Pubdate: Sun, 11 Jan 2015
Source: Longview News-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2015 Cox Newspapers, L.P
Contact:  http://www.news-journal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1048
Author: Ruben Navarrette
Note: Ruben Navarrette is a syndicated columnist with The Washington
Post Writers Group.

RECONSIDERING SUPPORT FOR MEXICO'S DRUG WAR

After last week's visit to the White House by Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto, it's time to rethink our support for the Mexican
government's war against the drug cartels.

Why? Because something is not right. Thousands of Mexicans in the
United States greeted Pena Nieto's arrival by doing what thousands of
their compadres have done in Mexico for several weeks - screaming
bloody murder. Protesters say that Pena Nieto is either incompetent or
in cahoots with the cartels, and it's hard to believe anyone could be
this incompetent.

The people of Mexico, who have long distrusted their leaders and have
lost their romance for drug traffickers, have come up with an ominous
term to describe the two-headed dragon: "narco-gobierno" (drug
trafficker government).

While the common view in the United States is that, south of the
border, the Mexican government is bravely battling a well-financed web
of drug syndicates, many Mexicans have now concluded that these two
entities are one and the same.

What if they're right? What if - while the United States is partnering
with the Mexican government to fight the drug war - the Mexican
government is also partnering with the cartels?

Not long ago, we wouldn't have had to ask. During the first six years
of the drug war (2006-12) - when more than 60,000 people died and tens
of thousands more went missing - President Felipe Calderon seemed to
be a straight shooter. His strategy was to win by attrition, arresting
or killing cartel leaders and confiscating their drugs and cash, with
the help of more than $2.3 billion in U.S. aid allocated by Congress
under the Merida Initiative.

But as the bloodshed increased, Mexicans got fed up with Calderon's
war. And so, in 2012, they shifted gears and handed the presidency to
Pena Nieto, restoring his Institutional Revolutionary Party to an
office it controlled for more than 70 years in the past century. The
PRI promised security through peace. So the idea was to make peace
with conniving and murdering drug dealers who, when attacked,
essentially act like domestic terrorists. What could go wrong?

Forty-three dead students. That's what. The revolt against Pena Nieto
began in the small town of Iguala, about 120 miles southwest of Mexico
City. On Sept. 26, a group of young men, between the ages of 18 and 25
who were studying at a nearby teachers college, traveled to Iguala to
hold a protest. Police confronted the students, and some were killed.
The rest were, according to witnesses, taken into custody - 43 of
them. Some of the bodies were found incinerated and buried in mass
graves.

Even for a country like Mexico, which has become familiar with the
smell of blood, what happened to "the 43" was too horrific to bear.
Government officials tried to spin the tragedy as the work of local
officials, but most Mexicans didn't fall for that trick. Many of them
now believe that that federal law enforcement officers and/or the
military - even if they didn't take part in the massacre - at least
knew beforehand that it was going to happen and did nothing to stop
it.

For his part, Pena Nieto dragged his feet. He didn't meet with the
grieving parents for several weeks. He still hasn't bothered to visit
Iguala, the scene of the crime. Yet he found time to travel abroad in
the middle of the crisis.

Mexican officials insist they have arrested more than 70 people in
connection with the students' murders, but how many of them are
low-level patsies taking the fall for higher-ups who remain
untouchable and free to create more mayhem?

And that's why Mexico is in turmoil, with regular street protests
demanding Pena Nieto's resignation - protests that have now spread to
this side of the border.

If you think the world is complicated, you should check out the
neighborhood. The relationship between the United States and Mexico is
incredibly complex. And, as the Mexican people will tell you, things
are rarely as they appear.

What is clear, however, is that the relationship - which was never
perfect - has gone from dysfunctional to dangerous. We play enabler as
our neighbor uses U.S. tax dollars to prey upon its own people through
abuse, corruption and possibly even murder.

Our neighbor's house is on fire. And instead of funneling water, we're
supplying gasoline.

Ruben Navarrette is a syndicated columnist with The Washington Post
Writers Group.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D