Politics of Whack-a-mole: Mexico's Growing Frustration With U.S.-Backed Drug War

Another analytic look at the possible interaction of the politics of Mexico's coming presidential election and its continued waging of the drug war

Trend Lines | Mexico's Growing Frustration With U.S.-Backed Drug War: "'The big question is what will happen in Mexico's 2012 presidential election,' says Hal Brands, a historian at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a World Politics Review contributor.

With Calderón's single 6-year term coming to a close, the success or failure of his U.S.-aligned policy toward the cartels will likely hinge on the willingness of his successor to embrace and continue it....

"There is a growing sense of frustration among Mexicans," said Brands. "The perception is essentially that Mexicans are getting murdered because Americans like cocaine and marijuana."

"The criticism," he added, "is that the Mexican government is fighting a drug war on behalf of the United States, and it's Mexicans that are doing the vast majority of the dying.""