Pubdate: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Copyright: 2008 The Arizona Republic Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/mexico MEXICO CRISIS IS DEEPENING You don't have to go halfway around the world to find a major security threat. It's right across Arizona's southern border. President-elect Barack Obama's foreign policy priorities need to recognize that U.S. demand for recreational drugs has created a crisis in Mexico, and U.S. domestic security depends on helping Mexico deal with that crisis. Mexico's drug cartels, which have slaughtered in excess of 5,300 people in Mexico this year, "are as ruthless and brutal as any terrorist organization," Arizona's Sen. John McCain told The Republic's editorial board Thursday. Mexico's government is in an "existential struggle" with traffickers whose violence can "easily spill over to our side," McCain says. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels when he took office in 2006. The United States is now helping through the Merida Initiative, a multiyear, $1.4 billion aid package. In response to Calderon's move, the cartels have targeted journalists, law-enforcement officers and elected officials. They are also going after each other in escalating turf battles that have claimed innocent victims. The Mexican public sees little progress in the government's war against traffickers, according to opinion polls. What's more, there are increasing charges that Mexico's military is violating human rights as soldiers pursue the traffickers. Yet so far, the people of Mexico support Calderon's fight. But what if they tire of the violence and demand surrender? The idea of Mexico descending into anarchy or narco-dictatorship is frightening enough. But U.S. domestic tranquility is also threatened. The Justice Department's National Drug Threat Assessment for 2009 calls Mexico's drug cartels "the greatest drug trafficking threat to the United States." According to the Justice Department report, cartels "maintain drug distribution networks or supply drugs to distributors in at least 230 U.S. cities." Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria and a number of Arizona border towns are on the Justice Department's map of cities reporting the presence of Mexican cartels. The level of violence Mexico is enduring because of drug trafficking has not yet jumped the line. But the purveyors of that violence are setting up shop in our cities. Obama and his Homeland Security designee, Janet Napolitano, need to focus intense and sustained attention on making sure the Mexican government prevails over the cartels. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin