| | |  Editorials | Opinions 
U.S. Dollars Alone Will Not End the Drug War in Mexico
 Jerry Brewer - mexidata.info
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March 29, 2010
 |  | Let us think ahead to the thoughts of strengthening civilian law enforcement institutions in Mexico. |  | | |
To end the violent carnage and war-like atrocities that are routinely occurring across the U.S. border, in our neighboring nation of Mexico, requires much more than U.S. funding. The recent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton-led delegation of senior U.S. officials to Mexico was an honest start in eyeball to eyeball attention and accountability.
The US$1.4 billion three year aid package (Merida Initiative) brought by President George W. Bush formally ends after this year. Continuing to toss dollars with the simple mandate to “keep attacking” is worrisome, especially to the survivors of the 18,000 victims killed in the violence.
The correlated murderous rampage includes a U.S. spillover, with cross-border assassins that carry U.S. passports and assimilate with their counterparts nationwide. Their euphemistically described travel luggage — a blend and well-coordinated cache of superior weaponry. Too, they are composed of persons from other Latin American nations, as well as those with U.S. citizenship. This has been the case for well over five years.
Is Mexico losing this war? Certainly not.
In fact, it is a profound insult, especially by any U.S. official, to declare this. President Felipe Calderon has met and taken the war directly back to the cartels head-on. This action obvious when reports of cartel organizations describe paying demonstrators to protest the military involvement. And it is ludicrous to believe, at this time, that there is any other enforcement arm inherent in Mexico’s arsenal of security cadre other than the military to confront the type of weaponry used against them and their citizens.
While one can simply call the death and destruction in Mexico a drug war between rival factions, those that connect the dots see all of this as clear acts of terrorism within the true definition. Reminiscent of the battles that have occurred in Baghdad, police are routinely targeted and blown up as the weak link in a stand of defense. The police forces were never designed or prepared for such an onslaught.
And now, police in the U.S. are being threatened by drug cartels and their gang enforcement arms. As well, you can bet they will be well-armed to carry out their threats.
Mexican authorities have asked Washington for help, citing the flow of weapons and bulk cash smuggled from the U.S. to fuel the flames. The two sides have tentatively agreed to step up joint planning and cooperation to “prevent illegal movement of drugs and weapons across the border, and to tackle money laundering and share intelligence.” What’s new? A further initiative attributed to Secretary Clinton is that “both governments would focus more on building sound institutions and stronger communities.” They also said the nations would study drug consumption.
The session by the delegation was described as part of a series of annual anti-crime strategies. Long range planning is good, but it is not going to stem the flow of blood and continued misery that crosses borders daily.
Perhaps Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, has a much more, although concealed, thought of proactive, tactical, and strategic intervention and interdiction. He may have to keep it to himself in frustrating political correctness circles. Admiral Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is certainly also one that can understand what the Mexican military is facing. After all, both of these tenured professionals think much further ahead of just stronger communities and drug consumption studies.
Let us then think ahead to the thoughts of strengthening civilian law enforcement institutions in Mexico. We might also consider the thoughts of U.S. civilian law enforcement SWAT teams in our own country tackling the drug cartel’s arsenals of light anti-tank (LAW) weapons, hand grenades (fragmentation and rocket propelled), and other armor-piercing munitions. The Mexican police did not stand (literally) long for this. The military subsequently got the task handed to them and they have paid with their lives. Yet, Mexico’s drug hierarchy has continued to be pruned, they are on the run, and fractions of disrupted cartel organizations flee and attack in retaliation like rodents.
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has made several trips to the border in recent months to discuss “community policing techniques” with Mexican authorities. Secretary Clinton sort of summed up the dilemma: “Our goal in this intensive consultation is to see what works and pursue it, and to see what doesn’t and improve it.”
Political types have described the violence in Mexico as “primarily a reaction against the efforts of the Mexican government to take on the cartels and battle the organized crime, corruption, and violence that comes with the illegal drug trade.” That about sums it up.
Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida. His website is located at www.cjiausa.org. |
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