Human Rights Watch's latest condemnation of Mexican drug war reveals how little it understands conflict

MGR Opinion
Ivory tower - n. A place or attitude of retreat, especially preoccupation with lofty, remote or intellectual considerations rather than practical everyday life.

Guadalajara -
Thank God for the Mexican army. Thank God for Mexican naval and marine forces. All are at the forefront of the brutal drug war, which today entered its 74th month. Without them, Mexico in 2013 might look more like Somalia did in the 1990s. Guadalajara, more like Mogadishu. A failed state.

In 30 months of talking to hundreds of Mexicans about the issues which interest me - the issues which appear every day on the pages of MGR - I have never heard a single negative comment about Mexico's highly respected military forces. Not one. I've heard a ton of horror stories about corruption in local and state and at times federal police forces. But not a disparaging word about the beloved ejército mexicano. Mexico's sons and daughters in uniform are a source of great national pride.

I've read hundreds of criticisms, though. Most were spread upon the pages of foreign journals which had all the answers for Mexico. Which knew more about Mexico's drug war than Mexico does. Many were composed - I use the term liberally - in English, like this masterpiece of incompetency which MGRR analyzed more than a year ago. One, last summer, was in French. But I'll excuse the latter, because at the time Élysée Palace and "all Gaul" (to borrow Julius Caesar's immortal words) were still fuming over L'affaire Cassez.

The decision by former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa to put Mexico's armed forces on the front line against drug traffickers and organized crime was an excellent one and a courageous one. Much to his credit, president Enrique Peña Nieto is going to follow exactly the same strategy - and indeed, even expand upon it. For the most part, there has been nothing but dead silence from the U.S. press on that topic. But what, really, could they say? They misread the new PRI quarterback's signals like hungover NFL linebackers on a Sunday afternoon (New York Times got Mexican candidates' drug war strategies wrong).

Indeed, after almost a year, they still can't figure out president Peña Nieto. Read the third paragraph under "Wave of Violence" in this Feb. 4 Times story. Maybe they should start following MGRR.

A year ago, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that Calderón's National Security Strategy was delivering very real results for Mexico (albeit at the expense of its impoverished neighbors in Central America, to where much of the drug war has shifted in the last couple of years). In September, UNODC noted that Mexican traffickers have relocated their businesses under pressure from the ejército mexicano. On Oct. 12, in a very unusual public statement, a UNODC official said Mexico is confronting a true "emergency" in its war against cartels and organized crime, and urged that military forces remain on the street until circumstances permit a "return to quarters." It doesn't get any more unambiguous than that.

This week the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued yet another acerbic denunciation of Mexican military involvement in the drug war. It's bitter venom was exceeded only by its absurd analogies. HRW compared Mexico's struggle against the monolithic cartels to genuine human rights abuses in Cuba and Venezuela. The organization filed a similar political indictment in November 2011, to which then president Calderón - much to the point - appropriately responded: "Criminals present the greatest threat to human rights."

Just like Pavlov's well-trained dogs, much of the world press - especially in the United States - heard the bell ring, salivated and excitedly repeated HRW's hyperbolic claims, dutifully passing them along. Mexico's rather left leaning Sinembargo.com noted the organization's report, while simultaneously carrying a lead editorial about how locals in Guerrero state (Acapulco) are forming their own citizen police forces, their confidence in duly constituted authority being so pathetically low. The title of that article, by the way, is The Decomposition of the Mexican State.

Mr. Peña Nieto has been very occupied in the last 24 hours, attending to the awful Pemex disaster. He probably hasn't had time to review the HRW report. My guess is that no one in Los Pinos will find it important enough to bring to his attention. Let's hope not, anyway. It's not worth the read.

Feb. 17, 2014 - Mexicans have greater confidence in military forces than any other public institution

2013
Feb. 22 - Much hype in Mexico's drug war, especially when Human Rights Watch comes to town
Feb. 27 - Mexico's drug war disappearances: the "official government list" that proves nothing
Feb. 23 - Mexican officials dispute U.S. press reports on drug war disappearances
Feb. 19 - New York Times figures it out: in drug war, Enrique Peña Nieto = Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Feb. 17 - Guatemalan ambassador warns of growing Los Zeta drug cartel presence in his country
Feb. 4 - An expanding U.S. presence in Latin drug wars, says AP
Feb. 4 - Crime with "impunity" still the norm in much of Mexico
Jan. 30 - All the familiar weapons used in latest assassination of a Jalisco police chief
Jan. 20 - Narco executions continue in the heart of Guadalajara
Jan. 13 - Mexican drug cartels operate in 1,286 U.S. cities

2012
Dec. 28 - Mexico pays enormous price for domestic insecurity
Sept. 6 - Peña Nieto transition team confirms: Mexican army will remain on the streets
July 15 - Political power is ultimate goal of Mexican drug cartels, says U.S. security expert
May 17 - Struggle against drug cartels, organized crime will be Calderón's legacy

Drug cartels present greater threat to U.S. security than Iran, says U.S. State Department
The Daily Obscenities of Mexico
Mexico, will you free yourself?
Mexico's Continuing Agony

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