Update: My friend Babs has undertaken the challenging job of proofreading this post. I obviously need help in this department. I hope her efforts make it easier for you to read!
You wouldn't know it by reading the NY Times, but under the chairmanship of John Kerry, the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee has criticized the US role in the drug war with Mexico in an articulate and useful manner. David Brooks (not the NY Times David Brooks) reports on this in an article headlined on the front page of yesterday's La Jornada. Below I translate most of it.
There does seem to be some significant shifting of positions. This link sends you to a more US-oriented critique of US drug policy from David Simon, creator of the classic HBO series, The Wire.
I don't think there's any hope of overcoming the horrendous divide between Democrats and Republicans for the next US presidential election. I am no fan of Obama's, but if only because there's more of a chance for a LITTLE bit of reason to guide policy under Obama, I guess at this point I think it is important to vote for him.
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The deployment of armed forces to combat narcotraffic in Mexico has been "ineffective" and has even managed to worsen the violence concluded a report of the US Senate distributed today. It proposes a change of strategy, including sending more US personnel and money to prepare and facilitate police and judicial reforms necessary to reduce violence in our neighboring country.
The report, prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate was ordered by its chairman, Democratic Senator John Kerry, with the objective of offering a context for the development of bilateral strategies with the new Mexican president.
The diagnosis offered in the report confirms that "an extensive dependence of the military to confine illegality and directly confront the narcotrafic cartels appears to have been, in great measure, ineffective and, in some cases, has exacerbated the violence suffered by civilians." It indicates that in spite of the significant increases in the effort of President Felipe Calderón, "his anticrime strategy centered on combatting the capos has been amply criticized for putting Mexicans' daily necessities for security at a lower level."
Although it praised the efforts of President Calderón as well as the high level of bilateral cooperation which has been developed in recent years because of the Merida Initiative, the report maintains that the strategy has left "doubts" among the population about whether it can triumph owing to the "inability of the government to suppress the hyperviolence that is going on in certain parts of Mexico. Put simply, the majority of Mexicans lack confidence in the main tools the federal and state authorities use to comb at crime, with the police and the judicial system, given its history of widespread corruption and ineffectiveness." Furthermore, [the report] points out " the worrisome increase of allegations of serious violations of human rights against civilians by military personnel."
Senator Kerry declared, when releasing the report, that "the presidential transition in Mexico offers a new window for discussing Police Reforms in Mexico, It recommends that the US government increase its support for judicial and police reform at federal and state levels, with funds from the Merida Initiative for some 250 million dollars annually for four years. Thee funds include supporting US training of Mexican agents.
It appears that this recommendation implies a redoubling of efforts. The investigators of the Senate say that both governments already support the creation of an academy of public security for training state police of the whole country, and that such an academy has already opened its doors in May, 2012 in Puebla. The investigators add that the Mexican government increased from three to eight the states considered priorities for receiving US assistance in the "professionalization of police" in the context of the Merida Initiative. At this time, they report that with this effort, the United States is putting "expert consultants" in the police academies of Chihuahua, Nuevo Le{on, Sonora and Tamaulipas as well as helping to create specialized teams of state police in at least 21 states.
The authors of the report suggest that the US government increase efforts to implement mechanisms of accountability within the federal and state police in order to prevent corruption and abuse of human rights.
Reiterating that the deployment of the military to combat organized crime has had "limited success and, in some cases, has led to the violation of human rights," the report indicates that US efforts to increase police capacities will help to reduce the role of the armed forces in re-establishing internal security.
It recommends that the US government continue strengthening the investigative skills of the office of Attorney General, as they are also improving these skills at a state level. Under this rubric, the report said that the Agency for International Development (USAID) is already present in seven Mexican states in the implementation of judicial reforms including investigative abilities and that expanding this effort to thirteen other states is being considered.
At the same time, the US Department of Justice is doing something similar at the federal level in Mexico, including giving courses on new investigative procedures and training personnel in the Attorney General of the Republic´s office.
Although the report does not dwell on the point, it recognizes that it has "to do more" to deal with problems in its own country which contribute to the violence in Mexico, such as reducing the demand for illicit drugs, lessening the flow of weapons into the countr to the south, and combatting money laundering in US financial institutions.