The meeting held yesterday between the cabinet members of Mexico and the United States ended without substantiating — from what can be seen — fears of a new increase in interference from Washington, but also without developing realistic solutions to the very serious public security crisis from which our country suffers. The level of the visiting delegation (composed of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen) had raised hopes in light of the recent assassination of three U.S. officials at the American consulate in Ciudad Juárez.
According to Secretary of Foreign Affairs Patricia Espinosa, it was agreed upon at the meeting that a new chapter of the Merida Initiative will be started, one that will include a strategy for dismantling criminal organizations in both countries, the development of a secure border and the adoption of measures of mutual support to strengthen security institutions in Mexico and the United States. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton recognized her government’s share of responsibility with regard to the smuggling of arms to Mexico and the insatiable demand for illegal drugs in the neighboring country, in a gesture indeed reasonable, but not enough. The American authorities would also have to undertake serious and committed actions against drug trafficking in its own territory, where most of the drugs produced in Latin America continue to fall into the hands of users, and against the unconcealed flow of illegal money that takes place in the country’s financial system.
The source of difficulty in designing and implementing effective measures against the drug trade appears to be the lack of a clear strategy toward the issue on the part of the Obama administration. Concentrated on domestic matters and the war in Afghanistan, the White House inhabitant has left the issue abandoned to inertia, giving the impression that he has no answer besides supporting the Calderón strategy, despite the fact that it has proven ineffective and even counterproductive in combating the traffic of drugs and violence.
In such circumstances, the Mexican authorities shouldn’t expect more of the Americans in the fight against organized crime. Given the ineffectiveness of existing security policy, it is instead necessary for the authorities to promote a national debate on the issue for the purpose of formulating a security strategy based on consensus, one that shows political will to listen to the opinions of academics, economists and experts on health and public security, as well as to organizations arising from populations aggrieved by bloodshed, families of innocent victims and representatives of communities torn apart by violence. The federal government will not obtain the support of society if it does not overcome the impasse that has held up before the demands and claims of the population.
That support cannot be obtained if there is a continued occurrence of incidents like the assassination of two Monterrey Institute of Technology students this past week — the authorities having failed to give a convincing explanation of the facts — and the murder of alleged drug dealer Jose Humberto Marques Compeán, who, after having been detained in Santa Catalina, turned up dead in a vacant lot bearing signs of torture. Events like these foster setbacks in the fight against organized crime, and as long as they are not corrected, there is no national policy or bilateral agreement that is enough to contain the bloodshed in this country.
Any Mexican who worries about someone in the US doing a hit of pot or cocaine needs to see a psychiatrist.
Mexico’s President would have served his country far better by telling the Americans to take their Drug War and shove it, then taking the necessary measures to remove the profit incentive from narcotics – through legalization.