Monday, November 9, 2009

How much is the U.S. to Blame for Mexico's Drug War?

By Sylvia Longmire

There are two main issues for which the United States has recently taken at least partial responsibility in Mexico’s drug war—southbound weapons trafficking (the supply side), and drug trafficking (the demand side).

In March 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We know very well that the drug traffickers are motivated by the demand for illegal drugs in the United States and that they are armed by the transport of weapons from the United States.” This acknowledgement was the beginning of a new level of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico in fighting cartels.

But was it right for the U.S. to accept blame for these issues, and if so, will it lead to more U.S. involvement in solving other problems in Latin America for which it may be “responsible”?

There is no question that U.S. gun dealers sell a lot of guns that end up in Mexico through various means. The U.S. is not the only source of weapons in Mexico—and certainly not for most military-grade weapons, like rocket launchers and grenades—but it is likely the primary source for pistols and rifles.

We also know the U.S. supplied weapons to the Taliban in the 1980s to fight the USSR, and sold weapons to Iran to fund Contras in Nicaragua. Those situations are a little different because the guns were provided directly to those groups, whereas guns in Mexico are used by criminal groups who obtain them through illicit means. Regardless, the U.S. is now paying the price through armed conflict with the Taliban and diplomatic conflict with Iran.

There are several countries where gun ownership is more severely restricted than in Mexico, including Australia, Germany, Japan, and Sweden. Granted, those countries are not experiencing crime waves similar to Mexico’s. But should the U.S. government take responsibility for firearms sold in the U.S. that somehow end up in those countries?

Maybe. But none of those countries share a 2,000 mile-long border with the U.S., and getting firearms sold in the U.S. to individuals in those countries is considerably more difficult.

The U.S. demand for drugs is more complicated in the blame game because those drugs come from many places. Some, like marijuana, methamphetamine and black-tar heroin, are actually produced in Mexico, but cocaine grows better in South American countries like Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

The U.S. has accepted some blame for problems in those countries by way of the billions of dollars it spends in joint counterdrug programs—most notably Plan Colombia. The drug trade there has played a huge role in a 60 year-old civil war that has killed over 200,000 people and led to the rise of terrorist guerrillas who kill government officials, soldiers, and civilians with equal impunity.

But should we stop at guns when talking about supplying deadly things or drugs when talking about the demand for deadly things?

The U.S. has a huge demand for inexpensive clothes and shoes. Those items are often made in countries where labor is very inexpensive, and sometimes comprised of children working under horrible conditions. The U.S. State Department speaks out against international child labor every year, but has never accepted responsibility for those practices due to the American demand for goods it produces. Any changes meant to discourage those practices are left up to corporations and individuals who buy (or boycott) those products.

Cigarettes legally manufactured in the U.S. and sold around the world are responsible for millions of deaths every year. They’re not typically used in crimes or to murder other people, and they are legally exported—a significant difference from U.S.-origin guns, just to note for argument’s sake. The U.S. government does not accept responsibility for deaths from U.S.-origin tobacco in Mexico, Canada, or anywhere else in the world, although that number is likely much higher than deaths resulting from U.S.-origin guns.

This isn’t to say that the U.S. government shouldn’t help the Mexican government fight the effects of the drug trade. Even if Secretary Clinton hadn’t made that statement earlier this year, the U.S. would still be dealing with the same issues.

And those issues can’t be denied. Mexican cartels have a presence in over 230 U.S. cities, and Mexican-source drugs are used by millions of Americans every day. The death toll in Mexico is going up every year, and many—if not most—of those deaths are caused by cartel members using U.S.-origin weapons.

Politics and economics play a big part in what the U.S. government will come out and accept responsibility for. Many people in Mexico and Latin America wish the U.S. would accept blame for a lot of the region’s problems in the last century and a half. More wish the U.S. would attempt to fix the damage—real or perceived—that it caused in that time.

But the point isn’t the actual acceptance of responsibility or blame. The point is the action or actions that follow. It was a very symbolic and significant gesture that Secretary Clinton made with her statement back in March, but it was still a gesture. Everyone in both the Mexican and U.S. governments know the problems with drug demand and gun supply. The statement made the diplomats happy, but it’s the actions now and in the future that really count.

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Sylvia Longmire is a former Air Force officer and Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, where she specialized in counterintelligence, counterespionage, and force protection analysis. After being medically retired in 2005, Ms. Longmire worked for almost four years as a Senior Intelligence Analyst for the California State Terrorism Threat Assessment Center, providing daily situational awareness to senior state government officials on southwest border violence and significant events in Latin America. She received her Master’s degree from the University of South Florida in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, with a focus on the Cuban and Guatemalan revolutions. Ms. Longmire is currently an independent consultant and freelance writer.  Her website is Mexico's Drug War; she is a regular contributor to Examiner.com; and her email address is spooky926@gmail.com.