| | |  Editorials | October 2008 
Independence Day Attack Unifies Mexico Against Drug Violence
 Marcelo Ballvé - World Politics Review
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 |  | We are not against those who with law-abiding effort and work generate riches and jobs, but rather those who amass great illegal fortunes overnight.
- Andrés Manuel López Obrador |  | | | |
Mexico's drug violence reached a peak on Sept. 15, the eve of Independence Day, when a grenade attack on civilians bloodied a historic plaza in Morelia, capital of Michoacan state. But the very ferocity of the attack has managed to unite Mexican society against organized crime to an unprecedented degree. Coming on top of the roughly 3,800 murders attributed to drug violence just this year, the attack, which killed eight people and injured over 100, triggered a public outcry and a rare moment of national consensus.
In its aftermath, even left-leaning opposition leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President Felipe Calderón's most virulent critic, has softened his combative posture. For the first time in recent memory, López Obrador made a speech on Sept. 28 in which he didn't refer to Calderón as an "espurio" (a derogatory term roughly meaning "illegitimate"), according to Mexico City daily El Universal. The insult refers to to the bitterly contested 2006 presidential elections, which Calderón narrowly won, but which López Obrador insists were fraudulent.
Toning down his populism, López Obrador was also careful to distinguish between Mexico's entrepreneurial class (Calderón's base) and the rampant corruption that fuels drug violence. "We are not against those who with law-abiding effort and work generate riches and jobs," he declared, "but [rather] those who amass great illegal fortunes overnight."
But more important than the temporarily softened rhetoric (soon afterwards, López Obrador referred to Calderón as an "usurper") was his party's support in pushing through crime-fighting legislation. López Obrador's Revolutionary Democratic Party joined Calderón's center-right National Action Party (PAN) and the centrist opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party in signing a pact committing them to close cooperation in strengthening security in all of Mexico's jurisdictions, be they federal, state, or local.
By implication, that increases the opposition parties' commitment to the government's surge strategy - involving thousands of police officers, as well as military units and specialized task forces, all backed by $400 million in American funding through the Merida Initiative - in an effort to quell the drug violence. In the past, the opposition has taken issue with U.S. involvement and creeping militarization, and asked for a greater emphasis on economic equality and social programs.
"It's time to maintain unity around our republican institutions," read a joint statement issued by the three parties, reflecting Mexicans' fears that the very state is in danger from the drug gangs' corrosive effect. "It's also time to defend and improve our democratic order and the rule of law in which all Mexicans should coexist."
PAN leader Germán Martínez Cázares, speaking on W Radio, called the pact "unprecedented" and said it demonstrated "clear signs of unity." Whether or not the alliance is long lasting, political analysts believe a package of penal reforms Calderón has sent to Congress in order to improve police and judicial effectiveness will pass, despite his recent weakness in polls and lack of a legislative majority, which has hobbled past reform efforts. The new initiatives include a consolidated federal crime database, a single training and certification program for law enforcement officers, and mandatory rehabilitation for drug offenders.
Carlos Slim, the normally tight-lipped telecom billionaire who for a time was the richest man in the world, felt it necessary to publicly express his backing of Calderón's post-Morelia actions. "He's doing what is adequate," Slim told a group of foreign correspondents. Instead of blaming government incompetency or corruption for the mafia problem, Slim mentioned that much of the weaponry involved in Mexico's violence flows in from the United States.
And in the Diario de Xalapa, Carlos Monsiváis, Mexico's most respected intellectual and a government critic not given to rosy pronouncements, pointed to the Mexicans' unified repudiation of the narco-violence as a silver lining. "I see the unanimous rejection of those acts as a positive sign," he said, "proving that there's a moral and ethical resistance, which has to be encouraged."
Marcelo Ballvé is a journalist and commentator who divides his time between New York and Latin America. |
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