Drugs: A Pretext for Betrayal

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With false and thus, perverse, naiveté, the PAN government demanded from the United States (U.S.) something similar to Plan Colombia, a mechanism that has allowed the U.S. government to direct and call the shots in the fight against drug traffic in that suffering country [Colombia], and also to interfere in directing the fight against guerrillas.

Plan Colombia, appearing to be in the spirit of best intentions, is only traditional interventionism in disguise, but in this case, it allows foreign military commands in Colombia’s homeland, where the instructions of those who pay thousands of millions of dollars must be obeyed.

For neoPANism avarice, the establishment of an accord resembling “cooperation” would allow the disposition of hefty quantities of cash that, as is the case in Colombia, are stuffed in the pockets of shameless, petty politicians; unpatriotic military; and a cluster of publicists, arms salesmen and providers of every class of service.

So when the Merida Initiative was announced, the group in power licked their chops, because it signified an absolutely enormous income, leaving officials with ample room to maneuver, as well as a strange secrecy (so strange that it allows shadowy management of the funds that are not necessarily reflected in the effectiveness of the drug war, nor in the better training and equipping of the police, nor in a reduction of [drug] consumption).

Whenever you hear words like “help” or “cooperation” spoken by Washington, you have to check it out, because invariably they signify new and serious efforts to meet U.S. interests, rarely congruent with those of Latin America. For example, now they are discussing the deployment of the National Guard along the Mexican border, while increasing the number of Border Patrol spies, and the FBI is preparing to open a regional espionage center in the boundaries between the two countries.

Of course, they would like to sell us the false notion that gangs are moving their merchandise anywhere along thousands of miles of the border. But that isn’t true. Most of the shipments, as has repeatedly been documented, pass through customs, with hidden payment of agents on both sides of the border.

If the announced cooperation were genuine and sincere, the U.S. government would stop the passage through customs of trucks loaded with marijuana, cocaine, and other narcotics. But at this point, it is fact that no plan has been announced to bring U.S. customs under control, and they are just as corrupt as the customs in Mexico.

If Washington actually planned to stop the flow of drugs, the shipments would not cross the entire United States, arriving intact in New York or Chicago, not exactly close to the Mexican border.

If the authorities of our neighboring country actually would plan to stop the illegal drug business, for every drug trafficker arrested here, those neighbors of ours should jail at least one of their own dedicated drug dealers. But that’s not happening. Although authorities here boast about putting some poor devil in prison, only rarely do you hear that they have landed a big fish there.

Of course, the best way to break the drug gangs is through regulated legalization of drugs, at least some of them. If marijuana or cocaine could be purchased legally, there would be no sense in taking a risk to acquire them through the black market.

However, those who most fiercely oppose the legalization of drugs are not the traffickers, but rather their alleged enemies and principal beneficiaries of the war against drugs, and they are the very politicians and mid- and senior-level directors of the forces dedicated to combat crime.They have amassed huge fortunes, but comptrollers and the Secretary of Public Works look the other way.

The present interest of the White House in Mexico is great, because our powerful neighbor cannot look with indifference at the daily carnage in its backyard. The ineptitude of the Mexican authorities, the corruption of its police forces and the deployment of the Army, which should be attending other things, are signs of a growing and dangerous lawlessness.

The major interest of the U.S. government is not to stop drug traffic; after all, it is the biggest and most prosperous drug market in the world. In times of crisis, debt, and unemployment, it is better to keep a tranquil citizenry, and that is the purpose of the generous consumption of drugs.

The real concern is that Mexican violence will spill over the borders – actually, that has already happened – and the criminal orgy is moving to the other side where gangs will find more money and greater interest. That is the real worry.