Wikistrat recently concluded the “Winning Mexico’s Drug War” simulation, in which analysts crowdsourced policy options for various actors to respond to the violence in that country.

To this end, Wikistrat analysts recommended a focus on closing choke points that drug cartels use as routes for transport and other purposes.

In this policy option, rather than seeking to win a nationwide conflict with the cartels, the government initially concentrates on “fighting smart” by identifying key choke points and closing them to the traffickers. The cartels are embroiled in a turf war over north-south transit corridors between South America (especially Colombia) and the United States. While some drugs are produced in Mexico itself, most cocaine is merely shipped through the country on its way north.

Mexican security forces are concentrated at the narrowest stretch of land (about 100 miles coast to coast), which lies across the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. Meanwhile, the Mexican Navy cooperates with U.S. government agencies to control north-south sea lines of communications.

This could effectively choke land-based north-south drug transit. In addition, it may draw the cartels to a single front to combat government troops, freeing up the rest of the country for the authorities to reassert control.