Whack-a-mole Drug War: How Mexico Can Win the Drug War, Colombia’s Way

Yes, Mexico's wealthy need to step up to the tax plate. (See Jorge Castañeda's "A Future for Mexico" on the need for major tax reform, and his most recent book, "Mañana Forever? Mexico and the Mexicans"  on how Mexican individualism undermines organized civic action.) 


But as Mexico's wealthy need to step up to help create a true civil society, the U.S. needs to stand down in its war on drugs. 


Shannon O’Neil is the Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
How Mexico Can Win the Drug War, Colombia’s Way: Shannon O’Neil - Bloomberg: "As Mexican and U.S. officials struggle to combat rising violence, Mexico’s elite needs to step up to the plate. A similar tax (like that imposed on wealth in Columbia) -- say 1 percent of assets for the wealthiest 1 percentile of the population -- would bring in $3 billion a year. That would amount to roughly one-third of Mexico’s total annual security spending. ...

For Mexico to overcome its security challenges, the elite’s strategy of staying on the sidelines must change. Building higher walls, bullet-proofing cars and hiring private security aren’t long-term solutions. This approach’s failing can be seen as violence spreads from border cities to the industrial giant of Monterrey, and from the border states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa to their neighbors in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila. Even Mexico’s well-off can no longer protect themselves unilaterally. "