MEXICO’S DRUG WAR April 9, 2009
Posted by wmmbb in LATIN AMERICA.trackback
There is a strange alignment between the war on terror and the war on drugs.
On his election in 2006, President Calderon of Mexico launched his war on the illicit drug trade, particularly cocaine destined for the United States, by unleashing the dogs of war. He put 40,000 troops on the case. Destroying supplies, supply lines and distributors only made the trade more lucrative, extending the span of corruption in the Mexican political and judicial system, and increasing the dependence of the economy on the trade.
The cartels who run the business seem imperious to law enforcement. The level of violence has increased as more violent players have entered the games, such are the financial incentives, and violence has crossed the border into the United States.
Guy Lawson, at Rolling Stone and in a interview with Scott Horton,details the situation in Mexico and suggests that of the available answers decriminalization of drugs is the best option. The decriminalization will have to be in the United States, and despite the lessons and experience of Prohibition, my guess, such a step is unlikely.
It may be unlikely even to establish an informed debate. Why was Prohibition abandoned? Subject to the provision that the causality is accepted, and since demand creates supply, has not United States moral responsibility for what is happening in Mexico? The addictive nature of cocaine probably makes it ideal for the illicit drug trade.
Terror was always defined solely at those things that were done to United States citizens, and did not include people who live in Mexico, Iraq, or Afghanistan. As Guy Lawson said legalization would turn the trade into a health problem and a business problem.
Why were drugs such as cocaine and marijuana made illegal in the first place?
Postscript:
It is not too much of a stretch to go from Mexico to Cuba. There was an interesting question from Fidel Castro to visiting members of the US Congress: “How can we help President Obama?”
ELSEWHERE:
Raw Story covers the argument between the argument that legalization is the way to end drug-related violence and the conventional view from law enforcement.
UPDATE: 16 April 2009
The BBC reports that President Obama stopping over in Mexico City expressed his support for the Mexican Governments War on Drugs.
Very interesting your point of view on the issue of decriminalization of drug use in the U.S.. Unfortunately, it does not solve the problem of increasing consumption of illegal narcotics in Mexico. I think , the increased violence in Mexico related to narcotics, is because Mexico does not want to become a narco-state, and its government is doing things right, ie where it hurts the gangs in drug trafficking. Proof of this can include major arrests like Alfredo Beltran Leyva and Jesus “The King” Zamba Garcia of the Sinaloa cartel, Reynosa , Antonio “El Amarillo” Gallarza , and Jaime “El Hummer” Gonzalez Duran of the Gulf cartel, Eduardo Arellano Felix and Luis Romero, principals of the Arrellano Felix organization, and Colombian trafficker Pedro Antonio Ramirez. Of course, there is a risk in all of this, that is to replicate what happened in Colombia, where the fall of Pablo Escobar helped the Rodriguez Orejuela and finally the guerrillas FARC. BTW, one topic where little is being done by both countries, is in fighting money laundering. There is an old saying that says “follow the money”. The mexican and US governments now focuses basically on the military and too little on the money laundering. Another interesting development is the Merida Initiative-a partnership between the governments of the United States, Mexico, Central America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic to confront the national and transnational violent gangs and organized crime and narcotics trafficking organizations that plague the entire region, the activities of which spill over into all these countries, not only the United States. But, I congratulate for your blogg, keep up the good work!
From listening to Guy Lawson, it seems, the arrests do not necessarily tell the whole story. There seems extraordinary amounts of money involved, and I suppose cutting it off is the logic of proposal to decriminalize in the US, and no doubt Mexico.
Thanks vb for your comment and information. Time will tell whether the existing policy will be successful.