Mexico leader says US shares blame for drug violence
Source: ANP/Agence France-Presse
Mexico leader says US shares blame for drug violence
Published on 3 September 2012 - 5:16pm
Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon blamed loose US gun laws and American addicts for fueling his country's drug violence as he defended his controversial anti-cartel offensive on Monday.
Presenting the final annual report of his presidency, Calderon insisted that his 2006 decision to deploy thousands of troops to round up drug traffickers was not to blame for the relentless crime wave plaguing the country.
The conservative leader, whose single six-year term ends December 1, said the wave of murders and kidnappings was linked to brutal turf wars being waged between Mexico's ultra-violent drug cartels.
But he also pointed his finger at the United States, saying criminals were able to arm themselves with powerful guns after Washington lawmakers refused to renew a law banning the sale of assault weapons such as AK-47 rifles in 2004.
Read more: http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/mexico-leader-says-us-shares-blame-drug-violence
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)socialindependocrat
(1,372 posts)He sent his troops in and this was not the problem?
Gee Doc., I went and knocked down this hornet's nest and
I got stung over and over! I just can't understand why?
If your army can't take out the drug lords what are you going to do if there is a real war?
Think of this as practice Felipe!
But they have AK-47s!
And you have what... pinata bats?
Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)
bupkus This message was self-deleted by its author.
a la izquierda
(11,797 posts)I can't even respond, lest I get banned.
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)Nixon lives!
duhneece
(4,116 posts)When DU'ers don't recognize that the drug prohibition policies of the US and the demands of US citizens spur the violence in Mexico.
Drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is far, far worse.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)oldsarge54
(582 posts)The United States is their primary market for drugs. A weird side effect is that Obama's efforts to close the border are working, thus narrowing down the routes across the border. This makes it a bit more competitive between the cartels. Given also the insane insistence of loose gun laws allowing "straw men" to buy guns in job lots makes the US the primary armory for the cartels. We should accept blame.
Solution: eliminate the possibility of "straw men", limit the number of weapons per sales, and legalize the primary drugs of choice. Besides, the preferred drugs of choice this generation seem to be made in the USA by pharmaceutical companies anyway.
NewYorkers
(13 posts)Mexico drug cartels are fed multi-billions dollars because of American porn industry which has spread worldwide.
Pornography and sex shows is promoting drugs use and steriods use worldwide and they are creating millions of sex psychopaths in world society. There is serious drugs problems in USA because of porn and sex industry.
If we cleaned it up, it would mean losing one of largest "Made in the USA" industries left. If there are a thousands of new porn sites a day. That creates "employment", at least part-time photo shoot work for millions of drugs adled porn "workers".
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Porn makes people do drugs? What?
MagniPeter
(3 posts)It has been confirmed that porn stars and people appearing in sex videos take drugs and steriods and they show brutal sex on porn websites and sex videos.
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)started the drugs long before they took their first picture.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)it has NOTHING to do with the issue at hand. You are watching porn now, aren't you?
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)is there anything they aren't to blame for?
bitchkitty
(7,349 posts)but it's not because of assault rifles or supply and demand. It's because drugs are illegal in the first place, and that there is no effort toward prevention or rehabilitation in our system today. My humble opinion, anyway.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)rachel1
(538 posts)there wasn't so much demand, right?
But of course with decriminalization there'd be little to no violence and no excuse to wage that stupid war on drugs but of course that's not an option!!!
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Fuck that asshole.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)I think maybe people are disputing it because of a knee jerk reaction to defend prohibition because a Democrat is currently President.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)they haven't descended in to anarchy to supply us with illegal drugs.
Perhaps there's more to it than that.
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)Some ideas...
Latin America is more susceptible to violent gang activity than the United States or Canada, for a whole host of deep historical reasons.
There are also pockets of the United States at various times that have essentially descended into drug war anarchy, for example some pockets of inner cities. There are deep historical reasons for poverty there that can explain why.
That is an interesting topic to study why certain places have weaker governments, or more corruption, or poverty, or different kinds of economies which make them more susceptible to something like that.
But I think that prohibition creates an illegal market is uncontroversial. Also that illegal markets attract criminal turf wars and gang violence seems pretty uncontroversial to me.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)is probably about 75% to blame for Mexican drug violence, honestly. Treating drug abuse and addiction as a criminal rather than a medical problem, and continuing to criminalise and impose harsh penalties, in essence does very little, when for the most part it's street-level dealers getting busted, and maybe poor black and Hispanic kids; middle-class white people rarely do time on drugs charges, and the major distribution networks remain largely untouched despite the massive incarceration rates and the increasing militarisation of American police forces. American drugs policy has failed and failed completely; Mexico has its own problems of endemic corruption and a relatively weak central government, but if the USA followed the Portuguese model of total decriminalisation of drugs a significant part of the Mexican drug violence problem would just evaporate in short order.