Mexico, U.S. vow to bolster joint fight against drug cartels

 

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Mexico's Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong deliver a joint message at the Secretary of Interior Building in Mexico City, Mexico, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico and the United States are seeking to forge closer ties to fight arms trafficking and organised crime, Mexico's interior minister said on Friday, as he and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly vowed to redouble efforts to battle drug cartels.

 

"We're looking at new forms of cooperation on issues like arms trafficking ... and obviously combating international criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told a news conference.

 

Osorio Chong did not provide details as he spoke alongside Kelly, who was coming to the end of a three-day visit to Mexico.

 

Kelly, who on Thursday travelled to one of Mexico's most lawless regions to discuss the military's efforts to battle drug traffickers and observe opium poppy eradication, said the two sides aimed to strengthen joint security cooperation.

 

"We are also working together to defeat the scourge of illegal drugs, with special emphasis on the heroin, cocaine and fentanyl that is flooding the hemisphere and resulting in deaths in both of our countries," Kelly said.

 

U.S. deaths from opiates including fentanyl and heroin have risen sharply in the last few years, putting the issue at centre stage in efforts to strengthen cooperation on security matters between Mexico and the United States.

 

Kelly said U.S. President Donald Trump aimed to create "stronger, durable bonds" between the two neighbours, which have been at starkly at odds on some areas of policy under Trump, particularly the Republican leader's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-08

Seems the war on drugs has been pretty much as useless as most of the other wars, in fact isn't the situation just getting worse? So when confronted with such a dilemma one can change tactics or just keep doing more of what didn't work in the past. Governments usually go for option 2.

 

Also what is the story with heroin, since the US occupation of Afghanistan why has the heroin production rate there gone through the roof, wouldn't we have expected the opposite?

Both Columbia and Mexico are in the top 10 opium producing countries in the world.  

SSDD

1 hour ago, Rancid said:

Seems the war on drugs has been pretty much as useless as most of the other wars, in fact isn't the situation just getting worse? So when confronted with such a dilemma one can change tactics or just keep doing more of what didn't work in the past. Governments usually go for option 2.

 

Also what is the story with heroin, since the US occupation of Afghanistan why has the heroin production rate there gone through the roof, wouldn't we have expected the opposite?

Most of the Afghan originated heroin (90% of the world's illegal supply) goes to Europe, Russia (more than 100k deaths p.a.) and so on, but some does reach the US. US policy failed in Afghanistan to protect and convince the farmers to switch from opium production cash crops and then the US poppy eradication efforts ceased in 2009.

It's a truism by now but the best course would be to decriminalize the stuff.  Jeff Sessions is moving the USA in exactly the opposite direction.

A troll post has been reported and removed.  

One can only imagine how much money is made by law enforcement on the sales of drugs. Probably equal to what all of the DEA is paid.