effect,
supports public programs. Some people in high places are paid big
money to just look the other way.

And here's something that's also scary -- a quote by Kent Chrisman,
director for global security with Devon Energy: "U.S. refineries
willing to buy stolen crude don't care where it comes from. Once the
product is at their doorstep, the deal is done, and they can pay
pennies on the dollar without taking the risk of getting it across the border."

We have to ask, just who really wants to break the drug cartels of
Mexico? The drug users in the U.S.? The citizens and businessmen of
Mexico who profit? The government?

Alas, American business?