Human Rights Panel

[alfonso camacho]

Do you agree with Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s decision to
use the military to wage war against the drug cartels?

I do agree, the reason why is because unfortunately Calderon has no
other option.
Back in the late 80s and early 90s Colombia suffered and extensive and
painful drug war, just as the one waged by Mexico in the actuality. If
Calderon wants to stop the war he will be forced to take a side, this
means getting to an agreement with one strong cartel and attacking the
remaining weaker cartels just as Colombia did under the government of
Cesar Gaviria. For this his only option is the military because the
police in Mexico has been infiltrated by different cartels and has now
reached immense levels of corruption. It may also take certain illegal
initiatives to get it done, like armed secret groups that target
specific heads of cartels and that also intercepts their funding and
communications.

However no matter what they do the problem will never end, not unless
the governments in the primary consumers start seriously fighting
drugs (EU and USA) unless drugs are either legalized or their markets
extincted it is absolutely impossible for the producing countries to
stop said production.

Finally, for Calderon military action is not one of his options, its
his only one.

[Camacho Martinez, Alfonso]

I agree with everything Alexander said except that the United States will not legalize drugs, so until then the people in third world countries that are producers of drugs must pay for the pleasure of first world citizens wanting to have a good time. Therefore, the military is Calderon's only option.
________________________________________
From: international-af...@googlegroups.com [international-af...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of alfonso camacho [alfonsoc...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 10:54 AM
To: International Affairs Summer 2011
Subject: Human Rights Panel

[Matt Mill]

"Finally, for Calderon military action is not one of his options, its
his only one."

This is not true, there are always other options. The question is
which option is most effective. Colombia, you will remember, was more
willing to compromise its sovereignty vis a vis the United States.
Examples of this included, but were not limited to, extradition
treaties that allowed cartel bosses to stand trial for their crimes in
the United States. This was effective because American Federal judges
were not subject to bribes, and received adequate protection for
themselves and their families. The problem of a law enforcement rather
than a military approach in these countries is the endemic corruption
in the Mexican criminal-justice system. (That's not to say that there
is no corruption in the American system, that would be naive.)

As for the United States, it needs to mix legalization with transferal
of drug users from the justice system to the healthcare system.
Legalization is not a plancea, though. If say marijuana were
legalized, American and Canadian hemp producers would quickly be able
to push the cartels out of the marijuana trade. The cartels, already
deeply embedded in the black market with extensive supply chains and
illegal expertise would most likely switch to trafficking more
lucrative items like arms and humans.