La Brecha (The Gap)

 
I have always wondered how drug shipments make it to this small, northern Mexican town.  The town is located about forty five minutes south from the U.S.-Mexico border.  Proceed just a few miles further from here on the main highway and your commute is interrupted by a Mexican Army checkpoint.  All traffic must go through this checkpoint before heading further south into the rest of Mexico and, conversely, all commuters needing to travel up north must pass through it, too.  For those of you who have traveled by car to Mexico or Canada, you might be able to visualize what I'm trying to describe.  For those of you who have not, it reminds me of the pass lane on a tollway, but this tollway has flashing lights that light up green or red, soldiers with high caliber weapons, and parked humvies with huge machine guns.  Being well equipped is imperative to execute one of the checkpoint's primary missions; minimizing the flow of illegal weapons and drugs.  

During my Christmas break I accompanied a person I know well on some work related deliveries.  We headed south towards the checkpoint.  We slowed down, proceeded over the road bump, and the light lit green.  I turned over to the soldiers and they seemed preoccupied with day to day activities.  We continued to our destination just ten minutes past the military checkpoint and made our delivery.  As we continued back toward our origin,    we were discussing how traffickers were able to funnel drugs from deep in southern Mexico and other parts of Latin America to towns like ours and further north into the U.S. without being caught by the many military and non-military checkpoints.  He said that most of the drugs were passed via gaps or small, dirt roads that curve around checkpoints and other highly visible areas, known in Spanish as "brechas."  "You want to see the gap? You can get back home without going through the checkpoint." I accepted.

It was interesting.  We drove on a white, rocky, dirt road.  To either side, I remember passing large ranches filled with cows, horses, goats, and other animals and lots of green and colorful vegetation.  Some of these ranches are believed to be owned by rich narcos.  As we proceeded on, we unintentionally blocked a large group of people, presumably a large family, on horseback heading toward us.  We adjusted our positions and squeezed through.  The road zig-zagged to another nearby town that connected to the rest of the towns north of the checkpoint and just like that, we were back to our origin.  Easy.  I couldn't help but wonder why soldiers or police never stood watch over the gap.  Shortly after that, I wondered why I was wondering.