Mexico’s Calderon Says U.S. Policy Is Incoherent

Fred Hiatt’s Washington Post piece, “Promises to Keep,” and a follow-up editorial piece, “Mexico’s Bad Neighbor” (subtitled, As President Calderon points out, that would be the United States), published by the same paper the following day, describe President Felipe Calderon’s frustrations over inconsistencies in the US policy towards Mexico as both countries try to combat the scourge of a drug war that is alarmingly reaching a critical stage. Calderon enumerates the following inconsistencies: whether or not the US is going to legalize marijuana as Mexican drug production is driven by US demand; whether or not the US will do something to stop the flow of arms and ammunitions that bolster the cartels’ security forces; whether the package of assistance promised during the time of the Bush Administration will be fully disbursed.

I wonder what would come out of this visit. Will President Obama work on Calderon’s demands by immediately mobilizing divisions in various agencies of the government that deal with Mexico to work on these issues? It seems that the only government agency that is taking Mexico seriously is the DEA. Will the US military contemplate establishing some presence there, if security conditions warrant it? Will Obama mobilize the private sector to come up with alternatives that they can use to lure the drug cartels away from illegal drugs to products and services that could be equally profitable? Or will things revert back to the status quo?

I attended a short talk last week about the growing presence of the Chinese in Latin America. Whatever their intentions are, the Chinese and their Latin American overreach should serve as a good reminder to the US government that we do need to practice the virtue of neighborliness, especially with our neighbors down south. But Mexico, in particular, should be on the radar screen of our policy-makers. It is quite strategically important to the peace and stability of the United States. For our sake, Mexico cannot become a failed state.