Mexican President Visits Washington as Drug-Related Crime Escalates

Mexican President Felipe Calderón will visit Washington, D.C. this week to discuss issues ranging from immigration to drug-related violence in Mexico.

Calderón and President Obama will host a joint press conference in the Rose Garden Wednesday afternoon, after which Calderón will make an address to a joint session of Congress. Calderón will also attend a state dinner Wednesday night, which is only the second state dinner to be held under the Obama administration.

Calderón’s visit comes at a time when drug-related violence in Mexico is on the rise, which leads many in Washington wondering how Calderón can discuss the matter of drug violence to Congress without making it appear that he is losing the war against the numerous Mexican drug cartels.

This war has been defined in the United States by a number of shocking incidents, including the murder of two Americans, one of whom worked at the U.S. consulate, by armed gunmen in Ciudad Juárez, near the Texas border.

The war’s Mexican victims have become more political lately. José Guajardo Varela, a candidate for the mayoral seat of Valle Hermoso, was tending to his farm supplies business on Thursday, May 13, when gunmen burst into the store and opened fire, killing Varela and his son. Varela had ignored warnings that he should drop out of the race. Valle Hermoso is only 30 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.

Friday, May 14, Diego Fernández de Cevallos, one of Mexico’s most-recognized political figures, went missing from his ranch in the central state of Querétaro. His car was found with a pair of bloody scissors inside and bloody footprints leading away from the vehicle.

Fernández, who ran for president in 1994, is a member of Calderón’s National Action Party (PAN), and his disappearance has shocked Mexicans of every political affiliation. Politicians of all parties have denounced Fernández’s kidnapping, and Calderón delayed a planned trip to Spain and ordered his cabinet to aid the investigation however they can.

However, Mexican authorities still do not know where Fernández was taken or even who has him, but there may be one less potential suspect.

The People’s Revolutionary Army (EPR), a leftist rebel faction, released a statement offering condolences to Fernández’s family and saying they share their pain; however, it did not explicitly state that the EPR was not responsible for Fernández’s disappearance.

“We do not know if his disappearance is for political motives, his inter-party disputes, or because of the social breakdown of this neoliberal government,” the EPR statement said, “The disappearance … is regrettable, whatever its reason or motive, it is a painful event for the family, a pain we are familiar with.”

Despite these recent events, Calderón dismisses most criticism of his handling of the war, which has seen him send thousands of soldiers to bolster a police force that some believe to be infiltrated by the cartels. Many consider his approach too militaristic, saying it doesn’t take into account or try to remedy the economic conditions that have caused a large number of young people to join cartels.

“This [approach] has to be done because the alternative is to leave people in the hands of criminals, to turn a blind eye, pretend nothing is happening, leave them open territory so they end up finishing off communities,” Calderón said in a recent interview with Reuters, “That I will not allow.”

Since Calderón declared war on Mexico’s drug cartels in December 2006, nearly 23,000 people have died due to drug-related violence.

Relations between Mexico and the United States remain high due to the fact that Calderón and Obama tend to agree on a number of controversial issues, including border security and Calderón’s handling of the drug war. The United States pledged to provide Mexico with $1.4 billion to help Calderón fight the cartels in 2007.

During his address to Congress, many believe Calderón will discuss how American demand for illicit drugs and the illegal flow of American weapons across the border are strengthening the cartels both financially and militarily.

Robert Pastor, co-director of the Center for North American Studies at American University, said Calderón “should ask members of Congress what they would do if 6,000 Americans were killed by guns that came from Mexico. We would say, ‘You close down those gun shops.’”

Calderón is also expected to ask Congress for additional public support of his war effort as well as more money to fight the cartels.

Despite the drug war’s recent shift toward political targets, Calderón believes the war against the cartels is going far better than it appears in the media, saying, “The only battle in which we are not advancing well is the battle of perception.”

The Americano/Agencies

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