In the same week that former Mexican president Vicente Fox suggested his country negotiate for peace with the drug cartels, the 2010 Nobel Prize winner in literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, endorsed National Action Party (PAN) candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota for the country's highest political office, saying she's the only candidate ready to serve.
The endorsement came during an international development symposium which both today attended in Lima. Arguing that the struggle against narcotics trafficking violence "must not yield or bend," Vargas Llosa said that Vázquez "left a profound footprint" during her years of public service in Mexico, and "contributed greatly" to democratization of the nation.
The esteemed Peruvian writer is a harsh public critic of the the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which dominated the political landscape for 70 years until Vicente Fox forged a coalition to capture Los Pinos, Mexico's White House, in 2000. Vargas Llosa has called PRI "disgusting, detestable and lawless." He often refers to drug trafficking in this country as the "beast in the dark cave," and during a conference in Mexico City last November he said, "Now we know that the beast is a monstrosity, powerful, enormously rich and without the slightest scruples."
Hard words for PRI
Despite the fact that the prize winning author was attending a foreign conference he gave no quarter to the Institutional Revolutionary Party today. In strident remarks Vargas Llosa called Vázquez Mota an "intelligent, democratic and liberal woman" who had helped defeat the "perfect dictatorship" of PRI during her years in public service. Referring to an earlier era in Mexican politics, Vargas Llosa said, "The perfect dictatorship was not communism, or the old Soviet empire, or Fidel Castro. The perfect dictatorship was Mexico under PRI." The writer added, "We're on the threshold of creating Mexico's greatest century. We can't afford to lose one tiny piece of freedom, of the democracy that together we've created."
Vargas Llosa's endorsement of Vázquez Mota is based heavily on her commitment to stick with president Felipe Calderón's National Security Strategy, the cornerstone of which is the use of Mexican military forces against the cartels. Calderón's controversial offensive against narcotics traffickers was launched in December 2006. Although there have been notable strategic successes, over 50,000 people have died in the drug war and the end is not remotely in sight. Many view Mexico's impending presidential election as a referendum on that policy. Vázquez Mota's PRD opponent, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has said that if he's elected he'll withdraw the army within six months and turn the war over to local and state police forces. PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto hasn't clarified his plan.
In brief comments to the press today, the PAN nominee said that if she's elected president she'll ask the United States to assume even greater responsibility in the ongoing drug war, which is now 63 months old. "They're the biggest consumer of drugs worldwide and the largest exporter of arms to Mexico. If they don't give more of themselves to this struggle of ours, the battle will be unequal, unjust and brutal," said Vázquez Mota.
Vicente Fox
The former president, who has previously called for peace talks with Mexico's powerful drug cartels, was interviewed yesterday by the Milenio news network. Vicente Fox maintains the drug war has been a complete failure, and argues that even in countries where narcotics remain illegal, such as the U.S., the ferocious levels of violence which Mexican is experiencing have not been encountered. Fox, who was Mexico's president from 2000-2006, advocates the legalization of all drugs worldwide.
Fox was sharp in his criticism of the United States during the multi-part interview, which is being broadcast this week by Milenio. He accused American federal agencies of being in bed with drug traffickers - including El Chapo” Guzmán - by offering them money (or for those who've been captured, lighter prison sentences) in exchange for inside information about cartel operations and competitors. Fox said, "I've not heard Obama say, 'ya basta' (enough already), when it comes to drugs." (The latter claim is not entirely accurate. Note the first two posts below.)
Fox said that 60 million people in the United States are guilty of drug crimes, "including presidents Obama and Clinton," who have admitted to past marijuana usage. He argued that the U.S. has done nothing of substance to prevent drugs from crossing its border with Mexico, and noted that American forces are used to operating "in foreign wars, not in their own territory." Fox once again called for the removal of the Mexican army from the drug war, as has PRD presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador on several occasions.
Obama: U.S. drug demand responsible for damage done to Mexico
Obama: Mexico should reject "peace" with drug cartels
Nobel Laureate excoriates Mexico's PRI party
A Jurrasic Park in Mexico?
"The beast in the cave and the soap opera actor"
Vicente Fox "let's make a deal" proposal going over like a lead balloon
Drug "decriminalization" or legalization, it's all the same at the end of the day
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