Whack-a-mole: Wars on the U.S.-Mexico Border Divide and Conquer

Wars on the U.S.-Mexico Border Divide and Conquer - COLORLINES: "On his tour of Latin America this week, President Obama will stress opportunities for economic and political partnership. But the bruised lower lip of America’s border exposes a hard truth about the hemispheric balance of power: important partners don’t always make good neighbors. The Obama administration continues to fixate on militarizing law enforcement to stem transnational flows of narcotics and labor. The collateral damage of that choice has come in the form of economic turmoil, the slaughter of civilians and constant fear.

The war on drugs is just one of the gears driving a massive humanitarian crisis stretching over the U.S.-Mexico border. News reports give us only fractured images of Mexico—a land of warring drug cartels, with grisly and escalating violence. Behind the headlines, though, Washington’s policies have steered Mexico’s tragic narrative of displacement, poverty and violence."