Obama's Mexico Mistake

[Derechos]

This Wednesday's White House dinner with Mexico's president Felipe Calderón may serve as the culmination of President Obama's failed strategy of appeasement. Obama has not demanded concrete results in the "drug war" or asked hard questions about human rights, corruption and judicial reform. The administration has been distracted by a sweet-talking Mexican foreign policy team. If Obama wants to help reduce violence south of the border, it is time for him to stop playing Calderón's game and to exercise real leadership in North America.

The Calderón administration has gained U.S acquiescence by periodically extraditing drug lords, responding to U.S. intelligence with round-ups, and welcoming American military and law enforcement into Mexican territory. On the surface, Calderón's right wing Party of National Action (PAN) appears to be more pro-American than its predecessor, the old guard Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI). Fearing that the PRI may soon return to power, Washington has adopted Calderón as its favorite son.

But the truth is that Calderón is directly responsible for the violence which has taken 22,000 plus lives over the past three years in Mexico. This violence today threatens to spill over to the U.S. After three years of Calderón's administration, there is no sign of improvement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-m-ackerman/obamas-mexico-mistake_b_580437.html?ir=World

[rabs]

1. Highly interesting article, thanks for posting.

:kick: and Reccing.

For those who may not have read it, the "powerful politician" mentioned in the article as having been kidnapped is a former presidential candidate for the ruling PAN party:

BY DAVID LUHNOW
MEXICO CITY -- Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a former presidential candidate and a well known figure in President Felipe Calderon's ruling party, is believed to have been kidnapped, Mexican officials said on Saturday.

Mr. Fernandez, a presidential candidate for the National Action Party (PAN) in the 1994 contest, went missing on Friday night near his ranch in central Queretaro state, officials said at the Attorney General's Office. Mr. Calderon spoke to Mr. Fernandez's family and ordered his cabinet to help in any way possible to locate the politician, the presidency said in a statement.

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Calderon cancelled his trip to Madrid for the EU-Latin America because of the kidnapping. But I would wager he will keep his dinner date with BO.

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(edit to fix typo)