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Mexico aid package passed
A new US$400 million aid package for Mexico signals new US-Mexican
relations but falls short of necessary reform.
Commentary by Samuel Logan for ISN Security Watch (02/07/08)
The US Congress approved an aid package to Mexico over the last week
of June in an unprecedented admission that the so-called war on drugs
has reached America's back door.
The US$400 million allotment is part of a larger aid package destined
to bolster a wide range of anti-narcotic efforts inside Mexico, from
judicial reform to helicopters, training and human rights support.
Called the Merida Initiative, this supply-side strategy represents
many months of negotiation and drafting of a language that respects
Mexican sovereignty, placing relatively few restrictions on good
behavior in exchange for aid - a classic carrot-and-stick approach
the US government has used in Latin America for decades with mixed
results.
Yet despite the bilateral goodwill, the plan contains some
fundamental flaws.
Also known as Plan Mexico, the aid package places a heavy funding
focus on military components, bolstering the involvement of soldiers
in what most across the region consider a problem for the police, not
the military.
Increasing the involvement of the military through the Merida
Initiative - with at least US$116 million of the initial US$400
million installment directed to assisting the Mexican military with
helicopters, training and other equipment - could result in an
increase in violence, opportunities for corruption, desertion and
human rights abuses.
By taking Mexico's drug smuggling organizations head on, President
Felipe Calderon has learned he is dealing with a formidable opponent,
one that can easily outspend and outgun anything the Mexican
government can muster. This direct approach has been blamed
repeatedly for the country's continued high levels of violence.
June was the most violent month Mexico has seen since the beginning
of the president's administration, with at least 505 reported
assassinations across the country.
During this time, 468 civilians were killed in Mexico and 509 in
Iraq, a comparison recently made by Mexico's El Universal daily.
Apart from the military assistance, at least US$73.5 million will be
allotted to judicial reform. Another US$3 million will be used to
create a nationwide police registry, which may work toward plugging
some of the gaps exploited by criminals who disguise themselves as
federal police officers before conducting raids and assassination
missions.
The bilateral cooperation born from this aid package has also opened
doors for closer cooperation between the US Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and its Mexican counterparts. The so-
called "iron river" of guns flowing south has long been a point of
contention inside Mexico, where some believe that as many as 80
percent of the weapons used by organized crime comes from the US,
where gun control laws are relatively relaxed.
A recently announced program, called Armas Cruzadas, formalizes
information sharing between US and Mexican customs officials. Most
notably, Mexican law enforcement officers will soon receive access to
eTrace, a program designed to trace the illicit movement of grey and
black market weapons. Adding their own information to the database,
Mexican officials will soon be able to assist the ATF and other
agencies in determining the destination of weapons purchased in the
US for illicit use in Mexico.
The inauguration of Armas Cruzadas and the passage of the Merida
Initiative over the last week of June both represent a boost in
bilateral cooperation, one Mexican lawmakers claim is an admission on
the part of Washington that Mexico's security problem is one shared
by the US.
The US government can provide training, military assistance, computer
equipment and any number of support mechanisms, but it could have
done much more to bolster the resolve required to reform Mexico's
police and improve upon its deplorable corruption record.
In the past, corruption has been one of the primary drivers behind
the US government's reluctance to share information or offer
assistance to Mexico. Many Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and
other law enforcement officers working in Colombia in the 1990s
remember well the unbelievable levels of corruption within that
country's police forces. Its presence affected every decision and
skewed the outcome of most missions. US legislators should apply
lessons learned in Colombia concerning the effects of corruption to
their assistance for their neighbor across the border.
Mexico today cannot be compared with Colombia in the early 1990s, but
the country has a demonstrable problem with corruption, one the
Merida Initiative couldn't begin to eradicate.
That said, a heavier focus on police reform, and other strategies
directed at the professionalization of Mexico's police forces
specifically, and the security sector in general, could travel a long
way toward creating a solid foundation for a modernized and
professional police force at both federal and state levels.
The war on drugs has moved north from Colombia to Mexico, at times
with violence spilling over into the US, and Washington still
maintains a strong focus on a supply-side strategy. The battle has
now shifted to Mexico, and the most assured path toward a long-term
reduction of violence there is directly tied to a significant
reduction in drug demand inside the US.
As the latest installment of an aid package in the decades-old fight
to contain the flow of drugs into the US, the Merida Initiative is an
excellent step in the right direction despite its inherent flaws, but
it cannot defeat the simple laws of economics.
Samuel Logan is an investigative journalist who has reported on
security, energy, politics, economics, organized crime, terrorism and
black markets in Latin America since 1999. He is a senior writer for
ISN Security Watch and has a book on organized crime and immigration
forthcoming from Hyperion in Spring, 2009.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only,
not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN).
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