A SOBERING LOOK AT THE DRUG WAR

Military's Museum Delves into a History With Few High Points

MEXICO CITY - Museums are cultural repositories, but not every aspect
of culture is glorious. Which is why, hidden from the public, there
is an institution here devoted to Mexico's dark side, the Museo de
los Enervantes - Museum of Drugs.

It's a place that leaves those who manage to get inside shaking their
heads and lamenting the long and spirited but largely unsuccessful
war this country has waged to control narcotics.

You Need a Connection

The Museo de los Enervantes is run by the Mexican military and open
only to graduating cadets and select guests. The museum could not be
more secure; it's on the top floor of the Defense Ministry. Maj.
Mario Ayala Lopez insisted that his face not be photographed, an
atypical request for a museum curator, but a reality in present-day
Mexico, where the drug violence knows no bounds.

First, the Heroes

A shrine at the museum entrance features the names of 570 Mexican
soldiers who died fighting illegal drugs as far back as 1976. In the
last two years, since President Felipe Calderon has sent soldiers on
more anti-drug missions than any of his predecessors, 67 names have
been added to the list.

Past and Present

One room is devoted to the ancient roots of drug use in Mesoamerica,
like the use of hallucinogenic peyote and mushrooms by the Maya and
Aztecs. There's also real-life samples under glass - including
heroin; methamphetamines, which are manufactured in huge quantities
in Mexican laboratories; and marijuana, grown in fields hidden in the
countryside.

Cultivating the Crime

Along the halls, a farmworker mannequin is propped up under a tree
with a rifle in his hands, guarding a field of poppies and marijuana.
Around his neck is a pendant of Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of
outlaws. In a display case are notes that soldiers have recovered in
raids on fields, pleas from the farmers to the soldiers to leave them
alone in exchange for a little cash.

Tricks of the Trade

Getting the drugs to the world's biggest market, the United States,
requires ingenuity, and there is an entire room devoted to that. On
display are drug-filled shoes and beer crates, and a doughnut
sprinkled with poppy seeds that would be used to make heroin. So is a
doll that was stuffed with drugs and then given to a child to carry.
A model of a woman has a protruding stomach, not from pregnancy, but
from several pounds of tightly wrapped cocaine.

A Nod to the Bosses

Toward the end of the tour, the museum introduces those who have
turned Mexico into a prime trafficking country. There is a
gold-encrusted cellphone recovered from Daniel Perez Rojas, a founder
of the Zetas paramilitary group. A Colt pistol recovered from Alfredo
Beltra Leyva, a leader of the feared Sinaloa cartel who was arrested
in January, bears the oft-repeated revolutionary quotation, "I'd
rather die on my feet than live on my knees." Another Colt pistol,
encrusted with emeralds, once belonged to Joaquin Guzman Loera,
probably the most wanted trafficker of all.