Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
This week, high-level US and Mexican officials spoke out in favor of Plan Mérida, the three-year, $1.4 billion anti-drug package designed to assist the Mexican government in its ongoing battle with violent drug trafficking organizations. But at the same time officials like Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were visiting Latin America to seek support for the plan, at a forum on drug policy in Culiacán, Sinaloa, home of one of the most feared of the drug trafficking groups, the Sinaloa Cartel, there was little but criticism of the proposed aid package.
RÃodoce cover -- Sinaloa keeps bleeding. Why more (soldiers)?
But despite the massive military deployments in border cities from Tijuana in the west to Reynosa and Matamoros in the east, as well as in the states of Guerrero, Michoacán, and Sinaloa -- all traditional drug-producing areas -- and the high praise from Washington, Calderon's drug war has not gone well. Roughly 2,000 people were killed in Mexico's drug war last year, and with this year's toll already approaching 1,000, 2008 looks to be even bloodier. Yet the flow of drugs north and guns and cash south continues unimpeded.
Bush administration and Mexican officials met over a period of months last year and early this year to craft a joint response that would see $500 million a year in assistance to Mexico, primarily in the form of helicopters and surveillance aircraft. Known as Plan Mérida, after the Mexican city in which it took final form, the assistance package is now before the US Congress.
Congressional failure to fund the package would be "a real slap at Mexico," Secretary of Defense Gates said in Mexico City Tuesday as he met with General Guillermo Galván, the Mexican defense minister, Government Secretary Juan Mouriño, and Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa. "It clearly would make it more difficult for us to help Mexican armed forces and their civilian agencies deal with this difficult problem," he told reporters.
The same day, Attorney General Mukasey was in San José, Costa Rica, where in a speech to justice ministers from across the hemisphere, he, too, urged Congress to approve the aid package. Drugs, gangs, and violent crime on the border are "a joint problem -- and we must face it jointly," he said. "By working together, we can strengthen the rule of law and the administration of justice, and we can combat transnational criminal threats," Mukasey said.
That is what the Mexican government wants to hear. It negotiated the aid package, and although President Calderón's ruling National Action Party (PAN) does not hold a majority in the Mexican congress, it can count on the support of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on the aid deal. Of the three major parties in the Mexican congress, only the left-leaning Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) is raising concerns about the package, but the PRD is not strong enough in the congress to block it.
But while official Mexico may want passage of the package, a number of Mexican intellectuals, academics, political figures, and former military officers attacked the plan to beef up the Mexican military for US drug war aims at a forum this week at the International Forum on Illicit Drugs hosted by the Culiacán weekly newsmagazine RÃodoce.
"The US wants to fight drugs, crime, and terrorism. Bush and Calderón have been talking about a new Plan Colombia, but the anti-drug policies pursued so far have been a failure," said RÃodoce managing editor Ismael Bojórquez, as he opened the conference. "The phenomenon of drug trafficking is very complex and reaches deeply into the fabric of our society. The system benefits from the drug trade; the profits from it enter into our economy and have benefited many businesses. Few sectors have been able to resist the easy money. In a country that has not been able to improve conditions for poor Mexicans, the drug trade is an attractive alternative," he explained.
"Our government has authorized the use of federal police and even soldiers to attack the drug trade, but this strategy is mistaken and the government has wasted million of dollars that could have gone to productive ends," Bojórquez added.
"Our foreign policy has been subordinated to that of the Americans, the policemen of the world," said Mexican political figure Jorge Ãngel Pescador Osuna, the former Mexican consul general in Los Angeles. "Fortunately, this Plan Mérida initiative has yet to be approved by the US Congress, and hopefully, the voice of Mexico will be heard in this debate. We think there are real solutions that are within the grasp of the government and civil society," he said.
"They want to spend $500 million the first year, half of which will go to buy military equipment and advanced technologies," said Pescador Osuna. "My first response is how nice. But then I have to ask why we should use the military in areas that are outside its competence. What we need here is to strengthen our democracy, and we will not accomplish that by using the military for civilian law enforcement."
"These kinds of anti-drug policies that focus on policing are overwhelmingly simplistic," concurred Colombian economist Francisco Thoumi, director of the Center for Drug and Crime Studies at the University of Rosario in Bogota. "They do not attack the problem at the base," he argued. "The drug trade is a capitalist industry, and it accepts the losses of interdiction and eradication as a cost of doing business. This kind of enforcement looks good on TV and makes politicians and police happy, but the industry goes on, and this doesn't solve the problem."
"The idea with this is to give power to the armed forces," said Luis Astorga, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City and head of a UNESCO program devoted to understanding the ramifications of the international drug trade. "Calderon is doing nothing more or less than reconfiguring the anti-drug struggle in Mexico by putting it in the hands of the military. One question is how long this will last," he noted.
General Francisco Gallardo, a leading advocate of human rights within the Mexican armed forces, was also critical. "The context for Plan Mérida is this new world order where the US struggle for hegemony with China and the European Union," he argued. "The US has militarized its foreign policy, and it wants us to militarize our drug enforcement. But the function of the army is to defend the sovereignty of the state, not to fight crime. That is the job of the police," he said.
"Involving the military under the auspices of Plan Mérida does not respond to Mexican interests," Gallardo said. "It has a bad effect on the institutional and judicial order of the nation. The soldiers who kill innocents are absolved; they have impunity," he said, citing the cases of several mass killings by soldiers in Sinaloa, including an incident in Santiago de Caballero in the mountains above Culiacán in late March, in which four unarmed young men in a Hummer were killed by soldiers on an anti-drug mission. "The drug trade is a matter for police and the justice system, not the military," Gallardo concluded.
While the Bush and Calderón administrations are seeking to steamroll opposition to the proposed aid package, it is clear that Plan Mérida is drawing heated criticism in Mexico. What is less clear is whether that opposition can successfully block the initiative on the Mexican side. Right now, the best prospects for that appear to lie in the US Congress.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Great piece.. now let's act!
Taking action against the Merida Initiative is simple:
1. Call the office of your representative and ask that the representative oppose the Merida Initiative. Use the talking points below. To reach the office, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your House or Senate member (give your state and zip code if you're not sure who it is).
2. Encourage key Congress members to take a stand against the Merida Initiative:
House
* Representative Elliot Engel (D-NY), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-225-2464
* Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee: 202-225-4695
* Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-225-6506
Senate
* Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-224-2823
* Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), Chair of the Foreign Relations committee: 202-224-5042
* Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-224-4242
friendsofbradwill.org
Mexicos war on drugs the Bush way!
Carpet bomb the entire area ,kill men,women,children,dogs,cats,and probably cartel members ,''that'' to me would be the Bush ''way to get it done,any tourists get killed must have been there to buy drugs,or they're guilty of something! I mean aren't we all?Then we can move on to other countries that even hint they have drugs because we all know ''That the American Pharmaceutical Co's are the only ones allowed to push drugs'' isn't that right !! O ne way or other the USA. is going to run this world!! Terrorists or drugs.....leaves China! I mean don't they pretty much own us?
In reply to Mexicos war on drugs the Bush way! by Anonymous (not verified)
In the eyes of...
"would be the Bush ''way to get it done,any tourists get killed must have been there to buy drugs,or they're guilty of something! I mean aren't we all?"
In the eyes of God, er... BUSH, we're ALL guilty! =P
Plan Merida?
I'm sorry, but when I read "Plan Merida", it just looks like "Plan Mierda" to me. Anyone else have this difficulty? My eyes just aren't what they used to be.
Here is THE solution to this problem
First, let us get real here. Plan Meridia is not about staunching the distribution of drugs: it is really about financing a trans national army that will be deployable in the US. Very bad idea, but absolutely consistent with our move toward a North America Union.
The article offers no solutions. Let me suggest one.
Completely Legalize Marijuana Cultivation for adults. The best model for this is the MERP Model (rhymes with burp). This will rob the cartels of a significant amount of money and act as a "gatekeeper" drug (e.g., having access to good Cannibis insulates users from interfacing with drug gangs etc.).
Next, write me in as next President of the United States:
BRUCE W. CAIN
After all, all 3 of these candidate are going to sell us out to the trans national corporations in 2009. I would start my administration by demanding that Cannibis be taken off the "Controlled Substances Act (1970)." Concurrent with that I would set up a special office to grant clemency to all non-violent Marijuana offences throughout the US. That would effectively end to War on Marijuana.
I also offer a "New Agenda for America" that would address a number of other important issues.
Here are some additional links for you to peruse:
The MERP Project
The Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy (MRP) Project
http://www.newagecitizen.com/ReLegalization01.htm
http://www.newagecitizen.com/editorial_on_the_marijuana_re.htm
Bruce W. Cain Discusses the MERP Model, for Marijuana Relegalization, with "Sense and Sensimilla"
http://senseandsensi.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=270029
Why Lou Dobbs Should Support Marijuana Legalization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKf5YfQb7s&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enewagecitizen%2Ecom%2F
Video Biography of Bruce W. Cain
http://www.newagecitizen.com/Videos.htm
How Continuing the Drug War could make Nuclear Terrorism a Reality
by Bruce W. Cain
http://www.newagecitizen.com/Editorials/v8n1NuclearTerrorism.htm
$1.5 billion won't help
Do you guys *really* think $1.5 billion is going to do *anything* to the TRILLION-DOLLAR a year tax-free revenue the black market makes?
LOL
Hint: Even if Bush sent $100 billion it would do NOTHING!
$1.5 billion is a drop in the bucket - useless. Little more than another wet dream.
fairminded
Exactamento...
Throwing more $$$ at the ,socalled drugwar, will only prompt the "other" side to do the same. This will lead to more blood being spilled. I believe the NorthAmericanAlliance conspiracy is real. When one can no long run to Canada or Mexico ,to get away, where are you going to go? You must be born ,you must then ,pay taxes, and then you must die,leaving what you may have left, to the state. Way to go big three! I feel so safe and connected now." TAKE A BITE OUTA CRIME", RELEGALIZE! Go for it, Bruce Cain.
Finally;
Some commonsense from Mexico.
Action needed
Taking action against the Merida Initiative is simple. And if you think that $1.5 billion is all they've got planned, you've another thing coming.
1. Call the office of your representative and ask that the representative oppose the Merida Initiative. Use the talking points below. To reach the office, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your House or Senate member (give your state and zip code if you're not sure who it is).
2. Encourage key Congress members to take a stand against the Merida Initiative:
House
* Representative Elliot Engel (D-NY), Chair of the Western Hemisphere subcommittee: 202-225-2464
* Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee: 202-225-4695
* Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY), Chair of the Foreign Operations subcommittee: 202-225-6506
Mexican Perspective
I'm a gringo LEAP member who lives down here. I have a few "policia" friends that I have occassional coffees with. I asked them what they thought of the Plan. They hadn't heard a word about it. And these are street cops!
So, I explain it to them and watch their eyes get larger and larger, then they all, as on que, squint. I asked, "How much will you see?"
Their united response? "No un peso!"
A couple thought I was joking them. I assured them I was not. Then one asked, "Why such a great country do such a stupid thing?"
Ever have one of those moments when you really are at a loss for words?
The rule of law
"By working together, we can strengthen the rule of law and the administration of justice, and we can combat transnational criminal threats," Mukasey said.
The only problem is that prohibition, by definition, is not the rule of law. It is the total abrogation of the range of democratic regulatory, licensing and taxing institutions that constitute the rule of law in a civil democratic society.
Prohibition is an absolutist authoritarianism that depends exclusively on police imposed intolerance in the place of civil democratic institutions of mutual consent.
plan merida
Well, what can we do guys? We really have got to do something to stop this money from arriving in Mexico. We also have got to unite and get people to actively persue drug legalization. We need to also show the U.S. senate all of the human rights abuses that the Mexican armed forces are commiting. Some examples are indiscriminate torture of peaceful civilians. Entrance of households without any type warrent. The killing of families and people just because they didn't stop at a checkpoint. Revisions of people just because they happen to be where the Mexican military is. It is wrong and frankly quite scary. We got to do something. Just look on the internet with the keywords "military abuse calderon" or in spanish "abusos militares contra narco calderon" get that evidence and try to get it relayed to people in Washington. We got to stop this.
Clowns
Let me see, you want to smoke weed, not get addicted, visit cancun with cheap airfare, buy cheap tomatoes and lettuce, and yes build a fence...Nice..
Sounds complicated, isn't this what the mexican government is trying to secure for you lame as ducks...
Sounds like the US needs to start paying for its share....about time...
drugs
ok guys just let know to the american people stop makig drugs (marijuana. cocaine,etc and the problem will be down.
It is absolutely right even
It is absolutely right even $100 billion would do nothing to the trillion-dollar a year tax-free revenue the black market makes!!! Each government who offense drug is worth praising, yet some of them will undoubtedly be blamed!
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