Monday, January 28, 2008
Drug
Cartels Escalate War against Mexico
By Carlos Luken
The sight of 500 soldiers and policemen speeding down
streets in their armored personnel vehicles and laying siege to a heavily fortified house, located in a densely populated
urban neighborhood, plus the ensuing three hour gun battle that brought about mass evacuations of neighbors and schoolchildren
while paralyzing traffic in a major city, may be common occurrences in downtown Baghdad or Beirut.
But this scene is not from a Middle East city, it is
the most recent chapter and the adverse consequence of Mexico’s war against organized crime.
The city in question was Tijuana, on the U.S.-Mexico
border, but it could well have been Laredo, Juarez, Monterrey, Mexico City or any other municipality. In fact, these and many
other state capitals, cities and towns in Mexico have endured recent episodes of widespread violence, kidnappings and murders.
Although Mexico has infamous familiarity when dealing
with bank robberies, kidnappings and drug cartel infighting, it has never encountered what now appears to be an all-out counteroffensive
against the government, waged in a deliberate fashion by what is euphemistically called “organized crime.” The
term summarizes what in reality are groupings of powerful and vicious drug cartels that operate regionally.
In the past, cartel families were tolerated by local
corrupt officials who gave them free reign to operate their trade provided they would share profits and keep a low profile
– meaning no local operations or violence. The arrangement worked well for decades, but as the drug trade grew exponentially
and gangs profited beyond their wildest imagination, so did their greed. Families
fragmented into several spin-off organizations. By not abiding to any set of pre-arrangements, they proved to be more aggressive
and violent than the traditional organizations. Territorial claims were ignored and turf wars began.
Mexico’s violent era flared up and spread into
every state. The unrestrained aggression and bloodshed overpowered local authorities and rapidly got out of hand as most violent
crimes were categorized as “cartel infighting.” This led former President Vicente Fox to mobilize Mexican Army
troops as part of the crime fighting campaign.
The Mexican Army’s no-nonsense entry had an immediate
repercussion on local law enforcement authorities, as they were held suspect of collaborating with the cartels and many were
abruptly disarmed and sidelined. The Army’s heavy-handed tactics were at first resented by the people, but as results
began to trickle in the mood changed favorably.
Nevertheless, invading drug gangs took advantage of
the Army’s involvement and fiercely attacked and undermined local crime organizations, and a war-like atmosphere soon
developed as violence between gangs exploded.
As uncontrolled hostility flared, civilian outrage
rose in every major Mexican city. Citizen committees and protest marches were organized to pressure government action; security
also became a prime campaign issue during the 2006 presidential election.
Upon taking office President Felipe Calderon made good
on his campaign promises to mobilize more troops, doing so with a mass saturation military campaign that yielded quick results
and began to take a toll on most of the drug-organizations as kingpins were captured and extradited, drug caches were seized
and money laundering operations were curbed.
It is believed that as the war against organized crime
succeeded, the warring cartels were pushed into a parley. And as a result cartel infighting stopped and retaliatory violence
was directed against local law enforcement officers and the public at large. All part of a plan by drug lords to intimidate
officials and the general public, and to attract media attention in order to pressure the government to stop the military
campaign.
Some analysts speculate that this effort may explain
the recent surge in urban violence. In the last month many policemen have been murdered nationwide. Last week a plot to assassinate
Mexico’s Assistant Attorney General, Jose Santiago Vasconcelos, was foiled just minutes before the attempt could take
place.
Despite these aggressions, President Calderon is acting
with determination. He reacted against the cartel offensive by strategically moving troops into regions were violence is rampant
and were action and intelligence can render swift results.
In a surprise shift, the president also made certain
cabinet changes that should give him a firmer grip on executing his administration’s measures. Perhaps the most important
move was the dismissal of Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez Acuņa, who has been replaced with Calderon’s former chief
of staff, Juan Camilo Mouriņo.
Mouriņo now has the administration’s most challenging
task – the coordination of efforts to win the war against the drug lords and cartel terrorism, while preventing the
Colombiazation of the conflict and Mexico.
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Carlos Luken, a MexiData.info columnist, is a Mexico-based
businessman and consultant.
