Thread: Loss of Mexico attorney general may hurt drug war

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's battle against violent drug cartels will suffer from the departure of the attorney general, fired by President Vicente Fox as a scapegoat in an unrelated political crisis, analysts said.

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Attorney General Rafael Macedo -- liked by Washington for his tough line on drugs -- was forced out last week by Fox to allow a popular leftist mayor to run for president in 2006 despite legal charges hanging over him.

His replacement by lawyer Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, sworn in on Monday, leaves Mexico's crackdown on drug gangs along the northern border with a little-known man in charge just as killings and violence escalate.

"The fact we have a new attorney general with no experience in law enforcement will certainly have an impact," said Jorge Chabat, security analyst at Mexico's CIDE think tank.

"Whenever you have a new team coming in you lose a certain amount of drive. Given the fight against drug trafficking has been going well and giving results, it's likely we'll see less spectacular results now than over the past four years."

Drug gangs regularly gun down rivals as they fight for control of smuggling routes for cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines to the United States.

While Macedo has jailed key drug bosses like Benjamin Arellano Felix and Osiel Cardenas, that has set off a desperate war on the border for market share left by the captured capos.

Some 400 people have been killed this year, many shot execution-style with their hands tied behind their backs, as upstart groups from the state of Sinaloa move in on territory controlled by the Gulf Cartel in northeast Mexico.

Macedo, an army general, deployed troops to reinforce police in border cities and help control jails where drug barons were running operations from their cells.

STABILITY OVER SECURITY

In his resignation speech, Macedo urged the authorities to continue the projects he had started. But some observers worry his successor may not have the same clout.

"(Cabeza de Vaca) wasn't appointed for his experience but because he is close to Fox. His background is in tax, not criminal law, and his appointment will bring absolutely nothing to the fight against drug trafficking," said Arturo Solis, director of the Center for Frontier Studies and Human Rights in the border town of Reynosa.

Fox sacrificed Macedo to restore political stability after Mexicans protested the pursuit of minor legal charges against Mexico City's leftist mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The firing eased a political crisis consuming the country.

Analysts say it suggests domestic politics has for now overtaken the war on drugs among Fox's priorities, despite repeated U.S. pleas to Mexico not to let drug-related border violence spiral out of control.

The U.S. government last week renewed a travel alert for northern Mexico, warning of a rise in murders and kidnappings, many of them related to the drugs trade.

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza angered Mexico in January by criticizing "the inability of local law enforcement to come to grips with rising drug warfare."

Analysts said despite its overriding concern over drug trafficking, the United States had also been worried about the domestic political tensions that flared in April with the case against Lopez Obrador, seen by many as politically motivated.

"I think Washington will understand what Fox has done," said Chabat. "They probably feel Mexico's stability is more important than whether it catches a couple less drugs barons." (Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Monterrey and Alistair Bell in Mexico City)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... drugs_dc_2

The war on drugs was lost a long time ago and continues to be a waste of time logistically.We kiss Fox's butt and if Fox wasn't drug involved,he'd be dead.That simple.Same goes for the leaders of Colombia.Taiwan.Azerbaijan.Thailand.Russia.
Remember the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army),those brave freedom fighters?Our own justice department had identified them as major heroin and white slavery traffickers for years,and then we hook them up and give them carte blanche.
The Panamanians and Nicaraguans used to be our flunkies but it's easier to let our friend Mexico take care of the operations now.
Our government just constantly needs a way to waste money.All those cold war years and all those dollars;we knew all along the Soviets didn't want any part of us but there has to be a threat to help the rich get richer.
Just look how fast they passed the 3 strike law once people got tired of being asked for more money to build prisons every election.
This has taken a precedent over the general welfare of the American citizens.Remember how you used to see those horror stories about seniors eating dog food because it was all they could afford?Now there are thousands of seniors eating out of dumpsters and have no home.
It's so insane that life or death here literally depends on the buck yet the government wastes so many bucks.There's no excuse for seniors who've lived good lives to end up forgotten and misplaced.There's no excuse to have entire homeless families.No excuse for a sub-class called the working homeless,for veterans to be shunned for serving their country with many making it through multiple tours of duty in combat zones only to freeze to death trying to stay warm and living on the streets.
To hell with the war on drugs and all the chicanery that goes along with it.Take care of our people now!

Sorry folks-some things just get me danders up.

"The fact we have a new attorney general with no experience in law enforcement will certainly have an impact," said Jorge Chabat, security analyst at Mexico's CIDE think tank

Anything that comes out of a 'THINK TANK' should be suspect as a rule of law!

The former official has done a BANG UP JOB on Drugs, eh? Could have knocked me over with that one!