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CARTOON TITLE: 'UNSTOPPABLE TRAFFIC'

MEXICAN MAN SAYS: 'IT'S ALRIGHT! THESE

ARE AIMED AT SOMEONE ELSE!'

[Excelsior, Mexico]

 

 

La Cronica de Hoy, Mexico

Educating Obama on Security and Cocaine

 

"What puts border security at risk is their drug habit … We have to carry the battle for the beleaguered image of Mexico directly to them. We cannot allow conservative people in the U.S. Congress to make mincemeat out of us without a show of resistance."

 

By Juan Manuel Asai

                                    

 

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

 

March 25, 2009

 

Mexico - La Cronica de Hoy - Original Article (Spanish)

Mexico and the United States are in the midst of defining times. What gets decided during the coming weeks will, for the foreseeable future, mark the way forward in bilateral relations. This will establish the basis of the agenda for the first Obama Administration, which ends in 2012 - a date that also marks the end of [President] Felipe Calderón's six years in office.

 

For this reason, it is practically impossible for both the media and the commentariat [talking heads] to escape the impact that the impending visits of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the superstars of U.S. politics, will have on our nation. Not everything depends on the secretary of state and president, but they are the two principal characters in the game - and both have great influence on Capitol Hill.

 

Hillary and Barack know little about Mexico, but they can learn quickly. They are intelligent people - well above average. They are both lawyers, one a Yale graduate, the other a Harvard man, which isn't too bad. They should have no problem - and in this they are unlike Bush - they can understand a fairly complex but well-posed argument. Neither are they trapped in conservative fundamentalisms, so there's room for debate, and some - albeit limited - opportunities for understanding.

 

TENSION BETWEEN TWO LOVERS

 

Our country's efforts must begin with the fact that for the U.S., the priority is the security of its borders. Of course the agenda between our two countries is quite extensive, including aspects of migration, labor, trade, tourism, culture, environmental protection, among others. And yet what motivates North American leaders is security - nothing else. No one disputes their right to provide security, much less after the attacks of September 11. For that reason we must show sympathy for their goals and explain to our guests - and to their press delegations, and through them, the U.S. public - in the clearest way possible with no nationalist outbursts or anger, that what puts border security at risk is their drug habit.   

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

'GROWTH IN TRADE'

[Excelsior, Mexico]

 

They can't have at once - which has been their desire - security and cocaine. This formula has dried up. It worked for a time, but not anymore. It's one or the other - but not both. The crisis in our mutual relations is due to the fact that a sector of the gringo establishment thinks that assets like the National Guard or Northern Command can ensure the continuation of this formula. They aren't bothered about taking potentially interventionist action or violating the sovereignty of our nation. It must be said, without raied voices, that the security of the southern border of the United States depends on reducing the consumer market for drugs.

 

Is it really that hard for the security infrastructure of the United States, with its advanced technology and well-trained forces, to stem the trafficking of weapons from their country into ours? Not in the least. It isn't easy to hide large shipments of assault rifles, fragmentation grenades and packages of millions of dollars. Is it really beyond the means of our neighbors to detect financial transactions made with money of dubious origin? The coca plant is found in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia and nowhere else; that is where the process begins. So why not stop the traffic at its point of origin?

 

The same applies to the interior of Mexico. We cannot end drug trafficking or the street violence it generates - along with the executions of rival gang members and the alarming deterioration of the social fabric - if we don't address consumption. As long as there are those who want to buy, there will be those who will sell. I'm not saying to throw them all in prison, but even in the media there is no serious campaign to explain the social cost to consumers. Just as the number of consumers has risen, it can also shrink.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

La Jornada, Mexico: Washington's Strategy of 'Chaos and Intervention' in Mexico

La Jornada, Mexico: Calderon's Bush-Style Militarization of Mexican Politics

Excelsior, Mexico: Mexico Needs 'Deeds, Not Words' From Obama White House

El Universal , Mexico: How Mexico Could Legalize Pot - Whether U.S. Likes it or Not

Excelsior, Mexico: As Blood Flows, U.S. Gets Serious About the Battle for Mexico

Excelsior, Mexico: Relations Between U.S. and Mexico are Deteriorating

La Tercera, Chile Mexico's Drug War: No Way Out But to Fight On

Semana, Colombia: Michael Phelps and American Hypocricy on the Use of Drugs

El Financiero, Mexico: Chavez Tells Obama: 'Align Yourself Toward Socialism with Us'

 

BURSTING INTO THE U.S. PRESS

 

I have proposed in this space that the Mexican government take advantage of Obama's visit to publish in the major U.S. newspapers and magazines a full-page ad in which, first of all, a warm welcome is extended to the U.S. President on behalf of our country; and then Mexico's position regarding the issues of drug trafficking and border security is explained. We have to carry the battle for the beleaguered image of Mexico directly to them. We cannot allow conservative people in the U.S. Congress to make mincemeat out of us without a show of resistance.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 30, 11:08pm]