Slowing Mexico's Violence Requires a Comprehensive Security Policy Approach Antonio Garza and Stephanie Leutert - Express-News
go to original January 4, 2017

What caused Mexico’s drug war? POV documentary "Kingdom of Shadows," looks at the root causes of the violence and the effects of the drug war. (PBS NewsHour)

Earlier this month, a police truck burned on the side of the road in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, with flames melting the interior and the four bodies, three of them murdered federal police officers, that lay inside. Yet the brutality barely registered in the region’s collective consciousness beyond a few cursory news stories. These were just four more deaths in a country that is once again living through a wave of violence.

The last time that Mexico’s murder numbers spiked so dramatically was more than six years ago, not long after former President Felipe Calderón began his well-known confrontation against the country’s organized criminal groups, before falling through the start of the Enrique Peña Nieto presidency in late 2012. Yet the much welcome drop in murders — which has defined Mexico’s security situation over the past few years — has now bottomed out. And today’s homicide numbers are creeping upward.

Some of the reasons behind this second spike in violence are the same as in previous years. First, the Mexican government still faces its perennial challenges of strengthening a weak rule of law, and tackling collusion among local authorities and criminal groups. Despite federal efforts at reform, trust in the authorities is still low.

Second, the Mexican government has barely changed its security strategy over the decade-long offensive. President Peña Nieto entered office with a rhetorical shift on security issues, but the current strategy continues to call for Calderón-era confrontation with criminal groups and prioritizes the targeting of kingpins. Law enforcement and security officials have been successful with Calderón killing or capturing 25 of his 37 most-wanted narcos and Peña Nieto plucking off 105 of his top 122.

Yet each downed narco creates more than a photo op. The relentless pounding of top leadership also breeds an underworld power vacuum, where rivalries, ambitions, and greed all inflame intra-cartel backstabbing and leave splinter groups locked in bloody battles. These groups have adopted gruesome tactics and ventured into additional activities to beef up their revenue — such as extortion or kidnapping — often far more damaging to Mexican communities than standard drug trafficking.

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Antonio Garza (@aogarza) is a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Stephanie Leutert is the Mexico Security Initiative Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin.

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