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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
Despite Prop. 19 Loss, Marijuana Debate Still Aflame in Mexico
    #13440095 - 11/05/10 05:56 PM (13 years, 6 months ago)

Despite Prop. 19 Loss, Marijuana Debate Still Aflame in Mexico
November 5, 2010 - newamericamedia.org

While many Mexicans expressed relief that California’s Prop. 19 was defeated in Tuesday’s election, some felt that the fight in Mexico was just beginning. The proposition, which essentially would have legalized marijuana in California, had a renewed sense of urgency south of the border, where the body count in the government’s crusade against the drug cartels continues to rise.

The debate here isn’t new. Since President Felipe Calderon began his crusade against drug cartels four years ago, Mexican scholars, political analysts and citizens began to argue that even with the best intentions, the strategy to bring the army and federal police onto the front lines of the battle was ill conceived.

Just as supporters of Prop. 19 in California argued that legalization would deal a blow to organize crime, supporters in Mexico argue that taking a similar step in that country would remove drug cartels’ main incentive, and the factor that essentially fuels their power: profits.

Several studies conclude that marijuana – perhaps the drug that represents the highest percentage of trade for the cartels -- can be acquired in the fields of Mexico for about $80 per kilo (according to a RAND study by researchers Peter Reuter and Franz Trautmann, A Report on Global Illicit Drug Markets 1997-2008), but once it crosses the U.S.-Mexico border, its value grows to about $1,920.

One kilogram of coca paste can be acquired in Colombia for about $950, and once turned into cocaine its value goes up to about $2,340. As it gets transported to the U.S.-Mexican border, its price could increase to $12,500. As soon as it lands on U.S. soil its tag price reaches up to $26,500. And once it is sold on the streets, it can rake in up to $180,000.

Earnings for the drug cartels are not much different when it comes to drugs like heroin and methamphetamines, which according to other studies could fetch values of up to $131,000 and $110,000 per kilo once they cross to the United States (“National Methamphetamine Threat Assessment 2010,” U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center, Department of Justice, 2010.)

American and Mexican authorities believe that organized crime earnings have doubled from 2006 to the present, to a whopping figure between $29 billion and $35 billion. Recent studies contend that those estimates are unjustified and tend to cut them in half. However, even though $16 billion may seem like a large amount, much of it is used to bribe law enforcement agencies, political figures and the so-called sicarios -- gunmen under the orders of the drug lords who are in charge of providing personal security, control of the drug routes and territories, as well as executing members of the other cartels that dare to invade their markets.

“We had known of the activities of the drug cartel for decades and they used to pour an unaccountable amount of money into the local economies where they operate. Now, since the government began its war against them, all those economies have been hurt,” said Dr. Alejandro Brugues Rodrigez, an economist and researcher from Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a think tank that specializes in border issues. Figures from the U.S. State Department estimate that the Mexican drug cartels launder about $8 billion dollars a year, yet from 2006 to 2009, the Mexican government only prosecuted 90 people for that crime.

The War Within

Like U.S. Prohibition (1920-1933), Mexico’s strategy against the drug cartels has raised the level of violence and corruption in 19 of the 32 states of the country. More and more political analysts are beginning to consider the Mexican government on the brink of a failed state.

President Felipe Calderón has touted his administration’s high numbers of arrests of people associated with the drug cartels, with 115,487 people detained compared to some 58,000 arrests during the administration of former President Vicente Fox (2000-2006). But according to documents presented recently by Alejandro Poire, the Mexican State Department’s spokesperson on security, only about 1,000 of these have been sentenced.

When it comes to homicides, the numbers speak for themselves. According to studies by the United Nations, last year’s murder rate in Mexico was double that of the United States, with 12 killings per 100,000 residents. As President Calderón has noted, Mexico’s murder rate is still just half of that of Brazil, less than one-third of that of Colombia and about one-fifth of the rate in Guatemala. However, the tally of killings is quickly approaching 30,000 in the last three years and the brutality and the gore of the executions is escalating.

Hardly a week goes by without Mexican media reporting the discovery of bodies that have been decapitated, mutilated, burned or hanged. Although government officials insist that at least nine out of every 10 executions are related to the drug cartels, the number of women, children, and young people with no apparent ties to these activities is increasing.

Calderón has gone to great lengths to defend his strategy, and has even blamed past administrations for the current situation. In an interview with the BBC last week, he said the country wouldn’t be in this mess if his predecessor had taken action 10 years ago. However, it could take generations for the country to recover from the economic and social costs of his war on drugs.

“We always believe that our geographical advantage of being close to the border will offer this city the opportunity of continuous and substantial growth for years to come,” said Dr. Cesar Mario Fuentes, an urban planner and regional director of Colegio de la Frontera Norte, in Juarez. “Now we are not so sure anymore,’’ he added, referring to the thousands of businesses and residents that had fled the city of Juarez due to the violence.

A Time for Change

Apart from government officials who are close to Calderón, it is hard to find much support for his strategy in Mexico. The possibility of Prop 19 winning in California gave many Mexicans hope of a new way to deal with the problem, by legalizing and controlling the cultivation and use of marijuana in Mexico.

While the measure itself wouldn’t have solved the problems in Mexico overnight, their hope was that other states in the United States would had follow California’s lead, thus forcing the U.S. government to rethink its support for Calderón’s war.

Still, the fact that the numbers at the polls in California, while not enough to win, were substantial, gave some Mexican political analysts hope that the debate would continue. With or without a possible “legalization” of the use of marijuana, many Mexicans believe both countries must eventually agree to change their strategy.

“The cooperation between Mexico and the United States to fight drug trafficking and organized crime must be wider, due to the fact that [the current strategy] is being overcome by reality. Much of these efforts correspond to the U.S. and its policies regarding drugs, arms trafficking and money laundering,” concluded a study released this week by the University of San Diego’s Woodrow Wilson Center.

Meanwhile, the day after the U.S. midterm elections, an editorial in Mexico City’s El Universal pointed out that when it came to the voting results on Prop. 19, “As far as the relative position between Mexico and the United States on the issue of drugs, Mexicans usually believe that, ‘We contribute the dead bodies and they [the U.S.] contribute the consumers,’ and there is some sort of truth to that.”

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