A U.S. general is seen shoving away Mexican Defense

Secretary General Guillermo Galván Galván, since he

would be 'outranked' by the U.S. under 'Plan Mexico.'

In the caption, Mexican President Calderon says 'With

your permission, General Galván.'

                                                 [La Jornada, Mexico]

La Jornada, Mexico

EDITORIAL: Plan Mexico

Would Be the 'Greatest

Stupidity in Many Years' …

"The agreement would permit various agencies of the neighboring country - such as the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI, the DEA and the departments of State and Justice - to access crucial strategic intelligence on sensitive issues fundamental to Mexican national sovereignty; would grant them powerful mechanisms to meddle; and would place our military institutions, intelligence agencies and security apparatus in a precarious and submissive position."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

August 22, 2007

Mexico - La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)

The recent encounter in Canada between the holder of Mexico's highest office, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, and his United States counterpart, George W. Bush, gave a new and perhaps definitive impetus to an agreement that calls for the U.S. to provide military aid in the battle against drug trafficking and organized crime.

Because of its similarity to Plan Colombia - which was imposed on that South American country by Washington and local government oligarchs - it is known as Plan Mexico. In the case of our country, the agreement being discussed at talks with Washington last January stipulated the delivery to Mexico of between $700 million and $1.3 billion, additional technology for espionage, aircraft for the transport of troops, as well as police and military training.

The method by which these resources are to be drawn [from the U.S. Treasury] - through an extraordinary mechanism known as "an emergency supplemental" - inevitably brings to mind what has occurred with the disastrous Plan Colombia. And despite official efforts to draw a contrast between Plan Colombia and Plan Mexico by arguing that unlike the unfolding of events in that South American nation, there would be no deployment of U.S troops on our national territory, the striking similarities between the two agreements are obvious.

The above-mentioned agreement between the United States and Mexico would permit various agencies of the neighboring country - such as the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and the departments of State and Justice - to access crucial strategic intelligence on sensitive issues fundamental to Mexican national sovereignty; would grant them powerful mechanisms to meddle; and would place our military institutions, intelligence agencies and security apparatus in a precarious and submissive position. With the introduction of Plan Mexico, the United States would have new way to influence the standards and training of Mexican military and police forces, would widen the already enormous capacity of the U.S. to conduct espionage on Mexican territory, and would consolidate the inevitable technological dependency that would result in security and defense matters.

Therefore, our national institutions of public security would lose in independence whatever they would gain in operating capacity - assuming that there really would be such a gain; the results of Washington's bilateral cooperation with Colombia, at least, indicate that the plan may be counter-productive.

The provision of high technology equipment - as the United States now plans for Mexico - implies three inevitable methods of subordination: In the training and preparation of the personnel to operate it; in the provision of spare parts; and in maintenance. So no matter how much it is repeated that Plan Mexico doesn't include the deployment of U.S. forces in our country, one must suppose that operating the aircraft and equipment for espionage and wiretapping will necessitate the presence of military, paramilitary and mercenaries amongst our now-dependent police and military - all of which will enable foreign authorities to gather information that shouldn't leave the country, nor even be in the public domain.

In addition, the technological dependency generated by this would put our civilian and military institutions in an extremely vulnerable position when confronting diplomatic pressure from Washington: If the actions of a State in matters of fighting crime depend on a foreign government, this foreign government will hold in its hand the final decision on whom will win the war between local authorities and criminal organizations.

Moreover, the anticipated start of Plan Mexico has already generated justified domestic political opposition, as well as an understandable uneasiness in Mexican military circles, whenever assistance under the Plan is conditioned on the Mexican government making concessions to U.S. authorities on matters of national sovereignty.

To make matters worse, nothing guarantees that accepting U.S. military and police assistance will result in a stable alliance - nor even reliable cooperation from the White House and Capitol Hill.

The government should picture itself in the place of [Colombian President] Alvaro Uribe, who after having agreed to Plan Colombia, has found himself facing accusations from Washington of serious and systematic human rights violations in his country; violations that in many cases are tied directly to the aforementioned program of bilateral cooperation. A bit too late, the Colombian President has come to understand the old adage that says: "The United States has no friends, only interests."

For all these reasons, we must inevitably conclude that the acceptance of military and police assistance from Washington to battle drug trafficking and organized crime would be, were it to occur, the greatest stupidity in Mexican foreign policy for many years.

CLECK HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION