David vs. Goliath

• Published in: American conservative (Arlington, Va.) Va.), 2018-09, Vol.17 (5), p.9-11
• Main Author: Lazare, Daniel
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictions; Border patrol; Corruption; Epidemics; Kidnapping; Narcotics; Violence
• ISSN: 1540-966X

"Drug dealers behaved discreetly," historian George W. Grayson notes, "showed deference to public figures, spurned kidnapping, appeared with governors at their children's weddings, and, although often allergic to politics, helped the hegemonic PRI [Mexico's long-entrenched Institutional Revolutionary Party] discredit its opponents by linking them to narco-trafficking." Republican super-hawk John McCain declared in 2002 that "counter-narcotic and counter-insurgency operations" were two sides of the same coin, while General John Craddock, head of the U.S. Southern Command, added a few years later that "the transnational terrorist, the narco terrorist, the Islamic radical fundraiser and recruiter, the illicit trafficker, the money launderer, the kidnapper and the gang member" all constituted a common threat to U.S. security. The same goes for Colombia, where the homicide rate is 30 percent higher than in Mexico, and Brazil, where the murder rate is 50 percent higher, where drug-ridden favelas have turned into war zones, and where political instability is on the rise thanks to the 2016 overthrow of Dilma Rousseff and the imprisonment of leftist ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on money-laundering charges. Americans need sensible drug policies no less than they need sensible healthcare and nutrition, full employment, and an end to ceaseless wars in the Middle East. Since the broken-down political system in Washington is incapable of generating anything other than hot air about Russia, they need a helping hand-and maybe, just maybe, Mexico City will provide it.