Pérez Molina recently called for decriminalization in the region and he reiterated his position at the meeting with Napolitano. “We are calling for a discussion, a debate. And we continue to insist… We want to open a debate to find a more effective way to fight drug trafficking.” The Guatemalan government has begun to lobby other Central American countries on the issue in anticipation of the meeting this week. Biden appears to have been charged on this trip with deterring any move toward legalization in the region and aligning nations in the war on drugs.

He has a tough road ahead of him. Latin American citizens and government leaders are openly protesting a model where their nations pay in blood and lives to fill U.S. defense contractor’s pockets and spread the Pentagon’s global reach–with few, if any, positive results. In Mexico, thousands filled the Central Plaza to draw the outlines of 60,000 dead in the drug war on the large esplanade in front of the National Palace and the citizen Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity is planning a summer caravan through the United States to protest U.S. aid for the drug war through the Merida Initiative.

The Mexican daily La Jornada published an editorial Feb. 24 calling for debate on decriminalization and commenting on a statement by Sec. of Foreign Relations, Patricia Espinosa, that the Mexican government is against decriminalization but would consider debate. It concluded:

“Perhaps if the debate on the decriminalization of drugs had been begun before adopting the present course regarding public security, the country would have saved countless lives, widespread social suffering, grave processes of institutional breakdown and astronomical monetary resources. In whatever form, it is urgent and impossible to postpone the analysis of alternatives to the failure of a drug policy that is one only of the police, the military and the judiciary. In that sense anyone who takes this position–though it may be late and contradictory–is welcome.”

Despite the praise that has been and will be lavished on Calderon for his drug war, for other countries, Mexico has become the example of why NOT to pursue a drug war strategy. When I asked President Perez Molina and President Lobo how they felt about winding up like Mexico, both sought to distance themselves from the Mexican experience. I had the opportunity to ask as part of a fact-finding mission on violence against women led by the Nobel Women’s Initiative and JASS that showed a huge increase in violence against women as militarization under the drug war has escalated.

Perez Molina answered that his country was in a different position: ”Drug trafficking in Guatemala is different than in Mexico. We don’t see a war situation. The cartels have to maintain control of territory in Mexico but here it’s traffic, there isn’t occupation or control of territory. Here I don’t see the army in a war against the narco…” In other interviews he has also been reticent about allowing the level of U.S. intervention that the Mexican government has permitted.

Lobo recognized the risks and failures of the model but dodged the question of alternatives. ”I don’t have the answer, people are dying, [drug-trafficking] pollutes us, and there is violence. There’s an increase in drug trafficking. The problem is, what’s the solution? Colombia put up a major fight and drugs keep flowing out. They have arms from the US and the money keeps flowing. In this we have to find a solution so this won’t end up being a war without end.”

Instead of sitting down with its neighbors to find a peaceful solution and truly assess whether the current strategy is working for anybody, the White House is sending a strong message to hold the line on the drug war. And Biden brings much more than his personal power of persuasion to the mostly closed-door conversations

It’s disturbing to see that the Obama administration has taken such a hard line against opening up debate on alternatives to the drug war. From here in Mexico, we see the costs so painfully close that the expected endorsements from Biden and company, far from being support, are a stubborn denial of reality. We can’t know what will happen in the private meetings, but statements before Biden’s trip emphasize support for the Calderon drug war and the commitment to continue the present model of security cooperation until the last day of his administration.

One wonders what will be said at the separate meetings with the presidential candidates. If the stated purpose is to repeat the U.S. commitment to respecting the electoral process and results, why not simply announce that publicly to all? Will Biden pressure the candidates to do the U.S.’ bidding on security policy, bringing to bear U.S. political and economic clout to assure continuance of the drug war? 

Lopez Obrador announced he will deliver a letter to Biden stating, “We do not want to continue to favor military cooperation in the relationship with the United States, but instead place cooperation for development at the center.”

The U.S. has tremendous influence over Mexico and Central America, historically through aid and military presence, and even more now that free trade agreements have created even higher levels of economic dependence.

To use that influence to suppress debate on innovative and very possibly effective alternatives to the bloody drug war is bad politics and the opposite of the kind of “equal partnership and mutual respect” the Obama administration promised at the Trinidad and Tobago Summit in 2009. Part of the purpose of Biden’s trip is to prepare for the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena in April. At that summit, the hemisphere’s nations will be able to judge whether Obama’s presidency changed relations as promised three years ago.

If Biden’s trip focuses on locking in policies of drug war militarization and discouraging independent regional initiatives, the Obama administration will arrive in Cartagena having broken those promises and dashed hopes of a more just realignment of relations in the hemisphere.

3 Responses to “Doing Biden’s Bidding”

1. Tom Gillilan
   maart 6th, 2012 @ 12:28

   The best way to make a book a best seller is to ban it.

   Similar thing with drugs.

   The “DRUG WAR” actually INCREASES drug use. In Portugal drug use has gone down since they decriminalized all drugs.

   Alcohol is the most dangerous DRUG of all the drugs and is officially listed as such by England. Alcohol is the KING of drugs.

   The “DRUG WAR” is like the Vietnam War. There is no plan to ever “win” the war. It will drag on for another thousand years if we let it.

   Demand in the USA for alcohol and the other drugs that are now prohibited will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be there.

   Criminals and criminal activity are associated with prohibited drugs and not with alcohol.

   Drug abuse should be treated as a medical problem, not as a criminal problem.

   SAY YES TO LIFE — SAY NO TO THE DRUG WAR

2. Malcolm Kyle
   maart 6th, 2012 @ 15:10

   Some day soon, Joe Biden, and the rest of his fellow prohibitionists, will all stand trial for crimes against humanity. They are not just profiteers, haters, liars, and murderers; the utter destructiveness of their life’s work, proves beyond doubt that these monsters are the very incarnation of lucifer himself. At the very least, all these people deserve to spend the rest of their lives in the same corporate cages that they now hold shares in.

   Prohibition has triggered the worst crime wave in history, escalating gang warfare even beyond what was experienced in the dark-days of alcohol bootlegging.

   * It has created a black market with massive incentives to hook both adults and children alike.

   * It has put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on our streets.

   * It has made these substances widely available even in schools and prisons.

   * It has created a prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.

   * It has helped remove many important civil liberties from the very citizens it falsely claims to represent.

   * It has grossly inflated the number of people on welfare who can’t find employment due to their felony status.

   * It has grossly escalated Murder, Kidnapping, Extortion, Theft, Muggings and Burglaries.

   * It has diverted scarce law-enforcement resources away from protecting citizens from the ever escalating violence against their person or property.

   * It has overcrowded the courts and prisons, thus making it increasingly impossible to curtail the people who are hurting and terrorizing others.

   * It has evolved local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, helping them control vast swaths of territory while gifting them with significant social and military resources.

   Imagine if we were to chop down every single tree on the planet as a response to our failure to prevent tree-climbing accidents. That’s what our misguided drug policy looks like. Isn’t it time we all stood up and told the government, that we’re tired of being beaten and jailed so that pharmaceutical companies can poison and kill us for obscene profits?

   Prohibition Prevents Regulation : Legalize, Regulate and Tax!

3. Tom Gillilan
   maart 6th, 2012 @ 22:53

   The “DRUG WAR” has turned the USA into an ugly brutal militaristic type police state with no end in sight.

   The American prison system is being contracted out to for-profit companies. Their profit depends on spending as little as possible on the prisoners and the prisons.

   Their primary interest lies in having as many prisoners as possible, housed as cheaply as possible. The more prisoners, the more profit.
   They spend millions and millions of dollars lobbying against decriminalization of drugs and controlled substances.

   Decriminalizing drugs and controlled substances would no longer make it possible for them to operate as a for-profit business.

   The “DRUG WAR” is a scam.

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