| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2009 
US Needs to Boost Fight Against Drugs in Mexico, Marti Says
 Valerie Rota - Bloomberg
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| | Alejandro Marti, Mexican businessman and owner of a chain of sporting-goods stores, and his wife, Mati Haik, attend a memorial Mass on Monday to honor their son Fernando Marti, 14, who was kidnapped June 4. (Heriberto Rodriguez/Mcclatchy Newspapers) | |
The U.S. needs to step up its efforts in fighting drug trafficking organizations that operate in Mexico, said Alejandro Marti, the Mexican business executive whose son was kidnapped and killed last year.
Violence tied to drug cartels in Mexico would drop if the U.S. did a better job of curbing demand for Mexican drugs and stemming the flow of guns to the Latin American country, Marti said in a Feb. 3 interview at his Mexico City mansion.
“This is an issue of joint responsibility,” said Marti, the founder of sporting goods retailer Grupo Marti SAB. The government “is fighting the Mexican cartels that are born from demand and the cartels are fighting with the arms that they smuggle from the northern border.”
Drug-related deaths in Mexico surged to more than 5,000 last year as President Felipe Calderon’s crackdown on traffickers spurred infighting over smuggling routes. Mexican cartels have grown rich selling $13.8 billion a year worth of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines to users in the U.S., according to White House figures.
The escalation in drug-related violence in Mexico hasn’t discouraged foreign companies from investing in the country, Marti said. An estimated decline in foreign direct investment in Mexico this year and in 2008 is a result of the global financial crisis, he said.
Marti’s 14-year-old son, Fernando Marti, was abducted along with his driver and bodyguard in Mexico City by criminals dressed as federal police on June 4. The boy was killed and found stuffed in the trunk of a car on Aug. 1, even after his family had paid ransom to the kidnappers.
Marti founded SOS, an acronym in Spanish for Observation System for Citizen Safety, in November. The foundation is dedicated to improving security in Mexico.
To contact the reporter on this story: Valerie Rota in Mexico City at vrota1(at)bloomberg.net. |
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