Despite obvious failure, the Mexican president has vowed to “stay the course” of drug prohibition. As if he were standing in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner, President Calderón says the murder of Police Commissioner Millán, is a sign of government success against the drug cartel. He’s full of shit.
James McKinley Jr. writes the story in the New York Times:
Top security officials who were once thought untouchable have been gunned down in Mexico City, four in the last month alone. Drug dealers killed another seven federal agents this year in retaliation for drug busts in border towns. Others have died in shootouts.
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Drug traffickers have killed at least 170 local police officers. … Some were believed to have been corrupt officers who had sold out to drug gangs and were killed by rival gangsters. … Others were killed for doing their jobs.
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All told, 4,125 people have been killed in drug violence since Mr. Calderón took office.
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Several terrified local police chiefs have resigned, the most recent being Guillermo Prieto, the chief in Ciudad Juárez, who stepped down last week after his second in command was killed a few days earlier.
As quoted in the Times, President Calderón says, “The question is, should we persevere and go forward or simply hide in our offices and duck our heads. No way is the Mexican government going to back down in such a fight.”
Really? Why does it never occur to stupid leaders of failed strategies that they’re wrong? Is it pride? Hubris? How bad do things have to get before you try a new strategy? Apparently, much, much worse.
Read the whole article.