It will be high on the news budget the next few days as the visit of the Secretary of State and her assemblage of experts are pursued by a horde of reporters. No doubt, the focus will be on the drug war and the misplaced notion that somehow Mexico is close to being a failed state.
It's a nice comfortable cliché, but nonsense. With a population in excess of 110 million, 70 percent of it in the country's major cities, the problem still is a relatively isolated one. Unquestionably, the situation still can get out of hand. But those of us who have spent any time south of the border know that the gut issue is north of it. That is the uncomfortable word hardly mentioned at all... consumption. Not just by the petty punks and gangs on the streets of our inner cities, but the drug users in our upscale offices and neighborhoods that seem immune to prosecution.
We can only hope that when Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon sit down in private with their experts some serious solutions to the burgeoning crisis will emerge. President Obama will undoubtedly experience the same reality check when he visits Mexico next month. But the truth is that until the widespread usage of drugs in the United States is curtailed sharply, there can be no realistic or substantive solution to the problem inside Mexico. The drug market has to be dried up from California to New York and wherever else the cartel can thrive on its American customers. Unfortunately, it raises all kinds of uncomfortable issues for the U.S. Congress having to do with crime and punishment, civil liberties and gun control that have been ignored politically year after year.
Washington and law enforcement agents on our side of the border must shut down the countless gun shops and their owners who arm the Mexican mafia. But it takes the will to do so and at a time when the United States is burdened with so many other priorities. It's difficult to imagine how high the Mexican crisis can be placed on President Obama's agenda.
The narcotraficantes, safely ensconced along the Mexican border and the country's northern states, are bloodthirsty gangsters.They protect their deadly racket by terrorizing those Mexican police or drug enforcement agents who get in their way. Murder and torture are two of their favorite forms of coercion. They will use unemployed workers and gullible teenagers to help defend their turf no matter how many guns, helicopters and money the Obama administration delivers to Mexico's law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, there's no escaping a historic reality. Mexico's cops have always been grossly underpaid with salaries ranging from 10 thousand dollars a year in the rural parts of the country and somewhat higher but measly wages in the larger cities. The pay is hardly enough to support their large and economically-depressed families and the inevitable consequence is widespread corruption.
The cops' collusion with the drug cartel is one of the problems the Mexican government knows it must address. But let's not go overboard. There is a tendency to exaggerate our neighbor's problem that unfortunately draws comparisons with Iraq, Afghanistan and a host of countries in Africa.
Writing in the March/April issue of Foreign Policy, journalist Sam Quinones says that "Mexico is wracked by a criminal-capitalist insurgency... that is fighting for its life and many Americans seem to have no idea of what's happening right next door."
That is not the Mexico I knew and which I saw as recently as four months ago during a visit. Nor is it the country that I became familiar with over many years as a professor and director of the University of Southern California's Center for International Journalism when I escorted American and Mexican journalists on summer-long fact-finding semesters. I remember all too clearly my months, living in the home of Vicki and Miguel P. in Morelia, while I improved my knowledge of Spanish at a local language institute. I spent weekends with their children, flying kites or trying my imperfect skills at soccer with them in a nearby park. I have fond memories of playing baseball with a group of youngsters on a sandlot in the outskirts of the city. Memories of renting a room in the home of a retired ambassador in Mexico City and of other years when I lived in various apartments in the capitol and commuted by subway, bus and taxi without any concern for my safety.
Certainly Mexico is an imperfect democracy, but change is underway as anyone knows who has watched the country changed politically from a one party to multiparty state. There was a time when the Mexican press almost always skirted coverage of the drug plague. But that too is changing. Its newspapers and television networks still have a long way before investigative journalism takes hold. One sign of change occurred when a number of Mexican journalists who were fellows in my USC graduate program joined with other civic-minded Mexicans to persuade former president Vicente Fox and the National Assembly to pass the country's first Freedom of Information Act. Nothing like it exists anywhere else in the rest of Latin America.
Mexico today is no longer the closed society it once was. At one point, the FOI's website attracted one million hits, satisfying a growing desire for accountability from the government and the people's right to know. It most assuredly is not the sign of a failed state that some Americans journalists are tempted to think of when they describe the country's drug problem.
I have walked the streets of Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, San Miguel de Allende and other cities, day or night. I have strolled the campuses of the capital's major universities and visited the offices of Mexico's corporate giants. I have brushed shoulders with urban Mexicans in their markets or watched them trying to eke out a living as hard-working entrepreneuers, Parents passed me by in my neighborhood, escorting their well-dressed children to school every morning. I rode shoulder to shoulder with Mexicans on the subways of the capitol. As I reflect on these vignettes of life in Mexico City, it is clear to me that the country has the desire to weather the drug storm that jeopardizes its stability. But it certainly needs American help, compassion and respect and a lot less cheap politicking about immigration. The ignorant notion that Mexicans "are taking our jobs" contradicts the reality of what makes the American economy tick. Until unions are restored to their rightful place, cheap labor will always energize our economy with workers who do not necessarily speak Spanish.
Those interested in the subject, should read an essay, entitled "The Mexican Evolution" in the New York Times by the distinguished historian, Enrique Krauze. I had the privilege of having him lecture to one of my classes of working journalists at El Colegio de Mexico some years ago.
"Washington," he says, "should support Mexico's war against the drug lords, first and foremost by recognizing its complexity. The Obama administration should recognize the considerable responsibility for Mexico's problems...." As Krause points out, no one thinks of the United States as a failed state. "Nor, for that matter did anyone ever see Al Capone and the criminal gangs of Chicago as representative of the entire country. For Mexico, as well, let's leave caricatures where they belong, in the hands of cartoonists."
James D. Zirin: Mexico -- Immigration Si; Corruption No
Mexico has a democratically elected government, and a relatively stable society, but the power of the drug cartels is formidable.
William Bradley: Obama and Mexico: Managing Incipient Chaos
Obama's measures will only manage the incipient chaos of Mexico's drug wars, not end it. Which has actually long been typical of America's policies with regard to Mexico.
Josh Sugarmann: 90 Percent of Mexican Crime Guns Come From U.S., Says GAO
So much for NRA chief Wayne LaPierre's oft-repeated claim that Mexican gun traffickers don't bother to "trifle with paperwork at U.S. gun stores."
Josh Sugarmann: Sorry NRA -- Mexican Gun Traffickers Buy American
Why are "Mexican drug lords who make Forbes magazine's list of billionaires" shopping for guns in the U.S.A.? Because they know a bargain when they see one.
Anyone willing to tackle reporting
How many of the "grand families'" that control Mexican Governement
Are also in cahoots with those "drug lords'?
Anyone?
" The two countries with the greatest concentration of wealth and the greatest number of billionaires in Latin America are Mexico and Brazil (77%), which are the two countries, which privatized the most lucrative, efficient and largest public monopolies. Of the total $157.2 billion USD owned by the 38 Latin American billionaires, 30 are Brazilians or Mexicans with $120.3 billion USD."
"The principal cause of poverty in Latin American is the very conditions that facilitate the growth of billionaires. In the case of Mexico, the privatization of the telecommunication sector at rock bottom prices, resulted in the quadrupling of wealth for Carlos Slim Helu, the third richest man in the world (just behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffet) with a net worth of $49 billion USD. Two fellow Mexican billionaires, Alfredo Harp Helu and Roberto Hernandez Ramirez benefited from the privatization of banks and their subsequent de-nationalization, selling Banamex to Citicorp."
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Petras_James/Global_Ruling_Class.html
After legalization, the cartels would still have to be taken down. They are sitting on piles of money that they would want to channel into other lucrative and presumably illegal areas, but that would be a different problem altogether.
People and some animals have changed their mood chemically for millions of years.
When children kill at school with assault weapons they have been taking antidepressants sold legally and use weapons sold legally in the US.
Follow the money and you might discover who the real criminals are. Sure, take down the cartels BY TREATING DRUG ADDICTION AS A MEDICAL PROBLEM. Where there is no profit, the pusher doesn't push.
Alcohol and cigarets are the most destructive of drugs and increase the cost of medical care to astronomical heights. Again. look who profits from addicting your children.
treating drug addictions as medical problem will not work when it comes to changing demand.
As far as the gun problems. Yes we would all be better off if we took all of the guns and dropped them to the bottom of the ocean, but that isnt possible in reality either.
but im sick of people blaming "America's appetite for drugs". That has always been the case, but the new behavior of the cartels and higher level of violence is what is garnering the attention now.
The war on drugs encourages this type of behavior. Our prisons are full of minor drug users while these guys just come and go, committing murder on the way out of the country.
It looks like from the articles and TV shows I have seen that prisons are understaffed and underfunded just like every other major business, this is to maximize profits.
There is little or no "drug-related violence" in Mexico. There is way too much "money-related violence" in Mexico.
The violence is the direct result of poverty and prohibition.
Legalize drugs, and watch the violence evaporate overnight.
Narco-terrorism would vanish tomorrow. Don't people realize that opium funds the Taliban and AQ?
Of course it won't be easy, and will take considerable courage, but the alternative is to continue to fight an unwinnable war. Have we learned so little from the Prohibition experiment?
When you see lions on the African Plains hunting, who do they go after? Always the weakest and most vulnerable. Why is that? Because it is easy. It's the same concept with the cops. Why in the hell would you want to actually investigate a crime when you can go down to the ghetto and just pick up some poor guy, most likely a minority, for possession. As a cop, you are much more likely to get a conviction (and that's the name of the game) on that poor, minority, drug user who is probably only represented by an overworked public defender than a lawyered up white collar criminal or just a white criminal in general.
Peace
Mexico's stability is not in question. The drug related violence is, with a few scattered exceptions, primarily a US Border related issue. In a large city like Guadalajara, isolated violent crimes occur at a rate similar to that which has occured at other times. The US mass media is blowing the story out of proportion.
"The ignorant notion that Mexicans "are taking our jobs" contradicts the reality of what makes the American economy tick".
They harvest the food most of you eat.
I've lived in Mexico since 1974 (over half of my life) and I consider Mexico to be the country that has changed most over the last 20 years without falling apart. It's electoral system is now far superior to that of the USA, Agrarian Land laws help minimize land speculation, capital punishment doesn't exist and Mexico doesn't invade other countries.
In short - it's far from perfect but poses no threat to the USA, which could make a greater effort to understand and collaborate with it's neighbor to the south for the good of both countries.
Well, guess what; that (reduction in demand) ain't gonna happen.
And, the premise is wrong; there CAN be a realistic, substantive solution to the (drug-related violence) problem inside Mexico WITHOUT curtailing widespread usage of drugs in the USA. It's called decriminalization.
.
I have spent 13 years documenting this country in words and images. I have lived in Guanajuato and have painstakingly learned the language. I have immersed myself in its culture and have come to love its people and their gentle ways. I am also aware of the underbelly of this country, " those dark corners" which give rise to fear and sensationalism. And, yes, many are quite true.
As Krauze so eloquently points out, Mexico is a young democracy. So is America. We have a great deal to sort out on both sides of the border. Endless layers must be peeled away and then made whole again so Mexico can rise to its fullest potential.
And it will.
I take every opportunity to defend "my second home" to those who have formed opinions without understanding.
Allow me to paraphrase the words of Krauze in closing: " Mexico is a tolerant state....it is without racial hatred." I pray that the enlightened readers of the Huffington Post will be exposed to more articles like Mr. Fromson's, and begin to embrace our friends on " La Linea".
I've long dismissed cocaine use as..whatever...I don't do it...cause I like to sleep too much...but, with the exponential rise in violence...I've concluded...that, unless and until drugs are legalized (and heavily regulated)....the White collar user...MUST suffer big consequenses...yes...the Movie Stars..the occasionals party "user".... all are part of this sad problem.. Hilary was brave (and I'm not a huge fan of hers)..when she said "yes...the US holds
I am glad that you had the opportunity to experience Guanajuato. Colonial Mexico, the heartland of this country, is rich with heritage and a true jewel of a very proud country.
Actually it would be wonderful if you told others about this beautiful pueblo. There is no time for secrets.
Many of my Mexican friends were thrilled with Enrique Krauze's New York Times article, feeling that at last, someone was speaking for them withTruth.
That will never happen. Better look for a "Plan B".
Like many others posting here, I believe legalization of cannabis would take the wind out of most of those evil drug cartels' sails. As long as weed is a big-money cash crop, it will fuel big-money crime syndicates. When everyone can grow it in his back yard, the price will bottom out. Prohibition makes millionaires.
Then stop selling guns.
While I too believe that cannabis legalization would be a positive step, it's pretty much a non issue in the Mexican drug cartel situation, it's coke, smack and meth that's fueling the violence.
40% from Mexico
45% grown in the US
5% from Canada
10% from other places
It's more like a plurality.
Peace
From this article, "But the truth is that until the widespread usage of drugs in the United States is curtailed sharply, there can be no realistic or substantive solution to the problem inside Mexico."
This is not not even a possibility much less a 'truth'.
Flash forward to TODAY...heroin usage is UP on Long Island---and the day after Barack got into office they were selling that crap openly on the streets of Manhattan!!
Legalize and put a program similar to what they have in the U.K. and we can say *sayonara* to both our drug "problem" AND the Taliban...OUR Victorian taboos RE: drug usage just don't work anymore, not that they ever did
The problem is not consumption
The problem is criminalization