NY Times: Charlie Savage and Thom Shanker. Washington - In a significant expansion of the war on drugs, the United States has begun training an elite unit of counternarcotics police in Ghana and planning similar units in Nigeria and Kenya as part of an effort to combat the Latin American cartels that are increasingly using Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe.
The growing American involvement in Africa follows an earlier escalation of antidrug efforts in Central America, according to documents, Congressional testimony and interviews with a range of officials at the State Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pentagon. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label drug war - Whack-a-Mole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drug war - Whack-a-Mole. Show all posts
Jan 5, 2012
Drug War: Mexican drug kingpin to get lighter prison sentence than lower-ranking operatives
AP/Washington Post: "Mexican drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix stood attentively in court, acknowledging his guilt as a federal judge read a plea agreement that detailed his role at the helm of one of the world’s most powerful cartels in the 1990s. ... His cartel, which once had an iron-tight grip on the drug trade along California’s border with Mexico, has struggled in recent years as other cartels have become more ruthless than ever.
Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Arellano Felix, 58, can be sentenced to no more than 25 years in prison — a lighter punishment than ordered for lower-ranking members of his once-mighty, Tijuana-based cartel." read more
Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Arellano Felix, 58, can be sentenced to no more than 25 years in prison — a lighter punishment than ordered for lower-ranking members of his once-mighty, Tijuana-based cartel." read more
Nov 9, 2011
Drug War: US official: Drug traffic may return to Caribbean
Well, now, let's see. The U.S. pushed the narcos out of the Caribbean and into Mexico and Central America. Now it may be pushing them back into the Caribbean. How is this a strategy? It sounds like the game of Whack-a-mole or, as they prefer to call it in Latin America, the cockroach effect. Whack 'em in one place and they just move to another.
Boston.com: "A top U.S. State Department official said Tuesday that drug traffickers may return to old Caribbean smuggling routes as law enforcement pressure builds against them in Mexico and Central America.
Boston.com: "A top U.S. State Department official said Tuesday that drug traffickers may return to old Caribbean smuggling routes as law enforcement pressure builds against them in Mexico and Central America.
William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, said the Caribbean routes used to ship cocaine and other drugs in the 1970s and 1980s are the most logical for traffickers. Those routes led most often to South Florida but also to other Southern U.S. states. "I do not see it right now, but simple logic and common sense tells you that you probably are going to see it in the next two or three years," Brownfield said in an interview. "They are going to look for alternative routes."" read more
Sep 19, 2011
Drug War - Drug Policy: How Dodgy Numbers Distort the Drug Trade
InSight Crime: "Public perceptions of Mexico's drug trade are largely based on unreliable estimates by government agencies, who have an incentive to make the threat seem as large as possible.
Take, for instance, the estimate that the amount of illicit cash flowing across the U.S. border to Mexican capos is between $18 billion and $39 billion annually. It is immediately apparent that this is a huge range; an economist who estimated that the U.S. economy was worth between between $10 trillion and $20 trillion would be laughed at. (The real number is a bit less than $15 trillion.) For those familiar with such statistics, the lack of clarity over the government's methodology is equally worrying."
Take, for instance, the estimate that the amount of illicit cash flowing across the U.S. border to Mexican capos is between $18 billion and $39 billion annually. It is immediately apparent that this is a huge range; an economist who estimated that the U.S. economy was worth between between $10 trillion and $20 trillion would be laughed at. (The real number is a bit less than $15 trillion.) For those familiar with such statistics, the lack of clarity over the government's methodology is equally worrying."
Sep 13, 2011
Mexico Drug War: Zetas Arrests Show Gang Moving Up Calderon's List
Insightcrime: "Mexico's arrest of 80 alleged Zetas, and confiscation of a wealth of high-tech communications material in the Gulf state of Veracruz, is a further sign that the gang is the top priority of the Calderon administration."
Sep 10, 2011
The Border: For U.S.-Mexico border town, September 11 brought high wall
Reuters: "(Reuters) - When news broke of the airliners striking the twin towers in New York 10 years ago, Mexican bookkeeper Jose Manuel Madrid was readying for work in his tiny hometown on the Arizona border.
Watching the tragedy unfold on television, he had no inkling of how it would transform the lives of residents in the remote community of Naco straddling the international border."
Watching the tragedy unfold on television, he had no inkling of how it would transform the lives of residents in the remote community of Naco straddling the international border."
Sep 7, 2011
Laura's Blog: Drug War Madness
In 1936, a church group commissioned a film to strike fear in the hearts of young people tempted to smoke marijuana. But it was not until the 1970s that Reefer Madness — billed as “the original classic that was not afraid to make up the truth” due to its grotesque portrayal of the supposed dangers of marijuana — obtained cult status.
After the scare tactics of the 1930s, U.S. marijuana policy varied depending on the political climate, even as scientific research consistently debunked extreme claims that the plant caused uncontrollable violent behavior, physical addiction, and insanity.
Then on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon launched his signature “war on drugs.” The new crackdown on illegal drug use shifted the issue from a local health and public safety problem to a series of federal agencies under the direct control of the president. President Ronald Reagan later doubled down on the drug war, ushering in an age of mass incarceration.
Like the film before it, the drug war model not only criminalized but also demonized illegal drug dealing and use — and the individuals involved — in moralistic and military terms. In many states, selling marijuana carried longer sentences than murder. Although the abuse of legal drugs now kills more people than illegal drugs, the architects of the drug war continues to promote the view that it is some inherent evil of the substance, rather than the way individuals and groups use it, that determines whether a drug is a threat to society or an accepted social custom.
The Drug Policy Alliance has revealed that U.S. authorities arrest some 800,000 people a year for marijuana use. Two-thirds of those incarcerated in state prisons for drug offenses are black or Hispanic, even though consumption rates for whites are equal. Largely because of drug laws and draconian enforcement, the United States has become the world champion in imprisoning its own people, often destroying the hopes and futures of its youth. The United States spends more than $51 billion a year on the domestic war on drugs alone.
Exporting the War
The export version of the drug war has an even darker side. It makes the implicit racism of the domestic war overt. Foreign drug lords are stereotypically portrayed as the root of an evil enterprise that, in fact, takes place mostly in the United States, where street sales generate the multibillion-dollar profits of the business. Under the guise of the drug war, the U.S. government has sponsored military responses in other countries that the Constitution prohibits domestically — for good reasons.
Attention is diverted from the social roots of drug abuse and addiction at home to a foreign threat to the American way of life — a way of life that, regardless of one’s moral beliefs, has always been characterized by the widespread use of mind-altering drugs. The false war model of good vs. evil, ally vs. enemy precludes many community-based solutions that have proven to be far more effective. U.S. taxpayers pay billions of dollars to fumigate foreign lands, pursue drug traffickers, and patrol borders as well as land and sea routes to intercept shipments.
None of this has worked. More than a decade and $8 billion into Plan Colombia, that Andean nation is the number-one cocaine producer in the world. Mexico has exploded into violence as the arrests and killings of cartel leaders spark turf battles that bathe whole regions in blood.
Last month, 52 people lost their lives in an attack on a casino in Monterrey, Mexico. The news shocked Mexico since it represents yet another escalation of violence, but it’s become almost routine alongside daily drug-war deaths. For U.S. citizens, it was further proof that Mexico is under an assault by organized crime.
According to some Mexican researchers, the sudden rise in violence in Mexico correlates directly to when President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown in the war on drugs by sending troops and federal police into the streets in 2006. Meanwhile, Mexican citizens have also taken to the streets to proclaim the war on drugs directly responsible for the growing bloodshed in their country and demand a change in strategy. Calderon has refused to consider alternative models.
Obama's Drug-War Failure
This year the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report that concludes that “Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won.”
Instead, the Obama administration has added fist and firepower to the drug wars. Ignoring 40 years of policy failure, Obama has broken campaign promises to seek a more humane and effective drug policy. His administration has failed to support international harm reduction models, reversed a decision not to go after state medical marijuana regimes voted by popular referendums, reaffirmed marijuana’s classification as a schedule 1 controlled substance with no medical value, and expanded drug wars in Mexico and Central America.
The government reprehensibly continues to expand the failed drug war in the face of the budget crisis and drastic cutbacks in schools, healthcare, and basic social programs. A good example is the multimillion-dollar boondoggle called the “Merida Initiative.” Under this ill-conceived regional security cooperation measure, the United States sends intelligence and defense equipment and provides military and police training for Mexico and, to a lesser degree, Central American countries. This drug-war strategy has increased violence in Mexico and led to a severe deterioration in public safety, rule of law, and human rights. The resources go to Mexican security forces notorious for corruption and even complicity with organized crime.
The results of the drug war in Mexico have been nothing short of catastrophic. Since it began, nearly 50,000 Mexicans have lost their lives in drug-war-related violence. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, children have been orphaned and traumatized, men, and thousands have been kidnapped and still missing.
The attacks on cartels — including the killing or capture of leaders — spark turf wars that rage throughout Mexico, with the worst concentrated along the northern border. In response, some cartels have reorganized, with splinter groups frequently employing far more violent tactics than their parent organizations. Military operations have pushed the violence around the country in what experts call a “whack-a-mole” strategy that shows no signs of letting up.
The invented threat of reefer madness has been replaced with the real disaster ofdrug war madness —government perseverance with lethal and ineffective policies. The drug war, with its exaggerated claims and mistaken focus on confronting drug trafficking with police and military force, has cost the United States and its targeted suppliers like Colombia and Mexico millions of dollars and thousands of lives.
In Mexico, a peace movement has arisen against the drug war. It has opened up dialogue with the government but been met with an absolute refusal to consider other options. In the United States, drug-policy reform turns up at the top of lists of issues for town-hall discussions, but politicians dismiss the issue because it's taboo or too risky for their political aspirations.
Policymakers must come to their senses regarding the madness of the drug-war strategy. If they don't voluntarily propose reforms, then citizens will have to force them to do so.
After the scare tactics of the 1930s, U.S. marijuana policy varied depending on the political climate, even as scientific research consistently debunked extreme claims that the plant caused uncontrollable violent behavior, physical addiction, and insanity.
Then on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon launched his signature “war on drugs.” The new crackdown on illegal drug use shifted the issue from a local health and public safety problem to a series of federal agencies under the direct control of the president. President Ronald Reagan later doubled down on the drug war, ushering in an age of mass incarceration.
Like the film before it, the drug war model not only criminalized but also demonized illegal drug dealing and use — and the individuals involved — in moralistic and military terms. In many states, selling marijuana carried longer sentences than murder. Although the abuse of legal drugs now kills more people than illegal drugs, the architects of the drug war continues to promote the view that it is some inherent evil of the substance, rather than the way individuals and groups use it, that determines whether a drug is a threat to society or an accepted social custom.
The Drug Policy Alliance has revealed that U.S. authorities arrest some 800,000 people a year for marijuana use. Two-thirds of those incarcerated in state prisons for drug offenses are black or Hispanic, even though consumption rates for whites are equal. Largely because of drug laws and draconian enforcement, the United States has become the world champion in imprisoning its own people, often destroying the hopes and futures of its youth. The United States spends more than $51 billion a year on the domestic war on drugs alone.
Exporting the War
The export version of the drug war has an even darker side. It makes the implicit racism of the domestic war overt. Foreign drug lords are stereotypically portrayed as the root of an evil enterprise that, in fact, takes place mostly in the United States, where street sales generate the multibillion-dollar profits of the business. Under the guise of the drug war, the U.S. government has sponsored military responses in other countries that the Constitution prohibits domestically — for good reasons.
Attention is diverted from the social roots of drug abuse and addiction at home to a foreign threat to the American way of life — a way of life that, regardless of one’s moral beliefs, has always been characterized by the widespread use of mind-altering drugs. The false war model of good vs. evil, ally vs. enemy precludes many community-based solutions that have proven to be far more effective. U.S. taxpayers pay billions of dollars to fumigate foreign lands, pursue drug traffickers, and patrol borders as well as land and sea routes to intercept shipments.
None of this has worked. More than a decade and $8 billion into Plan Colombia, that Andean nation is the number-one cocaine producer in the world. Mexico has exploded into violence as the arrests and killings of cartel leaders spark turf battles that bathe whole regions in blood.
Last month, 52 people lost their lives in an attack on a casino in Monterrey, Mexico. The news shocked Mexico since it represents yet another escalation of violence, but it’s become almost routine alongside daily drug-war deaths. For U.S. citizens, it was further proof that Mexico is under an assault by organized crime.
According to some Mexican researchers, the sudden rise in violence in Mexico correlates directly to when President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown in the war on drugs by sending troops and federal police into the streets in 2006. Meanwhile, Mexican citizens have also taken to the streets to proclaim the war on drugs directly responsible for the growing bloodshed in their country and demand a change in strategy. Calderon has refused to consider alternative models.
Obama's Drug-War Failure
This year the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report that concludes that “Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won.”
Instead, the Obama administration has added fist and firepower to the drug wars. Ignoring 40 years of policy failure, Obama has broken campaign promises to seek a more humane and effective drug policy. His administration has failed to support international harm reduction models, reversed a decision not to go after state medical marijuana regimes voted by popular referendums, reaffirmed marijuana’s classification as a schedule 1 controlled substance with no medical value, and expanded drug wars in Mexico and Central America.
The government reprehensibly continues to expand the failed drug war in the face of the budget crisis and drastic cutbacks in schools, healthcare, and basic social programs. A good example is the multimillion-dollar boondoggle called the “Merida Initiative.” Under this ill-conceived regional security cooperation measure, the United States sends intelligence and defense equipment and provides military and police training for Mexico and, to a lesser degree, Central American countries. This drug-war strategy has increased violence in Mexico and led to a severe deterioration in public safety, rule of law, and human rights. The resources go to Mexican security forces notorious for corruption and even complicity with organized crime.
The results of the drug war in Mexico have been nothing short of catastrophic. Since it began, nearly 50,000 Mexicans have lost their lives in drug-war-related violence. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, children have been orphaned and traumatized, men, and thousands have been kidnapped and still missing.
The attacks on cartels — including the killing or capture of leaders — spark turf wars that rage throughout Mexico, with the worst concentrated along the northern border. In response, some cartels have reorganized, with splinter groups frequently employing far more violent tactics than their parent organizations. Military operations have pushed the violence around the country in what experts call a “whack-a-mole” strategy that shows no signs of letting up.
The invented threat of reefer madness has been replaced with the real disaster ofdrug war madness —government perseverance with lethal and ineffective policies. The drug war, with its exaggerated claims and mistaken focus on confronting drug trafficking with police and military force, has cost the United States and its targeted suppliers like Colombia and Mexico millions of dollars and thousands of lives.
In Mexico, a peace movement has arisen against the drug war. It has opened up dialogue with the government but been met with an absolute refusal to consider other options. In the United States, drug-policy reform turns up at the top of lists of issues for town-hall discussions, but politicians dismiss the issue because it's taboo or too risky for their political aspirations.
Policymakers must come to their senses regarding the madness of the drug-war strategy. If they don't voluntarily propose reforms, then citizens will have to force them to do so.
Sep 3, 2011
Mexico Drug War: Mexican President Vows to Continue Drug Gang Crackdown
President Calderon sticks to his guns, literally. This, in spite of his recent allusions to the U.S. needing to change its drug prohibition policy.
Voice of America: "Mexico's president is vowing to fight to the last day of his term against the drug cartels that have spread insecurity and taken over towns and police forces across Mexico. In a speech to the nation Friday, President Felipe Calderon said if the government backed down from its military crackdown, the country would be "totally dominated" by the drug gangs. He said the current strategy is the only way to "end this cancer" of drug trafficking and the ensuing violence. "
Voice of America: "Mexico's president is vowing to fight to the last day of his term against the drug cartels that have spread insecurity and taken over towns and police forces across Mexico. In a speech to the nation Friday, President Felipe Calderon said if the government backed down from its military crackdown, the country would be "totally dominated" by the drug gangs. He said the current strategy is the only way to "end this cancer" of drug trafficking and the ensuing violence. "
Mexico Drug War: Mexican officials report slaying of high-ranking Gulf Cartel leader
TheMonitor.com: "Mexican authorities on Friday announced the death of a man believed to be the No. 2 leader in the Gulf Cartel, saying the slaying appeared to have been the result an internal power struggle. Samuel Flores Borrego, 39, also known as “Metro 3,” was gunned down alongside a high-ranking police official from Diaz Ordaz known as Eloy Lerma Garcia, according to a statement from the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office.
... Preliminary investigation of the incident that led to Flores death points to a power struggle within the Gulf Cartel, according to the Mexican army and the Mexico Attorney General’s Office (PGR). Official information sources identified Flores as the cartel boss responsible for overseeing operations in the Reynosa area."
... Preliminary investigation of the incident that led to Flores death points to a power struggle within the Gulf Cartel, according to the Mexican army and the Mexico Attorney General’s Office (PGR). Official information sources identified Flores as the cartel boss responsible for overseeing operations in the Reynosa area."
Aug 31, 2011
Mexico Drug War: Mexico Casino Arson Suspects Deny Intending Massacre
InSight Crime: "Mexican authorities paraded five men accused of the Monterrey casino arson attack, who allegedly told investigators that they had not intended to kill so many people. Nuevo Leon Governor Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz told press that the men were members of the Zetas drug gang, and that they had confessed to lighting the blaze.
The suspects reportedly told police that they had intended to give a warning to the casino's owner to make extortion payments, but that "everything had got out of control." Prosecutors confirmed that the gunmen had told security guards to evacuate the casino before they set it on fire. This fits with InSight Crime's analysis, which pointed out that criminal groups would be unlikely to carry out such a deadly attack over an extortion payment."
The suspects reportedly told police that they had intended to give a warning to the casino's owner to make extortion payments, but that "everything had got out of control." Prosecutors confirmed that the gunmen had told security guards to evacuate the casino before they set it on fire. This fits with InSight Crime's analysis, which pointed out that criminal groups would be unlikely to carry out such a deadly attack over an extortion payment."
Aug 30, 2011
Mexico Drug War: Mexico Sends in 3,000 Feds After Casino Arson Attack
InSight Crime: "Some 1,500 army and air force troops and 1,500 Federal Police have been deployed in the state of Nuevo Leon, north Mexico, after an arson attack on a casino which killed 52 people."
Aug 29, 2011
Drug War: Mexico's Sinaloa cartel makes big move into meth
The Associated Press: "Mexico's most powerful drug cartel appears to be expanding methamphetamine production on a massive scale, filling a gap left by the breakdown of a rival gang that was once the top trafficker of the synthetic drug.
The globe-spanning Sinaloa cartel is suspected of dealing record tons of drugs and precursor chemicals processed in industrial-sized operations.
The apparent increase in the Sinaloa group's involvement comes as the Mexican government says it has dismantled the La Familia gang with key arrests and killings of its leadership, and as Mexico is once again the primary source of meth to the United States, according to U.S. drug intelligence reports."
The globe-spanning Sinaloa cartel is suspected of dealing record tons of drugs and precursor chemicals processed in industrial-sized operations.
The apparent increase in the Sinaloa group's involvement comes as the Mexican government says it has dismantled the La Familia gang with key arrests and killings of its leadership, and as Mexico is once again the primary source of meth to the United States, according to U.S. drug intelligence reports."
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico Seizes 18 Tons Meth Chemicals Shipped from India
Ah, those TCO's. They're so ingenious!
InSight Crime: "Mexican authorities seized almost 18 tons of chemicals used to produce synthetic drugs in the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. The cargo was found in an inspection of a Hong Kong-flagged vessel."
InSight Crime: "Mexican authorities seized almost 18 tons of chemicals used to produce synthetic drugs in the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. The cargo was found in an inspection of a Hong Kong-flagged vessel."
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Battered state vows to solve Mexican security woes
msnbc.com: "MONTERREY, Mexico — Despite suffering one of the worst attacks on civilians in Mexico for years, the state of Nuevo Leon is undaunted because it believes a radical police overhaul will soon start winning the drug war. ... In an interview with Reuters, Nuevo Leon Interior Minister Javier Trevino said the state had a plan to beat organized crime -- starting with getting rid of half the police force, much of which had been corrupted by money from cartels.
Hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration outside government buildings in Monterrey on Sunday, calling on governor Rodrigo Medina to resign. ...Many locals blame Medina for the jump in fatalities, and organizers said Sunday's protest was the biggest to date against the governor.
Hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration outside government buildings in Monterrey on Sunday, calling on governor Rodrigo Medina to resign. ...Many locals blame Medina for the jump in fatalities, and organizers said Sunday's protest was the biggest to date against the governor.
Whack-a-mole Drug War: 5 detained in attack that killed 52 in Mexico
The Associated Press:" Nuevo Leon state Gov. Rodrigo Medina says police have arrested five suspects in an arson attack on a casino that killed 52 people in northern Mexico"
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexican authorities detain three over terrorism by Tweet
Examiner.com: "Mexico has taken three men into custody over allegedly Tweeting rumors of shootouts and other drug violence. The Tweets were designed to spread chaos and fear throughout the state of Veracruz, authorities said. ... The Tweets made claims of attackes by the Zetas drug cartel. In (the city of) Veracruz ..., as well as the neighboring city of Boca del Rio, parents rushed to schools in search of their children."
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico deploys 1,500 troops after 'terrorist' casino attack
A constant criticism of the use of the Mexican army in the drug war is that they are not trained in police investigation. So again, what is sending more troops to Monterrey going to accomplish in solving the case of the casino fire?
Aug 28, 2011
Whack-a-mole Drug War: The Fog of Mexico's Drug War
A look at the central problem on the Mexican side of the drug war: lack of a functioning justice system.
Foreign Policy: "The total impunity that reigns in Mexico -- due to the failure of police and security forces to maintain any semblance of trustworthy authority, the dragging speed of reform in the police forces, and the absence of any investigative capacity or will whatsoever -- is responsible for this atrocity. And Calderón's inability to admit fault or honestly describe the sorry state of his signature initiative is exactly what is making it so difficult for him to convince Mexicans of anything, including the notion that his party should remain in office next year."
Foreign Policy: "The total impunity that reigns in Mexico -- due to the failure of police and security forces to maintain any semblance of trustworthy authority, the dragging speed of reform in the police forces, and the absence of any investigative capacity or will whatsoever -- is responsible for this atrocity. And Calderón's inability to admit fault or honestly describe the sorry state of his signature initiative is exactly what is making it so difficult for him to convince Mexicans of anything, including the notion that his party should remain in office next year."
Aug 27, 2011
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexican Charged in US Consulate Murders Extradited to US
Voice of America: "The U.S. Justice Department says one of the accused killers in the March 2010 killings of three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico has been extradited to the United States.
U.S. authorities say Miguel Angel Nevarez appeared before a U.S. judge Friday in El Paso, in the southwestern U.S. state of Texas - just across the border from Juarez."
U.S. authorities say Miguel Angel Nevarez appeared before a U.S. judge Friday in El Paso, in the southwestern U.S. state of Texas - just across the border from Juarez."
Aug 26, 2011
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Calderon calls on U.S. society to curb its drug use
President Calderon gets one part right when he says, "this tragedy that we Mexicans and many other countries in Latin America are living, (is) a consequence, in great part, (of) the insatiable consumption of drugs in which millions and millions of Americans participate." Now, when is he going to take the next logical step and call for the legalization of these drugs?"
latimes.com: "In the prepared remarks released by the president's office, Calderon said the extortion-related attack in Monterrey was due to one primary factor, "the movement and sale of drugs to the United States." Calderon went on:
Part of the tragedy that Mexicans are living has to do with the fact that we are alongside the biggest consumer of drugs in the world, and at the same time, the biggest vendor of weapons in the world, which pays billions of dollars every year to the criminals who supply them with narcotics. These ... dollars end up arming and organizing the criminals, and places them in their service and against the citizens.
This is why it is my duty, also, to make a call to the society, the Congress, and the government of the United States. I ask them to reflect on this tragedy that we Mexicans and many other countries in Latin America are living, as a consequence, in great part, to the insatiable consumption of drugs in which millions and millions of Americans participate."
latimes.com: "In the prepared remarks released by the president's office, Calderon said the extortion-related attack in Monterrey was due to one primary factor, "the movement and sale of drugs to the United States." Calderon went on:
Part of the tragedy that Mexicans are living has to do with the fact that we are alongside the biggest consumer of drugs in the world, and at the same time, the biggest vendor of weapons in the world, which pays billions of dollars every year to the criminals who supply them with narcotics. These ... dollars end up arming and organizing the criminals, and places them in their service and against the citizens.
This is why it is my duty, also, to make a call to the society, the Congress, and the government of the United States. I ask them to reflect on this tragedy that we Mexicans and many other countries in Latin America are living, as a consequence, in great part, to the insatiable consumption of drugs in which millions and millions of Americans participate."
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