History of Drug Trafficking in Mexico

Mexican drug production began in the 1930s with opium from the opium poppy, cultivated primarily by Chinese immigrants

It was supported by the U.S. who needed opiates to treat those wounded in WWII

By the 1960s the increased production and trafficking of drugs alarmed the U.S. government

In 1969 Nixon started Operation Interception, which detained vehicles at the Mexican border. This led to decreased tourism, which Mexico relied on for tourist dollars. The U.S. government started pressuring Mexican authorities to staunch the flow of drugs across the border

Mexico felt blamed for a problem, which they claimed originated in the U.S.

In the 1980s during hard economic times, Mexico's drug trade flourished and violence associated with drug producers began to rise