MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Mexico demands crackdown on drugs in the US following casino carnage
President Felipe Calderón: “We're neighbours, we're allies, we're friends, but you are also responsible” Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning Friday and demanded a crackdown on drugs in the United States after armed men torched a casino in northern Mexico, killing at least 65 people.
Under intense pressure as violence soars, Calderon said he would send more federal security forces to the city of Monterrey, where gunmen set fire to an upmarket casino Thursday in one of the worst attacks of Mexico's drugs war.
“It's clear that we are not confronting common criminals, we are confronting true terrorists” Calderon said in a televised speech after meeting his security advisers.
He said the United States Congress needs to take steps to curb an “insatiable” demand for drugs and crack down on the illegal trafficking of weapons across the border into Mexico.
“We're neighbours, we're allies, we're friends, but you are also responsible,” a sombre and angry Calderon said
Calderon first ordered a crackdown against the cartels when he took office in late 2006 and several senior traffickers have been arrested. However, turf wars between rival cartels have killed about 42,000 people, battering Mexico's reputation.
The president insists his campaign has weakened the cartels but critics say it simply brought a surge in violence and has done little or nothing to slow the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the United States.
Coming less than a year before Mexico's presidential election, the casino attack raises the stakes for Calderon to stop the carnage, especially as the victims were mainly well-to-do civilians with no link to the conflict.
Monterrey, which lies about 230 km from the Texas border, is a relatively wealthy city of about 4 million people and is home to some of Mexico's biggest companies. It was for many years seen as a model of economic development but it has been ravaged by the drugs war over the past two years.
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Read all commentsMexico's gruesome civil war is clearly a product of the failed policy of Prohibition.
Aug 27th, 2011 - 09:30 am 0Alcohol prohibition, was a tremendous failure due to the incredible amount of crime and disorder it created. Human nature hasn't changed since the 1920s and early 30s. Then, the distribution of liquor was turned over to a whole new group of criminal entrepreneurs. Now, due to the drug war, dangerous mind altering substances are sold, unregulated, by another new criminal class. Prohibition has turned Mexico into a civil war zone, so our intentions in prohibiting these substances may well be good, but the result of our inability to recognize the futility of such an action will both deepen and prolong the agony caused by this useless and dangerous policy.
The future depends on whether or not enough of us are willing to take a long look at the tragic results of prohibition. If we continue to skirt the primary issue while refusing to address the root problem, then we can expect no other result than a worsening of the current dire situation. Good intentions are no match for the immutable realities of human nature.
So may we have some realism from all of you now, on how to go about reclaiming our streets and stopping this mayhem? Please start making an honest effort to address the root cause of the present horrific mess and the high proliferation of “well funded” violent Cartels --the failed regime of drug prohibition.
Total Body Count for 2010: 15,273
Total Body Count for 2009: (approx.) 9,600
Total Body Count for 2008: (approx.) 5,400
Total Body Count for 2007: (approx.) 4,300
Total Body Count for Calderon's drug war through 2010: 34,849
Total Body in total (approx.) 42,000
* So why not call it by it's correct name? What's happening in Mexico is clearly 'Prohibition engendered violence' By refusing to acknowledge this fact we all help to perpetuated it.
@1 I understand your point but you can also say that the drug users are responsible of this bloody war.
Aug 27th, 2011 - 03:23 pm 0@1
Aug 27th, 2011 - 04:23 pm 0Prohibition has nothing to do with Mexican Drug Cartel war .... allow me to disagree
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