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Jesse, Benny, and the "Narcos"
OR
Drugs across the Border

By Dr. Don Coerver

In April 2001 U.S. Senator Jesse Helms paid a visit to Mexico City; he brought along a few associates--the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which he chairs. The fact that a U.S. Senate committee was going to hold an official session in a foreign capital was noteworthy in itself; even more notable were the kind words coming out of Senator Helms about the Mexican government. Helms was one of the best-known "Mexico bashers" in the U.S. Congress; he was especially well know for his efforts to block the annual certification that Mexico was cooperating in the war on drugs. Failure to get certification can lead to removal of U.S. economic and financial aid as well as have a negative effect on trade. The attention paid to the Helms visit is only the latest phase in the long-running problem of the drug-traffickers (narcotraficantes or narcos) and the drug trade across the U.S.-Mexican border.

Drug trafficking has figured prominently in Mexico's domestic and foreign affairs for much of the twentieth century. In the 1920s, Mexican workers in the U.S. Southwest were linked to the use of marijuana, a linkage which served as part of the rationale for their forced repatriation during the depression years of the 1930s. As early as the 1940s, U.S. drug agents were operating in Mexico with the informal approval of Mexican officials. It was not until the 1960s with the growing demand for drugs in the United States that drug-trafficking became a major domestic and international problem for Mexico. During the 1970s the United States government increased its efforts to intercept drugs crossing the U.S.-Mexican border and pressured Mexican officials to take sterner measures against the drug trade. On two different occasions U.S. officials implemented "Operation Intercept," a detailed inspection of all vehicles crossing the international boundary. Legitimate border traffic was thrown into chaos, leading the Mexican government to announce a "permanent campaign" against drugs.

Although both Mexico and the United States intensified their efforts to interrupt drug trafficking, the drug trade continued to grow in the 1980s. The status of the drug trade brought growing complications for Mexico both internationally and domestically. Mexico and the United States bickered endlessly over the their relative commitments to drug enforcement and on the amount of emphasis that should be placed on interrupting the supply of drugs coming across the border versus reducing demand for drugs in the United States. It became increasingly difficult to separate the drug controversy from the issues of immigration and trade. The Mexican government even feared that the drug dispute might derail efforts to get approval for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The domestic implications for Mexico of the expanding drug trade were also worrisome. The consumption of drugs within Mexico was on the rise. At the same time, drug-related corruption of political and law enforcement institutions raised the possibility of Mexico becoming a "narco-state" along the lines ofColombia. Two incidents drove home the dangers involved. In June 1993 one of the highest-ranking officials of the Catholic Church in Mexico, Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, was shot and killed at the airport in Guadalajara. Investigators were never able to determine conclusively whether the cardinal was the target of the attack or whether he died in a shootout between drug gangs. The cardinal, however, had spoken out earlier against the drug traffickers. In March 1994 the candidate of the official party for the presidency, Luis Donaldo Colosio, was assassinated in the border town of Tijuana during a campaign appearance. Authorities struggled over an official explanation for the assassination, but the killing was linked almost immediately with drug traffickers. The assassination shortly afterwards of the Tijuana police chief who had angered the local drug cartel heightened speculation about a drug connection to Colosio's assassination.

The assassinations of Cardinal Posadas and Colosio led Mexico's president, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, to press for tougher action against drug traffickers. Soon after Salinas left the presidency in December 1994, a major political and legal controversy developed over the possible involvement of Salinas's older brother, Raúl, with drug traffickers. Raúl Salinas became the target of an international investigation involving the Mexican, U.S., and Swiss governments. Salinas was accused of having accumulated a personal fortune conservatively estimated at $500 million, much of it gained by using his high-level political connections to provide protection for drug traffickers. In October 1998 the Swiss government officially ended a lengthy investigation into the finances of Raúl Salinas by ordering the confiscation of $114 million of Salinas's assets on the grounds that they represented drug payoffs. Salinas was later sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in a political murder.

Both Mexico and the United States have moved toward a greater militarization of the drug war. Stung by continuing criticism of corruption among civilian law enforcement officials, the Mexican government turned more of the anti-drug effort over to the military on the grounds that it was not tainted by corruption. An army officer, General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, was made Mexico's anti-drug chief. Two months after assuming his new position, the general found himself under arrest on charges of taking a bribe from the leader of one of Mexico's biggest drug cartels, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, "El Señor de los Cielos" (the Lord of the Heavens). General Gutiérrez proclaimed his innocence but at the same time accused several other high-ranking army officers of taking bribes to protect drug dealers. In early April 2001 three army officers--including a brigadier general--were arrested on charges of aiding the Gulf Cartel, which dominates the drug trade in northeastern Mexico. U.S. efforts to get its armed forces more actively involved in the drug war also proved controversial. Critics claimed that the armed forces had the hardware but not the training to engage in what was essentially police work. When a military patrol along the border accidentally killed a shepherd, the United States cut back on its use of the military in intercept operations.

Even the more-optimistic officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border admit that the war on drugs is far from being won. Drug traffickers are adept at shifting production locations and supply routes in response to pressure from authorities. The porous nature of the international boundary also poses problems. There are few physical obstacles to crossing the border, and both Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials are spread thin along the border. Mexican authorities recently "apprehended" a three-ton elephant named Benny who was working in a Mexico City circus. Benny had been illegally smuggled from Texas into Mexico in 2000. While Benny was not caught with any controlled substances in his possession, the lesson wasn't lost on law enforcement officers or on critics of the war on drugs. If you can successfully smuggle a three-ton elephant across the border, is there any wonder that it is hard to intercept a two-kilo package of cocaine?