Calderon passes Mexican drug war chaos to successor

(Reuters) – Gunmen killed three policemen near a fast-food court at Mexico City’s international airport as panicked travelers hit the deck. Hours later the government says the killers are fellow officers on a drug cartel payroll, and that they escaped.

Mexican marines announce they have captured a son of the country’s most wanted trafficker, Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman and the U.S. government applauds the arrest. The next day, the attorney general has to admit they have the wrong man.

Meanwhile, drug cartel gunmen commit brutal massacres across the country, dumping headless, mutilated corpses on city streets and major highways, and rarely getting caught.

The relentless carnage and series of humiliating episodes in the final days before Mexico’s presidential election on Sunday have further tainted outgoing President Felipe Calderon’s offensive against the drug cartels.

More than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Calderon took office and sent the army to hunt down drug lords in a crackdown that has defined his presidency.

In view of the immense problems Calderon has faced since December 2006, his successor almost certainly will focus on damage limitation rather than stake his or her reputation on what many consider an unwinnable campaign against the gangs.

While the drug war is a central challenge to whoever takes over, the candidates have shied away from it in their campaigns. None of them touched on the issue of drug seizures and the shooting of cartel kingpins during two long televised debates.

“Whoever wins the election, the new president will try to avoid being in the same position as Calderon,” said Jose Reveles, an author on Mexico’s drug cartels.

“Calderon has shown that it is not good politics in Mexico right now to make a drug war your central policy.”

Calderon is unable to seek re-election but polls show that Josefina Vazquez Mota, the ruling National Action Party’s (PAN) candidate, is trailing in third place with dissatisfaction over the drug war cited as a key reason for her poor showing.

Leading the race by double digits is Enrique Pena Nieto of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until it was voted out in 2000.

Throughout those decades of PRI rule, Mexico suffered from endemic corruption and bouts of political turmoil but nothing like the current levels of drug violence.

Pena Nieto says his main priority on security issues if he wins on Sunday will be to reduce the rates of homicides, kidnapping and extortion. Seizing narcotics and taking down drug bosses will still be a goal, but not the dominant one.

 

Reuters has the full article

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