My Reactions to "Maria Full of Grace" and Muling

I really enjoyed watching Maria Full of Grace during class. The movie seemed really accurate in the way that it described some of the struggles that people face in Columbia and the actions that they resort to in order to escape poverty. It became clear to me how dangerous muling is, yet how tempting the money can be when one is working a bad job and making barely enough to get by, as Maria was. After doing some browsing, I found out that like in Maria Full of Grace, many mules come out of Columbia, and other South American countries.

Recently, there has been controversy over the issue of adding X-rays to airport security in the US. While some people argue that it would invade privacy, it would serve as a way to find mules who swallow drugs in order transport them. Had there been X-rays in Maria Full of Grace, she would have been found out instantly, and her family probably would have been killed.

After looking up more information about muling and drug trafficking, I found that although mules make a decent amount of money, they get nowhere near a fair percentage of the profits that the drug lords obtain. Just as Maria barely got her money in the movie, few people actually get the cash that they deserve for such a difficult and dangerous job.