President Calderon of Mexico has blasted various US officials and agencies, particularly U.S. Ambasador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, whom the Presidente declared to be "ignorant" and whose comments are directly undermining the effectiveness of US/Mexico cooperation in Mexico's "War on Drugs." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/7441545.html Mr. Calderon's use of "ignorant" as a descriptor of Ambassador Pascual is very interesting. Only a few months back Mr. Calderon violated one of our own honored President's sage advice pertaining to ignorance. President Abraham Lincoln once said " Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
In May, 2010 President Calderon was "hosted" by President Obama at Congress, where Mr. Calderon made an obviously contrived and un-heartfelt speech about the awful immigration law that had recently been passed in Arizona. All the while Mr. Calderon spit out scathing criticism of Arizona officials who were finally taking action that the US federal government should have taken long ago, I suppose he hoped that the United States people would stand and clap like a bunch of Congressmen...I meant walruses (so sorry, Congress) at his speech, while ignoring the fact that in Mexico illegal immigrans were being detained and mistreated by Mexican federal forces, then sent back to their countries of origin without being given any civil remedies whatever! But this bit of hypocracy was not missed by US (the people of the United States) at all, Mr. Calderon.
Now, President Calderon has accused the above mentioned Ambassador Pascual of making statements in classified cables (unfortunately made public by Wikileaks) in which Mr. Pascual displays his "ignorance" by putting in writing his beliefs that Mexican federal forces may not be totally reliable (wow, this is a heart-stopping surprise, where is the nitroglycerin?) and that the identities of US operatives and operational details of both US and Mexican agencies may have been compromised at times during US/Mexican "cooperative" efforts. For this, Mr. Calderon has decided that Ambassador Pascual is "ignorant." I believe the ignorant dog barked last, Mr. Calderon.
Mr. Calderon said further that Ambassador Pascual's statements were undermining federal "efforts" in the ongoing "War on Drugs." I, for one, can understand Ambassador Pascual's concerns. For instance, slain ICE Agent Zapata and his wounded partner, Agent Avila, were ambushed and gunned down shortly after meeting with other US agents. Somehow, the two unfortunate agents (who were unarmed due to Mexico's tough - and uneffective - gun laws) were tracked and forced off the road by persons believed to be members of one of several cartels operating in the area. Surely a coincidence? The Ambassador may have suspected otherwise, based on his experiences at seeing other agents compromised, other operations somehow anticipated by the cartels. But according to President Calderon, the "War on Drugs" would be going much better if the United States, through its federal agencies, had fully cooperated and had not made such disparaging internal statements.
Oh yes, Mr. Calderon gave one other hint at why the "War on Drugs" in Mexico is being lost. It has nothing to do with corruption in Mexican federal, state, and local enforcement agencies. Instead, the losing drug war effort can be squarely blamed on the United States (yes, again!) because the mere $1.4 BILLION dollars in aid ( http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35749.htm ) from the United States to Mexico is "insufficient." Same old story...a government throws money at a problem...the problem only gets worse. Only in this case, Mr. Calderon is throwing OUR MONEY (I mean YOURS and MINE, Class!!) at the problem. The President's War on Drugs started in 2006. Since then, there have been over 35, 000 people killed in the war. Policemen, elected officials, judges, and innocent civillians are all represented in the casualties. But the cartels are as strong as ever, drugs are flowing as thick as ever, and the Mexican people murdered by the numbers as whole cities are abandoned to the cartels. The federal agencies are all but powerless outside of their headquarters, and sometimes they are not safe in their own facilities.
So President Calderon has screamed and clamored, and gotten the attention of the world media so that he can explain why the "War on Drugs" is not over, nor is "victory" imminent. President Calderon has but two more years to win this war. If the past four years reflect on the prospects for the final two years, it is safe to say that Mr. Calderon should be looking for another job. And based on his knowledge, as opposed to Ambassador Pascual's "ignorance," Mr. Calderon will probably be looking for work OUTSIDE Mexico.
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