The devil is in the details: the Merida Initiative

One of the more popular criticisms I hear about the the Merida Initiative from conservatives (and others) on U.S. websites is that “the money will just go to corrupt Mexican politicians”. I think it may be corrupting, but what people forget is that the U.S. treasury isn’t writing a check payable to the Mexican government. It’s spending money IN THE UNITED STATES for

… for nonintrusive inspection equipment, ion scanners and canine units for Mexico and Central America to stop drugs, arms, cash and criminals. It also includes secure communications systems, helicopters and surveillance aircraft, and it includes training and community action programs for anti-gang measures.

I’ve been having a hell of a time finding out exactly WHO (or are corporations a “WHAT”) will be receiving these funds.  As Laura Carlsen noted last October (when the initiative was first being discussed):

…the new deal will offer up lucrative contracts to U.S. military and intelligence equipment firms, long-term maintenance and training contracts, and related services. In a recent Washington Post article, Misha Glenny cites a GAO report on Plan Colombia that finds that 70% of the money allotted never leaves the United States.

The billion-dollar drug deal may be a bonanza for Boeing, but the pay-off to the U.S. taxpayers who have to foot the bill is much less obvious.

Despite Walters’ claims, a tremendous amount of evidence exists to show the consistent failure of the supply-side model of drug war that relies primarily on military and police enforcement measures. When that model goes international, it becomes even more problematic, feeding conflict as it starves social investment.

Certainly the police and military in Mexico want, and need, more training — and maybe equipment.  The crackdown on narcotics dealers is welcome by many, who are tired of the violence.  The violence has escalated SINCE the crackdown, and — similar to the Bush administration’s response to increased violence in Iraq — the claim is that the “surge is working.”  Maybe.

Even if that is true (and given the sorry state of the rural economy, I can’t see drug sales themselves as corrupting.  If a narco buys a new SUV, and the salesman buys his daughter a computer so she can get ahead in her studies and go to medical school, is her future career based on corruption?  What if she specializes in addiction treatment therapies?

That’s a little silly, I know.  But, if these funds are going to be corrosive, I think it’s going to come in two areas.  First, with more resources and intellegence gathering capability, there is a danger that “anti-drug” activities will be used to deal with unpopular, or politically inconvenient, factions.  BurroHall mentioned a military raid on the Zapatistas under the guise of searching for marijuana, reported in more detail by Luis Hernández Navarro of Jornada:

Since the January 1994 insurrection, various administrations have wanted to associate the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN in its Spanish initials) with drug trafficking. They’ve never been able to demonstrate such a link, but they try time and time again.

This past June 4 the tired old story played out again. Only this time the threat is greater than in the past. On that date over 200 agents from the federal Army, the Attorney General’s office, and state and municipal police, with their faces painted, entered the Zapatista territory of La Garrucha with the pretext of looking for marijuana plants. Hundreds of residents from the Hermenegildo Galeana and San Alejando communities fended them off with machetes, clubs, and slingshots.

Zapatista communities prohibit the cultivation, trafficking, and consumption of drugs. It’s not even permitted to drink or sell alcohol there. This isn’t a new fact. The rebel commanders have made this law public since the beginning of the armed uprising. The measure remains in effect under the civil authorities who have been put in charge of the autonomous municipalities and the good government councils.

(Translation from Narco News:  while I am dubious about some of Narco New’s reporting, because they don’t seem to fact check their “co-publishers”, I will use their material if it is from a reputable outside source [which you can assume was fact-checked] or that I’ve double checked against other published data)

I don’t want to go into a long riff here, but I’d point out that the Merida Initiative funding was part of a military spending and “anti-terrorism” appropriation.  Mexican “anti-terrorism” activities were in the news last week.  The now deceased ttp://www <!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>Fredi Fierro Peredo was arrested and tortured at the age of 85 after disturbances in Guerrero a few years back.  Fierro’s posthumous testimony is part of an investigation into military conducted disappearances and torture that followed the Acteal Massacre.  Without much trouble that incident could be called “anti-terrorist” activities today.  I’ll try to get my source translated and posted later this week.

Last week, Mexicans were shocked when police training videos — that included torture — surfaced in Leon.  What was puzzling at the time was that the trainers were English-speakers.  A little investigation by Mexican journalists has uncovered the identity of those trainers:  “Jerry WIlson” and  karateca, instructor de torturadores <!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>Gerardo Arrechea, both connected with a Florida company, Risks Incorporated.  El Universal reports that Arrechea has an unlicensed karate school in Mexico, and is apparently working illegally.  NarcoNews ties him to a Cuban-American organization with a propensity for violent acts in Cuba and elsewhere.

This is where United States taxpayer dollars are going. If the funds are just ending up in the hands of narcotics dealers, it’s because the beneficiaries of government largesse (say Bell Helicopter workers) will have the money to spend… on narcotics, among other things.

Which leads to the second problem.  The iniative looks only at the “supply side” and does nothing about demand.  Other than leading Mexico into a police state, it only as an afterthought looks at the cash coming into Mexico.  While some of those heliocopter workers might buy more Mexican tomatoes, or auto parts, or gasoline made from Mexican oil, guns and “training” by U.S. based companies is not going to put cash into the pockets of Mexican workers, or rural residents.  It’s going to damage the tourism industry, and make the country more, not less, dangerous.   A couple of neighbor kids were arrested yesterday for… something.  The cops showed up, put their hands on the kids and told them to sit in the back of their pickup truck.  The kids were talking — politely — to the coppers as they drove off.  Compare that to an arrest in the United States — the kids would be wrestled to the ground, handcuffed (and being Mexico, cuffed up the side of the head a few times).  I worry what’s going to happen when the police are trained to treat all arrests as potentially deadly, and have the firepower to back it up.  Or with even more weapons available that make confrontations all the more likely.  I expect cops will be drawing their guns a lot more… and more “innocent bystanders” (or at least people not directly related to the crime, like the guy shot in his car in Cuilican last week when the police and gangsters had a car chase/shootout and the poor guy bought it at an intersection).

And, as long as there is a willing buyer, narcotics dealers will keep selling.  Only now they’ll have more guns available on the black market.