Ted Galen Carpenter writes for The National Interest about the rise of vigilante groups in Mexico. Along with the Mexican government, Carpenter takes a dim view of anti-cartel vigilantes. He brings up the "right-wing death squads" in Colombia as an example of what can go wrong.
Yet, as Carpenter points out, the cartel's vast riches enable them to continue to corrupt (or failing that, kill) government officials and police. This power makes it next to impossible for official Mexico to defeat the cartels.
The difficulty in corrupting a vigilante group is its anonymity, in not knowing who to bribe or threaten. That was always vigilante Zorro's edge, his mask. And who is to say those death squads in Colombia didn't contribute materially to the eventual pacification of the country? I'd guess they did.
