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 Editorials | Issues | February 2008 
Drug Czar Says U.S. Use Fueling Mexico Violence
 Alfredo Corchado - The Dallas Morning News
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 |  | Officials say $14 billion spent each year on drugs fueling Mexican violence. |  | | | |
Ciudad Juárez, Mexico – American drug users are paying ruthless Mexican kingpins nearly $14 billion annually for their meth, heroin, cocaine and especially marijuana – monies that are helping fund an unprecedented bloody turf war that's threatening Mexican institutions, the White House drug czar said.
John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said marijuana, not heroin or cocaine, is the "bread and butter," "the center of gravity" for Mexican drug cartels that every year smuggle tons of it through the porous U.S.-Mexico border.
Of the $13.8 billion that Americans contributed to Mexican drug traffickers in 2004-05, about 62 percent, or $8.6 billion, comes from marijuana consumption.
These are the only figures available, because this was the first time the agency conducted a market analysis, a spokesman said.
"The ability to have people purchase arms, corrupt institutions and pay assassins is fueled by the dollars of marijuana users in the United States, which is a huge, huge part of the detonator of crime and terror you're seeing across Mexico, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border," Mr. Walters said in a telephone interview with The Dallas Morning News from Baja California, where he's meeting with Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora.
On Thursday, federal authorities returned to a Juárez warehouse where last month they confiscated 1.7 tons of marijuana. Authorities declined to comment, but one official speaking on condition of anonymity said they were digging for possible human remains.
Early Thursday, authorities began moving in heavy machinery and trained dogs.
"Like in many homes in Juárez, the speculation is that there are bodies buried there," a city official said on condition of anonymity. "But until now, nothing is confirmed."
Mr. Walters expects violence to increase in the months ahead, as powerful cartels feel squeezed and their profits threatened by President Felipe Calderón's strategy, which includes deploying more than 30,000 soldiers across the nation in an effort to dismantle the cartels' organizational structures, create internal strife and disrupt their distribution routes.
But Mr. Walters stressed that Americans, both consumers and elected leaders, need to do more to help Mexico, in part by approving the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative. That proposal, awaiting U.S. congressional approval, calls for the U.S. government to provide increased services and equipment to help Mexico take on cartels.
"Shame on us if we don't take advantage of this historic opportunity," Mr. Walters said. "There are things we can do to help as partners and ensure that we have a secure, prosperous neighbor."
Drug demand in the U.S. continues to fall, Mr. Walters said, but consumer awareness about the economic ripple effects and increased potency of marijuana needs to increase, he said.
"What you are choosing to do when you consume these dead-end drugs, particularly marijuana, is you're choosing to buy the guns that kill people not just along the border, but throughout Mexico, guns that kill law enforcement authorities, civilians and threaten fundamental Mexican institutions," Mr. Walters added. "It seems not too much to ask these consumers who are making these people powerful, 'Is that something you're OK with?' "
Mr. Walters' assessment comes as Ciudad Juárez and other communities bordering Texas grapple with fierce violence.
Already, more than 300 people in Mexico have been killed this year, more than 60 in the Juárez area. The majority of those homicides are tied to drug traffickers caught in a power struggle for control of distribution corridors to such U.S. cities as Angeles and Dallas.
The Juárez region is the gateway of the so-called Golden Triangle, formed by the northern states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua, which account for most of the marijuana cultivation, according to U.S. and Mexican drug enforcement officials.
Over the last two years, more than 5,000 people have been killed throughout Mexico.
Decapitations have become common, as well as disseminating videos documenting gruesome deaths, including "narco messages" to threaten rivals, the government and terrorize U.S. and Mexican citizens.
The spillover of violence continues, as well as pervasive corruption on both sides of the border.
Increasingly, civilians have been caught in the crossfire, as in a recent shooting here over a busy weekend when an elderly woman was injured during a shootout and two suspected drug traffickers were killed.
Earlier in the week, Mr. Calderón, speaking in Monterrey, said that the country has "suffered losses," but "that's because we're confronting organized crime like never before. ... If you see dust fly, it's because we're hard at work, cleaning our house."
Mr. Walters praised Mr. Calderón and said, "We all need to come to grips that American consumers are funding this violence. We share responsibility, and we need to do more to help."
acorchado(at)dallasnews.com |
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