Clinton to visit Mexico to fight drug trade
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Mexico to speak to the Mexican government about how to fight the drug trade more effectively than the two countries have done thus far.
Clinton’s trip paves the way for a flurry of visits culminating in one in April by President Barack Obama, who analysts say is breaking with predecessor George W. Bush’s drug-fighting approach by focusing on blunting US consumer demand.
The Obama administration is also trying to share more of the counter-narcotics burden with Mexico than its predecessor while also aiming to beef up security on the border, they said.
“They are putting a lot of the cabinet on this, including the president himself,” Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, told AFP.
“And I think that is a statement of how seriously they’re taking the relationship,” he added.
The trips and the new strategy are a response to increased violence among drug traffickers, traders, users and gangs along the U.S.-Mexico border. Last year alone, more than 5,000 people were killed in drug related crimes here.
A new approach to the problem is desperately needed. Drug trade has increased significantly. The Bush approach – aimed at simply funding Mexican anti-drug policies – wasn’t very effective. Instead, the U.S. has to make it more difficult for drugtraders to get their hands on American weapons, the border has to be (close to) sealed, and the U.S. has to do something about the demand for drugs in the U.S. itself. Aside from all that, of course, Mexico has to be assisted in its national war on drug cartels.
Good to see that Clinton understands something has to change.
This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.
Comments are closed.
PoliGazette Comments Policy
PoliGazette encourages comments from all viewpoints, especially those that disagree.
Comments submitted must, however, adhere to the following standards. Comments that violate
these standards may be edited or deleted without notice at the sole discretion of the editors.
Commenters who repeatedly or egregiously violate these standards or who attempt to argue
publicly with editors regarding the comments policy may be banned from commenting further.
(1) Comments should address the substantive content of the post. Comments that repeatedly
or blatantly misrepresent the content of the post or of others' comments are not welcome. Comments that
respond to something other than which the contributor or commenter may have said are irrelevant and should
not be posted.
(2) Comments should avoid vulgarity as well as racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual bigotry.
(3) Comments should not personally attack the character, personal integrity, or professional
reputation of any PoliGazette contributor or of other commenters.
(4) Comments should reflect the contributions of the commenters themselves and should not
include extensive cut-and-paste reproductions of others' words except insofar as necessary to supplement
the commenter's own arguments. Link spam, trackback spam, and propaganda spam will be instantly deleted.
(5) Public figures are considered open to all substantive criticism of their policies and statements.
Comments that present objectively false factual information about public figures (i.e. "Obama is a Muslim") or
that attack public figures by attacking their families are not welcome. Comments that merely repeat
slogans for or against a candidate without engaging in substantive comment are not welcome.
Questions or challenges to these policies or their application should be directed to the editors
by email only.
Our demand for drugs is like the 11th century barbarians sweeping down on a defenseless wilting Roman Empire in 410AD. We desperately need the military on the border, as advocated by Sen. John MCain. Not a token force of FBI, ATF and DEA agents, who have not the armed effectiveness of the drug cartels. We need to revoke the “POSSE comitutus” that was enacted in 1878, that culminated the use of Federal troops, within the boundaries of the United States. Either that or an armed National guard to shoot on sight. We must accept that the drug gangs have infiltrated our borders and not only killing citizens near its perimeter, but escalated to our cities. We have been losing the battle for years and the costs would have paid for universal health care in America–for every man, women and children–including illegal aliens. Societies appetite for elicit drugs is never, ever going away.
Peer pressure has sent our children in to multi billion detoxification centers. Thousands annually have overdosed and now lay on a stainless steel slab in the morgue. It seems a waste of police manpower and money, because narcotics are squirreled into America everyday. Drugs are in fact an endless futile war, that has no respect for any classes, race or religion in our culture. Police arrest and the next day the drug peddler is out on bail. In most major cities and even smaller communities have overcrowded county jails and prisons, incarcerating users, dealers and distributors.
Only the legalization may answer the question, but that is unlikely because many of Americas patrician class are addicted to substance abuse. They influence the legislators in Washington, so that no law will–NEVER–pass to disinfect one of societies most costly ills. Just like the illegal immigration invasion, until gain and greed is removed from this issue–nothing will ever change? We had a chance in the Stimulus/Omnibus to address this compounding dilemma, which is sacrificing American jobs for illegal cheap labor. E-verify was tabled, by Sen.Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi because they had been intimidated. by business elitists, who would hold back campaign contributions if they didn’t kill the provision. Drugs are just another business enterprise, that will never be satisfied until we seal the border for good with armed troops?