'Plan Mexico' Latest Front in Failed U.S. Drug war

By Laura Carlsen, Foreign Policy in Focus. Posted November 6, 2007.

After months of talks, President George W. Bush finally announced the "security cooperation" plan for Mexico. On October 22, he sent a request for $500 million in supplemental aid for 2008 as part of a $1.4 billion dollar multi-year package.

No surprises there. The Bush administration has been negotiating the package with President Felipe Calderon's administration for months. In the lead-up to the announcement, both governments marshaled studies and statistics to support the dual --and contradictory-- thesis that the drug war in the United States and Mexico has reached a crisis point and that current efforts on both sides of the border have been very successful.

From what's known of it, the package -- officially dubbed the "Mérida Initiative" but more commonly referred to as "Plan Mexico" -- contains direct donations of military and intelligence equipment, and training programs for Mexican law enforcement officials. A White House fact sheet lists surveillance equipment, helicopters and aircraft, scanners for border revisions, communications systems, and training programs for "strengthening the institutions of justice." An additional $50 million dollars is earmarked for Central American countries to support their fight against "gangs, drugs, and arms."

The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the "Overall Justification Document," reported that more than a third of the package will be spent on aerial surveillance and facilitating the rapid deployment of troops.

But what has legislators and civil society worried on both sides of the border is not the money involved or the equipment to be sent. It's the reach of Plan Mexico in recasting the binational relationship, to create what the Bush administration calls "a new paradigm for security cooperation."

The Politics of Counternarcotics

Characteristic of the "war on drugs" model, Plan Mexico takes a serious transnational problem and casts it in such a way as to promote the specific interests of the U.S. and Mexican rightwing governments.

Following his narrow and questionable electoral triumph, President Calderon has made the war on drugs a cornerstone of his government. After taking office Calderon rapidly built an image of strength in arms. He dispatched over 24,000 army troops to Mexican cities and villages, dressed himself and his children in army uniforms for public appearances, and created an elite corps of special forces under his direct supervision.

The message of a weak presidency bolstered by a strong alliance with the military has not been lost on Mexican citizens. Many have criticized the repressive undertones, increasing human rights violations, constitutional questions, and threats to civil democratic institutions.

For the Bush administration, Plan Mexico has a dangerously misguided political thrust as well. Mexico is one of only two far-right governments among the major countries in the hemisphere. The other, Colombia, has received billions of dollars of U.S. military aid, also originally as part of a war on drugs that soon broadened into an overall military alliance.

Washington officials have been lavish in their praise of the Calderón government and stated explicitly that the National Action Party's government permits an "historic" level of cooperation in security matters. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon spoke openly about the newfound commonality of interests between two nations with a history of conflict: "The Calderon government has acted with alacrity, with intelligence and with boldness in its fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, and we want to be part of that."

But Bush administration interests go well beyond aiding the Calderón government in its domestic drug battles. Stephen Johnson, deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs in the Defense Department, recently made the connection between Plan Mexico and Washington's bid to recover its influence in a slipping geopolitical context.

"While a groundswell seems to exist for greater engagement with the United States, there are challenge states such as Venezuela, Cuba, and to some extent Bolivia and Ecuador. For now, Venezuela and Cuba are clearly hostile to the United States, western-style democracy, markets, and are actively trying to counter our influence. Our challenge is not to confront them directly, but instead do a better job working with our democratic allies and friendly neighbors."

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Laura Carlsen is a program director of the Americas Program at the Center for International Policy and a columnist for Foreign Policy in Focus.