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All three networks had a correspondent cover the rising tide of narcoviolence in Mexico. CBS' Seth Doane filed from Mexico City where Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's diplomacy is expected to "hammer home the message that both countries will stop the guns, stop the drugs and stop the bleeding." ABC had Brian Ross file from New York on the Department of Homeland Security's decision to spend $700m to beef up border security. That budget seems tiny compared with the threat as described by Ross. His sources told him "the cartels have become a criminal insurgency using roadside bombs, guerrilla tactics, threatening to turn Mexico into another Iraq or Afghanistan." An official federal law enforcement report sports the title The Pathway to a Failed State.
NBC's Mark Potter maintained his role as this year's lead network reporter on the Mexican drug wars with his profile of El Chapo--Spanish for Shorty--the fugitive leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. His name is Joaquin Guzman, aged 51, a member of Forbes magazine's list of global billionaires, his bandit exploits glorified in music videos. Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison in a laundry truck eight years ago, "never again to be touched by authorities."
By the way, how much money do Americans spend each year on narcotics imported from Mexico? CBS' Doane's voiceover suggested $18m to $39m, although he must have meant $18bn to $39bn, which was the amount displayed on the accompanying graphic. ABC's Ross had an estimate that was almost twice Doane's amount: $65bn annually.
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