El Centro

Would Trump Label Mexican Cartels Terrorist Organizations? By Brian J. Phillips – Washington Post

This type of shift could have serious policy implications.

 

In a recent interview, President Trump said he is “very seriously” considering labeling Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Some other politicians and activist groups support the move.

 

This would be an extreme policy shift — and might not result in the intended consequences. Does this approach make sense for dealing with criminal organizations in Mexico? Here’s what you need to know…

Read on.

Five of the Six Most Violent Cities in the World are in Mexico, Report Says by Kate Linthicum – Los Angeles Times

Tijuana was the most violent city in the world in 2018, according a new report by a Mexican nonprofit group that ranked cities based on their homicide rates.

 

The report by the Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice found that five out of six of the world’s most violent municipalities were in Mexico, where homicides have risen to historic levels in recent years amid a military-led war against criminal groups.

 

In Tijuana, where local gangs have been battling over a lucrative domestic drug market, the report tallied 138 killings per 100,000 residents last year, or about seven killings on average per day. The Mexican resort city of Acapulco was in second place, with 111 killings per 100,000 people. Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, which has been beset by crime and food shortages amid the country’s political crisis, was in third place with 100 killings per 100,000 people.

 

The fourth- and fifth-most violent cities, according to the Citizens’ Council, were in two of Mexico’s northern border states: Ciudad Victoria, in the state of Tamaulipas, and Ciudad Juarez, in Chihuahua. Irapuato, a city in the state of Guanajuato that has been the site of fierce battles over control of stolen gasoline, is sixth on the list. There were 15 Mexican cities on the list of 50, more than any other country in the world.

 

The report paints a picture of a nation in crisis, and calls into question the efficacy of Mexico’s militaristic approach to fighting crime…

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Trump’s Surprising New Ally in Mexico? The Government by Azam Ahmed and Kirk Semple – New York Times

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials are carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration agenda across widespread stretches of the border, undercutting the Mexican government’s promises to defend migrants and support their search for a better life.

 

The Mexican authorities are blocking groups of migrants at border towns, refusing to allow them onto international bridges to apply for asylum in the United States, intercepting unaccompanied minors before they can reach American soil, and helping to manage lists of asylum seekers on behalf of the American authorities to limit the number of people crossing the border.

 

Breaking with decades of asylum practice, the Mexican government has also allowed the Trump administration to send more than 120 men, women and children to Tijuana while they await decisions on their asylum applications in the United States. The program could be expanded to other border crossings as soon as next week.

 

Officials inside the administration of Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, have called his stance on migrants a strategic decision not to anger President Trump…

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Mexico Approves 60,000-Strong Security Force. Critics Call It More of the Same. By Kirk Semple and Paulina Villegas – New York Times

Mexico’s Congress on Thursday approved the creation of a 60,000-member National Guard to tackle the nation’s public security crisis, a force that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made a cornerstone of his plan to confront organized crime and curb soaring violence.

The vote capped months of legislative wrangling over the nature of the force and who would control it, with human-rights activists and civil society groups lobbying fiercely to limit the military’s influence on it and warning it could represent the further militarization of policing in Mexico.

In the end, Congress decided the National Guard would have an explicitly civilian, rather than military, character, with the new force lodged under the authority of the civilian Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection…

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Mexico Approves Plan to Create 50,000-Strong Force to Combat Cartels by Kevin Sieff – Washington Post

In a country where there were 2,452 homicides in January alone, there are few options for a president who campaigned as a pacifist. Just ask Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

 

The man who told voters last year that Mexico’s violence could be stopped through reconciliation — “hugs, not gunshots” was one of his slogans — will dispatch the military and federal police across the country to combat criminal groups. That force will get a new name: the national guard.

 

Mexico’s National Congress approved the plan Thursday, laying the groundwork for López Obrador’s most significant security policy to date. Although it has overwhelming political support, critics say the approach marks not only an about-face for López Obrador but a return to the failed militarization strategy of previous administrations.

 

It was clear that López Obrador, known by his initials AMLO, had to do something. In 2018, there were 28,816 homicides, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. The most recent figures added up to the bloodiest January since Mexico began keeping such records in 1997. Drug cartels, gangs of fuel thieves and other organized-crime groups exert enormous influence across most of the country…

Read on.