The Mexican Drug Cartels Are A National Security Issue

Drug war related murders in Mexico 2006-2011 - Wiki Image

Grace Wyler
Business Insider

The U.S. and Mexico have categorically rejected a recent report from the high-profile Global Commission on Drugs, which claims that the U.S.-led war on drugs is a colossal -- and costly -- failure.

The report -- signed by world leaders including former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana -- argues that harsh drug policies have primarily resulted in the proliferation of organized crime, corruption, and mass criminalization, while failing to substantially reduce illegal drug use. It advocates addressing illegal drug use as a public health issue rather than a crime problem, with an emphasis on “legal regulation” and treatment over punishment.

Despite the panel’s big-name cachet, the U.S. and Mexico have indicated that they have no intention of abandoning their strategies for fighting the drug war, which has claimed more than 40,000 Mexican lives since December 2006. In a statement last week, the Obama administration claimed that the fight against illegal drugs is working.

US, Mexico build police academy in anti-drug effort

Editor's Note: Throwing good money after bad in the war on drugs to fight the supply chain. Never mind that the magnet of demand is never going away.

© AFP/File Francisco Vega

AFP

PUEBLA, Mexico (AFP) - The United States and Mexico have begun building a new police academy in the central Mexican state of Puebla as part of the Merida joint anti-drug effort, the head of the initiative said.

Mexican federal police have been receiving training under the auspices of the Merida program since 2008 at a public security academy at San Luis Potosi in northern Mexico that trains officers for a variety of missions.

But Keith Mines, the US director of the Merida Initiative, said on Monday that the new academy would be the "first of its kind in the world" and would cater exclusively to security forces involved in the initiative.

'Unprecedented' level of violence in Mexico: FBI

confrontation with members of a gang in Mexico
© AFP/File Antonio Palacios

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Using unusually blunt language, FBI Director Robert Mueller told US legislators on Capitol Hill Wednesday that there is an "unprecedented" level of violence in Mexico linked to the country's drug wars.

"I would not call it a full-scale war," Mueller told members of the House of Representatives as he discussed his agency's 2012 budget.

"I would say there are full-scale warring factions that utilize homicide as a mechanism of retaliation, staking out one's turf, retribution, that have contributed substantially to the number of deaths in Mexico," Mueller said.

There have been some 35,000 homicides in the past four years, Mueller said.

"I think it's fair to say that it's unprecedented," he said. "The last couple of years, I think, have been particularly bad."

US drones 'over Mexico to track drug lords'

© AFP/File Joel Saget

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has begun sending unarmed drones deep into Mexico to gather intelligence about powerful drug cartels in order to assist local authorities, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said US President Barack Obama and his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon formally agreed to the high-altitude missions in a meeting on March 3 but have kept it secret because of possible political and legal constraints.

It cited unnamed US officials as saying that the drones gathered vital information leading to Mexico's arrest of several suspects in last month's killing of US immigration and customs agent Jaime Zapata, 32.