Wednesday, that nation’s bloody fight with drug cartels — and its
implications for U.S. security and immigration policy — will be a top
agenda item.
The meeting comes as U.S. policymakers reassess the
long-standing fight against the drug trade. Last week, with the death
toll from Calderon’s 3-year-old crackdown surpassing 23,000, Secretary
of State
But while she reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to helping
disrupt the cartels, she questioned the traditional emphasis on
interdiction: “We are nowhere near what I would consider to be an
effective strategy.”
With that backdrop, experts on drug policy will be
watching the two-day Calderon visit for clues on Obama’s approach to
the drug trade.
The drug policy the Obama administration issued
earlier this month calls for shifting emphasis toward addiction
treatment and prevention as a way to stanch demand for drugs, though
two-thirds of the
are hoping to hear a sharp message from Obama when Calderon is at his
side, such as: “We are going to destroy these mafias together, and we
will not back down in the face of threats, and we will support the
brave campaign of President Calderon.
“That would be enormously important politically, and
it would be enormously damaging to the morale of the bad guys,” Walters
said.
Mexicans have long paid a high price in blood, corruption and instability for American’s’ appetite for illegal drugs.
The U.S. has intensified efforts to show solidarity
in recent years. The state dinner honoring Calderon — only the second
since Obama took office — is the latest example.
Calderon also will speak to the
Mexican officials have been frustrated at the slow pace of aid under the three-year,
Merida Initiative. The funding was for equipment such as Blackhawk
helicopters and to train police, prosecutors and judges as a way to
fight corruption and strengthen institutions.
In March, Clinton and her Mexican counterparts
outlined a new phase of the partnership. Disrupting cartels would
remain a priority, with added goals of modernizing border crossings to
bolster both security and trade, and bringing economic opportunity to
cities that would otherwise breed fresh generations of cartel soldiers
and drug abusers.
Obama’s drug czar,
“We’ve been talking about a war on drugs for over 40
years. I don’t think the American public sees a huge level of success,”
he told reporters last week. “… Looking at this as both a
public-safety problem and a public-health problem seems to make a lot
more sense.”
That stance leaves his predecessor, Walters, worried that Obama is de-emphasizing the danger of drugs.
Walters called for “clear leadership” that would
include Obama using his popularity among younger Americans — and his
credibility as a youthful drug user — to discourage drug use. That, he
said, “would be worth billions of federal dollars in prevention or even
border security.”
“It is immoral to say that
should fend for itself in fighting a fire that is fueled in large part
by drug abusers in this country. And it is naive to think that the
flames will not jump the fence,” he wrote in an essay for the
Obama and Calderon are also likely to discuss
immigration law and a long-running dispute that has kept Mexican trucks
off U.S. roads in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
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(c) 2010, The Dallas Morning News.
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