Since the disappearance of 43 Mexican students from a teachers college in September, a discussion has emerged on the beneficiaries of the war on drugs.

As the news of the situation has spread, it has crossed the border into the U.S., where residents of 43 cities protested the Mérida Initiative, a billion dollar agreement between the two countries, also known as Plan Mexico, according to Huffington Post.

The initiative is a partnership that involves strengthening institutions that help improve citizen safety, and fight drug trafficking, organized crime, corruption and money-laundering. The U.S. has spent about $2.1 billion on the initiative since 2008.

All it has done, according to Al Jazeera America, is benefit private security companies and police forces, but it has failed to actually stop the crimes.

Social media hashtags #USTired2 and #YaMeCansé have become popular since the students' disappearance from Iguala in Guerrero state in Mexico on Sept. 26.

In early November, the Mexican government announced that gang members confessed to incinerating the bodies of the students, though DNA testing has yet to be confirmed.

The protests are targeting this kind of political cover up and systemic corruption that are prevalent in Mexico, where the town's mayor has been implicated in the situation.

This type of situation brings to light the human rights violations known to be existing in Mexico, and protestors are using the Leahy Amendment to stand on.

The Amendment states that the Department of State needs to reassess its foreign security forces assistance if human rights abuses have been committed.

In 2010, the U.S. had looked into withholding funds, but decided to continue after it deemed Mexico had fulfilled its human rights requirements.

Al Jazeera America reported that the drug war, at this point, appears to be losing and the initiative needs to stop, because the cartels are winning, for the sum of about $6.6 million per year.

And they have been doing so with the help of banks, who are knowingly turning blind eyes to the money laundering, according to AJA.