Caulderon gets tough with the tough guys in Mexico

Houston Chronicle:

In his first three weeks in office, President Felipe Calderon has sent a message to the rogue powers that have paralyzed or terrorized much of Mexico: Enough is enough.

Just days after his Dec. 1 inauguration, Calderon's government arrested the figurehead of the violent protests in Oaxaca City. And a week later he deployed thousands of soldiers and police to combat increasingly bloodthirsty drug traffickers in his native Michoacan state.

Calderon's swift use of force is a major departure from the conciliatory style of his predecessor, Vicente Fox. But that may be just the point — to separate himself from Fox's often-perceived image of a weakling.

The moves come after five months of chaos in colonial Oaxaca and a raft of beheadings in western Michoacan, including one incident in which the traffickers dumped five human heads on a dance floor.

"The message is very clear: To say to the traffickers that there are things you can't do," said Jorge Chabat, a crime analyst in Mexico City. "You can't chop off heads and throw them on a dance floor, because that affects Mexico's image.

"If you're president and you want to attract investment, you can't have your country looking like Rwanda during the civil war."

Despite some high-profile arrests early in his six-year term, Fox often seemed at a loss over how to confront the growing drug violence, which has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Mexico this year.

"Calderon's government recognizes the seriousness of the problem," columnist Jesus Silva-Herzog wrote in the Mexico City newspaper Reforma. By contrast, "his predecessor kept his head below ground, denying the crisis in which we are all submerged."

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At least 7,000 troops and police have fanned across mountainous areas of Michoacan, destroying thousands of small marijuana plantations and raiding clandestine drug labs.

As of the latest official tally the bounty includes: three yachts, 2.2 pounds of gold, more than $2 million in cash, bulletproof vests, military equipment, and shirts with federal and municipal police logos. More than 18,000 people have been searched, along with 8,000 vehicles and boats, officials said.

The force also has arrested more than 50 traffickers, including five top members of the feuding drug cartels.

They include Alfonso Barajas, alias "Ugly Poncho," who is accused of running a kidnapping ring linked to the Gulf drug cartel. His signature: Cutting off his victims' fingers to expedite ransoms.

With roughly 530 gangland murders this year, Michoacan has a lower death toll than Tamaulipas state, which borders Texas. But its traffickers are unrivaled in their gruesome style, including at least 16 beheadings this year and a new tactic — hurling victims from planes.

The violence may stem from the state's strategic importance to the country's warring Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, which are battling for control of the smuggling routes to the U.S. and the increasingly lucrative local market.

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There is more. There is also a glimmer of hope for Mexico in restoring the rule of law and building a society where people will not want to leave to get work, but can find it at home. Restoring the rule of law has to beat the heart of such a strategy. The key will be whether the army is also corrupted by the narco terrorist. Local law enforcement has already been either corrupted or has given up in most jurisdictions. If the army is also corrupted, then there is little hope for Mexico.