Political Science 174

Comparative Latin American Politics

Comparative Study of the Policies and U.S. Assistance in Mexico and Colombia

By:

Doni June Almio

Submitted to:

Dr. Rosaile Arcala- Hall

10 March 2011
 Comparative Study of the Policies and U.S. Assistance in Mexico and Colombia

Introduction

A lot of things are expected by citizens from their respective states. The existing

states are expected to uphold the welfare of its people and also to assert its rule over its

people and territory. To elaborate, ―a responsibility of states is to deliver political goods –

security, health and education, economic opportunity, good governance, law and order, and

fundamental infrastructure requirements (transport and communications)‖ (Potter, 2004). To

provide, and to rule—generally, these are the things that citizens expect from their respective

states. This paper will be focused on how states assert their rule over their people and

territory, specifically on the policies they have on drug trafficking. This paper will compare

Mexico and Colombia on how they manage drug trafficking in their respective territories.

Also to be discussed in this paper is the

Internal Sovereignty, and a State’s Classification

This paper will be anchored on the concept of internal sovereignty and the

classification of the states that will be compared. First things first, what is internal

sovereignty? According to Potter (2004), internal sovereignty is ―a fundamental authority

relationship within states between rulers and ruled which is usually defined by a state’s

constitution, and external authority is a fundamental authority relationship between states

which is defined by international law.‖ In addition, internal sovereignty is also defined as

―supreme authority within one's territory‖ (Brahm, 2004). Looking at these two definitions, it

is evident that internal sovereignty is the aspect of sovereignty that refers to a state’s assertion

of its own rule with no interference from any external or internal factor. Moreover, by having

a strong internal sovereignty, states will be able to compel its law and order among its people.
 Making internal sovereignty as the ―launch off‖ concept for this paper, we can

identify types of states classified according to this concept. Authors often classify states into

different types based on how strong or weak the states are. In the book, State Failure and

State Weakness in a Time of Terror, it is stated that ―States succeed or fail across all or some

of these dimensions. But it is according to their performance—according to the levels of their

effective delivery of the most crucial political goods—that strong states may be distinguished

from weak ones, and weak states from failed or collapsed states‖ (Rotberg, 2003). Basically,

if we use Rotberg’s classification, we can classify states into four: strong, weak, failed, and

collapsed states. Eriksen (n.d.) also stated that there is a need for differentiation between

weak, strong, failed and collapsing states. This classification of states can also be referred as

the ―stateness‖ of a state.

The focus of this paper will be the weak and failed classification of states. Failed

states, being the classification in which a state is unsuccessful in their ability to rule and not

able to deliver the expected goods of its citizens. On the other hand, weak states are those

states that are not able to suppress the troubles present in their territory therefore making it

hard for the states to deliver the expectations of the people. This paper will look on the

stateness of the states that will be compared in this paper. By looking at the evidences that

will be shown in this paper as to the status of drug trafficking, it will be possible for us to

consider if Mexico and Colombia are weak or failed states

Latin America as Illegal Drugs Capital of the World

Looking at a map of Latin America, it will be observed that there is a vast jungle in

between the land mass of the region. Basically, because of the vastness of the forest (not to

add the wild animals present in the forest), it is quite impossible for some people to go in

there. However, this is not the case if a person is engaging in illegal drug trade or drug

trafficking. Illegal drug traffickers use this jungle to plant the drugs that they use for trade or
trafficking. What these persons do is that they hide in the heart of the jungle and do their

raising of illegal drugs there. Because of this, the authorities are having a hard time looking

for these persons. Moreover, the traffickers stay longer in the jungle as compared to the

authorities. Because of this, the traffickers have an advantage as compared to the authorities

looking for them since they know the ins and outs of the jungle.

It is not only because of the jungles that make Latin America a strategic place for

illegal drug traffickers or traders. Another reason is the location of the region itself. Looking

at the map of Latin America, it will be observed that the region, specifically Mexico, borders

US. Because of this location, traffickers can easily transport their illegal products through

US. Because of its closeness to Latin America, USA had been the main market of illegal

drugs that are trafficked. That’s why US supports Latin America in eradicating drug

trafficking in Latin America. More details on US support to Latin America will be discussed

in the later parts of this paper.

Aside from the factors above, Latin America had also become one of the top regions

in illegal drug usage. There have been ―increases in cocaine use have been reported in

Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, and Haiti‖

(Seelke, Wyler, & Beittel, 2010). Furthermore, Latin America is also considered to be the

capital of the illegal drug trade because of the rate of production of illegal drugs and flow of

illegal drugs to other countries. Latin American illegal drug traffickers serve as the supplier

of other countries such as the US and European states. For this matter, illegal drugs come in

different forms such as heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and other illegal drugs. Statistics show

that Latin America is indeed the illegal drug trafficking capital of the world. There are some

evidences that point to Latin America as the capital of the illegal drug trade. According to

Drug Policy Alliance, 82% of the heroin trafficked to the US comes from Latin America and

three-fourths of this heroin came from Colombia, a country that will be tackled in this paper.
Moreover, Colombia also controls 90% of the illicit drug trade in Europe (Tinoco, Sandoval,

& Coronado, 2010). There was also a lot of travelling illegal drugs that were seized by the

government in the Latin American region. In 2005, 57% (431 metric tons) of the cocaine that

was globally interdicted came from the Latin American and Caribbean Region (Brown &

Owens, n. d.). Looking at these numbers, we can clearly say that the region of Latin America

is a drug trafficking capital of the world.

Another reason for considering Latin America as drug trafficking capital of the world

is the organizations behind these numbers. Yes, large organizations are behind the massive

drug trades in Latin America. These organizations are called drug cartels. There are a lot of

drug cartels situated in Latin America, specifically in Colombia and Mexico. Finally, Latin

America is considered as the illegal drug capital because drug trafficking leads to other

crimes such as illegal arms trade, drug-related violence and killings, and human trafficking.

In drug trafficking, couriers are needed to transfer the illegal drugs to their destination

countries and human trafficking is a good way of performing the illegal transfer of drugs.

Also, drug cartels need to protect their business and must buy weapons illegally to maintain

their production. Being called as illegal drugs capital of the world is not just a myth for Latin

America; it is real as the evidences show. However, there are policies that Latin American

states, specifically Mexico and Colombia, pursue to stop this illegal drug trade in their region.

These policies, together with the help of US will be discussed in the next part of this paper.

Comparative Study of Mexico and Colombia

Drug Trafficking in Mexico and the Policies Against it

Brief Background in Drug Trafficking in Mexico

Mexico is one of the major drug producing countries in the world because of there are

a lot of cartels present in the country. Moreover, it is also a transit country for illegal drugs

since it is a strategic location for delivering drugs to the US because of the fact that it borders
it. Mexican drug cartels dominate the illicit drug trade in the US for the fact that it is the main

supplier of methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin to the US (Cook, 2007). As mentioned,

there are a lot of cartels present in Mexico. Not just any cartels, but largest cartels in the Latin

American region. However, cartels in Mexico are not that friendly to each other. Cartels in

Mexico consider their fellow cartels as rivals in drug trade; therefore they kill each other to

gain control of the illegal drug business. Another thing is that the whole of Mexico is

occupied of drug cartels. What is meant by occupied is that every town or city is a territory of

the drug cartels. Cartels control these cities and towns in Mexico, up to the point of killing

the public officials. So basically, illegal drug trade is very rampant in Mexico.

Policies of Mexico on Drug Trafficking

Mexico has often been the subject of international newspapers because of its policy to

stop the illegal drug trade in its territory: the war on drugs. The policy started by Vicente

Fox’s administration on drug trafficking and rampant illegal drug practices in Mexico is a

literal war against it. It was in 2005 when Fox launched Operation Secure Mexico to counter

drug violence and police corruption in cities with high percentage of drug violence (Cook,

2007). The policy is focused on deploying its armed forces and federal police on the US-

Mexico border and in the places where drug cartels operate. The policy of Mexico, together

with the US, emphasizes eradication and interdiction of illegal drug traffickers in their

territory (Cook, 2007). Basically, the authorities hunt down the traffickers but it’s hard for

them because they will die before even reaching one of the hideouts of the cartels. By looking

at the map presented in the appendices, it will be observed that whole of Mexico is occupied

by drug cartels so basically it would be folly to hunt these cartels. However, because of the

eradication policy of Mexico, the armed forces and the federal police must obliterate these

cartels, thus making it a two-way war between the authorities and the cartels. Furthermore,

Mexico also situated federal police and armed forces along the US-Mexico border to control
the in and out of people as well as to guard the border for possible human or drug trafficking.

As a matter of fact, in the presidency of Felipe Calderon alone, there were 50,000 soldiers

who were deployed in the border, and the high-risk places for illegal drugs such as Ciudad

Juarez (Felbab-Brown, 2009). In this drug wars, there are a lot of casualties and deaths

among innocent people. Numbers of people who died and were injured in these drug wars are

increasing throughout the years. In the year 2008, there were more than 5,600 lives that were

claimed by drug-related violence (Seelke, 2009). As a matter of fact, in the year 2007 alone,

the Calderon administration spent $2.5 billion already for injuries to the innocent people in

the war on drugs and to the arms and supplies used by the military and federal police (Felbab-

Brown, 2009). However, where do the Mexican government get the money to support their

forces against the cartels? This is the part where the US comes in to picture.

US Assistance on Mexico to Stop Drug Trafficking- The Mérida Initiative

First things first, why does the U.S. support Mexico in its advocacy to stop drugs? It

is because US is the target market of these illegal drugs which makes it a problem because

usage of illegal drugs may lead to other crimes and that’s what US is against off. There are

―hundreds of tons of illicit drugs flow from Mexico into the United States each year‖ (Ford,

2007). Illegal drugs that enter U.S. either came or transit from Mexico. Basically, U.S. has

been supporting Mexico to stop the flow of illegal drugs into their country. U.S. has been

supporting Mexico on their war against drugs since the year 200. Moreover, Mexico works

hand in hand with the Drug Enforcement Agency of the U.S. to stop these illegal drug

activities in their country. The main policy of support of U.S. to Mexico is called the Mérida

Initiative. Secretary of the State, Condoleezza Rice, stated that Mérida Initiative is an

initiative that will make U.S., Mexico and their other regional partners more secure (U.S.

Department of State, 2008).

 Proposed in the year 2007, Mérida Initiative started on June 30, 2008 when U.S.

President Bush signed H.R. 2642. Even if there was a change of administration in the U.S.,

President Obama still continued the support for the Mérida Initiative (Seelke, Wyler, &

Beittel, 2010). The Mérida Initiative is a multi-year program that is concerned on counterdrug

and anticrime assistance to Mexico and Central America (Seelke, 2009). This policy is not

exclusively for Mexico but also include countries such as Haiti, Dominican Republic, and

other Central American nations. The main goal of Mérida Initiative is to develop bilateral and

regional cooperation among the countries involved in this initiative to combat drug

trafficking organizations, gangs, and other criminal groups. Through the Mérida Initiative,

U.S. provides assistance such as equipment for police and law enforcement, border, airport,

and port security aid, maritime asset possession including repairs and communications,

firearms and narcotics interdiction, and access to U.S. technologies and databases (U.S.

Department of State, 2008). What the U.S. do is that it gives training to the armed forces of

the countries involved in Mérida Initiative. U.S. also gives good technology to the countries

involved in this initiative so that it would be easy for them to stop insurgencies in their

respective territories. Aside from this, U.S. also provides monetary assistance to the countries

involved in this initiative but more money is appropriated for Mexico because it is the

country that borders the U.S. and a lot of drug trafficking groups are located here. For

instance in the year 2008, $400M was appropriated for Mexico. In 2009, $300M was

appropriated for Mexico and $350.8M in 2010. Even though there were no immediate results

as to the status of drug trafficking activities in Mexico, many still believes that through

Mérida Initiative, illegal drug activities will be lessened if not fully stopped in Mexico.
Drug Trafficking in Colombia and the Policies Against it

Brief Background in Drug Trafficking in Colombia

Before Mexico’s rise in the industry of illegal drugs, Colombia was considered to be a

major producer and trafficker of illegal drugs in the world. It was home to the big cartels such

as the Cali cartel and Medellín, which was headed by the infamous Pablo Escobar, in the

1980s to 1990s. Unlike Mexico, Colombia is considered as a producing country only and not

transit. The main markets of Colombia are Europe and U.S. Together with Mexico, Colombia

is considered to be the primary source of opiates in the U.S. (Seelke, Wyler, & Beittel, 2010).

As proven by the numbers given in the previous pages, Colombia has a lot of contribution in

the illegal drug trade in the world. However, the case of illegal drug activities in Colombia is

more complex than that of Mexico. It is because cartels are not the lone drug producers in this

country, paramilitaries and guerrillas also engage in illegal drug production and trade.

Moreover, terrorist groups such as FARC, AUC, and ELN battle for the control of drug

production (Office of National Drug Control Policy). Even though there are a lot of groups

that engage in drug trade in Colombia, what happens in this country is not as terrible in the

case of Mexico.

Policies of Colombia on Drug Trafficking

For many years now, Colombia has been battling illegal drug production and illegal

drug trade in its territory. Comparatively speaking, Colombia’s policy is quite similar to the

policies of Mexico which are eradication of the drug dens and interdiction of the to-be

trafficked drugs. However, Colombia has some additional policies that are not present in

Mexico. Unlike Mexico, Colombia has been signing extradition treaties with other countries

so that those traffickers caught will also be sentenced in the countries where they transport

their illegal products. Another policy of Colombia is that the authorities’ focus of eradication

is the farms and crops so that production will be lessened (Veillette, 2005). The armed forces
of Colombia are more focused on eradication of the crops and farms rather than looking for

the traffickers themselves. It is because through this action of the authorities, the traffickers

will lose the land that they use in producing drugs. As a matter of fact, in 2004, the U.S.

Department of State reported that 136, 555 hectares of coca and 3, 060 hectares of poppy

were eradicated (Veillette, 2005). These statistics was only for a single year. If the numbers

beginning from 1999 was included, more than 500, 000 hectares of coca and about 20, 000

hectares of poppy were already eradicated. Moreover, Colombia has been quite successful in

hunting down the bosses of the drug trafficking organization. The authorities were successful

in hunting down Pablo Escobar and he died in an encounter against the Colombian authorities

in 1993. In this success of Colombia, U.S. has been quite helpful because of their assistance.

The assistance of U.S. to Colombia will be discussed in the next part of this paper.

US Assistance on Colombia to Stop Drug Trafficking- Plan Colombia

Plan Colombia, the initiative created by U.S. to help Colombia was behind the slow

but sure success of Colombia in countering illegal drug activities in its territory. U.S. created

this Plan Colombia to ―prevent the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, as well as to

help Colombia promote peace and economic development‖ (Veillette, 2005). Plan Colombia

was made possible through a bilateral agreement between Pres. Bill Clinton of U.S. and Pres.

Andres Pastrana of Colombia in 1999. Unlike Mérida Initiative, Plan Colombia is an

initiative that is solely for Colombia itself. Plan Colombia was designed mainly for ―ending

Colombia’s long armed conflict, eliminate drug trafficking, and promote social and economic

development‖ (Veillette, 2005). Under Plan Colombia, Colombia receives money from the

Foreign Military Financing of the U.S. (Embassy of Colombia). From the year 2000 to 2005,

Colombia has approximately received $2.8B for anti-drug program and developmental

purposes (Veillette, 2005). Most likely, Plan Colombia has the same plan of action with that

of the Mérida Initiative which includes training of military and giving of technology. For the
past years since the implementation of Plan Colombia, it has been quite successful because

the rate of illegal drug activities in Colombia has gone down (Embassy of Colombia).

Nevertheless, Colombians still hope that through this Plan Colombia, illegal drug activities

will be totally wiped out in their country.

Table of the Comparative Study between Mexico and Colombia

Mexico Colombia
Policy on  Use of Force: Military, Federal  Use of Force: Military and
Drug Police Police
Trafficking  Eradication of Traffickers and  Extradition Treaties
Interdiction of trafficked drugs  Eradication of Traffickers
in the U.S.-Mexico border and Crops and Interdiction
of trafficked drugs

US Assistance  Mérida Initiative- Not Exclusive  Plan Colombia- Exclusive

to Mexico
 Mérida Initiative- includes
technological support, military
training and monetary assistance
for Colombia
 Plan Colombia- Monetary
Assistance, Training of
Military, and technological
support

Status of  Describe by many authors as  Able to have successful

Action failing drug wars results after policies and US
Against Drug assistance started
Activities

Conclusion

By looking at the policies of these countries, we can now determine if what the

classifications of these states are. First is Mexico: looking at the current situation in Mexico

wherein cartels occupy mostly of the towns and cities, many innocent people are injured

because of the drug wars, and public officials are killed for the purpose of illegal drug trade,

it is evident that Mexico’s government cannot deliver or give the protection and security that

its citizens need. However, there are still steps taken by the Mexican government to suppress

these illegal drug activities. Basically because of this, Mexico can be considered as a weak

state.
 As for Colombia, there have been improvements as to the illegal drug activities and

security of the people is concerned. Colombia is even moving towards development of the

lives of its people through Plan Colombia. Even though there were a lot of problems in the

1980s and 1990s, Colombia was able to lessen the insurgencies and illegal drug activities.

Because of this, Colombia may not be considered a weak or failed state anymore, neither a

strong state. Colombia is still in the process of becoming a strong state. It can be classified

somewhere between weak and strong state.

 Bibliography
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Cook, C. W. (2007). Mexico's Drug Cartels. Washington: Congressional Research Service.

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Efforts, but the Flow of Illicit Drugs into the United States Remains High. Washington: United
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Appendices
 Map of Drug Cartels in Mexico

Source:

Cook, C. W. (2007). Mexico's Drug Cartels. Washington: Congressional Research Service.

Drug Trafficking Policies and US Assistance of
Mexico and Colombia Outline
Latin America as Illegal Drugs Capital of the
World
With the volume of production in Latin America,
it is considered to be the drug trafficking capital
of the world.
Together with Mexico, Colombia are primary
sources of opiates that is trafficked to US
Paramilitaries and Guerrillas in Colombia also
entered in Drug Trafficking
Policies

Drugs from Latin America leads to even more Signed Extradition treaties with other states.
crimes: Gun-trade, Drug-related Killings, Human Usually the destination country of traffickers.
Trafficking.
Use of armed forces against drug traffickers.
US Assistance in Solving Drug Trafficking
US Assistance
US is often the target of these Latin American
countries in trafficking drugs. Plan Colombia
Strategy consisted of a war on terrorism
US considers drug trafficking as primary threat and drug trafficking, strengthening human
to the security of its citizen. rights, comprehensive social development, and
-Congressional Research Service disarmament of paramilitaries.
Mexico
US gives money to Colombia to extinguish drug
Mexico is a major drug producing and transit trafficking.
country
Includes training of military by US Armed Forces
Main supplier of marijuana and to fight drug trafficking
methamphetamine to the US
Comparative Study of Mexico and Colombia
Mexican drug cartels dominate wholesale and Mexico Colombia
illicit drug market in the US Policy on Drug Use of Force: Use of Force:
Trafficking Military, Military and Police
Policies Federal Police
Mexican Policy on Drug Trafficking is mainly Extradition Treaties
focused on deploying military on the borders to US Assistance Merida Plan Colombia-
counter drug traffickers. Initiative- Monetary
US Assistance Monetary Assistance, Training
Assistance of Military
Merida Initiative
Expands bilateral and regional Status of Action Describe by Able to have
cooperation to combat drug trafficking, gangs Against Drug many as failing successful results
and other criminal groups Activities drug wars after policies and
US assistance
Intended to provide equipment and technology started
infrastructure for Mexican military and law
enforcement agencies
Colombia