Colonia Juárez, Mexico. The cartels had become the de facto authorities and, at best, the police, mired in accusations of corruption, did nothing. At worst, they led cartel hitmen straight to the colonists’ doors. It had gone far enough. A man had been found dead, his genitals stuffed in his mouth. No one was safe.

The kidnappings had risen to three a day. A 70-year-old man had been snatched from his home after being beaten with a pistol in front of his wife and son and held in a cave for three days until a ransom was paid. When he returned, he learned that he was one of eighteen people kidnapped, and he was one of the four not killed. Something had to be done.

Colonia Juárez was originally founded by Mormon separatists who wished to continue their tradition of polygamous marriage after the mainstream Mormon Church banned the practice. Once a vibrant town, the inhabitants are now effectively imprisoned by fear of drug gangs who easily outmatch the local police in terms of pure firepower and bloodthirsty ferocity. Now after taking in this brutal scene, ask yourself, what might Mitt Romney have to do with all this?

The man who founded Colonia Juárez was named Miles Park Romney, Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather. The inhabitants of Colonia Juárez are the Romneys. The 70-year-old man who was kidnapped? His name is Meredith Romney, and he is Mitt Romney’s cousin. Surprised? You should be.

This information is mind-boggling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it seems incredibly unlikely for a Republican to have such blatant immigrant origins, when the stance of the party seems to be, for the most part, in support of more stringent anti-immigration measures. In fact, Mitt Romney’s father was not just an immigrant from Mexico, but his own immigration status was questioned during his ill-fated run for presidential election in 1968; George Romney’s run for presidency was described by his contemporary Governor Jim Rhodes of Ohio “like watching a duck try to make love to a football.”

Intriguing metaphors aside, this then begs the question: How can the son of a Mexican immigrant oppose legislation like the DREAM act, when his own father might have been considered a poster child for it?

This is not the only question raised by the revelation of Romney’s connection with the inhabitants of Colonia Juárez. Romney’s close relatives have been thrust into a fire, a fire that is being fed by the drug war that Romney unabashedly supports.

We would be wise to see that much as the power of the mob crumbled after the end of prohibition, the cartels that now essentially control our neighbor to the south depend on the continuing illegality of the drugs they supply. So long as men like Mitt Romney promise to continue the drug war, the danger the cartels pose shall still be present.

By the time this article is published, the fate of the office of president shall already be decided. During the writing of this article, I attempted to interview a member of the College Republican’s club, thinking to gauge the level of awareness of Romney’s background among his own party.

Moments into the phone interview, upon explaining the nature of my article, my would-be-interviewee feigned a poor connection and, muttering something about “going under a tunnel,” hung up on me. I sincerely hope this attitude is not representative of the attitudes of the general electorate.