A "new phase" of the Merida Initiative
On Tuesday, March 23rd a delegation of top Obama administration officials traveled to Mexico to discuss the evolving U.S.-Mexico counternarcotics strategy. The "Mérida U.S.-Mexico High Level Consultative Group" delegation included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen.
The major news that emerged with the trip was the official launch of a new phase of cooperation on the war on drugs, as part of the Mérida Initiative. This new agenda, referred to as the "institution-building" phase by State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley, is held up by four main pillars:
- Disrupting the capacity of the criminal organizations;
- Reforming and strengthening security and justice institutions;
- Creating a 21st century border that advances citizen safety and commerce; and
- Building stronger, more resilient communities that can resist the influence of the cartels.
We are expanding the Mérida Initiative beyond what it was traditionally considered to be, because it is not just about security. Yes, that is paramount, but it is also about institution building. It is about reaching out to and including communities and civil society, and working together to spur social and economic development.
Secretary Clinton acknowledged the role the demand for drugs and illicit weapons trafficking in the United States plays in Mexico's violence:
We know that the demand for drugs drives much of this illicit trade, that guns purchased in the United States - as we saw some of the examples outside - are used to facilitate violence here in Mexico. And the United States must and is doing its part to help you and us meet those challenges.
However, when asked if there had been any discussion of decriminalizing drugs as a strategy to undercut the power of cartels, Secretary Clinton quickly responded "No."
The State Department has posted more information on the new strategy on its website, which includes three fact sheets on the new border strategy, joint efforts against arms trafficking and money laundering, and a summary of the progress and impact of the Mérida Initiative to date.
The trip and the new joint strategy prompted several opinion articles on the likely - or unlikely - success of the drug war in Mexico.
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The Council on Foreign Relations' Shannon O'Neil provides an overview of the trip and the "new bilateral strategy." She notes that one major change in the strategy will be the allocation of U.S. funding, which in 2011 will be "targeted to Mexico's judicial reforms and programs on good governance," and move away from expensive military equipment and training. O'Neil concludes her article with this:
The question remaining is whether, as the murders pile up daily along the border and elsewhere in Mexico, politicians in both countries will have the patience to see this strategy through. If they do, there is a chance ten years from now that things will be better in Mexico. If they don't, both countries will be fighting the same drug war in a decade.
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In Newsweek Dan Rosenheck responded to recent comparisons of the conflict in Mexico to the war in Iraq.
But while this has been an effective cudgel for Calderón's critics - who say his drug war has become a quagmire - they are wrong. Not only is the drug war a simpler problem with a simpler (and more reachable) solution, but the comparison to Iraq provides more reasons for Mexico to hope than to despair.
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In the Los Angeles Times, Jorge Castañeda, a former Mexican foreign minister, wrote, "Mexican President Felipe Calderón's militarized, politicized fight against Mexico's drug cartels has been ineffective." He later adds that, in addition to "ineffective," the war on drugs has been "damaging" to Mexico.
Castañeda offers three options for moving forward - one: continuing the same strategy more quietly; two: press the reset button and start over; or three: Mexico lobbies for decriminalization of at least marijuana in the United States.
- The Miami Herald's Andres Oppenheimer article, titled "Yes, violence in Mexico rising - but it's less than in Washington," starts out by answering a common question - is it safe to travel to Mexico? According to Oppenheimer, if you are willing to travel to Washington, D.C., you can "safely visit most parts of Mexico." While he does not advise travelers to vacation in Ciudad Juárez, Oppenheimer notes that we need to "put Mexico's national figures in perspective." Since, as a whole, Mexico's murder rate is less than that of many other Latin American countries', including Brazil and Jamaica, and much less than Washington, D.C.'s.
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In the Wall Street Journal, Mary O'Grady writes "even militarization has not delivered the peace. The reason is simple enough: The source of the problem is not Mexican supply. It is American demand coupled with prohibition." She continues later to provide a tip for the meeting (this article was written prior to the Secretary's travel):
I suggest that one or two of Mexico's very fine economists trained at the University of Chicago by Milton Friedman sit down with President Obama's team to explain a few things about how markets work. They could begin by outlining the path that a worthless weed travels to become the funding for the cartel's firepower. In this Econ 101 lesson, students will learn how the lion's share of the profit is in getting the stuff over the U.S. border to the American consumer. In football terms, Juárez is first and goal.