Hilary Clinton on Illegal Drug Trade in Mexico
USA Admits Co-Responsibility for Drug Related Violence
Apr 12, 2009
Clinton has admitted, in ‘unusually blunt language’, as quoted in the New York Times, that without the endless demand for illegal drugs in the US, supplier countries like Mexico and Colombia wouldn’t be in the mess they are in now. She tied the trafficking of drugs to the increase in violent acts, caused mainly by the gangs who seek to control the drug trade. This statement from the newly appointed Secretary of State brings a sigh of relief to many Latin American countries, though certainly not tranquility or an end to the problem.
Drug Consuming and Drug Producing Countries
For decades the illicit drug problem has been tied solely to the producer countries, whilst consumer countries, especially the USA, have kept quiet without taking any responsibility for their partaking in the immeasurable decline of these countries’ international images and the lowered living standards of their peoples.
The poor of these producer countries have suffered deeply from the drug trade; farmers are blackmailed, threatened and in many cases killed despite their compliance with drug lords and guerillas who seek to profit from these drugs. Their food crops are replaced with illicit ones, their profits stolen, and their livelihoods threatened in every way. On the other side of the spectrum, rich people in countries like the US are snorting cocaine or using heroine, unaware or unconcerned by the fact that their partying habits are killing people in another country.
Clinton's Words to Incite Action
Although this admission of co-culpability is a first step, until more concrete measures are taken, they are only words. Clinton did say that the US will invest around USD$700 million in an effort to control and subdue the trafficking of illegal drugs over the Mexico-US border. But the Mexican government isn’t entirely hopeful: not yet, at least. They say that the US government has given them mixed signals regarding the control of drug trafficking for years, never being clear on whether or not they really want to help, and what they are willing to do. Clinton’s visit was an attempt to unify the voice of the new administration, who has more unilaterally than the Bush administration, shown their support and admission of co-responsibility in the issue.
The United States government must take as much responsibility as the producer countries have taken, and not just by admitting that they play an integral part in the problem. Although President Obama and Vice President Biden have both spoken words similar to those of Clinton in Mexico, action needs to be seen. There is hope, though, as they have admitted that more needs to be done, especially to control and diminish the use of these drugs in their own country.
Latin Countries' Reactions to Clinton's Speech
Latin governments are indeed hopeful, but rightly sceptical about the results of these much awaited words. The whole administration must be on the same page, and willing to put in the time, effort and money into campaigning an end to this decades-long battle. The time of blaming solely the producer countries must come to an end, as it was the colonisers from the consumer countries who turned plants used safely for centuries the by indigenous people of the region into the destructive, chemically-induced drugs that now haunt the safety, peace and prosperity of these countries.
