Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jul 2015 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.utsandiego.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386 Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area. Author: Everard Meade Note: Meade, Ph.D., is director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. THE ILLUSION OF CONTAINING DRUGLORD 'EL CHAPO' If Mexico had extradited Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera to the United States he would not likely be at large. Nor, however, would it have made a dent in the drug war, or the mythical status of its charismatic leaders. Containing larger-than-life figures like El Chapo will remain an illusion so long as policymakers on both sides of the border use high-profile arrests to mask an overwhelming reality of violence and corruption, rather than addressing it head on. Mexican authorities pledged to punish El Chapo in Mexico, where he has caused the greatest harm. But they didn't subject him to a trial for any of the crimes he's committed over the last two decades. When he escaped this month, El Chapo was serving the remainder of his original sentence from before he escaped from another prison back in 2001, and there were no indications that a new trial was in the works. Prosecution would have been difficult. Pervasive evidence of torture and corruption by law enforcement has given federal judges in Mexico little choice but to release many narcos on procedural grounds. With his money and lawyers, El Chapo would likely have prolonged the proceedings against him for years. His legal team was aggressively fighting extradition, challenging the conditions of his incarceration, and exploring every option for his release. More important, El Chapo has incriminating information on scores of powerful politicians and businessmen, compiled through years of bribery and corruption. A public trial in either country would have given him the opportunity to use this information as a bargaining chip, or for revenge. This kind of exposure threatens the carefully coifed image of President, Mexico's cheerleader-in-chief with foreign investors and diplomats. The "tele-presidente" - charming and polished before the cameras alongside his soap-star wife promised new economic opportunities and drug enforcement that would protect ordinary people, with a wink to the paternalistic mafia ties of the old ruling party. His tone-deaf response to the disappearance of 43 students in Guerrero last fall tarnished his image, especially after he failed to cancel an Asian tour. He seemed to repeat himself last week, failing to cut short a European tour after the escape of the century. Many have questioned how much of the apparent reduction of violence under Pena Nieto is real, and how much is simply a question of visibility. While the homicide rate has come down, the number of forced disappearances has skyrocketed, acts of censorship and violence against journalists have increased, and new allegations against the armed forces surface on a regular basis. Pena Nieto's main partner in the drug war, the United States, bears a share of the blame. Reducing violence and corruption has never been the top priority of U.S. drug enforcement efforts. Our photo-op definition of success in the war on drugs hasn't changed much over the last 40 years. We still measure it largely in the quantity of drugs and assets seized or destroyed, and the number of big-time arrests. Meanwhile, both the flow of drugs into the U.S. and the devastation of drug violence in Mexico have increased exponentially. Most of the handful of revelers and the popular Internet memes cheering the escape of El Chapo are not celebrating his crimes, but rather his outing of government corruption - an unsavory reality revealed by an unsavory hero. In Culiacan, Sinaloa, El Chapo's backyard, most people are outraged by the escape and many are trying to do something about the violence and corruption it represents. Amazing local organizations are working to document forced disappearances and support survivors; to ensure government transparency; to revive parks and public spaces in a place where people have retreated into their homes out of fear and alienation; and to create after-school programs so that kids don't get sucked into the drug culture. What would happen if we spent a fraction of the billions we invest on military and law enforcement efforts against drug traffickers on these organizations? If we invested in developing Mexico's people rather than its military capacity? If we don't know, it's because we have never tried. By focusing almost exclusively on containing drug kingpins and the most powerful cartels, we have turned the man, Joaquin Guzman Loera, into the myth of El Chapo. The more that ordinary people in Mexico are able reach their potential as human beings and citizens - rather than as cheap labor, cannon fodder or paid stand-ins at political rallies - the more they will see El Chapo as just a man. And men are much easier to contain than myths. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom