Mitt Romney talks tough on U.S. drug demand: "It's time we take responsibility for killing people by our drug usage"

Romney speaks out in Miami, and admits that roots of Latin drug war are in U.S.A.

Mitt Romney earns an A+ for comments he made Friday while speaking to the Hispanic Leadership Network in Miami, just three days before the Florida primary. The Republican candidate had this to say:

"It's time that the United States takes responsibility for the pain and suffering and torture and murders that are occurring throughout Latin America. If I'm elected president, I'll work very aggressively (to get out a message) to our young people: stop using drugs, because you're killing people. I want them to understand that tens of thousand of persons are being murdered because of drug usage in this country. We're not setting a good example, and that must change," said the former Massachusetts governor.

Romney's comments were quoted today in Mérida's Diario de Yucatán, which cited another Spanish language account of the candidate's speech as its source.

In his own remarks to the group, Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich compared Mexico's 61 month old struggle against the drug cartels to a virtual "civil war." Although the analogy is extreme and technically inaccurate, the comparison was legitimate for debate purposes.

Both candidates were on track on this issue. Now if we could just get them straightened out on Cuba as well (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/gingrich-spews-same-old-cold-war.html).

In December, President Obama made very similar comments about U.S. responsibility for Latin American drug conflicts in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación. Few in the U.S know anything about what Obama said in that interview, because it was given to the foreign press and was published in Spanish only. Here's an English summary of what he told the paper: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/obama-us-drug-demand-responsible-for.html.

Both Romney and Gingrich said last week that Obama has put Latin American affairs on the back burner and demonstrated increasing indifference to the region. Other political observers have offered a similar assessment, and the criticism is perhaps not without merit. Journalist Andres Oppenheimer noted last week that Obama did not once mention Mexico or Latin America in his State of the Union address. The two Republican candidates agree on the economic and strategic importance of Latin America for the United States.

Mérida summit tells U.S. to reduce drug usage, check weapons flow: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/merida-summit-to-us-stop-flow-of.html.
United States is 9% stoned, say two U.S. senators: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/united-states-is-9-stoned-say-two-us.html.
Mexican drug cartels got 64,000 weapons from U.S., says DOJ: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/64000-us-made-weapons-have-been-used-by.html.
Guatemala asks for U.S. help in fighting drug cartels: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2012/01/almost-bankrupt-guatemala-calls-upon-us.html.
Honduran drug traffickers ship 100 tons of cocaine annually to U.S., "where the consumers are": http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/12/honduras-invaded-by-drug-traffickers.html.
Mexico's Continuing Agony: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/mexicos-continuing-agony.html