Sizing up Mexico's war on drugs

Opinion: The Mexican government might just be winning the war against narco-traffickers.

Ruben NavarretteApril 17, 2009 05:45Updated May 30, 2010 11:52

Mexican Federal policemen patrol the street to Ciudad Juarez, March 2, 2009. Nearly 4,000 Mexican soldiers and federal police poured into Ciudad Juarez in early March to restore law and order to the country's most violent city. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters)

SAN DIEGO — As parties to a complicated marriage born of an even more complicated history, Americans and Mexicans don’t always agree on much.

But, unfortunately, and in a most depressing way, many people on both sides of the border seem to agree on at least two things: (1) Mexican President Felipe Calderon is right to be battling those ruthless drug cartels in Mexico; and (2) it’s a match-up that Calderon is destined to lose.

About 70 percent of Mexicans surveyed in polls by Mexican newspapers support Calderon’s increasingly violent war against the cartels, which has resulted in nearly 8,000 deaths since January 2007. And yet, by roughly the same margin — 70 percent — Mexicans are also sure that the cartels can’t be defeated. This is typical Mexican fatalism and a willingness to give in to a challenge that seems too daunting to be tamed.

What is more disturbing is that many Americans — their famous “can do” spirit notwithstanding — seem to feel pretty much the same way. Granted, on this side of the border, the skepticism about how the Mexican drug war will turn out has a lot to do with perceptions of the U.S. drug war. For those who believe that the anti-drug initiative was a waste of time and money, they’re just as likely to think that Calderon is wasting his time and money — actually, make that his time and our money.

Congress has approved $1.4 billion in aid to Mexico, even though very little of it has made its way to the Calderon government. Most of the first installment — $400 million — got stuck in the bureaucratic pipeline, somewhere between Washington and Mexico City.

One person who could help unclog the pipeline and get the Merida funds flowing south is President Barack Obama. In his meeting Thursday with Calderon in Mexico City, Obama acknowledged that the United States must work with its neighbor to combat drug violence in both countries.

"It is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue, both through initiatives like the Merida Initiative but also on our side of the border in dealing with the flow of guns and cash south," Obama said at a ceremony in Mexico City alongside Calderon.