WikiLeaks releases some Mexico cables

Border BoletÃ*n: WikiLeaks releases some Mexico cables (Updated)
Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star
December 2, 2010 3:19 pm

The El Pais newspapar in Spain has begun to release State Department documents concerning Mexico’s drug war.

Here are the two stories the newspaper has posted in Spanish:

• El Gobierno mexicano admite que ha perdido el control de ciertas zonas (English translation: The Mexican government admits it's lost control of certain areas)

• México: un Ejército dividido incapaz de vencer a los narcos (English translation: Mexico: a divided army is incapable of defeating the narcos)

There are links throughout these two articles to the documents they refer to, and I'm reading those this afternoon. So far, this one from Oct. 5, 2009 out of Mexico City is the most interesting. It offers insight into what Mexican high-ranking officials think about the drug war and need for help from the U.S.

The document provides a summary of what was said at a dinner hosted by Mexican officials for visiting Department of Justice leaders from the U.S. The document quotes the undersecretary for governance of Mexico, Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez, as offering a stark assessment of Mexico’s situation:

“We have 18 months," he said, "and if we do not produce a tangible success that is recognizable to the Mexican people, it will be difficult to sustain the confrontation into the next administration.

“He lamented the pervasive, debilitating fear that is so much a part of contemporary Mexican society, where even people in theYucatan, with "European levels of security" are afraid because of the instability in a few distant cities. He expressed a real concern with "losing" certain regions.

“It is damaging Mexico's international reputation, hurting foreign investment, and leading to a sense of government impotence, Gutierrez said.

According to the document, Gutierrez also said that, “in retrospect he and other GOM (government of Mexico) officials realize that not enough strategic thought went into Merida in the early phase. There was too much emphasis in the initial planning on equipment, which they now know is slow to arrive and even slower to be of direct utility in the fight against the DTOs.â€