Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 Source: Wall Street Journal (US) Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Contact: http://www.wsj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n208/a06.html Author: Arturo Sarukhan U.S. POLICY ON DRUGS HAS BIG REPERCUSSIONS ABROAD Your article "The Perilous State of Mexico" (Weekend Journal, Feb. 21) overemphasizes the more gruesome and shocking aspects of drug-related violence, while omitting issues that are central to a full and contextual understanding of how Mexico is fighting drug-trafficking organizations. Firstly, while Mexico doesn't in any way minimize the seriousness of the challenge posed by organized crime, the suggestion that it is close to a "failed state" is simply wrong. As your article notes, Mexico "has a thriving democracy, the world's 13th-largest economy and a growing middle class," making any comparison with failed or failing states, as you yourself again note, a "stretch." Why make it then? Secondly, I was surprised by your treatment of this issue as if it were almost an exclusively Mexican phenomenon, little to do with the U.S., only mentioning U.S. demand, the "motor for the drugs trade," as you call it, once and at the very end of the article. Moreover, you fail to note or analyze three other bilateral or transnational aspects of this challenge that demand greater cooperation between our two countries under the principle of shared responsibility, namely the flow of weapons, bulk cash and chemical precursors from the U.S. into Mexico. The article, in short, provides an incomplete and one-sided summary of the fight against organized crime being waged in Mexico, yet provides little analysis to what lies behind the violence, and little reference to the efforts and opinions of the Government of Mexico to put a stop to this violence. Arturo Sarukhan Ambassador of Mexico to the U.S. Washington - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake