Is Mexico a narco state?

Dismantling Mexico’s Narco State

The U.S. prosecution of Mexican politicians for drug trafficking could help President López Obrador fight corruption, but he’s failing to build on it.

 While the sex-crimes trial of Harvey Weinstein takes center stage, another case is winding through a New York court with shattering implications. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are pursuing drug trafficking charges against Genaro García Luna, a key architect of the drug war of former President Felipe Calderón. After Mr. García Luna’s latest hearing on Jan. 21, his lawyer reiterated that he pleas not guilty, saying he “adamantly denies that he accepted any bribes” (from traffickers) and will go to trial.

The case is being heard by the same court that convicted Joaquin Guzman (El Chapo) last year. But in some ways this case is even more important. While the stories of drug lords fuel endless movies, TV series and novels, their convictions have failed to ease the blood bath in Mexico. There were a record 34,500 murders here last year, while the cocaine king Guzman was sentenced in New York to life in prison and sent to the Super Max.

Some activists and academics have long called for going after the gangsters’ political enablers, who often move to the United States with their millions of dollars. And to give credit to American prosecutors, they are now trying to do this. The charges against Mr. García Luna, who has lived in a mansion in Miami since 2012, follow the conviction of the brother of the Honduran president on cocaine trafficking charges in October and various cases against Venezuelan officials. Such efforts are likely more effective in reducing the power of cartels than classifying them as terrorists, as President Trump considered doing.

I first met Mr. García Luna in 2005 when he headed Mexico’s Federal Investigative Agency, and he cut the figure of the tough, square-jawed crime fighter. When he became public security secretary in 2006, he oversaw a crackdown on traffickers that spread across the country, involving a hugely expanded federal police alongside soldiers and marines.

Under his leadership, indicted mobsters gave confession videos, describing how they massacred and mutilated their victims, which were played on the evening news. They were meant to show how the bad guys were being captured, but the graphic descriptions of mass murder only seemed to terrify people more. At the same time, homicides and disappearances skyrocketed, as did claims of abuses by the security forces.

The accusation that a key official behind that campaign was working with traffickers makes this chapter in Mexican history look even darker. It was a war begun with tainted motives that the country still burns from.

The case against Mr. García Luna helps President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a leftist who claims to be transforming Mexico and ending the poverty and violence. It underlines how the cartel wars date to previous governments and mutes the criticism from former presidents, including Mr. Calderón, for being ineffective on the economy and weak against crime. Hopefully, it could deter top officials from taking bribes yet again.

But Mr. López Obrador is failing to capitalize on it and effectively lead the nation to peace. His government has promised to break with the failed drug war and end the corruption, most emblematic in police officials working with narcos. Yet, these good intentions have not materialized into a coherent security strategy, and he is not supporting the efforts of Mexico’s civil society to climb out of the hole of violence.

Last month, I marched with family members of the murdered, going from the city of Cuernavaca to the presidential palace to call for “truth, justice and peace.” Among them were members of the LeBaron family, who suffered a brutal massacre in November; the poet Javier Sicilia, whose son was slain in 2011; and the widow of the prolific Sinaloan journalist Javier Valdez, shot dead in 2017.

Source: New York Times