'Happy Talk' Conceals U.S. Drug War Encroachment on Mexico
"The suggestion that the unbridled violence in Mexico is a sign of 'success' is belied by statistics on the number of murders; by irrefutable proof of increased firepower [on the part of the cartels]; the degree of organization and territorial control by criminal groups; the fact that growing segments of the population are living in terror; and human rights violations perpetrated by police and military personnel charged with 'restoring the rule of law.'"
During her
participation at the International Conference
for the Control of Drugs in
Cancun, Quitana Roo state [Apr. 5-7], DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart said that
"although it may seem otherwise, the level of violence in Mexico is a sign
of success" for national authorities in their fight against the drug
cartels, who she likened to, "caged animals" that "are lashing
out against one another." Furthermore, in the context of a hearing before
the Senate Armed Services Committee, commander
of the U.S. Northern Command, James A. Winnefeld, maintained that,
"the (Mexican) security forces are working with increasing
effectiveness" against criminal groups, although "it remains to be
seen" if they will be able to eliminate them permanently.
This reiteration
by senior U.S. officials of what their Mexican counterparts have been saying
for over four years comes in the context of growing documentary evidence that
Washington has a leading role, if not control, of the planning and coordination
of the public safety directives that apply on our territory.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Such
participation, which in itself is unacceptable and injurious to our national
sovereignty, is also alarming. Particularly if one takes into account the
obvious lack of coordination among U.S. authorities, the designs of which have constrained
Mexicans in its "war" against the drug cartels. The suggestion that
the unbridled violence in Mexico is a sign of "success" is
belied by statistics on the number of murders - more than 30,000
recorded in the past four years; by irrefutable proof of increased firepower
[on the part of the cartels]; the degree of organization and territorial
control by criminal groups; the fact that growing segments of the population are
living in terror because of armed confrontations, atrocities and abuses casually
committed by all sorts of criminal organizations; and human rights violations
perpetrated by police and military personnel charged with "restoring the
rule of law."
Moreover, it is
difficult to reconcile the DEA administrator's claim [that rising violence is a
sign of success], in the sense that, "there are no specific cartels in the
United States," and at the same time, the drug trade there is controlled
by Mexican drug traffickers: If the situation as she described it were correct,
that would translate into territorial control by such groups in our neighbouring
country - and the development, on U.S. soil, of a confrontation between U.S.
authorities and the cartels at least as violent as the one taking place on the
Mexican side - or in its absence, a recognition by Washington that they aren't
pursuing these criminal organizations.
Beyond this, what
was said by this official [DEA Administrator Leonhart] seems rather like the
latest attempt by U.S. authorities to evade their own responsibilities for combating
narco-trafficking - a phenomena which, for those of us in the states and cities
of this country, has become the norm. Furthermore, such comments serve to transfer the job associated with the
battle south of the Rio Bravo, along with the exasperating violence, deterioration
of public safety and failed rule of law that comes along with it, and in this way, to
deepen U.S. encroachment on Mexican territory.
