Mexico seeks antidrug aid from the US

A deal is underway to increase US involvement in the fight against Mexican drug lords.

from the August 8, 2007 edition

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In Mexico, "it's not the FARC, it's Pablo Escobar," says Mr. Isacson, referring to the storied Colombian cocaine king killed in 1993. "And that suggests a very different kind of aid package."

Plan Colombia money also helps rural families displaced by decades of fighting and goes toward "illicit crop eradication" and alternative crop development – issues that are either nonexistent or (in the case of eradication) less important in Mexico.

Mexico's increased aid is expected instead to buy equipment to improve the country's monitoring of its air space, systems for electronic surveillance, high-powered weapons, and professional training for Mexican security forces, say officials from the two countries

One objective is to "level the playing field" for Mexican security officers who confront opponents in drug gangs – some of whom are better armed and trained than the officers. (Indeed, some members of the Gulf cartel's notorious enforcement arm, the Zetas, are former Mexican military personnel who received US training.)

Cause for concern

But the planned aid increase raises some troubling questions, say analysts from both sides of the border. They include:

•To what extent will it deepen the involvement of Mexico's military in a battle with domestic crime gangs?

•How much will it focus on cleaning up and professionalizing the Mexican police, considered in Mexico to be corrupt?

•What emphasis will be put on reinforcing the rule of law by boosting aid to Mexico's judicial system and civil-society organizations focused on human rights?

•To what extent does increased US involvement play into an extension of the war on terror south of the border and into Central America?

"Unless a large part of any package deals with getting institutions like the police and the judicial system ... back into the game, you'll open the door to the military being the answer in all cases of crime and law enforcement," says Isacson.

Some analysts say the US must develop a regional strategy against drug-trafficking if it hopes to match the multinational fluidity of the drug cartels. Europol could provide a "useful template" for a regional antidrug effort, writes Roger Noriega, Mr. Bush's former assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, in a commentary for the American Enterprise Institute published last week.

While that may be a long-term goal, Mr. Noriega says the US should act quickly to assist Mexico in its drug war and take advantage of Calderón's request for help. Leaving the matter to the appropriations process would mean boosting aid perhaps a year from now, he notes, adding that the opportunity presented by Calderón – and the ongoing threat to US security from international drug trafficking – warrants Bush seeking "urgent supplemental funds" this fall. "The opportunity to build this alliance against a deadly foe may not come again," he adds.

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