Drug Policy Debate and Apologies for Torture in Mexico - A Change of Attitude? Adrian Lopez Ortiz - Sinembargo
go to original April 22, 2016

President Enrique Peña Nieto speaking at the UN General Assembly Special Session (Cuartoscuro)

Mexico cannot avoid the global debate on drug trafficking, organized crime and the violence that come with these issues. For President Peña Nieto not to attend the 2016 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016) would have been a disastrous error.

Two days ago, Genaro Lozano, writing in Reforma, recognized the President’s change of plan to attend the session and participate in the urgent and necessary debate on global policy to combat drugs. Another writer, Jorge Castañeda, had aired the same views earlier.

It is wise to acknowledge mistakes and Peña Nieto showed good sense and judgement. However, after listening to the President’s entire speech, I must say that the audacity which the same Mr. Genaro asked for in his most recent article was not there.

The President is right to have sensitively recognised that Mexico is one of the countries that have paid the most consequences of the prohibitionist paradigm: thousands of deaths, a negative international image, institutional corruption that tears us apart and that damn continued violence.

During his speech Peña Nieto said,

“… We must continue doing the things that have worked, and with flexibility we must change those that have not produced results. The scheme based essentially on prohibitionism, the so called War on Drugs that began in the 70s has not been successful in inhibiting production, neither in the trafficking or the consumption of drugs in the world.”

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Related: Mexico and Drug Policy Debate: Peña Nieto's UN Speech Falls Short (Mexico Voices)

Translated by Rebecca Nannery

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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