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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom