The National Guard for Mexico would be nothing like our National Guard. Actually, even the Mexican army can hardly be considered much more than an internal security force, but perhaps one better suited for the barracks than the streets most of the time. The National Guard Peña Nieto speaks of would be more a gendarmerie, a sort of national paramilitary police force, with military organization and equipment, but also typically the capacity to arrest lawbreakers.
The establishment of a paramilitary force could be the middle ground between using quasi-military forces instead of civilian police forces to confront heavily armed criminal gangs. Peña Nieto’s proposed paramilitary police force would be larger than the current federal police, numbering approximately 40,000 troops, would ostensibly increase intelligence gathering and patrols in conflict zones, and would be composed of soldiers who had already been tested during the Calderón administration. Continue Reading
Bucking the trend of declining cocaine use in the United States, coca paste use (similar to crack cocaine) in Uruguay has been identified by the country’s current presidential administration as such a problem that it is proposing legislation to sell marijuana. The plan is a step beyond the decriminalization measures proposed by many countries in the region because it includes the sale, regulation and control of marijuana by the state. Continue Reading
In recent debates, all of the current Mexican presidential candidates have claimed they will shift from a counter-narcotic policy to a counter-violence policy. What would it mean in practice to emphasize violence reduction in lieu of a counter-narcotics policy?
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Last Thursday, Mexico’s Marines announced that, with signal intelligence from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), they had captured the son of notorious drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo. El Chapo is the most wanted man in Mexico and leads the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest organized crime syndicate in Mexico, with the possible of exception of Los Zetas. His son, Alfredo Guzman Salazar, was arrested in Guadalajara with guns and $135,000, the Marines announced.
There was only one problem with this announcement, which was heard and reported on around the world.
It wasn’t true. Continue Reading
At a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on June 20, Congressman James Sensenbrenner accused leading Mexican presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto of “a reversion” to the old policies of “turning a blind eye to the cartels” because of his proposal to fight drug-related violence in lieu of drug trafficking. Until now, the four candidates in Mexico’s presidential race have been vague on security policy, generally talking about reducing violence in the so-called “drug war.”
The accusation clearly riled Peña Nieto, who said the Republican congressman had a “lack of knowledge,” and declared himself “unwavering” in the fight against organized crime, according to the Associated Press. Continue Reading
Using the premise that legalizing drugs will stop the violence in Mexico and cripple the cartels is a fallacy. Legalization will only worsen the usage problem. Currently, Mexican cartels are believed to derive approximately 60 percent of their profits from… Continue Reading