Protesters in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey taunt riot police during a demonstration in February, one of a number in Mexico demanding the departure of soldiers deployed to deal with drug violence. Photo: APFrom L.A. Times:
A good start would be for the U.S. and Mexico to cooperate. The U.S. could shift some resources from immigration enforcement to fighting drug and weapons trafficking and money laundering.
Mexico often has felt like a stepchild of U.S. foreign policy, its demands for attention to immigration reform, the drug trade and other bilateral issues cast aside for far-flung crises, the most recent being the Bush administration's global war on terror. But now Mexican officials must be thinking they should have been careful what they wished for. Mexico's drug wars have claimed well over 7,000 lives in the last 14 months, many of them in assaults with military-grade weapons. Twice, grenades were tossed at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, and the violence has been seeping across the border, with more than 500 drug-related kidnappings in Phoenix alone. Now that drug violence is considered a potential national security threat, the U.S. government is paying attention.
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