Re: [Marxism] Mexico's drug war

[Erik Carlos Toren <ectoren@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

But that has been the response from every Mexican president way back since this 
has been an issue: 

It's not our fault a good number of "gringos" are druggies. Clean your house, 
and the drug traffic will go away. End the black market of guns in the US and 
the violence will end in Mexico. 

That's been the rote response for a long while which Calderon is just 
repeating. Notice that he has *not* called for *legalization* which is my 
point. PAN is calling this policy "defeatist".  Some PRD pols have introduced 
the idea of legalization for public discussion. I think a month ago there was 
public forum in Mexico City in which this was discussed. Ex-pres Zedillo has 
called for the legalization of marijuana:


http://noticias.prodigy.msn.com/landing.aspx?cp-documentid=17714463

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ao_Yr_Is1T6E&refer=latin_america

"Cardoso, Gaviria, Zedillo Urge Obama to Decriminalize Marijuana "

"Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Former presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia said 
the U.S.-led war on drugs has failed and urged President Barack Obama to 
consider new policies, including decriminalizing marijuana, and to treat drug 
use as a public health problem.The recommendations by former Brazilian 
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, along with Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and 
Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, were made in a report today by the Latin American 
Commission on Drugs and Democracy."

Finally, as long as the US gives money to Mexico for the "drug war", there will 
be little change in Mexico's policy. 


 «¤Erik¤»


----- Original Message ----
From: Joaquin Bustelo <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxx>

Yeah, but listen to what Calderon was saying Thursday, that to get drugs
into the USA, you had to bribe US officials, not Mexican ones, and as long
as there was this huge demand for drugs from the US the problem couldn't be
solved. Sure, the PAN will say whatever they believe will ingratiate them
with the US, but ... that doesn't mean they believe it, as can be seen from
the way Calderon is responding.

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