HispanicVista Columnists

But in fact, México is also in the middle of a war on terror. And here too, there was and is no real long term planning on how to win the war. I, of course, refer to the Mexican war on dope. As it is, México is loosing control over the entire northern tier of our states. One of the latest things to hit the press is about Nuevo Laredo, one of our most important ports to the US in bilateral trade. It is the busiest cargo truck crossing to the US on our entire northern border.

The office of police chief stood open for 4 weeks in Nuevo Laredo because no one wanted to take that risky job. Finally, Alejandro Dominguez came forward, and knowing the dangers involved, became the new police chief. In about three hours after he put the star on, he was murdered by a group of heavily armed assassins and was shot "dozens of times". This thing reads a little like the movie "High Noon", but now the shooters are not only armed better than the police (or even our army), but are also much better organized. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Dominguez met his end on 9 June. On 2 June, a police commander, Enrique Cárdenas in Nuevo Laredo, was murdered in front of his children. So far this year, Dominguez and six other police officials have been executed. And this is on top of more than 60 other people that have been executed in this city of about 350,000 in dope related killings.

In government figures, we are talking about 550 people have been "executed" in México this year in the dope war. The Mexican Editorial Organization estimates 800 at 37 per week. More than three hundred of these killings have been in our 6 northern states. Make no mistake about this; México is in an active war. And as in any war, while it goes on, there is no law and order to speak of. And a lot of these people that were killed are only ones who were "just in the way"; students, plant workers, farm workers, businessmen, and tourists. And, of course, police, soldiers and drug people.

The increase of violence can be traced to the Mexican government ramping up action against the expanding drug business in México. Before, the drug activity here was mainly as a "transit" business, routing dope thru México to the US market. But with the volume of dope passing through, more and more started "leaking" in to a growing Mexican internal drug market. As this affected México directly, the government became more active in trying to shut down the drug business across México. Under our former attorney general, Macedo, many of the top tier of drug lords were arrested, imprisoned and even extradited to the US. And with more and more of the "lords" put out of commission, rival drug cartels moved into the vacuum in an effort for the winner to take complete control of the immense drug business in México.

In the last 5 years, México has arrested 46,000 people including 15 cartel leaders, 43 financiers, 70 "under bosses", 256 hit men and 166 corrupt officials.

Then it was found that some imprisoned drug lords simply took over the prisons they were in and continued to operate their businesses from their jail cells. The government is still fighting to regain control of the prisons. But after all, if you have more money than the federal government has, you can do much as you please.

The last reports from Nuevo Laredo are that the former brisk tourist business is almost dead now. And the situation is common along the border.

When there is no law and order operating, anything goes. Consider the Juárez women murders. Sad as that situation is, it is only symptomatic of a complete total breakdown of the law.
When México went into the war, no one realized just how serious this war could get. On top of this, we went into battle with a broken legal and law enforcement system. The sheriff only had a popgun. When we turned to the army, the drug lords simply "purchased" some of the best soldiers (the "Zetas") and are using them as assassins. You might remember our first "Anti-Drug Czar", an army General, who is now in prison for working with the drug cartels. In reality, the Mexican army is not trained for real combat. The Mexican army is most famous for having the largest number of generals than any other army in the world. Its main function is as a disaster relief organization. The sheriff doesn't even have a popgun now.

There are reports that the former attorney general, Macedo, had received death threats not too long ago. Who knows, maybe he "volunteered" to be fired for the López Obrador affair?

The sad truth is that México never had any inkling of what they were blundering into. They were completely unprepared for the legal, police and military force that was needed. And don't even ask about an exit plan. Now the Fox administration is finally admitting the problem. And they are backing down on complaining about warnings from US ambassador Tony Garza to US citizens traveling to the Border States.

So México isn't the only one to blunder into a war. But México isn't off in the Mideast. It is right alongside the US where the biggest drug market is.
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Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at: R1041643422@aol.com