| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2009 
Mexico Applauded for War on Cartels
 Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | Barry R. McCaffrey, former U.S. drug czar | |
A retired U.S. Army general who late last year warned that Mexico is in danger of becoming a narco-state yesterday praised the country's efforts against drug traffickers.
Barry R. McCaffrey, former U.S. drug czar, lauded President Felipe Calderón and high-ranking members of his administration as he addressed the opening of the Latin American Energy Conference, an annual event organized by the Institute of the Americas at UCSD.
“These are people of enormous integrity and courage,” McCaffrey said, adding that U.S. support is critical in Mexico's struggle against drug cartels.
McCaffrey ruffled feathers in Mexico with his statements in December about Mexico's situation. In written remarks after a conference on security and drug trafficking, McCaffrey wrote that Mexico is “on the edge of an abyss” as drug consumption has increased, and that the country “could become a narco-state in the coming decade.”
Interviewed after yesterday's speech, McCaffrey sought to distance himself from his earlier remarks: “I think Mexicans respond badly to failed state, abyss, etc. and what we really want is not colorful metaphors, but engagement.”
McCaffrey, who is currently working as a consultant, said the $400 million annual U.S. allocation for Mexico's drug-fighting efforts under the Merida Initiative pales in comparison with the $12 billion spent monthly in Iraq and $2.4 billion a month in Afghanistan.
McCaffrey criticized Mexican officials who say their country's crime problem is no different than that of New Orleans or Washington, D.C.
“That is transparent nonsense,” he said. “That implies that squad-sized units of the police and army in the Washington, D.C., area or New Orleans are being abducted, tortured to death, decapitated, and their heads bowling-balled into cantinas.”
On both sides of the border, McCaffrey said, “there has been a denial . . . of the magnitude of the problem and the level of resources and commitment require to engage it.” |
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