HTTP/1.0 200 OK Content-Type: text/html
Pubdate: Fri, 18 May 2007 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Copyright: 2007 Chicago Tribune Company Contact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82 Author: Oscar Avila, Tribune foreign correspondent Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Mexico (Mexico) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) DRUG WAR HAS COME UNDER FIRE Mexico's Use of the Army to Battle Violent Trafficking Rings Stirs Complaints of Abuses and Collateral Damage APATZINGAN, Mexico -- Mexico's drug war landed at Claudia Sanchez's front door a few days ago when soldiers unleashed grenades and gunfire to root out suspected drug traffickers a few houses away. Sanchez says she grabbed her 3-year-old son off the front porch and took shelter under the bed until the battle ended. But it isn't just the bad guys who have made her family feel under siege. It is also her supposed protectors, the soldiers dispatched by President Felipe Calderon to rein in spiraling violence related to the drug trade. Soldiers came into the home and detained her son-in-law, Gustavo Orozco, for three days in an undisclosed location. She accuses soldiers of beating him and of stealing money. He was eventually released but was so shaken up that he left town. This section of Michoacan known as "the hot Earth," one of the front lines of Calderon's military strategy, illustrates the need for a powerful counterforce to the entrenched drug rings but also the risks of employing a military solution. This week, the national Human Rights Commission provided the first formal confirmation that some soldiers have gone too far in battling drug violence that has claimed about 1,000 lives this year. Investigators determined that soldiers in Michoacan have committed torture, rape and other violations. With violent confrontations and abuse complaints rising, human-rights officials and opposition lawmakers called on Calderon this week to withdraw troops. Federal and state officials say the military strategy is not ideal but that only the military has the firepower and professionalism to take on increasingly brazen drug rings. They say a withdrawal would be a victory for organized crime. Sanchez agrees that local police have not proved to be up to the task of dislodging drug traffickers from her Miguel Hidalgo neighborhood. But she worries that the military's blunt instrument is also harming innocent residents like her. "Everybody has to do their job," Sanchez, 38, said as an army helicopter buzzed overhead. "But not like this." U.S. Supportive The military campaign has made Calderon into a wartime president and forced a public confrontation on Mexico's most serious security crisis. U.S. officials have backed his get-tough approach to stem the northward flow of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and other drugs, as well as the extradition of high-level drug kingpins. Federal authorities say turf battles among key cartels for shipping routes and Mexico's growing domestic market have caused a surge in violence. The government does not release official figures, but leading Mexican newspapers put this year's death toll at about 1,000, on pace to shatter last year's count. The central state of Michoacan, because of its fertile drug fields and access to northbound highways and Pacific ports, has been hit especially hard. Experts estimate that Michoacan has the second-highest toll in drug-related deaths this year. In many rugged mountain towns, drug rings have entirely infiltrated local police departments. "In an ideal situation, we would not have the military leading this effort," Gov. Lazaro Cardenas said in an interview. But with violence escalating and "with the magnitude of strength that organized crime maintains, the only force capable of successfully confronting it is the military," he said. This week, the head of a federal drug intelligence unit was gunned down in an ambush in Mexico City. In Veracruz, someone left a bag near an army barracks. Inside was a human head, grenades and a note reading: "We will continue." And Wednesday, state officials reported that Apatzingan's security chief was wounded by unidentified gunmen in a taxi. He resigned hours later. The attack came days after the deadliest assault on the military, an ambush in nearby Caracuaro that killed five soldiers. After the Caracuaro ambush, the cover of the influential newsmagazine Proceso hinted at an intractable conflict with a headline calling the drug war "Calderon's Iraq." A poll published May 9 in the newspaper El Universal found that 73 percent of respondents think drug-related violence has increased this year. Although generally supportive of Calderon's approach, only 33 percent think the anti-drug operations have succeeded. Even as lawmakers urge an end to the military campaign, Calderon is stepping up his efforts. Last week he created a special military unit to battle organized crime, and he recently launched a new offensive of more than 1,000 troops in Veracruz state. Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna told a gathering of foreign journalists Thursday that he sees the counterattacks as a strategy by organized crime to shake Mexican political will and force the withdrawal of the military. "The criminals are looking for a retreat by the authorities so they can achieve impunity," he said. "We are not going to take a step backward. On the contrary. The vision, the strategy, the concept is very clear: going on the offensive." Apatzingan, an unruly town of 90,000 in the state's west, has become a key test for the military's staying power. Calderon visited in January, dressed in an army cap and jacket, for a de facto declaration of war. In last week's raid, heavily armed troops demolished a suspected drug house and killed four assailants in broad daylight. Human-Rights Complaints In the process, the town has generated the most human-rights complaints among 52 received statewide. Officials say most of the complaints statewide involve soldiers entering homes without warrants and illegally detaining residents without probable cause. "One complaint, you could understand. But so many have the same basic claims," said Erik Gonzalez, the Apatzingan representative for the state's human-rights commission. "The military used to be an institution with great prestige and respect. Now people are feeling discontent about the military presence." Cardenas, the governor, insists that the military deployment is showing signs of success, including the arrests of organized crime leaders and corrupt police. Authorities have eradicated marijuana fields statewide, and drug-related violence has ticked downward. "It would not be responsible to say we have results that we should celebrate excessively," he said. "But compared to the period before this operation began, we have seen evidence of improvement." The long-term effects are less clear. One of Sanchez's neighbors in Apatzingan, who also was detained, has since left town in fear. Sanchez still has nightmares. And when her son sees a man in uniform, he mutters "Pocia" (his version of policia) and runs away. Jorge Luis Sierra, author of the book "The Internal Enemy" about domestic military operations, said he worries that the emphasis on the military has caused elected officials to overlook wider issues, such as improving counterintelligence and keeping drug rings from infiltrating police forces. He also is uneasy because other Latin American nations have tilted toward authoritarianism when they employ the military. "We need to take a few steps back and ask ourselves if a society like Mexico wants its military occupying the plazas, the city halls," Sierra said. "In the long term, I don't think it is healthy for a democracy." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman