Pubdate: Tue, 28 Dec 2010
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2010 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

MOTIVATING MEXICO

Jack Riley left El Paso, Texas, to become the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration's top man in Chicago. Even though he's 1,500 miles 
from the border now, Mexico's war against drug cartels still matters 
to him. It should matter to all of us. More than 90 percent of the 
marijuana, cocaine and heroin in the Chicago area enters the U.S. 
from Mexico. Drug rings are expanding into the Midwest to control 
distribution with violence a good bet to follow.

"If we're going to be successful, Mexico needs to be successful," 
Riley says. "We can't do it without them."

Sadly, Mexico is falling short.

Mexico's occasional triumphs are starting to seem more and more 
hollow as the death toll of the 4-year-long drug war tops ... 30,000. 
Every day seems to bring another horrific tale -- most recently, 
cameras rolled while masked gunmen mowed down anti-crime activist 
Marisela Escobedo as she held vigil at the doorstep of the Chihuahua 
governor's palace.

If the mayhem continues unabated, we worry that Congress will lose 
the will to renew the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative -- an infusion 
of U.S. equipment and training to combat international drug 
trafficking and other organized crime -- when it expires in about a year.

Now is the time to demand results from Mexico that have nothing to do 
with body counts.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon must take on the hard-headed 
nationalism of many Mexicans and speed up the integration of his law 
enforcement with ours. The Washington Post reported that Mexican 
authorities have benefited from DEA intelligence along the border.

Mexico also must fumigate corrupt local, state and federal law 
enforcement and start revamping a dysfunctional judicial system. U.S. 
officials estimate that only about 2 percent of those detained for 
offenses related to organized crime are even brought to trial.

This will all take time, of course, but Mexico's lack of urgency is 
distressing. This month, Mexico's Congress blocked an anti-crime 
package that would have cleaned up local police departments and 
strengthened penalties against the money laundering that feeds the drug rings.

Score one for politics over security.

Meanwhile, the leaked State Department cables offer a scathing U.S. 
assessment that much of Mexico's military and law-enforcement 
agencies remains an inefficient, petty, corrupt mess.

Some in Congress have had enough. This month, a bipartisan team of 
three senators proposed an independent commission to re-evaluate the 
U.S. approach to illegal narcotics in the Americas. As it is, 
Republicans are already skeptical of foreign aid while Democrats 
worry about militarizing drug enforcement in our hemisphere.

With much fanfare, the U.S. recently delivered three Black Hawk 
helicopters to Mexico. They made for a great photo op. But the 
vehicles and equipment are only as effective as the men and women on 
the front lines and in the halls of power.

They need to do better, especially if we are counting on them as our 
first line of defense.  
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake