DRUG WAR THREATENS U.S.-MEXICO BOND

Televisa, the largest television network in Mexico, recently
interviewed Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha.

The interviewer congratulated him for recent praise from U.S. drug
czar John P. Walters, who said Mexico has had enormous successes in
the drug war.

A few days earlier, the same network and many Mexican officials
lambasted Asa Hutchinson, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
chief, for saying that Mexico was in danger of becoming another
Colombia - that is, a nation losing the war on drugs and terrorism.

The two stories sum up Mexico's seemingly endless war on
drugs.

On one hand, the administration of President Vicente Fox likes
recognition for its impressive victories, such as recent blows to the
Tijuana Cartel headed by the ruthless Arellano Felix brothers. In
mid-February, police killed one and a month later arrested a second
sibling without incident.

But at the same time, drug-related killings and other criminal
activity, mainly kidnappings and muggings, have put Mexican
authorities on the defensive.

Why should Americans care?

The drug issue could further strain the already frail U.S.-Mexico
relationship. Many Mexicans, including the president, think their
nation pays a heavy price for the insatiable appetite of 15 million
Americans for illegal drugs.

Drug-related murders and kidnappings terrorize the citizenry in Mexico
City, Ciudad Jurez, Tijuana and Culiacn, the capital of the
western state of Sinaloa. This is reminiscent of Colombia during the
days of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Mexican cartels have become incredibly powerful because their
multibillion-dollar American market allows them to corrupt or coerce
law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, politicians and even
the military.