In the Marine Hymn, the phrase “From the Halls of Montezuma…” refers to the Battle of Chapultepec, a fierce engagement between Mexican and American armies during the Mexican-American War in 1847. When that battle ended, the United States had won a decisive military victory over General Santa Anna’s Mexican army that was holding Chapultepec Castle, located just west of Mexico City.
After 1845, when the United States annexed Texas, Santa Anna continued to claim that Texas was still a province of Mexico. He refused to recognize the secession and ignored the decisive victories by the predominantly American Texicans in 1836. His attitude eventually led to war.
Early on September 12, 1847 the Americans began an artillery barrage against the Castle that continued throughout the day and resumed at dawn the next day. After the artillery bombardment ceased, General Winfield Scott ordered his troops to charge the Castle.
A storming party led by forty Marines was followed by a brigade of volunteers. For a time the detachment stalled while they waited for ladders to arrive and for reinforcements held up by heavy Mexican artillery. When the ladders finally arrived, the first wave of Americans ascended the walls led by the Marines. George Pickett (later famous for “Pickett’s Charge” at Gettysburg) was the first over the wall. Several American Generals and other officers were wounded as they led their men over the walls before the Marines were finally able to raise the U.S. Flag over the castle.
During the battle a Mexican army cadet wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and jumped from the extremely high wall to prevent the seizure of the Mexican flag by the Americans. From a very safe distance, General Santa Anna (yes, the same Santa Anna who captured the Alamo in 1836) watched his army troops melt away in defeat.
The Battle for Chapultepec Castle was marked with extreme bravery and sacrifice by soldiers on both sides, many who were just cadets and volunteers. This was just one of several great battles fought during The Mexican–American War, now an almost obscure conflict between the United States and Mexico (1846-48).
At the end of the Mexican-American War, the United States forced the Mexican government, under the terms of the “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,” to give up the Mexican territories of Alta California (now the state of California) and Santa Fe de Nuevo México (parts of west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada). The Rio Grande became the official boundary between Texas and Mexico. Mexico was forced to forever drop all claims to Texas and California and all of the land between them.
Thus the southern boundaries of the United States of America were set and secured, guaranteeing peace between the the two North American nations for generations to come.
Of course, that was not the case then – nor is it now.
In 1914, the United States occupied the Mexican port of Veracruz for six months due to a misunderstanding between Mexican guard troops and some U.S. soldiers who had been sent to protect American citizens living there. 
This incident was one of several diplomatic problems between the two countries related to the Mexican Revolution that was going on at the time.
In response to that misunderstanding, known as the “Tampico Affair,” President Woodrow Wilson ordered the U.S. Navy to occupy both the city and port of Veracruz. When Wilson received an alert that a German delivery of weapons to Mexican rebels was due to arrive there, he ordered the port’s customs office be seized and the weapons confiscated.
In 1913, Mexican rebel armies overthrew the Mexican government during a coup d’état. Wilson refused to recognize the rebels as the legitimate government of Mexico and embargoed all arms shipments to them. Unofficially, Wilson supported what little remained of the Constitutional Army of the previous elected government of Mexico.
It turned out that the arms shipment to Mexico actually originated at the Remington Arms Company in the United States. Remington’s guns and ammunition were shipped first to Hamburg, Germany, and then on to Mexico, an attempt by the company to effectively skirt around the American arms embargo.
Three years later on March 9, 1916, General Pancho Villa ordered nearly five hundred Mexican members of his revolutionary group who were armed to the teeth with American guns and ammunition, to go across the border and attack 
Columbus, New Mexico. Villa felt the raid was justified because of the American government’s recognition of his enemies, the Carranza regime, and also for the loss of many of his soldiers due to defective bullets that he’d purchased from the United States.
On May 15th, Villa attacked Glen Springs, Texas. One civilian was killed and three American soldiers were wounded. On June 15th, “bandits” (thought to really be Villa soldiers) killed four soldiers at San Ygnacio, Texas. On July 31st, one American soldier and a customs inspector were killed at a Rio Grande border crossing. In each of these incidents all weapons and ammunition used by the Mexican soldiers and bandits were manufactured by esteemed American companies like Winchester, Remington, and Smith & Wesson.
Now, nearly one hundred years later, we are facing another border war with Mexico, presumably not against the legitimate military, but against the warlords of the Mexican drug cartels.
Unlike the brave, dedicated Mexican soldiers and cadets who fought during the Battle of Chapultepec, the armies of these criminal cartels are made up of desperate men. Their only objective is to make huge amounts of money by controlling the flow of illegal drugs and weapons across the North American continent.
President Barack Obama recently met with President Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa of Mexico to try and find a unified way for our countries to defeat the drug cartels. Calderon promised to work with Obama to find a way to stop the flow of illegal drugs and weapons across the border, committing national army and guard troops, local and national police forces, and millions of pesos toward the effort.
Both Obama and Calderon have admitted that the United States bears a heavy responsibility for the successes of the drug trade. Most of the buyers of illegal drugs are Americans. Just as it was when our soldiers and Marines fought the Mexican rebel army at Vera Cruz and against Pancho Villa – all who were equipped with American made rifles, pistols and ammunition – the weapons and sophisticated military devices being used by drug cartel soldiers and enforcers are made in U.S. factories, sold by U.S. arms dealers, and then smuggled into Mexico.
American made guns support the drug cartels in Mexico…
We find ourselves fighting the Mexican-American War all over again on several fronts. Our borders are like sieves, allowing illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America access to all of our country, but especially the southwestern states. Mexican Mafia gangs made up of both citizens and illegal aliens of Mexican descent control entire neighborhoods in some of our largest cities. They easily travel between the two countries carrying drugs and weapons.
The Mexican Mafia controls large groups of prison inmates on both sides of the border – and in some cases even the prisons themselves. Teenagers are recruited or drafted into area gangs to act as soldiers, enforcers and drug dealers in neighborhoods of our largest cities. The sad truth is that these gangs have also spread their poison out into the smaller towns and rural areas that were previously untouched by crime and the drug trade.
While the primary focus of our political leaders is on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, these small armies that owe their existence to the Mexican drug cartels are spreading throughout our country. We tend to worry about a few dozen Muslim terrorists sneaking weapons into our country, while thousands of well armed Mexican gang members and drug cartel enforcers are already living in the hearts of our cities, ready to rise up against the civilian authorities at a moment’s notice if and when they are given the order by cartel leaders.
Like Al-Qaeda and Muslim extremist terrorists, these cartel members are vicious, uncaring, and very dangerous. They are willing to kill police officers, government officials, news reporters, and even innocent civilians. They are perfectly willing to kill each other as well, both rival gang members and weak or disloyal members of their own gangs. They do their nasty deeds just like the Islamic terrorists: beheading, extreme and prolonged torture, dismemberment, live burial, hanging, rape and strangulation. While what they do is primarily meant to send a message to their enemies and competitors - and to some extent to create fear among the general public – they are also happy to commit these atrocities just for the fun of watching other human beings suffer indignities and unbearable pain.
We must face the fact that we are once again at war on our southern border. Fortunately, in this case the Mexican Army and the civil authorities are our allies. That could quickly change should the Mexican military and police forces lose their will to fight or should the leadership of the central government be taken over by politicians with ties to the cartels.
Yes, the battles we face in the Middle East and Asia are critical and must be managed, but President Obama must realize that we have enemy armies on both sides of our southern border. These cartel soldiers (who are nominally Christian and Catholic) are potentially far more dangerous and evil than the armies of Taliban fundamentalists and Islamic extremists located on the other side of the planet.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and local police recently rounded up over one hundred street gang members in a series of raids in North Texas cities. Most of the arrests were for serious criminal charges. A few were arrested on administrative, or immigration violations.
An ICE spokesman said the those arrested represented members of twenty-seven gangs, including the Asian Boyz, Latin Kings, Eastside Locos, Northside Locos, Westside 12, 18th Street, 28th Street, Love Field Players, Mexican Mafia and MS-13. Most of the gangs were affiliated with each other in some way, with MS-13 being the largest and most powerful, taking its orders directly from drug cartel leaders in Mexico.
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John- I love this piece. I like history, and I really like the connection you made between the past and the very real things that are happening now. As a snowbird resident of a border state, we feel the impact of what is happening, even though we are many miles from the real danger zone. It is a huge problem that can only be controlled (it will never be eliminated) by a coordinated effort between both governments.
John, I was only just today able to read your report, as Helen and I have been in the process of moving back to our Grand Rapids home from Tucson. However, I was rewarded with an interesting update on what is happening and could happen with our neighbor to the south. You continually amaze me with your current event insights, its relevant history, and excellent journalistic skills. Who would have guessed it as children growing up in a cult that you would actually learn to utilize your thinking skills as an adult.
Claire and I spent a good part of four months on long crossings in the South Pacific, and can relate to just how alone and vulnerable mariners feel. We were on a very small, 14 metre, sailboat, but crew on even a large vessel must feel it too. As one with conflicting feelings on the effectiveness of violence, I have to say I believe merchant ships must arm (and train) themselves. Pirates respect no law but their own. They have to be stopped, and it will take more than the concerted efforts of numerous navies to achieve peace on the seas. I do emphasize training for crews, or for the hiring of trained security personnel with the latest equipment. This is not just about protecting the property of the shipping lines, but the rights of us all to share the oceans, now and in the future.