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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2006 
Survey Reveals Outrage
 Diana Zavala Rojas - El Universal
| | Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, presidential candidate for Mexico's leftist PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution), speaks in Guadalajara's main square during a campaign rally February 23, 2006. Obrador is leading polls ahead of Mexico's July 2 elections. (Reuters/Mario Castillo) |
Nine out of 10 Mexicans think the nation´s problem with drug traffickers and organized crime is serious or extremely serious, according to a recent poll conducted by El Universal and The Dallas Morning News/Al Día.
Seventy-five percent of those polled thought that drug-related violence had gone beyond the U.S. border region and is now a threat across the nation. Also 54 percent said President Vicente Fox´s government is losing the battle against organized crime.
According to security expert Jorge Chabat, a researcher on security issues at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City, the public´s perception is on the mark.
"The perception that the wave of violence has gone beyond the border region is true," Chabat said, adding that the full magnitude of the nation´s problem with organized crime is still unknown.
No branch of the government received much support from those polled, but the Army got the best grade, with 43 percent saying it had done "a lot" or "enough" to fight drug trafficking.
Judges are seen as ineffective, with 72 percent saying they had done "nothing" or "little."
However, the current government is seen as more honest, with only 29 percent believing that it had reached agreements with drug traffickers. Sixty-six percent believe that past governments have made pacts with organized crime rings.
Chabat said the perception that Fox´s government hasn´t worked with organized crime is due to the higher levels of violence during this administration compared to others. It is widely believed that past governments secretly dealt with the cartels to keep the number of deaths down.
"The lower levels of violence during past governments can explain the pacts between narco-traffickers and federal officials," he said.
Ana María Salazar, an expert in security and U.S.-Mexico relations, the low opinion of the the nation´s progress against organized crime is a direct result of the Fox government´s inability to reduce the wave of drug-related killings that has swept the country in recent years.
Over 1,000 people were killed in 2005 in organized crime-related violence.
So far this year, dozens more have been executed. One of the bloodiest spots is Nuevo Laredo, where the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels are fighting over lucrative shipping routes into Texas. Another center for violence that has emerged over the past year is Acapulco, where boats bearing narcotics shipments arrive from Colombia and Central America.
MIGRATION
Those polled were also asked a series of questions about illegal migration to the United States.
Eighty-three percent of those polled said that the illegal migrants helped the U.S. economy, while 58 percent said migration will not go down during the next administration.
"The perception that the next president won´t be able to do anything to stop illegal migration means that people think it will be six more years without real (employment) options," Salazar said.
"It means people think there won´t be much incentive for people to stay here, regardless of who wins the election."
The presidential election will be held on July 2. |
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