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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2007 
US Must Help More in Drug War, Says Calderón
 Adam Thomson - Financial Times
| | 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) |
The Mexican government has sent the strongest message in years to the US that it must do “a lot more” to help its neighbour in the fight against drugs.
In the first published interview with the foreign press since he became president, Felipe Calderón told the FT: “The US is jointly responsible for what is happening to us... in that joint responsibility the American government has a lot of work to do. We cannot confront this problem alone.”
That blunt message to the US government follows Mr Calderón’s decision several weeks ago to launch a head-to-head war against drugs organisations in Mexico. Since taking office on December 1, the 44-year-old centre-right technocrat has deployed thousands of troops to several states across the country to combat the illicit trade.
In recent years, Mexico, which shares a 2,000-mile border with the US, has become an important supplier of drugs to the US market.
At the same time it has suffered ever-increasing levels of violence as gangs compete for a share of the lucrative business, which experts say is worth billions of dollars a year.
Several months ago, Mexicans were horrified when a number of severed heads – victims of feuding between rival gangs – were washed up on the tourist-filled beaches of Acapulco, one of the country’s best-known resorts and a popular destination for US holidaymakers.
“I was very concerned about the growth of drugs-related violence and the existence of criminal groups trying to take over control of entire regions,” said Mr Calderón.
So far, Mr Calderón’s decision to take the war to the drugs gangs has gone down well with both Washington and the Mexican people – on New Year’s day Mr Calderón even appeared in battle fatigues during a visit to one of the army’s counter-narcotics operations.
But it is not so clear that the US administration will welcome his demands for more money and assistance. Mr Calderón did not say how much the US should contribute to his efforts but he said the cost would be “perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars or even billions”.
It will almost certainly also set off alarm bells with many Mexicans concerned about issues of national sovereignty. The acceptance, for example, of foreign troops in Mexico and particular kinds of military aid are carefully framed by national law.
In the remarkably frank interview, Mr Calderón, who won last July’s disputed election by a razor-thin margin, stopped short of saying exactly what form the aid should take.
He also said he was aware of how sensitive the issue was. “It is a very controversial topic among Mexicans and one has to tread with caution.”
But Mr Calderón added: “We have to work out a mechanism that implies that, without giving up or ceding an inch of Mexican sovereignty, we have the understanding and the collaboration of intelligence and sufficient resources from the country that, at the end of the day, is a fundamental cause of the problem.” |
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