Mexico Is Losing the Fight Against Drug Violence

Recommendable! Looks like the President of Mexico AMLO is a looser and Mexico is a failed state. Perhaps, the President himself is a gang member or a coward!

Still two more years to go to the next presidential elections in 2024 in Mexico! Perhaps Mexico should consider to shorten the presidential term to four years from six years!

"Four years after being elected on a promise to fight organized crime with “hugs, not bullets,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is now taking steps to increase the military’s role in public security. In doing so, he hopes to contain a renewed surge in gang-related violence. But degrading the power of Mexico’s drug cartels will require more than just sending the army onto the streets.

Last month, clashes between armed gangs left more than 200 people dead and dozens of businesses destroyed, underscoring the deterioration in security under López Obrador. Although homicide rates have dipped since the start of the pandemic, much of Mexico remains extraordinarily violent. The country is home to the world’s eight most dangerous cities, according to one research group. “Disappearances” have skyrocketed over the last decade. In 2021, close to 45,000 Mexicans fled their homes out of fear of violence, five times as many as in the previous year.

One US military estimate says that up to a third of Mexico is “ungoverned space,” largely controlled by criminal organizations. ...

To fight corruption, in 2019 he replaced the federal police with a new, 115,000-person national guard, made up largely of former soldiers who lack experience in investigating crimes and enforcing the law. Even worse, he has scaled back counter-narcotics cooperation with the US, in retaliation for Washington’s efforts to prosecute high-ranking Mexican officials suspected of colluding with the cartels. Among other things, the government has placed limits on the operations of US drug-enforcement agents and disbanded an elite intelligence unit that worked closely with the US to apprehend prominent kingpins. ..."

Mexico Is Losing the Fight Against Drug Violence - The Washington Post: Closer security cooperation with the US is necessary to protect communities on both sides of the border.