0.5 Carnage  (Page 3/3)

Corruption, of course, is not the special province of Mexicans. As the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has stepped up hiring, it has had problems not only with agents who go bad while on the job but with some who are already in the employ of the cartels when they come to work. Randal C. Archibold, “Hired by customs, but working for Mexican cartels,” New York Times , December 17, 2009. And it would be naive to imagine that the dispersal of drugs across the United States does not receive assistance from law enforcement agents, lawyers, judges, bankers, and business owners willing to profit from their positions.

To complicate matters further, the army, which has been one of the most respected institutions in Mexican society, has come under increased scrutiny and criticism. Business owners claim that the presence of thousands of armed soldiers on the streets, sometimes storming into bars and restaurants to search everyone in the building, discourages tourism, a major component of the Mexican economy. Others report abuses that include illegal searches, arresting and detaining people without cause, beatings, theft, rape, and torture. Army abuses, see “Report to InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights in Washington,” Los Angeles Times , March 29, 2008. See also “Mexico under siege,” Los Angeles Times , July 13, 2009. Also, Amnesty International report, see Tracy Wilkinson, “Rights group faults Mexico over alleged army abuse,” Los Angeles Times , December 9, 2009. Observers also fear that sizable numbers of the troops will follow the example of Los Zetas and desert to the cartels. Frank Koughan, “U.S. Trained Death Squads?” Mother Jones , July-August 2009.

That fear is not groundless; in some cities, the Zetas have hung banners openly inviting the soldiers to join their ranks, offering “good wages, food and help for your family.” “Good wages,” see “Mexico under siege,” Los Angeles Times , June 3, 2008. The Economist magazine quotes Guillermo Zepeda of CIDAC, a think tank in Mexico City, expressing the fear that “We may end up without trustworthy police and without a trustworthy army.” Zepeda, “A Toker’s Guide,” The Economist , March 5, 2009. Some Mexican reports charge that “the army has pulled off a coup d’etat, morphing into its own terrorist, drug-money collecting, gun-wielding cartel—morphing into an enemy in uniformed disguise to terrorize physically and spiritually the Mexican citizenry.” Army coup d’etat, see “Is the Mexican army the biggest cartel of all?” The Seminal , August 10, 2009; Cf. Charles Bowden, “We Bring Fear,” Mother Jones , July 2009. In response to such criticism, Calderón replaced military troops in Ciudad Juárez with federal police in the spring of 2010, with little visible effect on either the level of violence or complaints of abuse from citizens.

These problems, coupled with concern over the tremendous financial cost of Calderón’s war on drugs at a time when the Mexican economy is already weak, have led to increased doubt that the campaign will succeed. A March 2010 poll published in the daily Milenio newspaper reported that only 21 percent (down from 28 percent a year earlier) of the Mexican public think the government is winning its fight with the cartels. Roderic Ai Camp, “Drugs, guns and money: A violent struggle across the border,” San Diego Tribune , March 15, 2009; 2009 Milenio Poll, see Ken Ellingwood, “12 slain in Mexico were federal police officers,” Los Angeles Times , July 15, 2009. That loss of confidence doubtless played some role in modest gains by the PRI in both the 2008 and 2010 elections. One observer with deep ties and personal experience in both the United States and Mexico compared the conflict among the cartels and between the cartels and the government to a sporting event. Spectators in both the government and the public may keep score as individual contests are won or lost and as teams move up or down in the standings, but regardless of the treasure expended and the damage done, drugs will still be desired, provided, and sold. And as long as societies and their governments treat drug use as a crime rather than as a matter of public health, the deadly game will continue, season after season.