"They
merely criticize us, discredit our military and issue travel advisories for
their citizens to think twice before traveling to Mexico. … The
willingness to work together is weaker than the suspicions and
resentments."
On Friday in Washington, there will be a new attempt to synchronize the
actions of Mexico and the United States in the fight that both nations are
waging against organized crime. Since there are some points of agreement, it would
be an exageration to say that each is going in a completely different
direction. But there is no doubt that they see things differently, and each experiences
this phenomenon in its own way. Clear evidence of this divergence can be found
in the fact that the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, although separated by
just a few feet, exhibit diametrically opposed security conditions. While the Mexican
city is one of the most dangerous places on the continent, the U.S. city is the
safest in the country, despite the fact that members of the same criminal
groups operate on both sides of the Rio Bravo.
What do the Americanos
want? Their aim is to have a secure border and, at all costs, prevent terrorist
groups from entering their country and carrying out attacks against the U.S. population.
They're in a fight against terrorism and want to better secure their southern
border, and when it comes to security, they want to take direct control of the
Mexican government’s strategy and actions. Their central purpose is not to stop
drug trafficking, and not even to halt migration. They are looking to take over
the process of regulating trafficking - and by this I mean drug and human
trafficking - as it suits their interests and needs.
As Mexico's security crisis intensifies,
there is a natural concern in the United States that the violence will spill
over the border, bringing the bloody conflicts between organized gangs to the
streets of U.S. cities. Which is why it is so disconcerting that the U.S. does not
take decisive action that would help lower the level of violence, such as halting
the trafficking of high-powered weapons, reducing consumption in order to shrink the
market, and combating money laundering. They merely criticize us, discredit our military,
and issue travel advisories for their citizens to think twice before traveling
to Mexico.
What does Mexico want? To
restore the rule of law throughout the country; ensure that there are no regions where
criminals are able to challenge the government's writ; and reduce the
level of violence. Mexico seeks to prevent the growth and entrenchment of the failed state theory and the dismemberment of the largest
cartels (the South Pacific cartel,
the Gulf cartel and the Los Zetas cartel for example),
as an essential step toward achieving this goal, since they constantly challenge the formal power of the federal government.
Unfortunately, up to now, there seems to be no evidence of significant progress.
The violence continues, the sense of danger
felt among citizens becomes more acute, and drug consumption of mexicans, far from diminishing,
is on the rise.
Can we get "in tune?" We had better.
There are vast fields of opportunity that have gone practically untouched and
have no direct relationship to the policing aspects of the problem. Both countries
could, for instance, undertake a common crusade against drug consumption. They
could work together to detect suspicious financial transactions that utilize dirty
money and launch a new border surveillance program. That's to say nothing of
maintaining constant communication with other countries on the continent where
drugs are produced - and with countries in Central America that provide drug traffickers with a place
to hole up and acquire supplies.
The trouble is that the willingness
to work together is weaker than the suspicions and resentments. The pathetic
case of the Merida
Initiative is more than illustrative. The initiative is advancing at a
snail's pace and progress is hardly noticeable. Americanos link the
aid to issues of human rights and access to intelligence information, which is why
aid comes in drips and drabs and such a fuss is made when a single helicopter arrives. It is in neither country's interest that
their shared border - one of the largest in the world - be a no man's land, with bands of gunmen imposing their own law
and settling their differences with blood and gunfire. In troubled waters,
terrorists and hit men win.
