What does the Drug War Mean? Ask the Drug Czar!

Sphere: Related Content

Support Slipping for Mexico’s Drug War

Support for Mexican President Calderon’s military-led (and US-backed) drug war is waning. Both ordinary citizens and Mexican government leaders are questioning the effort, according to a recent article in the Washington Post (linked below). It reports:

“There are now sustained calls in Mexico for a change in tactics, even from allies within Calderon’s political party, who say the deployment of 45,000 soldiers to fight the cartels is a flawed plan that relies too heavily on the blunt force of the military to stem soaring violence and lawlessness.”

Ramon Galindo, a senator, a supporter of the President, and a former mayor of the border city Cuidad Juarez that counts over 1,100 violent deaths so far in 2009, told the journalists: “The people of Mexico are losing hope, and it is urgent that Congress, the political parties and the president reconsider this strategy.”

Calderón appears to be increasingly isolated in Mexico, weakened by his party’s defeat in recent mid-term elections, by the carnage that continues unabated, and by “spectacular drug cartel assaults.”

Mexico’s unique challenges

Although U.S. DEA chief of intelligence Anthony Placido denied any changes were needed in the fight, Mexico’s northern neighbors do anticipate a lengthier, more violent, and more costly battle than initially estimated. The Post states that “Mexico [...] faces a more daunting challenge” than a country like Colombia where the US spent $6 Billion. Two reasons predominate. First, the global economic crisis has created a pool of impoverished Mexicans from which the cartels can recruit. Second, Mexico lies adjacent to the US,“the largest illegal drug market in the world.”

Despite the challenges, continues the article, “U.S. and Mexican government officials say the military strategy, while difficult, is working.” They cite arrest and extradition statistics as evidence for this claim. But inside Mexico many disagree. Analysts like Carlos Flores, an expert from Mexico City’s Center for Investigations and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology,” told reporters:

“ The question is whether [Mexico] can withstand another three years of this, with violence that undermines the credibility of the government. I’d like to be more optimistic, but what I see is more of the same polarizing and failed strategy.”

Few or no alternatives

Because “neither high-profile arrests nor mass troop deployments have stopped the cartels from unleashing spectacular acts of violence,” many Mexican officials say they don’t know where to turn for answers. “There are no alternatives,” Monte Alejandro Rubido, who works as Calderon’s senior advisor on drug policy on Mexico’s National Security Council, told the paper. However, some officials, like Galindo, say they have “urged Calderon to change course. Instead of relying on the army to destroy cartels, he said, the federal government should work to strengthen local communities that are most vulnerable to the traffickers.”

Carlos Heredia, “a former Michoacan official who now works as an analyst at a Mexico City think tank, said the government’s strong arm approach is a recipe for failure in regions where mistrust of the government is high,” particularly when cartels are, as the Heredia claims, “play[ing] Robin Hood” to win “the hearts and minds of the local population.”

Calderon steadfast

Despite dissension and against the advice of several of his allies and partners in the government, “Calderon has no intention of changing course.” And the United States stands by him – even as the Mexican leader is growing “increasingly isolated” in his own country.

For more information: William Booth and Steve Fainaru, “New Strategy Urged in Mexico” (July 28, 2009) Washington Post

Sphere: Related Content

Support Slipping for Mexico’s Drug War

Support for Mexican President Calderon’s military-led (and US-backed) drug war is waning. Both ordinary citizens and Mexican government leaders are questioning the effort, according to an article in the 7/28 Washington Post (linked below). It reports:

“There are now sustained calls in Mexico for a change in tactics, even from allies within Calderon’s political party, who say the deployment of 45,000 soldiers to fight the cartels is a flawed plan that relies too heavily on the blunt force of the military to stem soaring violence and lawlessness.”

Ramon Galindo, a senator, a supporter of the President, and a former mayor of the border city Cuidad Juarez that counts over 1,100 violent deaths so far in 2009, told the journalists: “The people of Mexico are losing hope, and it is urgent that Congress, the political parties and the president reconsider this strategy.”

Calderón appears to be increasingly isolated in Mexico, weakened by his party’s defeat in recent mid-term elections, by the carnage that continues unabated, and by “spectacular drug cartel assaults.”

Mexico’s unique challenges

Although U.S. DEA chief of intelligence Anthony Placido denied any changes were needed in the fight, Mexico’s northern neighbors do anticipate a lengthier, more violent, and more costly battle than initially estimated. The Post states that “Mexico [...] faces a more daunting challenge” than a country like Colombia where the US spent $6 Billion. Two reasons predominate. First, the global economic crisis has created a pool of impoverished Mexicans from which the cartels can recruit. Second, Mexico lies adjacent to the US,“the largest illegal drug market in the world.”

Despite the challenges, continues the article, “U.S. and Mexican government officials say the military strategy, while difficult, is working.” They cite arrest and extradition statistics as evidence for this claim. But inside Mexico many disagree. Analysts like Carlos Flores, an expert from Mexico City’s Center for Investigations and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology,” told reporters:

“ The question is whether [Mexico] can withstand another three years of this, with violence that undermines the credibility of the government. I’d like to be more optimistic, but what I see is more of the same polarizing and failed strategy.”

Few or no alternatives

Because “neither high-profile arrests nor mass troop deployments have stopped the cartels from unleashing spectacular acts of violence,” many Mexican officials say they don’t know where to turn for answers. “There are no alternatives,” Monte Alejandro Rubido, who works as Calderon’s senior advisor on drug policy on Mexico’s National Security Council, told the paper. However, some officials, like Galindo, say they have “urged Calderon to change course. Instead of relying on the army to destroy cartels, he said, the federal government should work to strengthen local communities that are most vulnerable to the traffickers.”

Carlos Heredia, “a former Michoacan official who now works as an analyst at a Mexico City think tank, said the government’s strong arm approach is a recipe for failure in regions where mistrust of the government is high,” particularly when cartels are, as the Heredia claims, “play[ing] Robin Hood” to win “the hearts and minds of the local population.”

Calderon steadfast

Despite dissension and against the advice of several of his allies and partners in the government, “Calderon has no intention of changing course.” And the United States stands by him – even as the Mexican leader is growing “increasingly isolated” in his own country.

For more information: William Booth and Steve Fainaru, “New Strategy Urged in Mexico” (July 28, 2009) Washington Post

Sphere: Related Content

Accusations of Torture in Mexico’s Drug War!

Last week the Obama administration demanded a full report on the actions of federal forces in Mexico’s President Calderon’s war on drugs. The State Department threatened to cancel more than $100 million in funds from the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion three-year program of military assistance, if the report is not thorough and convincing.

The State Department’s actions follow an article published in the Washington Post last week which documented abuses by military personnel, including torture, beatings, rape and illegal home searches. Mexicans complain that soldiers have broken into their homes without warrants, made arrests without cause and stolen appliances and food.

Allegations of human rights abuses by federal army troops involved in police activities in dozens of cities around Mexico have increased dramatically. Today, Human Rights Watch, based in Washington DC, added their voice to the cry. In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Washington-based group said Mexico’s military courts have failed to bring to justice troops Human Rights Watch holds responsible for a “rapidly growing number of serious abuses.”

Under the multiyear Merida Initiative aid package, the U.S. government withholds a 15 percent portion of the aid until the Secretary of State reports that Mexico is meeting human-rights conditions. One condition is that civilian authorities are investigating and prosecuting alleged abuses by troops and federal police “in accordance with Mexican and international law.” Mexico says it takes allegations against soldiers seriously but it insists that, under Mexican law, only military courts can try soldiers.

Sources within the Mexican government claim the U.S. State Department is not insisting on a full accounting of illegal detentions, torture and other abuses committed by the army. Mexico’s President Calderon intends to send a delegation to the Washington to clear up any “misunderstandings” the Obama administration might have about his war on drugs.

–written with input from the Mexico Solidarity Network

Sphere: Related Content

What will El Paso think? Hillary says US Takes Blame for Mexico Drug War

“Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade…Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians…I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility.” –Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking to reporters on her two day trip to Mexico City as US Secretary of State

Yesterday morning’s El Paso Times blared the headline: Clinton takes drug-war blame. How did El Paso respond? Keep these factors in mind; they make El Paso’s reaction significant:

• El Paso voted overwhelmingly for the then-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton in her Democratic primary bid for the US presidency. Obama did not even bother to visit the city in that race.
• El Paso is not known as a particularly progressive or leftist-leaning city.
• El Paso has been a bewildered and distressed bystander to intensive levels of violence in her sister-city, Ciudad Juarez. El Paso is a secondary victim, economically and emotionally, to the Mexican drug war.

It is too soon to report El Paso’s response definitively; early reports rest on inconclusive data. But early indicators do look positive for Clinton as El Pasoans consider her frank comments in Mexico.

The El Paso Times opinion poll question today, entitled “Blame for Mexico drug wars,” asks the question: Is America’s consumption of illegal narcotics partially to blame for the recent violence in Mexico?

As this report is written, the unscientific results from 1422 participants are:

376–Absolutely, which is why we should legalize drugs (26.4%)

639–Yes, but legalizing drugs isn’t the answer (44.9%)

314–No, the U.S. shouldn’t be blamed for Mexico’s problems (22%)

093–No, and we’ve wasted tax dollars with our so-called war on drugs (6.54%)

Of 55 internet reader comments to today’s Clinton banner headline news story, they sort out roughly into three categories:

Pro-Clinton = 16 [eg. "Finally, a high-level federal official has the courage to speak the truth. Now let's work on both sides of the border to fix what is a shared problem."]

Con-Clinton = 11 [eg. "Another Democrat blaming the U.S. for the world's problems. These people are so pathetic!"]

Neutral or off-topic = 28 [eg. "I guess I should feel guilty for smoking pot and contributing to the deaths of innocent Mexicans. I do but I will never stop buying Mexican Marijuana as long as I live..."]

This part-time El Pasoan feels congruent with Clinton’s assessment. A quote from James Joiner’s timely essay on An Average American Patriot entitled “Legalize drugs control them like alcohol and end this!” is relevant in the context of the Secretary of State’s comments:

“It seems to me that the drug war has spilled over the Border with Mexico. However it went north to south. It is our drug war that has spilled into Mexico. It is we who have made Mexico the narco State it is.”

Cross posted on Border Explorer

Sphere: Related Content

How Are Things on the Border?

CNN report: February 27, 2009
[Thank you for caring about this situation enough to read this report. Images can communicate where my words fail. The CNN report attached above contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.]

With so much happening in this Border war zone, I’ll keep this report to the main bullet points. (No pun intended!)

* Mexico will send 5000 more soldiers to Ciudad Juarez. Meanwhile a prominent Mexican civil rights activist told a forum in El Paso that the military is involved in unlawful detentions, torture and other abuses while failing to stop the killings. Oops.

* Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon felt the need to deny that Mexico is a “failed state.” The next day a US State Department report on narcotics control praised Calderon, saying his efforts against the cartels have “proven to be effective.” Hmm.

* Meanwhile rampaging organized crime syndicates thumbed their noses at reinforced security measures in northern Mexico, killing 20 people overnight Wednesday. Six of those murders occurred in Juarez.

* The US State Department did not tell spring breakers not to go to Mexico, but it did advise them to avoid areas of prostitution and drug-dealing. (!!!) More than 6,000 people were killed last year in Mexico.

* Texas Governor Rick Perry visited El Paso this week. He wants 1,000 troops to help guard the Texas-Mexico border. “I don’t care if they are military, National Guard or customs agents….We must be ready for any contingency.” Our local representative responded: “No one in El Paso supports militarization of the border.”

* Police are investigating threats against Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, who moved his family to El Paso for safety, El Paso police announced Monday.

* After several officers were slain last week, the Juarez police chief resigned. Drug war operatives threatened to murder one of his officers every forty-eight hours until he quit. Since last year more than 60 police officers have been killed in Juarez.

* A Homeland Security official affirmed that Mexican drug cartel violence has spilled over into Texas. Later in the week the US attorney general announced a drug cartel roundup that netted over 750 apprehensions from across the nation.

But, from the Good News Department:

Mexico’s federal attorney general said Thursday that more than 1,000 people have been killed in drug violence so far this year, but that he believes the worst is nearly over. We certainly hope he has some insider information to substanciate his belief.

And, despite the chaos, millions of ordinary good people in Mexico continue their lives, battling the odds and finding meaning and happiness in small events of ordinary life.

Crossposted at Border Explorer.

Sphere: Related Content

Mexican Crime Wave (or maybe Crime Tsunami?)

A recent kidnapping and murder of the 14 year old son of a Mexican industrialist threw Mexico’s crime problems into a national spotlight. President Calderon hopped on the bandwagon calling for tougher penalties for criminals and helping organize an August 30 march against crime in Mexico City. But, the Mexico Solidarity Network (MSN) wonders, just exactly who is this march against? In the wake of the massacre at a church service in Juarez this month, the MSN analysis helps me grapple with the question “Why?”

Kidnapping’s on the rise, they say. Calderon’s war on drugs forces organized crime into new ventures. And the economy is tanking, so more Mexicans turn to crime. Corrupt police get their slice, so victims have to cough up the ransom. Kidnappings aren’t the worst problem Mexico has, but since the victims are rich and well connected politically, it gets the attention.

Much more widespread are common crimes and pervasive government corruption. This starts at the top: officials turn a blind eye…and then “anything goes.” Organized crime rules much of the country and controls important politicians. Drug sales hauled in at least $22 billion from the U.S. since ‘03. Many politicians get their cut of this cash, depositing that income in banks (obviously), not stashing it in shoeboxes.

Calderon’s failing drug war has focused almost exclusively on interrupting transport routes and production facilities–and NOT the money laundering. That’s why we have not only the massacre in the church, but also murder and mayhem in the newspapers every day. Monday August 11 was in many ways a typical day, with 17 executions reported in the state of Chihuahua [the state directly south of El Paso, TX], including the second most important official in the office of the state Attorney General. Other states of Mexico reported 13 additional victims that day!

Several thousand troops deployed to Chihuahua this April and initially delighted beleaguered civilians. But the

honeymoon was short. The army conducted hundreds of unwarranted home searches, beat homeowners and pedestrians at will, and killed innocent citizens. In Chihuahua, the army got caught up in a war. Most of the local police are aligned with the Juarez cartel. The Juarez and Gulf cartels are involved in open warfare over lucrative territories. The army may be hoping simply to return to the earlier status quo: murders in isolated rural areas rather than during highly public gun battles in city centers.

This would help account for the government’s lack of action on money laundering, which is the heart of drug trafficking and should be its most vulnerable point. But politicians don’t want to interrupt the flow of illegal money. That money greases the political system and provides one of the most important sources of foreign exchange in this country on the verge of an economic crisis. With the Mexican economy suffering its worst performance in the second trimester of this year since the depression of 2003, politicians don’t particularly want to stop the money flow. With a GNP that declined 1.7% during the second trimester, about the only growth industry is illegal drugs and kidnappings.

So if you’re on top in Mexico, you really don’t care about some poor recovering addicts getting creamed in a church in Juarez. You’re watching your own back…and pocketbook.

And if you’re in the United States, sitting on top of the world’s economic pyramid? Well, I wonder, just how do we feel about all this?

Sphere: Related Content