Pubdate: Thu, 13 Jul 2000
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2000 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washtimes.com/
Author: Pamela Falk
Note: Pamela Falk is a professor of international law and trade policy at 
Queens College School of Law in New York.

MEXICO'S BAD HABIT

Riding the crest of the wave that swept him into the upset election for 
president of Mexico, Vicente Fox has declared war on corruption and drug 
traffickers. His ambitious proposal for a crackdown includes an increase in 
arrests of drug lords, border patrols and a sweeping overhaul of the 
law-enforcement system, which has been corrupted by traffickers.

In taking on what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) called 
last month "powerful organized crime syndicates" which pose a threat to 
U.S. law-enforcement agencies, Mexico's president-elect is doing what no 
Mexican executive has done before - he is "calling out" the most 
threatening crime syndicate in the Western hemisphere, one which exports 
over one-half of the cocaine available in the United States, controls the 
methamphetamine and a large portion of the "black tar" heroin trade and 
which dominates the marijuana trade across the southwest borders of the 
United States and has found its way to several Midwest urban centers.

The Mexican cartels - in Tijuana, Sonora, Guadalajara, Nayarit and Juarez - 
that Mr. Fox is set on destroying are also responsible for the crime and 
violence on U.S. borders as well as the murders of U.S. law-enforcement 
officials - most visibly marked in the clandestine graves discovered late 
last year.

Last month, U.S. drug enforcement agents busted a heroin smuggling ring 
based in Nayarit, Mexico, which was sending $7 million dollars' worth of 
heroin across the United States each month, from Hawaii to Georgia. This 
black tar heroin, higher in purity and lower in price, is reaching 
unprecedented levels of use as the drug of choice across the United States 
and across income lines, prompting the Centers for Disease Control to 
initiate a study which will be released during the summer. Mexico's 
proposal to open the borders to workers, therefore, poses new problems to 
the drug enforcement efforts.

"Si se pudo," (yes, we could) was Mr. Fox's National Action Party slogan, 
but it will take more cooperation with Washington and U.S. counternarcotics 
agencies to defeat the cartels. Previous Mexican administrations have tried 
but were too entrenched in the corrupt party machinery, which turned a 
blind eye to the developing dominance of the syndicates.

Mr. Fox's task is weighty, because it must by definition also involve an 
anti-corruption program in a desperate economy which has seen an increase 
in the disparity of income between rich and poor during the past few years 
and a plummeting education and social welfare budget.

To be sure, Mr. Fox has a popular mandate: Corruption, crime and drug lords 
are the reasons most voters pointed to - including the largely undecided 
block of voters - for giving their support to the new regime.

And Mr. Fox has generated enthusiasm and high expectations in both Mexico 
and the United States. He will soon head to Washington in an attempt to 
garner support for his opening of worker and migration policies in exchange 
for some of the cooperation he seems to be willing to concede in the areas 
of counternarcotics trafficking. President Clinton has invited Mr. Fox to 
come to the United States to talk about his programs prior to his 
inauguration in December.

He will need Washington's help in order to:

- - Coordinate a strategy with Washington that goes further than the 
strategies of the past, including allowing DEA officials to carry arms 
across the Mexican border.

- - Work with the Special Field Intelligence Program in the United States, 
which gathers information on Mexican-based heroin traffickers operating 
within the United States, particularly across the U.S. southwest border.

- - Work with the U.S. on law-enforcement and extradition in the arrests of 
the drug traffickers, such as the arrest last month of Ismael 
Higuerra-Guerrero, also known as "Mayel," a major leader of the 
Arrellano-Feliz drug family - a task difficult when no major drug 
traffickers were extradited to the U.S. in 1999.

- - Convince the U.S. Congress to substitute the unilateral certification 
process on countries in Latin America with a multilateral agreement 
including countries that produce, traffic or transit drugs, and countries 
that consume them.

Dismantling a multibillion-dollar industry will not be easy with increased 
trade and migration and involves increased cooperation in apprehension, 
convictions and exposure of money-laundering operations.

Increased help from Washington - and some flexibility on issues key to 
Mexican workers such as more open migration policies - is necessary to make 
this happen, but the payoff would be great for the United States.

Pamela Falk is a professor of international law and trade policy at Queens 
College School of Law in New York.
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