AMERICA MUST STAY VIGILANT

Mexico did not like Hillary Clinton's words.

Drug cartels in that country appear to be "morphing into ... an
insurgency," the secretary of State said Wednesday, noting that it is
not unlike what happened to drug-ravaged Colombia.

Not so, said Alejandro Poire, Mexico's spokesman on security matters,
saying the situation is far different from Colombia's in which rebels
once took over 40 percent of that nation. Mexico is acting much
earlier than Colombia to combat its narco-thugs, he said.

Then, Poire added this pointed shot: "Perhaps the most important
similarity ... is the extent to which organized crime and
narcotics-trafficking organizations in both countries are fed by the
.. gigantic U.S. demand for drugs."

America's ferocious appetite for narcotics deserves ample criticism,
but the United States also spends billions enforcing drug laws.

Clinton compared the Mexican drug lords to the FARC rebels, who
controlled much of Colombia for decades. Only a tough-minded
Colombian government helped by billions of dollars in U.S. military
aid was able to drive back the rebels.

Clinton's comments marked a new blunt tone to U.S. rhetoric on
Mexico, the Los Angeles Times reported. This was "the first time a
senior member of the U.S. administration made such an explicit
comparison," the BBC added.

Mexico's problems are enormous. The death toll from its drug wars has
been ramping up. About 28,000 have died since 2006. Kidnappings,
beheadings and mass murder have become common.

But a grisly series of events this summer provided evidence of how
badly civilized society has given way to barbarism in pockets of the
country. At a small ranch in Tamaulipas state, authorities discovered
the bodies of 72 migrants from Central and South America who were
slaughtered for refusing to do the bidding of cartels.

When Mexican law enforcement launched its probe, a lead investigator
and another official were found dead. Police have since captured and
killed a number of those believed responsible for the migrant deaths,
but authority is under assault. Hundreds of soldiers and police
officers have been killed fighting the cartels; nine mayors were
killed this year.

On the day after Clinton's comments, 25 people were killed in drug
violence in Juarez.

Today, the U.S. sends military hardware, training and intelligence to
Mexico through the $1.6 billion Merida Initiative. But the U.S. may
need to up the ante.

Mexicans are proud. They view a large U.S. intervention as a threat
to sovereignty. If the day ever comes when Mexicans ask for a higher
level of U.S. support, we'll know the situation is critical.

Would we respond? Hard to know. But a Mexico that becomes that
ungovernable would present a serious security threat to the U.S. -
one the Obama administration should start planning for. It can start
by making a more serious effort to shore up Arizona's southern border.