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 Editorials | Issues | January 2007 
Some Question Mexican Leader's Public Alignment with Military
 Laurence Iliff - Dallas Morning News
| | Government officials say Mexican President Felipe Calderón (left), with Defense Minister Guillermo Galván Galván, wore a military uniform to send a message of solidarity to troops. (Guillermo Arias/AP) |
Felipe Calderón's first major act as president was to send in the army – after drug traffickers in Michoacán state, after corrupt police in the border city of Tijuana, after pot growers and hired assassins in and around sandy Acapulco.
In a nation where civilian leaders have mostly kept the military at arm's length, Mr. Calderón has embraced it, inviting generals to media events and lavishing praise on the armed services, which have effectively replaced the police as the nation's bulwark against the growing power of drug cartels.
Then Mr. Calderón donned an olive green jacket and matching cap with the five stars of the commander-in-chief, sparking derision by his critics but also serious concerns about the military's growing public role and what that could mean for Mexico's young democracy.
"The images of President Felipe Calderón dressed in a [military] uniform, wearing a cap with five stars and the national seal ... cannot be an accident nor be ignored. It's a symptom of something serious," wrote political commentator Carmen Aristegui.
"The weakening of Mexican political parties" as a result of the razor-close presidential election, she said, "has not only left the country divided, but also converted the military structure into the only visible guarantor of national stability."
Others see Mr. Calderón's use of the military as a wrongheaded attempt to transfer the overwhelmingly positive image of the armed forces to a presidency weakened by questions about the fairness of the July election. The military and the Roman Catholic Church are among Mexico's most respected institutions, polls show.
"Felipe Calderón used the military uniform to construct a media image, much like U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who in order to counter accusations of weakness on matters of crime and defense, appeared inside of a tank wearing a helmet, with unfortunate consequences," wrote Modesto Suárez, columnist for the Mexico City newspaper Reforma.
Mr. Calderón said Sunday that Mexicans are happy with the anti-drug crackdown and noted that the operations are joint efforts by federal police and the military.
"The president is the supreme commander of the armed services, and the support of the army has been vital, precisely, in order to bolster federal agencies ... and to recover order, tranquility, certainty and safety," he said.
Historian Lorenzo Meyer and others have questioned whether the armed forces would want to return to their barracks and their traditional low profile once their work is done. Mr. Meyer criticized Mr. Calderón's use of the military as a possible first step back toward Mexico's authoritarian past.
But one of Mexico's premier experts on the military said the armed forces remain obedient to civilian power and capable of taking on drug traffickers.
"It seems to me that this is partially a tactic for the television cameras and a signal to those outside of the country, to the United States, that we are doing our part," said Javier Ibarrola, a commentator on military issues.
"The military is the only force that can take this on. The army is a heavyweight, and so are the drug traffickers," Mr. Ibarrola said. "That doesn't mean [the president] is going to militarize the country or turn into [Venezuelan President] Hugo Chávez, or George Bush for that matter, who also dressed up in a military uniform."
Defense Minister Guillermo Galván Galván said during Mr. Calderón's visit to the troops in Michoacán this month that the military is loyal to its commander-in-chief and to the Mexican people.
"We have a great commitment to society, to recover the sense of security in our nation," Gen. Galván said. "This is an urgent task, as our supreme commander has stressed to us from the first minute he assumed the nation's highest office."
Mr. Ibarrola said the 200,000-strong army is susceptible to corruption, although the last several presidents have used the armed forces to destroy drug crops and to help arrest drug lords without widespread charges of corruption.
The few generals who have been jailed for helping the traffickers, including the former drug czar, remain in prison with little prospect of getting out. Another general held on drug charges died in the brig. That harsh justice remains a deterrent, Mr. Ibarrola said.
Government officials said privately that Mr. Calderón's brief use of a military uniform during a visit to Michoacán was more than anything to send a message of solidarity to the troops, like commanders-in-chief do around the world.
"It's a message to the military," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "These guys really put their lives in danger."
Internal polls indicate that Mr. Calderón's use of the military against drug traffickers is highly popular among Mexicans, the official said.
About 2,500 people died in drug-related violence last year, according to a tally kept by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal. A small number were military personnel. Many were police, but most were drug operatives.
Mexico was dominated by military presidents from the 1810 Independence War through the 1910 Mexican Revolution and up until 1946, when civilians took over. The military has remained loyal to civilian control of the government, sparing Mexico the army coups and civil bloodshed experienced by many Latin American countries during the last century.
The Mexican military's darkest hour in modern times was its role in quelling student protests and the fight against leftist rebels in the late 1960s and '70s.
Mr. Calderón said upon taking office Dec. 1 that his first three priorities would be security, anti-poverty programs and jobs.
In recent days, he has moved on from security issues and photo opportunities with the troops to his anti-poverty agenda, announcing a new program that gives government health care to all newborn children and continues for the rest of their lives.
Likewise, the government is targeting the 100 poorest communities in the country to increase levels of nutrition, health, education and employment, affecting about 1 million people.
But the military and its actions against drug traffickers are likely to be in the spotlight for some time. Already, troops are concentrating in the Pacific Coast resort of Acapulco for what appears to be an imminent launch of Mr. Calderón's "joint operation" crackdown against drug traffickers there.
Media reports Friday said there also were troop movements in the northern state of Sinaloa, the base of the Sinaloa cartel, which is locked in a fierce turf war with the Nuevo Laredo-based Gulf cartel and its paramilitary enforcement arm, the Zetas.
Mr. Ibarrola said it was only a matter of time before army troops and federal police headed to Nuevo Laredo on the Mexico-Texas border, given the ongoing level of drug violence and almost daily killings there.
"Nuevo Laredo is brutal," said Mr. Ibarrola. "With the things that are going on there, we are sure to see [a joint operation] there and eventually all around the country."
liliff@dallasnews.com |
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