Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Drug war partnership with Mexico a farce

By Ruben Navarrette Jr. 
You mean to tell me that a notorious Mexican drug lord who was arrested in February of last year and whose net worth has been estimated by Forbes to be about $1 billion managed to escape from the Altiplano maximum-security prison west of Mexico City in a poor country where many people earn as little as $6 per day?

How did that happen? Take a guess. Money opens doors. But more important, in Mexico, it also builds tunnels.

...Since 2008, under the Merida Initiative — which was intended not just to disrupt drug syndicates but also to create reforms in the courts and prisons that help sustain the rule of law in Mexico — Congress has appropriated about $2.3 billion in aid to our neighbor.

Mexico wants to project an image of modernity. But Guzman’s escape under suspicious circumstances shows that the old Mexico won’t go quietly.

...It is no wonder that U.S. law enforcement officials who have chased Guzman for years are furious. They wanted him extradited. And if that had happened, the drug kingpin would almost certainly still be in U.S. federal prison. Which is probably why Mexican officials refused to hand him over. They were likely in no hurry to give up their leverage with the United States — or, perhaps, with the cartels.

With El Chapo on the loose, the Obama administration is offering Mexico drones, federal marshals and even a special task force to bring him back. Mexican officials have not responded to the offer.
We never learn. What makes us think the Mexican government doesn’t know exactly where to find Guzman — that is, if it had any interest in doing so?

El Chapo’s “escape” should be the last straw in the farcical partnership between the United States and Mexico in a drug war that has become a joke. You can’t partner with someone who doesn’t respect you, and the Mexicans are treating the Americans like chumps. They intend to take us for all they can get, and give us nothing in return but lies, frustration and disappointment.

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