Cooperation With Mexico, Flaws and All, Still Is Best

Our report on U.S.-Mexican counterdrug efforts submitted to Congress last month argues for continued cooperation with our southern neighbor despite shortcomings in its struggle against drug trafficking.

Optimism about a serious problem need not preclude realism. Beyond evaluation, the issue here is utility. In assessing Mexico’s antidrug efforts, we are not simply debating whether the cup is half empty or half full. Assuming responsibility rather than assigning culpability is the way to reduce drug trafficking along the 2,000-mile border our countries share. Working together against criminal narcotics syndicates beats bickering among ourselves or standing alone.

Before blaming Mexico for the drug trade, we must face the fact that our own country is one of the largest consumers of illegal drugs in the world. Although drug abuse among American adults is far lower than it was a decade ago, we still spend $50 billion a year on cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and other illegal drugs. Mexican traffickers wouldn’t be selling if Americans weren’t buying. Furthermore, finger-pointing is futile considering the global nature of the drug threat: When we plug one hole in the levee, it invariably springs a leak elsewhere. International problems require multinational solutions.

Mexico readily admits that corruption has compromised drug control in a country whose very sovereignty is threatened by powerful, ruthless drug organizations that gross billions annually from cocaine alone. President Ernesto Zedillo has stated that narcotics trafficking is his country’s No. 1 national security threat. Drug money and terror undermine Mexico’s law enforcement, judicial system, legitimate business and political fabric.

Recognizing reality is an essential step in solving difficult problems. Accordingly, Mexico is beginning to take decisive action. In addition to prosecuting suspected links to the drug trade inside government, Mexico has criminalized money laundering, facilitated interdiction and set world standards in drug crop eradication. Mexican authorities are also reconstituting compromised law enforcement agencies in an effort to insulate them from corruption. Nevertheless, Americans must understand that Mexico faces an uphill battle. A problem that developed over many decades will not disappear in just a few years.

Our two nations have expanded the ways in which we cooperate against this common threat, and by the end of the year, both governments will adopt a detailed drug control strategy that will lay out concrete actions by both countries.

Our national debate about the merits of continued cooperation with Mexico must be well-informed. Some U.S. leaders have suspected ill will in Mexico and have wanted to respond by punishing the government. The problem, more accurately, is that Mexico is confronting a much larger challenge than we originally thought. A real solution will require institutional and social change over time. Our role is to nurture the good intentions at Mexico’s top level and assist when we can with equipment and expertise. In Mexico’s new political climate, we expect to be more successful as a partner confronting a common problem than as a powerful neighbor making demands. Some analysts underestimate Mexico’s sensitivity over sovereignty. Living next to a colossus isn’t always easy. Americans must understand that public cataloging of Mexican shortcomings on the part of the U.S. government may prove counterproductive.

At the end of the day, nothing will change the fact that our two countries are virtually joined at the hip by the busiest open border in the world, which is crossed by 250 million people every year. Commerce and culture bind out nations together. Mexico recently surpassed Japan as the second-largest client (after Canada) for U.S. exports. One out of every 16 American citizens is of Mexican descent.

No one disputes that Mexico faces a problem of staggering proportions from illegal drugs and attendant violence, gun-running, fraud, blackmail and bribery. Yet on both sides of the border, courageous partners are committed to rooting out a malignancy that could overwhelm Mexico’s ongoing political and economic transformation.

Our political system must find a sensible balance between domestic debate and foreign diplomacy. That being said, prevention through education and treatment, combined with tough law enforcement, is still the answer to a drug problem that ails us at home, next door and abroad.