President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning on Friday and demanded a crackdown on drugs in the United States after armed men torched a casino in northern Mexico, killing at least 52 people.
Under intense pressure as violence soars, Calderon said he would send more federal security forces to the city of Monterrey, where gunmen set fire to an upmarket casino on Thursday in one of the worst attacks of Mexico's drugs war.
Lashing out at corrupt officials in Mexico and "insatiable" U.S. demand for drugs for fomenting the violence, Calderon urged Congress to stamp out drug consumption and stop illegal trafficking of weapons across the border into Mexico.
"We're neighbors, we're allies, we're friends, but you are also responsible," a somber and angry Calderon said to the United States in a speech after meeting his security advisers.
Like I said, I have some sympathy. But he should get off his high horse (so to speak). I vividly recall that years ago before the violence in Mexico escalated to insurgency levels that the Mexican government was uninterested in participating in our war on drugs.
Back then, Mexicans smugly said it was our problem. Back then, money flowed from American drug users into the Mexican economy and fighting drug smuggling to America didn't seem like a big deal to the Mexican government. Americans used the drugs. Mexicans received the money. Not their problem.
But like any deal with the Devil, the Mexicans didn't look at the fine print. Now Mexico is faced with the fine print--powerful and armed drug cartels with Iraq-style graphics in their own backyard.
And we'll help Mexico. We are allies and friends. And we have an interest in putting down the cartels. Perhaps we won't even rub their noses in their past unconcern. Although selling arms to the Mexican drug cartel through the efforts of our own government agents might seem a little hard hearted. On the bright side, in theory it should be easier to cut off arms going to the drug dealers from America since our government was the one doing the dealing.
But Mexico should be careful about fingering those responsible for their drug cartel problems.
