Calderón willing to consider legalization

Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 9 p.m.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/14/mexico-seeks-solutions-to-drug-war/ 

Legalize narcotics. Crack down on the money laundering that helps sustain drug traffickers. Bolster law enforcement and the judicial system so they can better challenge cartels. Create secure prisons to minimize inmate breakouts. Find effective ways to reduce the U.S. demand for cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.

These are much-discussed options Mexican President Felipe Calderón might consider more fully as he faces growing pressure in his country to make a bigger dent against drug trafficking. More than 28,000 people have died nearly four years into his war against drug lords, one that has relied heavily on enforcement by the military, yet narcotics and the cash they generate still flow freely between Mexico and the United States.

Experts believe Calderón will have to embrace all or most of the alternate measures if he wants to significantly curb Mexico’s decades-long drug problem. Whatever approach he takes, they said, it must be comprehensive — and that has always been an expensive and politically sensitive proposition.

On Tuesday, Calderón said he would be willing to change his drug-war approach if his rivals in government offer solid solutions. He mentioned legalization as a possibility, a move that sparked headlines because he has consistently opposed the idea.

Calderón’s comments came shortly after former Mexican President Vicente Fox called for the legalization of all drugs as a way to break the economic backbone of the drug cartels.

Now there’s basis for a “no-holds-barred look at the risks and benefits of legalization,” said Robert Donnelly at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, D.C.

He pointed to the momentum created by Calderón’s willingness to entertain the strategy, Fox’s announcement, three former Latin American presidents calling for decriminalization of marijuana last year and a November ballot measure to do the same in California.

Simply putting the idea of legalization on the table doesn’t mean it will be adopted, but analysts said it could open up a broader and perhaps more honest discussion of Mexico’s drug policy.

“Let’s just see what comes out of this discussion,” said Sylvia Longmire, a retired Air Force officer and former senior Latin America and border-security analyst for the state of California. “(Legalization) will be one of many solutions that would have to be implemented.”

Legalization won’t do much to slow down the drug cartels unless it applies to all illicit narcotics, some experts said. They predict that a shift for marijuana alone would just create a greater financial incentive to cultivate and traffic other drugs.

“The market may diminish, but that doesn’t mean violence will end,” said Viridiana Rios, a Harvard University scholar visiting at the University of California San Diego. “Cartels are fighting for territory. It’s not just about marijuana, but also cocaine and methamphetamine.”

In addition to the drug-related death toll in Mexico, which was released last week during a meeting between Calderón and others seeking ways to improve drug-war strategies, Mexico’s Intelligence agency Director Guillermo Valdes said authorities have confiscated about 84,000 weapons and seized $437 million in cash since Calderón launched his anti-drug campaign in 2006.

Longmire and others agree that if Mexico wants to cripple drug trafficking, it must go after money laundering. They said billions of laundered dollars flow in and out of Mexico annually, feeding cartels and contributing to the economies of villages, towns and metropolitan areas.

“It’s hard to wean yourself off a large amount of cash like that,” said Rudy Camacho, a former southwest border executive director for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. “It’s a good source of income for some. Obviously, some politicians do not want that stopped.”

Drug experts also have urged Mexico to reform its public institutions, particularly the police and court systems, to root out corruption. They said judicial changes approved in 2008 — calling for public and oral trials of defendants, including drug suspects — were a step in the right direction but will take time to implement.

It will be a huge undertaking to fulfill proposals to revamp the curriculum at laws schools and overhaul legislative institutions, said Maureen Meyer, an expert on Mexico and Central America with The Washington Office on Latin America. She also said the role of law enforcement can’t be overlooked.

“We’re talking basic police training, gathering and preserving evidence like a stepped-up ‘CSI,’ ” Meyer said. “Mexican police need to be capable of securing a crime scene, gathering evidence that’s not been tampered with, and it starts at the federal level.”

Meyer said none of the reforms will work without the buy-in of Mexican citizens. Polls have consistently shown widespread skepticism toward Mexico’s government institutions, and Meyer pointed to another telling statistic: Only 25 percent of the crimes in that country are reported.

“If you don’t have that trust, you don’t have an effective system,” she said. “At a minimum, you need to have police held accountable for their actions. You have to show results. … People are tired of hearing more and more promises.”

Calderón’s reliance on the military to wage most of the fight against drug trafficking has its critics. Some say replacing municipal police, a historical source of graft, with military forces has created more problems. One is that soldiers aren’t trained for day-to-day law enforcement, and that has left a void in community policing among towns that have made the staffing switch.

“They may be successful in capturing drug traffickers, but they don’t know anything about domestic violence,” said Rios, whose studies focus on government and organized crime. “You still need a force that can deal with little crimes. Plus the military is more violent. There has been an increase in the number of complaints about human-rights violations.”

Mexico also must expand its work with the United States on a coordinated effort to stem the cross-border flow of drugs and weapons.

“It’s important to reduce demand in the United States,” Rios said. “If it’s not reduced here, there will always be a problem in Mexico.”

Camacho, who now runs a border consulting firm, said Mexico is at a crossroads in its drug war.

“It’s really an inspiration the way they’ve attacked this, but it’s absolutely at a big cost,” Camacho said. “Hopefully, they have the fortitude to continue the fight because Mexico will always be our neighbor. We need them as a partner.”