Mexico: The Greatest Threat To U.S. National Security

Posted 2010-06-16 22:00:45

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June 16, 2010 As early as 1978, William Colby, then head of the CIA, stated, “In the long run, Mexico is a bigger threat to the U.S. than the Soviet Union.” Colby was concerned about population growth and illegal immigration; however, in 2008, CIA Director Michael Hayden ranked Mexico as the greatest threat to the security of the United States, after Al Qaeda. Immigration is no longer the reason, and causes of the crisis flow from the north to the south. Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico from 1876 to 1911, observed, ¡Pobre México! ¡Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos! (Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States!) Implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 did in fact result in an increase in trade to and from Mexico by the U.S.; however, the 150% increase in exports from the U.S. to Mexico included the massive importation of cheap USDA-subsidized corn, which virtually destroyed Mexico’s corn production. Prior to NAFTA, Mexican farmers used half of Mexico’s farm land to produce corn, a staple of life in Mexico, for domestic consumption. By 1996, Mexico was importing more than $1 billion in corn each year, and millions of indigenous rural workers were thrown out of work and reduced to wage slavery in the cities. Some migrated, illegally, to the U.S. looking for work, but many turned to the more lucrative illegal drug trade. The former U.S. drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, says the Mexican government "is fighting for its survival against narco-terrorism" and could lose effective control over the areas of Mexico near the U.S. border. Fed by enormous profits of up to $25 billion each year flowing from the U.S., along with a seemingly unlimited supply of military weaponry, the powerful drug cartels are armed with sophisticated weapons, many of which are smuggled over the border from the United States. It is with this array of superior weapons that drug cartels are threatening the very stability of their own country. Upon taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderón unleashed the military in his declaration of war on the drug cartels. Since then, more than 23,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug-related violence, including hundreds in just the past five days. President Calderón does not equivocate about the blame: “The origin of our violence problem begins with the fact that Mexico is located next to the country that has the highest levels of drug consumption in the world. It is as if our neighbor were the biggest drug addict in the world.” Combined with an armed uprising of the indigenous people, who are being thrown off their constitutionally mandated ejidos by the neo-liberal polices of the Mexican government, the well-armed and powerful drug cartels pose a clear and present danger to the Mexican government and to the United States. Mexican has a history of revolutions separated by a century: 1811 and 1911. With the 100th anniversary of the last one approaching next year, perhaps the United States should surrender in its own “War on Drugs,” legalize personal use and possession, and avoid the most dangerous threat to its own national security. Photo Credit: http://www.newcriminologist.com

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