Drug War Strategy: WOLA Report Calls Colombia a 'Cautionary Tale' For Mexico

The Pan-American Post: "The Washington Office on Latin America released a new report on how lessons from “Plan Colombia” can guide future U.S. policy in Mexico. The report warns against creating too close of a parallel between the Mexico and Colombia drug conflicts, then goes on to argue that repeating the Plan Colombia model in Mexico “would be a very a bad idea.”

The report presents six recommendations for overall U.S. strategy, beginning with the mandate that the U.S. must first “clean its own house” and prioritize domestic drug reduction efforts, as well as efforts to stem gun trafficking to Mexico. The report also warns against an “uncritical embrace” of the partner government, citing Colombia’s “false positives” scandal as an example of U.S. policymakers assuming a “timid” stance towards military misconduct. " read more