Latin American Military Action

After the research I gathered, I feel that the more individuals who enlist into the military the better. Mexico, Brazil, and Columbia continue to be under rule of the drug trade, the gang wars, and the corrupt officials. The growth of our military, but mostly the growth of our NATO devices may be what we need to diminish the evil in our country.
We can assume that those who are enlisted are trustworthy. Of course, background checks will be necessary to ensure the safety of our personnel and plans.
The reason the drug cartels are successful is due to their large numbers. Although, it certainly works in our favor to have more individuals enlist in the army for that very reason. We must be wise in how to take advantage of our growing numbers. We can't simply send thousands of troops into a death trap. We must become wiser by the day by taking advantage of our NATO devices.
We are currently working with a 97% drug-related murder rate that goes unpunished. The number isn't this high due to fear, rather the attacks are much to spontaneous for us to react. This means we must find a new approach by infiltrating the drug cartel from afar rather than physically sending in covert agents.
We should then develop a plan to put a large amount of drug lords behind bars in one fatal swoop, but we cannot do this suddenly. This entire situation must be planned which means most of the individuals who are becoming enlisted will be geared and taught how to properly use NATO devices for investigative purposes.
This battle against drug and crime lords will not be won by playing fire against fire. It'll be won with planing, investigation, and subtlety.