| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexican Politicians Say They Are Winning Drug War
 Tom Ramstack - AHN News
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September 15, 2010
 |  | We are confident that Mexican authorities will continue making progress in [their] effort to dismantle drug trafficking organizations.
- Philip J. Crowley |  | | |
Mexico City - Mexican political leaders are saying they have turned the tide in their four-year drug war with the arrest of two of the country’s biggest cartel leaders in the past two weeks.
The arrests were praised by the U.S. government and brought predictions from business leaders that Mexico might now be able to regain foreign investment lost as the violence intensified.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said, “We are confident that Mexican authorities will continue making progress in [their] effort to dismantle drug trafficking organizations.”
However, some analysts say the arrested cartel leaders might be replaced soon by their subordinates who will continue the gangs’ drug smuggling and violence.
The hopeful outlook from Mexican leaders followed the arrest Sunday of Sergio Villareal Barragan, leader of the Beltran-Leyva cartel that operated throughout central Mexico.
Two weeks earlier, his rival for control of the cartel’s smuggling operations, Edgar Valdez Villareal, was arrested during a traffic stop outside Mexico City.
Both of the reputed organized crime leaders were known for their ruthlessness, which included grisly assassinations, bribery of government officials and intimidation of witnesses.
Neither of them offered resistance, which is a big change from the deadly shootouts that accompanied earlier arrests of cartel members since the war started in December 2006.
Admiral Jose Luis Vergara, spokesman for the Mexican navy, said the arrests without violence show cartel leaders are learning they cannot win against the government by using violence.
The recent deaths in shootouts with Marines of cartel leaders Arturo Beltran and Ignacio Coronel “created a watershed” that has taught criminals “that the federal government has the superiority to ensure” it will win, Vergara said during a press conference.
Mexican news reports speculated initially after Barragan’s arrest that information from Villareal in exchange for leniency by prosecutors helped Marines close in on the cartel leader’s hideout in the city of Puebla.
After Barragan was paraded in front of the news media, Mexican police said the arrest capped a 10-month investigation that did not include information from Villareal.
The investigation included tips from U.S. and Colombian intelligence agencies.
State Department spokesman Crowley said the arrest reflects “both the determination by the United States and the determination, in particular, by the Mexican government under the leadership of President [Felipe] Calderon.”
Mexican business leaders are saying their government’s recent successes against the cartels could give business owners the confidence they need to resume hiring and investment.
Alfonso Diez Rubio, president of the central Mexican state of Durango’s coordinating council, said one of the best ways of ensuring security is by creating jobs.
“If people are busy and have a new mentality,” the economy can succeed, Diez Rubio said.
However, he said the drug war has created hardships for businesses, which now need government assistance.
“The situation is difficult, which means more support is needed,” Diez Rubio said.
But some political analysts say recent arrests of cartel leaders are only a short-term victory.
Calderon is following a strategy of trying to snuff out the drug cartels by getting rid of their leaders. Colombia used the same strategy 20 years ago to get rid of its cocaine cartels.
However, Colombia had two drug cartels while Mexico has seven, each with their own smuggling routes and supplies.
In addition, the Mexican cartels operate in sub-units, or cells, that are less dependent on kingpins to give them orders, according to analysts.
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