America’s Disloyalty

[Attorney General] Eric Holder is deeply concerned that guns sold in his country could be used against his agents in Mexican territory. Once it was discovered that the 7.62 mm Draco that was used to kill Jaime Zapata was sold in Dallas, Holder said: “The concern I have is that with the increasing number of agents from the DEA, the ATF, and the FBI (in Mexico) these weapons (…) could be used against them, and that is a tragedy that I hope we can avoid.”* The audacity and the offense could not be greater: The thousands of Mexican lives slaughtered with the same weapons are not among his concerns. But the issue goes beyond insensitivity.

That the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of the State Department** has launched the operation called “Fast and Furious,” opening the flow of high-caliber weapons to our country — as they explain now, to find their target, drug cartels, without informing the Mexican government and regardless of its terrible consequences — constitutes an unacceptable insult. The revelations of agent John Dodson from the ATF concerning this operation opened a sewer full of a murky policy and strategy that, moreover, confirms the perception that they have surrounding the Mexican government. It is not exorbitant to assume that Carlos Pascual’s viewpoints, later published in WikiLeaks, share a direct relationship with the design and implementation of this operation.

Today we are asked to consider the possibility that their agents carry weapons on our territory, a prerogative reserved for the armed forces and the Mexican police. This is an unacceptable request. It not only is contrary to the principles of the exclusive exercise of the security functions by the state, but also to the wise restrictions in effect in Mexico on the possession and use of firearms that, outside of the grounds of the barbarism of organized crime, we have learned to appreciate and is observed by the vast majority of Mexicans.

The bilateral relationship is going through a difficult time. It is not about avoiding our serious legal, institutional, social and ethical deficiencies, freeing the responsibility for our neighbors. It is about demanding respect to our constitutional system, as well as to the essential loyalty between two countries that, formally, maintain an alliance before a shared problem, the origins and growth of which could not be explained without the great demand of drugs by American consumers. In any case, we must continue to evaluate if the Mexican government’s strategy on drugs is relevant, not only for its high costs and limited results, but also because it has become clear that we don’t have an ally who, with respect and loyalty, actually recognizes and shares these efforts.

*Editor’s Note: This quote, accurately translated, could not be verified.

**Editor’s Note: The ATF is an organization within the U.S. Treasury Department.