A Mexican government official has told reporters that the CIA and other international security forces are not fighting drug traffickers, but rather they are managing the trade. This is the latest astounding claim about violence that has lasted more than six years and claimed more than 55,000 lives.
How much of this is the US really responsible for? The picture provides a clue.
Guillermo Terrazas Villanueva, spokesman for the Chihuahua state government in northern Mexico, made the claim which has people in Washington upset. While Villanueva is not the first person to make such claims, he is the highest-ranking official to do so thus far.
Villanueva told a reporter for Al Jazeera, “It’s like pest control companies, they only control, if you finish off the pests, you are out of a job. If they finish the drug business, they finish their jobs.”
Villanueva’s superiors and the mayor of Juarez, are repudiating his claims.
Juarez Mayor, Hector Murguia, said, “I think the CIA and DEA are on the same side as us in fighting drug gangs. We have excellent collaboration with the US.” Al Jazeera noted he made those comments in the safety of his SUV.
While US law enforcement and security agencies might well be doing their best to fight the cartels, the reality is America is very much to blame for the violence in Mexico. The United States is the destination for virtually all of the drugs smuggled across Mexico, which are paid for with dollars. And flowing south across the border are guns, obtained through the US – guns that often end up killing people.
– Read the entire article at Catholic Online.
