Mexico: Obama Needs to Wake Up and Smell the Gunpowder
...Obama administration worries about security issues half way around the world
in such places as Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea, a serious problem is
brewing right on our southern border....
<http://bigpeace.com/tgcarpenter/2010/10/29/mexico-obama-needs-to-wake-up-and-smell-the-gunpowder/>
http://bigpeace.com/tgcarpenter/2010/10/29/mexico-obama-needs-to-wake-up-and-smell-the-gunpowder/
<http://bigpeace.com/tgcarpenter/2010/10/29/mexico-obama-needs-to-wake-up-and-smell-the-gunpowder/>
Click here: Mexico: Obama Needs to Wake Up and Smell the Gunpowder
mexico-violence
<http://bigpeace.com/files/2010/10/mexico-violence-300x225.jpg>
While the Obama administration worries about security issues half way around
the world in such places as Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea, a serious
problem is brewing right on our southern border. Drug-related violence in
Mexico has claimed <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69M02F20101023> some
29,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels four
years ago. The situation is now so bad that some analysts worry that Mexico
could become a “failed state.”
That outcome is a relatively unlikely, worst-case scenario, but the violence is
already bad enough that it warrants far more attention from America’s leaders
than it is receiving. Yet when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the
Council on Foreign Relations that Mexico’s violence
<http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/09/world/la-fg-mexico-insurgency-20100909>
was reaching the point of becoming an insurgency, President Obama
<http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6885TH20100910> promptly disavowed her
analysis.
But developments just in 2010 confirm that Clinton’s concerns are not
exaggerated. This year has
<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ifTaZFUi8ah2m62qK77miCBjKSCg>
marked the first appearance of car bombings in the conflict between Mexico’s
security forces and the drug cartels. Such an escalation suggests that the
cartels may be moving beyond just trying to control the profitable trafficking
routes into the United States and are now embarking on a terrorist campaign.
Other incidents reinforce that fear. Previously, most victims in the drug
violence were traffickers killed by rivals or security personnel who ran afoul
of the cartels. But over the past year there have been
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/19/mexico-birthday-party-shooting-gunmen>
several <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69M1JY20101023> attacks on
birthday parties and other gatherings in which the dead appeared to be
civilians who had no apparent connection to the drug trade.
In addition, the turmoil is spreading far beyond the usual danger zones in
border cities such as Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, and Nuevo Laredo. Shootouts have
occurred in <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/world/americas/09mexico.html>
Acapulco,
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-mexico-cancun-drugs2-2009mar02,0,5465698.story>
Cancun,
<http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-04-28/mexico/getaway-for-mexican-elite-now-cartel-battleground>
Cuernavaca and other prominent tourist destinations. Monterrey, which one
business association in 2005 termed the most peaceful major city in all of
Latin America, has been convulsed
<http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/24/51-bodies-found-at-northern-mexico-dumping-ground/>
by turf fights between rival cartels. The security environment in Monterrey
has become so bad that the
<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gsyfvUS7jI8-0Ym5gOB-x9Lv2ZLA>
U.S. State Department instructed its diplomatic personnel in the consulate
there to send their dependents out of the area. American—and even some
Mexican—business executives
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447980094015248.html>
are doing the same with their families.
The overall pace and severity of the carnage is increasing as well. 2010
promises to set a new record for deaths—breaking the record set just last year.
There have been several high-profile assassinations, including a dozen mayors
<http://politics.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/06/29/mexican-governor-candidate-killed-cartels-blamed.html>
and the leading candidate for governor in a northern Mexican state.
As yet, the spillage into the United States from the growing turmoil in Mexico
has been modest. But there are disturbing omens. Earlier this year, bullets
from a firefight in Ciudad Juarez flew over the border
<http://www.kens5.com/news/texas-news/97451084.html> and struck El Paso’s city
hall. And a few weeks ago, an American jet skiing on Falcon Lake, which is a
waterway that straddles the border between Mexico and Texas,
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/1001/Mexican-pirates-shoot-US-jet-skier-near-border-on-Falcon-Lake-Texas>
was attacked and killed—apparently by drug traffickers. Individuals who
exhibit all the signs of being cartel enforcers
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=10227942> have followed frightened
Mexicans who have fled the fighting and sought refuge in the United States.
Such attempts at intimidation have alarmed authorities in south Texas and other
areas.
Perhaps the most disturbing development was a decision by federal authorities
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/31/signs-in-arizona-warn-of-smuggler-dangers/>
to post signs along an Interstate highway in Arizona—some 100 miles inside
U.S. territory—warning motorists to exercise great caution because they might
encounter heavily armed traffickers traveling at high rates of speed.
President Obama needs to wake up and smell the gunpowder. Mexico’s war on
drugs is failing, and the growing violence now threatens the stability of the
Mexican state. Indeed, Calderon’s decision in December 2006 to launch a
military-led offensive against the cartels has backfired badly.
The president needs to place this issue at the top of his national security
agenda before he is blind-sided by a full-fledged crisis. And all policy
options— <http://www.themonitor.com/articles/mexico-41639-calls-president.html>
including the suggestion of Mexico’s former president Vicente Fox to end drug
prohibition as a way to de-fund the cartels—have to be put on the table. Time
is running out. The consequences flowing from Washington’s continued policy
drift could be very unpleasant indeed, leading to the possible emergence of a
narco-republic—and perhaps even a failed state—on our southern frontier.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Brooks Isoldi, editor
[email protected]
http://www.intellnet.org
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