Pubdate: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2008 The Dallas Morning News Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117 Author: Laurence Iliff and Alfredo Corchado, The Dallas Morning Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Merida+Initiative Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon MEXICAN PRESIDENT LOSING WAR ON DRUGS, POLLS INDICATE MEXICO CITY - President Felipe Calderon is losing the fight against drug traffickers on the field of public opinion, two polls this week show, as he faces calls to change tactics and the possible collapse of an anti-drug package with the U.S. The surveys show that most Mexicans still support Mr. Calderon's actions in taking on the narcos. His approval rating remains high, at just over 60 percent. But by a 2-to-1 margin, Mexicans believe that the powerful and well-armed drug cartels are outgunning the government even as the army takes a high-profile and unprecedented role. One of the regions particularly hard hit by the narcos' turf war - with police and soldiers stuck in the crossfire - has been Ciudad Juarez. Analysts generally supportive of Mr. Calderon's courage in taking on the cartels and their paramilitary enforcers say it's tough to swallow the government's victorious message amid greater violence, including more beheadings. Public opinion is critical to Mr. Calderon's strategy for the war since he has made it a cornerstone of his 18-month presidency - and because he is asking for sacrifice from the Mexican people, especially families of the more than 450 police killed over that period, analysts said. One apparent casualty of Mexican public opinion is a proposed $1.4 billion U.S. aid package known as the Merida Initiative. The U.S. Congress both reduced funding for the first year and then added human rights conditions that made it unacceptable to its southern neighbor. Mexico has threatened to turn down the first year of the program if the final version contains the human rights edicts. "Public opinion always matters," said political columnist Juan Jose Huerta, who gives Mr. Calderon high marks for disrupting drug cartel operations and having a long-term strategy to chip away at their operations. But the reality on the ground is jarring, he said. "The wave of attacks against police has been so overwhelming in the last weeks," he said, "that people are in shock." Mr. Huerta said the government should change its message and protect the police better. "You have to say it's a frontal assault without saying it necessarily implies the death of government forces," he said. "That is the wrong emphasis." Cartel War Like Iraq? As the number of drug-related deaths during Mr. Calderon's administration has passed 4,000, war fatigue has started to set in, say the drug war's toughest critics, who compare it to the slow but steady erosion of support for the Iraq war among Americans. Nightly media images of poorly trained police getting mowed down has not helped, analysts said. In one incident late last month in Culiacan, Sinaloa, an anonymous caller reported armed men in an area known for drug activity. About 20 federal police rushed to the scene only to be ambushed with fragmentation grenades and gunmen shooting from all directions. Eight federal police officers died, the most in a single day. And news reports played up the fact that they appeared to have been outsmarted and outgunned by a much smaller group of narcos, only one of whom died in the shootout. "The Mexican war is not so different from the Iraqi one," wrote columnist Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez. "Both interventions served the presidents to show determination and courage to face a fearsome enemy. . But beyond the determination shown by president Calderon at the beginning of his term, it's not clear what he's seeking nor how he can evaluate the effect of his policies." This week's surveys were published in two influential Mexico City newspapers, Reforma and El Universal. El Universal said 56 percent of respondents in the national poll gave the upper hand to the cartels compared with 23 percent for the government. The Reforma poll has almost identical numbers and something more ominous: eroding support for how Mr. Calderon is handling the fight. Forty-two percent of respondents had a "favorable" opinion of Mr. Calderon's performance - the lowest percentage since the tracking poll began in September 2007 - and nine percentage points lower than in March. Legalization Backed About 36 percent disapproved of his handling of the drug war, up from 31 percent in March. The poll had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.5 percentage points. El Universal also had an interesting nugget that Mr. Huerta said may have to be explored over the long term - majority support for the legalization or decriminalization of some drugs in an attempt to weaken cartels. At the epicenter of the drug fight - Culiacan - Margarito Ayala Baron, 54, had a message for Mr. Calderon: "I admire your guts, but get a new team." He runs an auto repair shop and said most of his clients have ties to the cartels. With the police and military crackdown in the capital of Sinaloa state, the home base of the Sinaloa cartel, Mr. Ayala Baron figures he's lost more than 30 percent of his business. But he's not complaining. "I would rather lose some of my business than lose my country," he said. "But I don't know that the president has the support of his own people. He doesn't have anyone backing him up because corruption is endemic." Alfredo Quijano, editor of the Norte newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, said the perception that the cartels are better prepared than the police is accurate. "The police are practically nonexistent because they're so afraid they will be next. They don't even bother to use their radios anymore because they fear the radios are tapped. The government looks overwhelmed." U.S. officials say they understand the concerns of Mexicans concerned that organized crime is actually winning the war. "We shouldn't fool ourselves," said White House drug czar John Walters. "Their goal is not only to destroy rule of law in Mexico. If you live along the border, you should know their goal is to destroy rule of law in the United States." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake