Escalating drug war grips Mexico
President Calderón's popularity has soared as he takes on the increasingly brutal drug cartels.
from the May 23, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Reality more gruesome than TV
Indeed, watching Mexico's newscasts these days is like tuning into the latest installment of a grisly TV crime series.
There was the hospital in Tijuana that became the scene of a deadly shootout last month, when gunmen burst through the emergency room doors to free an accomplice injured in an earlier gun battle – leaving two state officers dead and dozens of patients stunned.
Then a video on the website YouTube appeared, in which a man was beheaded next to the message "Do something for your country, kill a Zeta" – a reference to the hit men of the Gulf cartel, who authorities say are fighting the Sinaloa cartel for lucrative drug routes into the US.
And last week the stakes got even higher: the new director of the national anti-drug intelligence force was shot dead in Mexico City, followed by the deadliest gun battle in Calderón's offensive, which left 22 people dead in a shootout in Sonora state, not far from the Arizona border.
José Arturo Yáñez, a drug expert at Mexico City's Professional Police Training Institute, says that some 200 police officers have been killed in the past 16 months – the highest number ever.
It is often unclear whether they are killed because of their involvement in combating organized crime or because they are part of it. Mexico has now become the second deadliest country for journalists after Iraq, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Last year, 2,000 people were killed in drug-related violence. This year the 1,000 mark came May 15 – two months earlier than the year before and four months earlier than in 2005.
Calderón says his administration will not be cowed. At a press conference last week, Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna told foreign journalists that drug traffickers are using terror to achieve impunity, much like what happened in Colombia in the late 1980s, but that they will stay on the offensive.
"We are not going to take a step backward," he said.
Calderón has urged patience and tried to keep expectations low by emphasizing that the war cannot be won easily or quickly.
After five soldiers were killed in a recent shootout, he reiterated "Unfortunately, as we know, this is going to cost us resources, it is going to take time to win this enormous battle, and I repeat, it is going to cost human lives, but it is a battle that with decisive support of the society we are going to win for the good of all Mexicans."
It is a strategic move, says Mr. Chabat, so that his administration is not seen as weak – a problem that tainted outgoing President Vicente Fox's administration. That is why his popularity has not gone down as violence has flared, says Chabat.
"I would say that the fact that Calderón decided to launch these massive operations with the Army and police forces sent a signal to the Mexican and international public that somebody is in charge," says Chabat. "At least he is not going to be weak, or hesitant like President Fox."
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