mySA: The United States, in the interest of bilateral harmony, has been looking the other way too long when it comes to Mexico’s human rights abuses. That the State Department found it could do so no longer says something about our southern neighbor’s continuing slide into that morass under the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.
The U.S. is withholding only a fraction — $5 million — of the $195 million in Merida Initiative funding to aid in the fight against vicious drug cartels. This is meant to send a message that the United States will no longer take Mexico’s assurances on human rights at face value. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the CIP Americas Program monitors and analyzes international press on Mexico with a focus on the US-backed War on Drugs in Mexico and the struggle in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law, justice and protection of human rights. Relevant political developments in both countries are also covered.
Showing posts with label war on drugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war on drugs. Show all posts
Oct 22, 2015
Jul 10, 2014
Controlling violence, not drugs, becomes key strategy in Juarez
Newspaper Tree: In Puerto Anapra, a neglected Ciudad Juárez neighborhood just across Sunland Park, things look very different than they did two years ago.
“It is very quiet now; the violence has calmed down,” said Lourdes Contreras, a 48-year-old woman who runs a local soup kitchen/community center for children and mothers who are victims of violence. “That doesn’t mean that the risk has disappeared…It is like when you extinguish a fire; the ashes remain burning.” Read more.
“It is very quiet now; the violence has calmed down,” said Lourdes Contreras, a 48-year-old woman who runs a local soup kitchen/community center for children and mothers who are victims of violence. “That doesn’t mean that the risk has disappeared…It is like when you extinguish a fire; the ashes remain burning.” Read more.
Feb 25, 2014
Capture of El Chapo: Like a Drop of Water in Rain (La Jornada, Mexico)
February 25, 2014
Translated by WorldMeets
In December 2013 , the Attorney General's Office released a list of 69 of the 122 capos most wanted for drug trafficking who were arrested or killed during President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration. This was a follow up on previous arrest priorities implemented under the administration of Felipe Calderón, the success of who's security strategy was measured based on the number of criminal detainees, and without connection to the nation's prevailing insecurity.
On February 21, during a presentation on governance and the rule of law as a strategy for development at the 2014 National Industrial Convention, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said that of the 122 criminal ringleaders, 74 have been detained.
Now, with the arrest of Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias El Chapo, the number of captured organized crime leaders has reached 75. However, it wasn't only the Mexican authorities that targeted El Chapo. The drug trafficker was one of the U.S. government's most wanted criminals, with the Obama Administration offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. Read more.
Sep 15, 2012
How the Militarized War on Drugs in Latin America Benefits Transnational Corporations and Undermines Democracy
Sunday, 05 August 2012 00:00
By Mark Karlin, Truthout | News Analysis
Is the So-Called War on Drugs in Mexico and Latin America Being Used to Advance US Military and Economic Interests?
In an article that explored myths about the war on illegal narcotics, "Drug War Capitalism," Canadian journalist Dawn Paley dispels the notion that nearly a trillion dollars spent on eradicating illegal drug trafficking (since Richard Nixon's administration) has shown any serious success.
Paley noted, "In the 11 years since Plan Colombia was launched [for example], the US government has spent over $3.6 billion on narcotics and law enforcement initiatives. Yet the US government reports that 'Colombia remains one of the world's largest producers and exporters of cocaine, as well as a source country for heroin and marijuana.'" Indeed, Paley cited a 2008 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found the "estimated flow of cocaine towards the United States from South America rising from 2000-2006."
As Truthout pointed out in "The US War on Drug Cartels in Mexico Is a Deadly Failure," the attempt to curtail trafficking in narcotics "in many of the southern nations of the Western Hemisphere is basically a bloody game of whack-a-mole.... There is no measurable indicator that the supply of illicit drugs into the United States is decreasing as a result. So, there is no end game here."
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, professor of international relations at the Universidad de Di Tella, Argentina, substantiated this failure in an article, "Beating the Drug-War Addiction": "Indeed, USSOUTHCOM [United States Southern Command, headquartered in Miami, which oversees the US military in Latin America] has controlled 75% of the more than $12 billion that the US government has allocated to anti-drug activities in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2000. But, despite this expensive military campaign, all evidence shows that the 'war on drugs' has been a fiasco." Read more.
By Mark Karlin, Truthout | News Analysis
Is the So-Called War on Drugs in Mexico and Latin America Being Used to Advance US Military and Economic Interests?
In an article that explored myths about the war on illegal narcotics, "Drug War Capitalism," Canadian journalist Dawn Paley dispels the notion that nearly a trillion dollars spent on eradicating illegal drug trafficking (since Richard Nixon's administration) has shown any serious success.
Paley noted, "In the 11 years since Plan Colombia was launched [for example], the US government has spent over $3.6 billion on narcotics and law enforcement initiatives. Yet the US government reports that 'Colombia remains one of the world's largest producers and exporters of cocaine, as well as a source country for heroin and marijuana.'" Indeed, Paley cited a 2008 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found the "estimated flow of cocaine towards the United States from South America rising from 2000-2006."
As Truthout pointed out in "The US War on Drug Cartels in Mexico Is a Deadly Failure," the attempt to curtail trafficking in narcotics "in many of the southern nations of the Western Hemisphere is basically a bloody game of whack-a-mole.... There is no measurable indicator that the supply of illicit drugs into the United States is decreasing as a result. So, there is no end game here."
Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, professor of international relations at the Universidad de Di Tella, Argentina, substantiated this failure in an article, "Beating the Drug-War Addiction": "Indeed, USSOUTHCOM [United States Southern Command, headquartered in Miami, which oversees the US military in Latin America] has controlled 75% of the more than $12 billion that the US government has allocated to anti-drug activities in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2000. But, despite this expensive military campaign, all evidence shows that the 'war on drugs' has been a fiasco." Read more.
May 7, 2012
A Brief History of the Federal War on Drugs
Independent Voter Network: The War on Drugs is a costly and controversial operation of the US federal government. A look into its origins and history is necessary to understand its present scope and its future direction.
The National War on Drugs has gone on since 1914 when the very first national drug law was passed by Congress. That law was the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act which required those firms that manufactured, distributed, or imported narcotics to register with the Internal Revenue Service and pay a tax on the goods they produced and sold. If this was the final law on drugs than it wouldn’t be so bad, but sadly this was just a stepping stone to more intrusive and oppressive laws in the name of the War on Drugs. read more
The National War on Drugs has gone on since 1914 when the very first national drug law was passed by Congress. That law was the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act which required those firms that manufactured, distributed, or imported narcotics to register with the Internal Revenue Service and pay a tax on the goods they produced and sold. If this was the final law on drugs than it wouldn’t be so bad, but sadly this was just a stepping stone to more intrusive and oppressive laws in the name of the War on Drugs. read more
Apr 9, 2012
Drugs: The Debate Goes Mainstream
This article is well-worth reading, especially given the authors--former presidents Cardoso of Brazil, Zedillo of Mexico and Gaviria of Colombia. These, of course, are the men who headed up the Global Commission on Drugs and Democracy report that arrived at the same conclusion and has been amply commented on in these pages and the Americas Program.
Since we began covering the drug war and backwards U.S. policy with Bush's Merida Initiative in 2007, we've never seen the debate break open like it has in the past few months. Between the declarations of past presidents, the inroads of acting Presidents Perez Molina and Santos, and pressure from grassroots movements, we're looking at the real possibility of ending the prohibition approach and finding strategies that actually work-- and don't just kill civilians and bloat defense budgets.
The counter-offensive is high though. The Obama administration has sent out envoys every week for the past two months to quell protests against its drug war. Even progressive groups in Washington that should know the damage wreaked by the Merida Initiative and the drug war model it supports, uphold the Initiative due to the minimal funds to NGOs and questionable reform programs it provides.
If you want to join us in this movement to end the drug war at this critical moment, please go to this link: http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/3475 and write us to find out how your organization can get involved at info@cipamericas.org LEC
Huffington Post: What is the best way to deal with drugs? Criminalizing drug users or treating them as patients? Sticking to a strict prohibitionist stance or experimenting with alternative forms of regulation and prevention?
Latin America is talking about drugs like never before. The taboo that has long prevented open debate about drug policies has been broken -- thanks to a steadily deteriorating situation on the ground and the courageous stand taken by presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica.
The facts speak for themselves. The foundations of the U.S.-led war on drugs -- eradication of production, interdiction of traffic, and criminalization of consumption -- have not succeeded and never will. When there is established demand for a consumer product, there will be a supply. The only beneficiaries of prohibition are the drug cartels. read more
Since we began covering the drug war and backwards U.S. policy with Bush's Merida Initiative in 2007, we've never seen the debate break open like it has in the past few months. Between the declarations of past presidents, the inroads of acting Presidents Perez Molina and Santos, and pressure from grassroots movements, we're looking at the real possibility of ending the prohibition approach and finding strategies that actually work-- and don't just kill civilians and bloat defense budgets.
The counter-offensive is high though. The Obama administration has sent out envoys every week for the past two months to quell protests against its drug war. Even progressive groups in Washington that should know the damage wreaked by the Merida Initiative and the drug war model it supports, uphold the Initiative due to the minimal funds to NGOs and questionable reform programs it provides.
If you want to join us in this movement to end the drug war at this critical moment, please go to this link: http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/3475 and write us to find out how your organization can get involved at info@cipamericas.org LEC
Huffington Post: What is the best way to deal with drugs? Criminalizing drug users or treating them as patients? Sticking to a strict prohibitionist stance or experimenting with alternative forms of regulation and prevention?
Latin America is talking about drugs like never before. The taboo that has long prevented open debate about drug policies has been broken -- thanks to a steadily deteriorating situation on the ground and the courageous stand taken by presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica.
The facts speak for themselves. The foundations of the U.S.-led war on drugs -- eradication of production, interdiction of traffic, and criminalization of consumption -- have not succeeded and never will. When there is established demand for a consumer product, there will be a supply. The only beneficiaries of prohibition are the drug cartels. read more
Apr 7, 2012
Time for Obama to join the debate over the failed war on drugs
The Guardian: All wars end. Eventually. Even the war on drugs – resilient for so long – is starting to show signs of exhaustion. It is 42 years since President Nixon introduced the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The act set out to reduce or eliminate the production, supply and consumption of illegal drugs. A year later, after a report revealed a heroin epidemic among US servicemen in Vietnam, the Nixon administration coined the phrase "war on drugs".
Nixon is cited as the architect of this war. That is misleading. The 1970 act was little more than a continuation of the drug policies first enacted by Woodrow Wilson's Narcotics Tax in 1914. Nixon lent the battle verve and rhetoric, but it was the Reagan administration in the 80s that left a lasting legacy. A year after taking office in 1981, President Reagan declared: "We're taking down the surrender flag that has flown over so many drug efforts; we're running up a battle flag." read more
Nixon is cited as the architect of this war. That is misleading. The 1970 act was little more than a continuation of the drug policies first enacted by Woodrow Wilson's Narcotics Tax in 1914. Nixon lent the battle verve and rhetoric, but it was the Reagan administration in the 80s that left a lasting legacy. A year after taking office in 1981, President Reagan declared: "We're taking down the surrender flag that has flown over so many drug efforts; we're running up a battle flag." read more
Mar 27, 2012
US Agents Kill Man in Phony Murder-for-Hire Plot
One of the more bizarre events of the 'tangled web' of U.S. involvement in the drug war... The DEA shot and killed a US citizen in a bust that included two US Army soldiers (one current, one former) for supposedly offering their services as hit men for the Zetas. The entire tragic incident was staged as a sting by the DEA.
(Reuters) A U.S. federal agent shot dead one of four men facing arrest in South Texas for being part of a murder-for-hire squad enlisted by undercover agents posing as Mexican drug cartel members, according to court documents released on Monday.
A Drug Enforcement Administration agent shot Jerome Corley on Saturday in Laredo, Texas, where federal authorities busted three men, including an Army sergeant and a recently discharged officer, who thought they would be hired as assassins for Mexico's brutal Zetas drug cartel...
Among the arrested was Corley's cousin Kevin Corley, 29, of Colorado Springs, Colo., who served in Afghanistan and was discharged from the Army on March 13, according to an Army spokeswoman; Samuel Walker, 28, of Colorado Springs, an active-duty sergeant, according to a spokeswoman at Fort Carson; and Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver. Read more
(Reuters) A U.S. federal agent shot dead one of four men facing arrest in South Texas for being part of a murder-for-hire squad enlisted by undercover agents posing as Mexican drug cartel members, according to court documents released on Monday.
A Drug Enforcement Administration agent shot Jerome Corley on Saturday in Laredo, Texas, where federal authorities busted three men, including an Army sergeant and a recently discharged officer, who thought they would be hired as assassins for Mexico's brutal Zetas drug cartel...
Among the arrested was Corley's cousin Kevin Corley, 29, of Colorado Springs, Colo., who served in Afghanistan and was discharged from the Army on March 13, according to an Army spokeswoman; Samuel Walker, 28, of Colorado Springs, an active-duty sergeant, according to a spokeswoman at Fort Carson; and Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver. Read more
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