Mexico City civil rights groups honor the 15 teenagers killed in Ciudad Juárez on January 31. Photo: Flickr user diegohg.

On February 13, around 1,300 Mexicans took to the streets of Ciudad Juárez to protest the continued presence of the armed forces in the northern border city.

Civil rights groups say the deployment of 6,000 combat troops has worsened the drug-related crime wave and have organized a “March of Anger” to voice their opposition.

Ciudad Juárez is now infamous as the murder capital of Mexico and last year 2,660 people were killed in the city. Most deaths are the result of cartels fighting over drug-smuggling routes into the U.S.

On January 31, armed men gunned down 15 innocent teenagers at a party, triggering a response against the incessant bloodshed from civil rights groups. President Felipe Calderón initially said the youths had connections to drug gangs but later retracted his accusation.

The demonstrations took place just after the president visited Ciudad Juárez and vowed to refine his strategy against organized crime. Calderón also announced the deployment of a further 3,000 federal police officers to the city.

Bloggers in Ciudad Juárez and elsewhere have commented on the weekend’s protests. Worldfocus translated a few excerpts:

From S.O.S. Juarez, one of the organizing civil rights groups:

The state’s failure to provide public safety forces organizations out onto the streets and to take up the demands of the relatives of those massacred [on January 31]. We need to stand up for our rights and defeat the fear that has paralyzed a large swathe of society…[T]he protesters held three minutes of silence and, in a symbolic gesture representing hundreds of executions, threw themselves on the floor to remember the thousands killed. The fallen are the result of a senseless war declared by an illegitimate government [a reference to the contested 2006 general election].

From Chihuahua Resiste, on the reaction of one bereaved relative:

A central figure [of the protests] has been Luz María Dávila, the mother of two of the victims of the [January 31] massacre. Last Thursday she became known to the world when she squared up to President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and demanded swift justice for her children.

From Pocamadrenews, a blog that calls for further action against the rising violence:

Although there have been other protests in Juárez and other cities, I believe it is time to come together in solidarity and organize a national strike movement. This will create further pressure because protest marches achieve very little.

From Poverty News, a blog that comments on the allure of the drug trade for Ciudad Juárez’s youth:

Safety prevents many children from even receiving an education in Ciudad Juárez. Even if the streets were safe many families could not afford the costs for education that is not free for that region of Mexico. All of this this makes entering the drug trade an attractive option to earn a lot of money fast for pre-teens without an education.

- James Matthews

The drug war there kills an average of 8 people per day and has residents living in fear.

Thursday night, Mexican President Felipe Calderon was in the city, hearing criticism that the government was not doing enough to quell the violence.

Mariana Sanchez of Al Jazeera English reports from Mexico’s murder capital.

Can Ciudad Juarez be saved from the drug violence?

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Please be respectful and on-point. Malicious or offensive comments will be deleted, and repeat offenders will be banned.

Read Worldfocus blogger Peter Eisner’s take on the meeting: Hollow words as Obama praises Mexico’s war on drugs

One of the biggest problems the federal government in Mexico is confronting in its war on drugs is police corruption. This week, in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, officials ordered the municipal police not to sit in parked patrol cars observing traffic because they suspect those police are actually spying for the drug cartels.

Andres Martinez, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the Americas summit, the drug war and the U.S. commitment to Mexico.

President Barack Obama with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts at a trilateral meeting in Guadalajara on Monday. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

I’ve had some telling glimpses over the years of how politics and diplomacy really work. There was the time years ago when I sat in a U.S. ambassador’s office in Bolivia and listened to him brazenly giving orders to the country’s interior minister.

Or when I watched how an American official tried to cajole the president of Honduras into a military dispute with Nicaragua.

And the time when I was told that a top U.S. official was traveling to Mexico City to observe Mexico’s drug interdiction program.

“What drug interdiction program?” a confused Mexican government spokesman asked me. I had gotten advance warning of the visit. “We don’t have a drug interdiction program.”

Five minutes later, the same Mexican spokesman called me back and said — without a trace of irony — that I was invited to attend a meeting between U.S. and Mexican officials who would be discussing Mexico’s “drug interdiction program.” It had somehow materialized.

Those anecdotes are the product of the last century, but I was reminded this week that things haven’t changed much.

The U.S. government arrogantly figures that the governments of other countries can meet the imposed values that the United States expects. One can respect the people of Mexico and honor that country’s heritage and sense of pride, but still say: The Mexican government is over-gunned by drug dealers and will not be able to stop the violence and out-of-bounds profits earned by the narcotics trade.

For some sense of the absurdity of the fight, have a look at the New York Times story about Mexican prisons, headlined: War Without Borders: Mexico’s Drug Traffickers Continue Trade in Prison

The cycle of violence and death waxes and wanes, but the reality hasn’t changed for decades; there is too much money in drug dealing to stop the industry. Drug cartels practically own the Mexican prisons where they are held. Plagued by corruption, drug producing nations have been unable over the years to control the production and flow of illegal narcotics.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon won praise from President Obama this week during the annual North American summit in Mexico:

We will work to make sure Mexico has the support it needs to dismantle and defeat the cartels.  And the United States will also meet its responsibilities by continuing our efforts to reduce the demand for drugs and continuing to strengthening the security of our shared border — not only to protect the American people, but to stem the illegal southbound flow of American guns and cash that helps fuel this extraordinary violence.

I have to say that the words are mighty, but if history is a guide the U.S. Congress will do little if anything to halt the sale of guns southward. And the United States has not shown signs of augmenting Mexican security efforts to the degree needed. International money laundering of drug trafficking  appears beyond control. I’d love to end up being surprised that I’m wrong.

A must-read to see the depths of the problem is an extensive report in the Washington Post by my old colleagues Steve Fainaru and Bill Booth.

This paragraph sums it up:

Beyond the reach of the U.S. and Mexican governments in their fight against drug traffickers is an intimate, complex world of communal violence and crippled institutions. At the center of the drug war is Michoacan, a rugged, rural state in the southwest where all forms of traditional authority — city hall, the military, police and even the Catholic Church — have been unable to protect the people against the assassinations, kidnappings and extortions associated with the narcotics trade.

The United States has acknowledged the obvious many times: that U.S. consumption of drugs is a driving part of the problem of the international narcotics trade. But no politician in the United States will seriously consider drug decriminalization, or broad social programs and education that will change the formula of drug consumption, or laws that — heaven forfend — would curtail gun sales.

The promises are all words, and nothing changes.

- Peter Eisner

Issues on the agenda included trade, the H1N1 flu pandemic and the battle against illegal drugs.

Shannon O’Neil, a fellow in Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the summit and the biggest challenges ahead for the U.S.-Mexico relationship.

Mexico’s Social Democrats Party has a strong online presence.

As the confirmed number of H1N1 flu cases worldwide surpasses 2,000, Mexico is returning to normal as businesses and schools reopen.

But as a Worldfocus contributing blogger writes, the epidemic may have a lasting impact on internal Mexican politics, as the country approaches congressional elections in July.

With the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in control of Mexico’s Congress, President Felipe Calderón may try to use his handling of the flu crisis to promote his National Action Party (PAN).

At the height of the H1N1 outbreak, with public gatherings banned, many politicians turned to the Web, using Twitter, Facebook and other social networking tools to spread their message.

Richard Grabman is an American author living in Mexico. He writes at “The Mex Files“ blog to explore how “flu-fallout” will impact the country’s political scene.

Viral campaigning in a time of viruses

The official campaign season for the 2009 elections started last Sunday, and there has been concern that the Calderon Administration is using the “sanitary contingency” to control either control the opposition parties ability to reach the voters, or to surpress voter turnout — which would presumably benefit PAN.

PAN Party Chair German Martinez had floated the suggestion of delaying the election, but found little support for such an obvious ploy.  Most parties agreed to certain “temporary” restrictions — supposedly voluntary — that limit candidate meetings to small gatherings between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. (which basically means workers wouldn’t be attending) and limiting campaigning to a media campaign.

While election and media laws require the television and radio broadcasters to run campaign material during prime time for all the parties, and even the minor parties are given equal access, it does limit the effectiveness of some campaigning, which has always been more hands-on in Mexico.

BUT… There are no restrictions on Internet advertising.

The Social Democrats (SD), a very small party and always in danger of losing their registration, seems to be “winning” the on-line campaign.  At least it’s SD advertising which pops up most regularly on my screen when I look at a site with random advertising.  The SD ads push a “progressive” social agenda (drug legalization, abortion rights, gay and lesbian equality) and pays less attention to economic policy, perhaps appealing for the geek vote — which may be enough to keep their party registration.

[...] I expect more “flu-fallout” will emerge in the next few days as the campaigns get more heated.  And, I expect that the broad support for the Calderon administration’s proactive approach to the flu will somewhat limit the expected fall in PAN support, but it may not all be to the advantage of PRI… though with a stronger left, the Administration will be forced to make more concessions to the left in legislative iniatives.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Mexico City to meet with his counterpart, Mexican President Felipe Calderon.  The issue of drug violence quickly took center stage, with the president again promising that the U.S. will do all it can to help Mexico win its war with the drug cartels.

Rodolfo de la Garza of Columbia University joins Martin Savidge to discuss U.S. concerns about Mexico, Mexico’s military strategy and issues relating to the economy and immigration.

For more perspective on Obama’s trip, read Worldfocus editorial consultant Peter Eisner’s analysis: No room for optimism in Mexico’s war on drugs.

Police corruption is one problem facing Mexico. Photo: Megan Thompson

U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to venture to Mexico on Thursday for talks with President Felipe Calderon. Officials from the Obama administration say the president will work to curb the flow of U.S.-made firearms to Mexican drug traffickers.

Worldfocus editorial consultant Peter Eisner writes to argue that unless political leaders are willing to commit to real change and take the resulting flak, it will be impossible to alleviate Mexico’s drug problem. See more on our coverage of Mexico’s Drug War.

When President Obama meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico on Thursday, how many people will be thinking about the history of efforts by the two countries to deal with drug trafficking? Anyone who does will have to be listed as a skeptic about possibilities for real change.

Mexico has been stuck in the middle of modern drug trade ever since the rise of the Colombian cocaine and marijuana cartels more than three decades ago. But the United States preferred to look elsewhere. The Reagan administration declared a war on drugs and spent billions of dollars on eradicating crops in Colombia and Peru; the first President Bush invaded Panama, and imprisoned Manuel Antonio Noriega claiming he was a drug dealer. The United States also helped hunt down and kill Pablo Escobar, and even blamed Fidel Castro and Raul Castro for the drug trade. Cynicism abounded and little, if anything, was accomplished.

All the while, the Mexican narco industry was thriving and growing, and no one came up with the key to change the reality –- drug dealing and the associated violence in Mexico operates with impunity. The Mexican drug business is successful because of corruption, weak justice and police structures in Mexico, and because of the driving market right across the border.

Consider this report from the Washington Office on Latin America, prepared in the leadup to Obama’s one-day trip:

The ability to identify, prosecute, and punish drug traffickers is a key element in containing the drug trade. There were over 10,000 drug-related killings in Mexico in the past three years. As staggering as these numbers are, it is noteworthy that the majority of these murders may never be solved. The Mexican Citizen Institute for Research on Insecurity (INCESI) found that initial investigations are begun for only 13 percent of the reported crimes and in only 5 percent of these crimes are the alleged perpetrator brought before a judge. (1) The same institute estimates that of every 100 investigations, only 4 cases result in sentencing the person responsible.

What are the real prospects for change? Well, the American president is stymied by mistrust from the Mexican side –- where officials and the public always feel the United States is trying to bigfoot Mexican government policy. And at home, there’s no possibility on the horizon of ever decriminalizing drugs to puncture the market.

Meanwhile, what American politician would ever get away with curbing the sale of guns, which Mexican traffickers can easily haul in and use in their murderous business? Without meaningful change brought on by officials who see the reality and are willing to take the political flak, there isn’t much room for optimism.

- Peter Eisner

Drug violence in Mexico killed more than 6,000 people in 2008, and has killed 1,000 so far this year and spilled over the border into the U.S.

Despite growing fears on both sides of the border that the cartels are out of control, Mexican President Felipe Calderon rejected the notion that Mexico is a “failed state.”

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed the results of “Operation Xcellerator,” an anti-drug initiative targeting Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. The U.S. has arrested 750 people in connection with Mexican drug cartels over the past two years.

Andrew Bast has reported from four continents for several magazines and newspapers and writes at “World Politics Review” about the state of the drug war and what can be done.

Under the Influence: Demand and the Mexican Drug War

The war looks eerily familiar: beheadings, assassinations of police and public officials, terrorized businesspeople, extorted schoolteachers, and in five years more than 230 American civilians dead in the crossfire. All this could easily describe the battle in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but the reality is closer to home, where an increasingly gruesome and threatening war is threatening to boil over the United States’ southern border with Mexico.

Summing up decades of policy, three former Latin American heads of state last week declared, “The war on drugs has failed.” Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, César Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, working together on the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, argued, “Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven’t worked. . . . Today, we are further than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs.”

Considering the money and resources committed to the War on Drugs over the years, the claim is mind-boggling. Pinning down exact figures is difficult, but some experts estimate that nearly $1 trillion has been spent in total. In 2009, $14 billion more has been budgeted to programs spanning 12 agencies of the U.s. federal government, from the Small Business Administration and Veterans Affairs to State, Interior and the Department of Defense. Every one of them, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is an “important partner.” Some experts say that the actual money spent this year will be twice as much.

Last week, a coordinated sweep cracked down on cartels operating in Canada, Mexico and across the United States, demonstrating that this is still the same old war. Without a doubt the 755 arrests yanked offenders off the streets. But the strategy of stemming supply has, over the long run, proven shortsighted.

More money and guns abroad will prove ineffective in increasing U.S. influence over cartels and drug supply routes flowing into the country. Instead, American influence over the scourge of international narco-trafficking will be best leveraged domestically: Quelling what is rapidly becoming an imposing foreign policy issue depends on increasing treatment at home rather than waging a bigger battle abroad.

Arresting traffickers and aiding the Mexican government to combat the cartels focuses on the supply side of the problem. Accordingly, Congress passed the Merida Initiative last June, providing a half-billion dollars in aid annually to Mexico as a partner in trying to shut down the supply chain. As the cartels grow more capable, as well as more brazen, it seems that taking them down is a logical first step. But a few harsh realities suggest that stepping up the offensive will do little, if anything, to actually cut the flow of narcotics into American cities.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user dream2life under a Creative Commons license.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the “greatest organized crime threat” to the United States, according to a recent government report [PDF], and drug-related violence — which has already reached unprecedented levels — is expected to increase in the coming year.

Carol Wise, an associate Professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, joins Martin Savidge to discuss how the abductions and killings in Mexico have seeped across the border into the U.S. and how the incoming Obama administration can work to combat the escalating violence.

See more coverage of the Mexican drug wars, including video interviews and blogs.

Below, read what bloggers are saying about the Obama-Calderón meeting.

The “Security in Latin America” blog writes that the meeting between Obama and Calderón will be all talk and no action.

Worldfocus contributing blogger Greg Weeks argues that details are less important than the tone of the meeting, which he hopes reflects urgency.

The “Pura Vida” blog writes that Mexico should be Obama’s number one security concern, even eclipsing Iraq or Afghanistan.

A blogger at “Mex Files” claims that no one in the Obama administration is interested in or committed to Latin American affairs.

Police search bags for drugs and weapons in Mexico.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the “greatest organized crime threat” to the United States, according to a recent government report [PDF]. Traffickers wield influence in the U.S. drug market and are working increasingly with U.S. drug gangs.

Last week, an American security consultant was kidnapped in Mexico.

Drug-related violence has killed more than 5,300 people so far this year in Mexico. KPBS and TijuanaPress.com recently launched “Border Battle,” an interactive Web feature on drug violence on the U.S.-Mexico border and its impact on San Diego.

Blogger “Jim Baca” of New Mexico argues that Mexico’s problem is also America’s and encourages U.S. action.

Earlier this month, the U.S. released $197 million in anti-drug aid as part of the $1.3 billion “Merida Initiative” package.

Citizen journalist “Lewis Guess” writes about Mexican victims treated in Texas hospitals, and argues that Mexico — not the U.S. — should be more aggressive in dealing with violence.

The “Harvard International Review” blog says that Mexico has three options: Negotiating with the drug cartels, decriminalizing drugs or increasing military presence in Mexican society.

The “Stairs to Nowhere” blog writes from Tijuana that crossing the border is more nerve-wracking than it used to be, as the federal military has begun checking cars.

Read our previous coverage of drug violence in Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Prometeo Lucero under a Creative Commons license.

A girl lights a candle during a protest against violence in Mexico.

Drug violence has taken a toll on Mexico, and drug-related killing more than doubled this year compared to 2007.

In October, President Felipe Calderón issued a proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cocaine and other drugs in an effort to more efficiently target large-scale perpetrators.

Kathleen Blake Bohne writes at OpenDemocracy about the legalization debate in Mexico.

Drug decriminalisation in Mexico

[...]As this situation becomes more desperate, citizens and policymakers are left wondering where else to turn. [...] On October 2, [President Felipe Calderón] proposed an additional tactic, presenting a drug legalization scheme to the Mexican Congress, where various members of all three main political parties support its passage. Legalization is the term being used to describe this proposal, however, it would be more accurate to describe it as decriminalization – it would offer the alternative of treatment rather than prosecution for possession of small amounts of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. The stated goal is to help unclog the judicial system - already sluggish from corruption and poor infrastructure – overloaded with cases against addicts, whom many believe should be treated as patients rather than criminals. This should also free up law enforcement to concentrate its efforts against dealers; the same proposal includes tougher penalties on those who sell drugs to minors, for example.

The Mexican Congress passed a similar legalization proposal presented by then-President Vicente Fox in 2006, but Fox himself vetoed it, raising suspicions that U.S. pressure had been applied. But the 2008 proposal has already been given a quiet nod of approval by the U.S. drug czar, John Walters, who also assured his country’s unwavering support for Calderón’s military crackdown. This about-face on legalization - which Walters has been vehemently opposed to in the U.S – is likely because it is seen as a local effort that can be encouraged, as long as the overall government strategy remains adamantly hawkish on the drug war. It also appears that the momentum towards at least partial decriminalization in the region may be overwhelming; as noted in a recent report from the Center on Hemispheric Affairs, Latin America is shifting towards a “more independent, region-centric approach to the issue of the economics of narcotics.”

A rising tide of similar legislation is being considered in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia, and in an October OAS (Organization of American States) meeting, the President of Honduras stated that “the trade of drugs, arms and people…are scourges on the international economy, and we are unable to provide effective responses” because of ongoing drug prohibition. The speaker of Mexico City’s legislative assembly, PRD Senator Victor Hugo Cirigo has even suggested the legalization of the sale of small amounts of marijuana in the capital city, citing the fact that marijuana is a “soft” drug, and that it is obvious that a new strategy is needed – he advised it is time to “hit criminals where it hurts: their finances.” Even the great Fuentes has lent his voice in support: “The only way to curb the violence of the drug cartels in Mexico is by legalizing drugs…If six or seven countries agreed with each other to legalize drug-taking, we would end it with the drug traffickers.” Fuentes’s statement highlights the significance of an international consensus on legalization; without a doubt, the United States, as the most profitable drug market in the hemisphere, would need to participate in order to reduce the cartels’ spoils of prohibition.

Legalization/decriminalization is certainly not the solution favored by everyone, including a very vocal and indignant Catholic Church, which criticized the legislators responsible for their “lack of moral values and ethics…thinking this makes them more modern.” Many fear a dramatic increase in the number of addicts, although they have been multiplying in Mexico for the past decade. Mexican drug use has spiked up 52% since 2000, with cocaine use alone increasing 100% in the past six years; women’s use has almost doubled in the same period. In a country where close to 50% of the population is under the age of 25 (the fastest growing demographic for drug addiction is the 12-17 year-old group), and rapid urbanization has created vast, destitute slums, it seems a sad truth that drug use will only increase, whether or not addicts are jailed.

In considering this issue, it should be remembered that even the few successes in the panorama of failures in the war on drugs have been mostly accidental. The end of the crack cocaine epidemic that gripped cities across the United States in the 1980s and early 90s was one of them. This triumph over a specific, highly potent drug and its users and dealers was credited with single-handedly reducing crime on city streets. How was this enviable feat accomplished? The truth is, no one knows.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of flickr user edcarsi under a Creative Commons license.