drug war

No pretty pictures on this one. The drug war in Mexico is a colosal failure. I have unfortunately seen this before in Colombia with different twists and turns but the reults look similar.
The practical on the ground problems are not what a well intentioned and ill studied foreigner might anticipate.
 If you give immense power to a poorly paid village policeman he will settle every score. If you give immense power to a military consisting of young uneducated men they will do what they are told.  I have talked to these young guys in fatigues as I encounter them in villages I have have had the good fortune to visit and these young soldiers know not what they do. They are currently kicking in the doors of poor farmers and small business people under orders. That these victims may own land that belongs to their Ejido that does not want Monsanto in or will not sell to the local official is simply swept aside as the local official is fighting a drug war. The rubric of the drug war allows for much score settling. Small villages that support the the left are called drug strongholds. Doors are kicked in as pigs squeal from the dirt floor to the freedom that has now vanished for the human inhabitants of this squalor.
The people are living in fear as any neighbour can call any politico, call you a drug dealer and after your arrest your property is up for grabs.  That your property consists of twelve corn plants and half a hectare makes it a good enough score.
Rural Mexico exists as it has for centuries. Small town politics run horribly awry when the little shit kid you grew up with just got a handsome "reward" for turning in all the "drug dealers" in his town. The norm would be to deal with the problem locally but when a foreign government disasociated from local mores comes into play the community will often just give in. The heroic notion of a community conquering all obstacles is a distant possibility to many communities that have suffered foriegn (Spanish) control for many generations.  Statistics speak volumes to those who from a foreign land (USA) create budgets that support this wretched conniving.  They need to make arrests to justify expense. Easily accomplished on the ground, round up the usual suspects and collect on both ends.
That the usual suspects are union organizers and womens coalitions seems hardly to register as a curious anomoly.
There are some very bad people involved in the drug business but this governments aim is not true.

Drug business. Drugs are bad. Business is worse. I am not the first to say, take the business out of drugs and at least we have a start. The vast amount of money spent on the drug war could be put to much better use. Sadly I know this is naive. I so miss my naivite.  No one ever got a Haliburton contract to open a free clinic.
The tear gas currently being used in Egypt comes from... You all know this.