| Drug trafficking - Mexico's growing cancer |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Thursday, 21 June 2007 | |
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Calderon is now firmly installed as the president of Mexico, after having survived Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's strong post-electoral challenge. He has shown that he is ready to tackle his country's major problems, which are organized crime and gross impunity. In reality, he is having a tough time. Drug trafficking overpoweringly is the prevailing social problem throughout the country, particularly along the border with the US. In spite of lengthy declarations by government officials in Mexico City and Washington, and their insistence that important battles are being won against drug trafficking, criminal organizations like the Tijuana cartel continue to thrive, ruling over whole sections of the Mexican countryside. The drug cartels continue to rule with no sure sign of their power decreasing anytime soon. Looking over a long history of disappointment and failure of the government in controlling this, it is unlikely to save for episodic and criminal activities are likely to decrease. To a great extent this is due to Mexico's unrefined corruption and the fact that the nation's institutions are not strong enough to stand up to threats, bribes, unremitting violence, and civic rectitude, when upward of 50 billions of tainted dollars are in play. During the US President G. Bush’s two day stopover in Mexico in recent past, he wasted no time in praising the accomplishments of the Calderon administration in combating drug trafficking. Declarations made by Bush and Calderon should be seen as symbolic more than anything else. Both leaders likely realize that whatever initiatives taken to stop drug trafficking from Mexico into the US, including the recent operations by Mexican security forces as part of Calderon's offensive on organized crime, have not succeeded to any marked degree in changing the course of the drug war in Mexico. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 29 June 2007 ) |
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