Here is an article in today's El Universal quoting General Barry McCaffrey's retraction denial that Mexico is on the verge of being a failed state, and, more important, describing at least some in the US taking responsibility for the crisis of narcotráfico. NOTE, please, the comparison of Mexico, our neighbor, to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Below is my translation.
"Mexico far from being a failed state," emphasize McCaffrey
by J. Jaime Hernández, correspondent
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Ex-drug czar assures that the cartels will not win; asks aid to combat them.
Washington.- Retired general Barry McCaffrey, ex antidrug csar of he US, took care yesterday not to enhance the susceptiblility the government of Mexico, especially since "the recent frowth in the level of violence and brutal acts committed by the drug cartels has created a national emergency" in his neighbor to the south.
"The possibility that Mexico will become a failed state or a narco state is zero," he said in an emphatic tone, [I don't quite get the sense of the following: "como en son de paz." Venir en paz means to come in peace. Here, perhaps, the writer is indicating McCaffrey comes in peace, i.e. to smoothe troubled waters caused by his previous report. As I say, I'm not sure.]
"And the US will have to respect the leadership of President Felipe Calderón and recognize his courage and integrity in a struggle which is as complex as it is lethal," he said.
The former general, who headed antidrug efforts at a continental level during the Clinton Administration, participated yesterday in a forum of the Heritage Foundation called The Fire We Have on the Other Side of the Door. This title, the organiers admitted, seeks to provoke, but in no way is it a characterisation of the present situation which worries both countries.
"It's clear that in the short term it is impossible for the drug cartels to win their fight against the Mexican state," said McCaffrey, while recognizing that Mexican cartels have extended their operations into more than 295 American cities.
"But at the same time, we have to be very concerned about the murder of more than 4000 people in 2008, by the dozens of journalists assassinated, and when we see army generals kidnapped and tortured to death.
"This is a real threat, and in the next decade, Mexico could become a narco state," he said. But McCaffrey, a sharp critic of the processes of certification which poisoned the relations between the US and Mexico during the 1990s and defender of the idea of zero tolerance in the fight against drugs, not only gave a description of the reality which has given rise to a series of appeals and failed efforts on both sides of the border, but also he came with a new perspective.
"It can't be that we dedicate more money to the war in Iraq or in Afghanistan, while at the same time our Mexican friends need us more than ever," said McCaffrey referring to the Mérida Initiative´s financial limits in the face of the multimillion dollar resources of the cartels who have, in addition, benefited from lax controls against money laundering at the rate of some 25 billion dollars a year and from the traffic in US arms.
"President Obama has to focus immediately on the crisis which faces Mexico because of the flow of drugs, money and weapons associated with narcotráfico," he insisted.
Andrew Selee, director of the Mexican Institue of the Woodrow Wilson Center, suggested that if "there is a fire on the other side of the frontier, it is one which we start in the US, and we must cooperate with Mexico."
by J. Jaime Hernández, correspondent
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Ex-drug czar assures that the cartels will not win; asks aid to combat them.
Washington.- Retired general Barry McCaffrey, ex antidrug csar of he US, took care yesterday not to enhance the susceptiblility the government of Mexico, especially since "the recent frowth in the level of violence and brutal acts committed by the drug cartels has created a national emergency" in his neighbor to the south.
"The possibility that Mexico will become a failed state or a narco state is zero," he said in an emphatic tone, [I don't quite get the sense of the following: "como en son de paz." Venir en paz means to come in peace. Here, perhaps, the writer is indicating McCaffrey comes in peace, i.e. to smoothe troubled waters caused by his previous report. As I say, I'm not sure.]
"And the US will have to respect the leadership of President Felipe Calderón and recognize his courage and integrity in a struggle which is as complex as it is lethal," he said.
The former general, who headed antidrug efforts at a continental level during the Clinton Administration, participated yesterday in a forum of the Heritage Foundation called The Fire We Have on the Other Side of the Door. This title, the organiers admitted, seeks to provoke, but in no way is it a characterisation of the present situation which worries both countries.
"It's clear that in the short term it is impossible for the drug cartels to win their fight against the Mexican state," said McCaffrey, while recognizing that Mexican cartels have extended their operations into more than 295 American cities.
"But at the same time, we have to be very concerned about the murder of more than 4000 people in 2008, by the dozens of journalists assassinated, and when we see army generals kidnapped and tortured to death.
"This is a real threat, and in the next decade, Mexico could become a narco state," he said. But McCaffrey, a sharp critic of the processes of certification which poisoned the relations between the US and Mexico during the 1990s and defender of the idea of zero tolerance in the fight against drugs, not only gave a description of the reality which has given rise to a series of appeals and failed efforts on both sides of the border, but also he came with a new perspective.
"It can't be that we dedicate more money to the war in Iraq or in Afghanistan, while at the same time our Mexican friends need us more than ever," said McCaffrey referring to the Mérida Initiative´s financial limits in the face of the multimillion dollar resources of the cartels who have, in addition, benefited from lax controls against money laundering at the rate of some 25 billion dollars a year and from the traffic in US arms.
"President Obama has to focus immediately on the crisis which faces Mexico because of the flow of drugs, money and weapons associated with narcotráfico," he insisted.
Andrew Selee, director of the Mexican Institue of the Woodrow Wilson Center, suggested that if "there is a fire on the other side of the frontier, it is one which we start in the US, and we must cooperate with Mexico."