War on drugs

We talk about a war on drugs, but in Mexico the use of the word "war" is no exaggeration. In a Reuters report on U.S. efforts to extradite a drug lord (lady?) known as the Queen of the Pacific, the reporter notes in passing that the war between rival Mexican drug gangs has claimed 2,300 lives this year. You read that right.

Come to think of it, that's not a "war on drugs." More like a "war over drugs."

President Calderon, however, appears to be waging a "war on drugs," putting 25,000 troops into action against the drug gangs, in the evident belief that just waiting for them to kill each other would not really work, tempting though that might be.

I said he "appears to be waging" this war because things in Mexico are not always (not hardly ever) what they seem. I have no reason to doubt Sr. Calderon's integrity, I would hasten to add.

I would only observe that in Mexico, an attempt to crack down on illegal activity has sometimes been little more than an attempt by people in authority to take over that activity and the income to be derived from it.

I recall during my days in El Paso in the 1970s, a new governor in Chihuahua state launched a ballyhooed crackdown on prostitution in Cd. Juarez. The old Mexico hands were laughing about it. Every new governor does this, they said--getting the whorehouses on board, plugged into their power structure, paying the proper portion of proceeds.

Of course, that was the bad old days of the PRI's one-party control. One hopes that Calderon is what he appears to be.