U.S. role at a crossroads in Mexico’s intelligence war on the cartels

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. role at a crossroads in Mexico’s intelligence war on the cartels
By Dana Priest,
Saturday, April 27, 7:22 PM

MEXICO CITY — For the past seven years, Mexico and the United States have put aside their tension-filled history on security matters to forge an unparalleled alliance against Mexico’s drug cartels, one based on sharing sensitive intelligence, U.S. training and joint operational planning. But now, much of that hard-earned cooperation may be in jeopardy.

The December inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto brought the nationalistic Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) back to power after 13 years, and with it a whiff of resentment over the deep U.S. involvement in Mexico’s fight against narco-traffickers.

The new administration has shifted priorities away from the U.S.-backed strategy of arresting kingpins, which sparked an unprecedented level of violence among the cartels, and toward an emphasis on prevention and keeping Mexico’s streets safe and calm, Mexican authorities said.

Some U.S. officials fear the coming of an unofficial truce with cartel leaders. The Mexicans see it otherwise. “The objective of fighting organized crime is not in conflict with achieving peace,” said Eduardo Medina Mora, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-role-at-a-crossroads-in-mexicos-intelligence-war-on-the-cartels/2013/04/27/b578b3ba-a3b3-11e2-be47-b44febada3a8_story.html

[truebluegreen]

1. One can only hope.

America's War on Drugs has been an even bigger disaster south of the border than it is north of it. Official estimates are 60,000 dead since Calderon started this fiasco; unofficial--and probably more accurate--estimates more than double that figure.

If nothing else, the US should focus its attention inside its own borders, instead of exporting the madness to other countries. A good start would be to treat the problem as a public health issue, instead of a criminal and military one. An excellent follow-up would be to de-criminalize all drugs.

Of course, we'd have to think of something useful to do with the DEA, and the military, and the militarized police, and all that extra for-profit prison space....

[bemildred]

2. There is no crossroads, what you see is what you get, and what you are going to get,

if you keep pursuing a War on Drugs. The violence is not a fluke, and it is not temporary, it is caused by the Drug War, and it wil go away (mostly) when the Drug War ends.