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EDITORIAL

June 18, 2005

Original Artical (Spanish)

Violence along the northern border is causing instability in the region, and the militarization of the war on drugs does not seem to be the solution. This Friday a man was murdered after participating in a demonstration protesting the presence of federal police and soldiers in Nuevo Laredo under the “Safe Mexico Program,” covering eight cities in states on the U.S. border.

[Editor’s note: The “Safe Mexico” program was inaugurated earlier this month in response to the June 8 murder of Nuevo Laredo’s new police chief and the subsequent killing of a plainclothes federal officer who was sent to investigate. The program is aimed at curbing drug-related violence and corruption along the border.]

This massive show of force has not stopped the executions, a product of the merciless war between drug cartels over the narcotics market and drug smuggling routes. This violence has generated uncertainty and fear among the population, who cannot defend themselves in the face of the impunity with which the criminals act and from the complicity of some of the authorities.

 “Safe Mexico” started on Tuesday, when a combined force of 1,000 officers, drawn from the Special Air Mobile Force Group [an elite paratroop and intelligence battalion], the Federal Crime Prevention Police Forces, the  Judge Advocate General for Organized Crime and the Federal Agency of Investigation (AFI) [Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI], supported by the Army, assumed control of New Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa in Tamaulipas; Culiacán, Navolato and Mazatlán in Sinaloa; and Tijuana and Mexicali in Baja California.

This measure was taken in response to a wave of violence that is shaking the country: In 2005, 155 murders have been reported in Tamaulipas, of which 66 happened in New Laredo. Meanwhile, in Baja California, 300 violent deaths, one quarter of them linked to organized crime, have been reported. Altogether, 606 murders took place in Mexico so far this year.

Nevertheless, the federal operation does not seem to have had the desired effect, because the crimes continue.

In Nuevo Laredo, the most closely guarded city, two people were murdered despite the presence of hundreds of federal and military agents. Three were murdered in Tamaulipas, two in Cove, Baja California, and two more in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

In that context it is possible to ask oneself if the militarization of the war on drugs can be successful. Putting soldiers on the streets is not a feasible solution to this problem. Soldiers do not have the ability to break the links between drug dealers, civilian authorities and police, as demonstrated by the case of 41 Nuevo Laredo municipal police who are under investigation for racketeering and attempted homicide in connection with last week’s ambush of an AFI convoy.

[Editor’s note: AFI agent Feliciano Campos was shot in the chest after municipal police pulled over his convoy of about 25 agents on a highway leading to a main border crossing. The agents were part of a group of 80 federal investigators dispatched to Nuevo Laredo in the wake of the killing of the city’s police chief.]

Also, recall the case of the governor of Morelos, Sergio Estrada Cajigal, who remains in his position despite proof of his ties to drug traffickers.

The army cannot compensate for the inability of the police to accomplish a program like “Safe Mexico.” As the United Nations has pointed out on several occasions, the armed forces should not be used for police work, because they run the risk of corruption and of committing human rights violations.

More than a successful operation to restrain the violence, the militarization of the northern border seems to be a cosmetic measure; an action hurried and improvised in the presence of a criminal power that has been able to infiltrate all facets of national life.

Fighting drug trafficking demands effective intelligence work, which, it seems, is conspicuously absent. While that work is not being carried out, gangs and their networks of complicity and corruption will remain intact, no matter how many soldiers and police there are. More than a successful operation to restrain the violence, the militarization of the northern border seems to be a cosmetic measure; an action hurried and improvised in the presence of a criminal power that has been able to infiltrate all facets of national life. Fighting drug trafficking demands strong intelligence work, which, it seems, is conspicuous by its absence. While that work is not being carried out, gangs and their networks of complicity and corruption will remain intact, no matter how many soldiers and police are used in this fight.