Since the beginning of the War on Drugs, most of the battle has been concentrated in Latin America, leaving a trail of devastation from deep from Latin America to the largest drug user. these substances. After years of fighting and a series of increasingly aggressive policies implemented by the United States, drugs are just as prevalent, if not more so, than at the start of the war. Illegal drugs are still easy to obtain, the demand for these substances has skyrocketed, and the cartels are getting richer and richer. Drug-related violence since 2006 has resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people. Clearly, our current policies to wage this war are not effective: we spent more than $35 billion in 2013 trying to combat drug cartels and reduce the number of violent crimes caused by to the influence of cartels. struggling with drug trafficking, even Costa Rica, which does not have a standing army, is beginning to see the violence that the cartels bring with them. Several countries have renounced this war, in order to adopt an alternative approach, that of appeasement. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos supports the decriminalization of cocaine, and Guatemalan President Otto Fernando Pérez Molina has said he is open to legalization and the transportation of drugs through Guatemala. A summit has been called by Guatemalan leaders to examine the potential for a unified approach to drug trafficking. Under pressure from the U.S. government, most countries withdrew from the summit, which took place in 2012 with Guatemalan, Colombian and Panamanian officials present. El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua were expected, but they withdrew under pressure from the middle of paper... from their own group. They collaborate extensively with the Sinaloa Cartel. They control the narrow but geographically significant area of ​​Tamaulipas, from Matamoras to Reynosa. The Gulf Cartel is often considered a group of "white knights" because they do not brutalize the surrounding population as Los Zetas do, and as the Sinaloa Cartel tends to do as well. Many cartels across Mexico are enemies, trying to hang each other. on their market share and ready to fight to the death to keep it. Money laundering is a phenomenon very often used to minimize any complications regarding the sums of money changing hands. Even if the United States' "war on drugs" succeeds, unless there is an international policy to combat the drug trade and the groups to which that trade is linked, there will be no lasting impact. lasting impact on the ability of cartels to kill. out of that.