Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The U.S.-Mexican drug war

Andrew Selee, David Shirk, and Eric Olson pen an op-ed in the Miami Herald entitled "Five Myths About Mexico's Drug War."  I would be annoyed with the headline (which is something newspapers--not authors--generate).  Given the fact that the demand for drugs is overwhelmingly in the United States, this is hardly "Mexico's" drug war.  I've seen other similar headlines, and they provide American readers with a false sense that the violence is unrelated to the U.S.

Regardless, the five myths are worth noting:

1. Mexico is descending into widespread and indiscriminate violence

So Mexico is not a failing state.

2. The Mexican government lacks the resources to fight the cartels

It is more a matter of strategy than of money.

3. Endemic corruption allows the cartels to flourish

Their point is that there does exist a concerted effort to combat corruption.

4. Drug violence is a Mexican problem, not a U.S. one

Unfortunately contradicted by the headline.

5. Mexican drug violence is spilling over into the United States

This one rings less true.  There is a tremendous amount of violence in the U.S. related to drugs transshipped through Mexico, even if it is not as open and extreme as many recent cases in Mexico (such as beheadings).

3 comments:

Otto 7:48 AM  

wow, yet another post that has to include the US's view of LatAm else feel unable to exist.....

Defensores de Democracia 10:33 AM  

The Daily Media Masturbators : Cretins talking about Mexico's Fall to scare idiots - History of Colombian Capos and how they were defeated

Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha ( Alias El Mexicano ), Super billionaire Colombian Powerful Capo with dozens of big luxurious country houses was killed in 1989, from a cinematographic persecution with fast boats and helicopters, other criminals including his son died with him in this adventure in the beaches of Colombia, close to Cartagena. El Mexicano's bathroom faucets and taps were made of pure gold, and the metal pieces of the toilets too !!

Pablo Escobar was killed in year 1992, so the Colombian Government concentrated on the Cali Cartel.

In a few years "El ajedrecista" Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and his brother where in jail. Both are in U. S. Jails now.

All these years the Colombian Government has exported lesser capos, men of less criminal power to the USA. Cargos of 20 narcos have arrived to Miami in a single DEA Airplane, all of them in chains.

The extradiction has proved to be the best weapon against Narcos.

Mexico is many times richer than Colombia.... in Economic Terms .... It is a country with a richer culture and cultural life than the South American Nation.

So I have said for years that Mexico is not going to fall ....

Enter Racist Bigots like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh and other less important demagogues and populists.

These people live on Hate, Fear, Paranoia, scaring fools, promoting Jingoism and UberPatriotism, that is the most foolish kind of Chauvinism and Nationalism. But can make a rich man of a perfect cretin like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh.

They are interested in keeping an audience of "Confirmation Bias" and "Bias Confirmation" .... Fools interested in their daily masturbation of Fox News or Rush Explosions of Macho Cowboyness.

I hope that Intelligent People realize how foolish is to believe that a nation with so many resources of Honesty and Integrity as Mexico can fall pray to a few scoundrels.

If Colombia survived and defeated the Narcos and the Guerrillas ( in a 90% ) then why not Mexico ??

The Narcos that survive in Colombia are small operations, or jungle operations.

And the Media Masturbators are a bunch of undercover hypocrite racists.

Raciality.com


Vicente Duque

Fabio,  7:05 PM  

Hey Vicente: Just a casual thought from a passerby who happens to enjoy this blog. Do you think you can 1) let a single post pass without responding 2) post a response that does not require scrolling, and 3) quit promoting your own blog (which no one is probably reading because they're reading Greg's blog instead)? I cannot possibly be the only one who finds your piggy-backing self-promotion irritating.

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