A Narco News Update: Author Jorge Casta�eda, now having gained the powerful Foreign Ministry post in Mexico that his father held from 1977 to 1982, is not backing down from his position against drug prohibition. New statements from Casta�eda, issued yesterday, in-depth Narco News analysis, and previous writings by the new State Secretary on the theme of drug legalization, can be found at: http://www.narconews.com/mextransition1.html This morning's La Jornada of Mexico City reports, in an article by Blanche Petrich: ...Among the six challenges of Mexican foreign relations over the next six years is to 'readjust' the agenda in front of the United States, said the next Chancellor Jorge Casta�eda. Since 1994, he says, "we have found ourselves without a compass, without ambition, without an agenda" before the neighbor to the North. "...We can no longer simply react to the US positions," (said Casta�eda), "Mexico must insist" with a "grand campaign," as it did to achieve the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that the United States change its laws regarding certification in the anti-drug fight and find 'a new focus' towards drugs. On this point, Casta�eda tackles the problem with a perspective that many governments recognize in private and elude in public: "The decriminalization, over the long term, of certain substances that are currently illicit... and the utilization of market mechanisms to undermine the profits that come from the prohibited character of drug commerce." -- From La Jornada, November 24, 2000 Thus, it appears that Casta�eda is not backing down from his pro-decriminalization position. To the contrary, he is hinting that a "grand campaign" might be in the cards for bilateral relations in the coming years; a crusade to call the bluff on the hypocrisy of US drug policy throughout Am�rica. A "Grand Campaign" like that would resonate not just across Mexico, but will find support, both open and behind the scenes, from other nations and governments who suffer the failure of drug prohibition in the hemisphere. Impacting... from somewhere in a country called Am�rica, Al Giordano Publisher The Narco News Bulletin http://www.narconews.com/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________________ _______ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/475667/_/975077210/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
