MEXICANS TRADE FREEDOM FOR PRI

Mexicans should heed the words of Benjamin Franklin. They're so
rattled by drug violence that has caused the deaths of nearly 13,000
people that they're willing to trade freedom for security. So,
Franklin would say, they don't deserve either.

And, frankly, it looks like they're no more deserving of democracy.
The Mexican people have entered into a Faustian bargain with the
disgraced Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which scored big
victories in this month's midterm elections. The PRI promised "peace"
and "security." Those are code words for stopping the drug war started
by President Felipe Calderon, who carries the banner of the rival
National Action Party (PAN).

Mexico's voters embraced the PRI's message. The party captured a
plurality in the 500-member Chamber of Deputies and won five of six
governorships by earning 36.7 percent of the vote. The PAN, which had
controlled the legislative branch for nearly a decade, suffered heavy
losses across the board with only 28 percent of the vote.

There were other factors. It didn't help the PAN's chances that the
Mexican economy went sour or that fewer people are leaving for the
United States and thus putting a greater strain on Mexico's job market.

A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center found that the number of
immigrants entering the U.S. from Mexico fell by 249,000 from March
2008 to March 2009, down nearly 60 percent from the previous year.

Still, polls show, the drug war was a big issue. Halfway through a
six-year term, Calderon must work with a hostile legislature that
wants to cut funding for the crackdown. If that occurs, it will be
even more essential that the United States stand by its commitments to
Mexico. Through the Merida Initiative, Congress has pledged $1.4
billion to help Calderon fight the drug lords. But the funds have been
slow in arriving. Yet, would a political party really seek common
cause with ruthless drug traffickers just to save its own skin?

That's a no-brainer. This is the PRI we're talking about. Created in
1929, the party controlled the presidency for 71 years through
corruption, violence and tyranny. The PAN's Vicente Fox broke that
streak in 2000. When it lost to Calderon to 2006, the PRI seemed
headed for the political dustbin.

Then came the drug war. After the Calderon administration arrested
more than 60,000 drug suspects, and either killed or captured many
leaders of the organizations, the cartels responded with an
orchestrated campaign of domestic terrorism.

In the two and a half years since the war began, scores of police
officers and soldiers have been kidnapped, tortured and murdered. The
goal of the terror campaign is to frighten the Mexican people so they
would withdraw support for Calderon. And that's what happened.

But it's what comes next that will decide Mexico's fate. Whether the
PRI realizes it or not, it has painted itself into a corner. The
cartels expect a change in policy that lets them get back to business.
If the PRI complies, it could run afoul of that portion of the
electorate that - while tired of the violence - doesn't want to give
the country over to the drug lords either. That would only advance the
perception of Mexico as a "failed state," which would drive away
business and foreign investment, and further batter the Mexican economy.

That is all the more reason that the PRI should think carefully about
its next move.