Mexico

The drug legalisation debate is building momentum in Mexico as an increasing amount of Mexicans and outside observers are coming to the conclusion that President Felipe Calderon’s militant war against the drug cartels has failed.

“It is the first time that violence and narcotrafficking has affected the electoral process,” stated Luis Carlos Ugalde ex-president of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) last Sunday. The same day, voters in 14 of Mexico’s 31 states went to the polls to choose state governors, mayors and local deputies. But many Mexicans did not vote and the states most plagued by drug violence recorded low levels of voter turnout.

A former CIA operative has claimed that US Special Forces are operating in Mexico not only in providing intelligence and training  security forces but also “taking direct action against narco-trafficking organizations.”

According to William Robert “Tosh” Plumlee the group of heavily armed operatives are referred to as “Task Force 7” and played an important role in tracking down Arturo Beltran Leyva, a cartel boss killed in a huge military operation last December.

Hispanic gangs that formed in the United States as a way of protecting themselves from racist attacks in the 1980s, are now playing a fundamental part in the drug trade. The gangs – which have expanded in number and territory - are now being employed by large drug trafficking organisations. They are now active in distributing narcotic drugs at a retail level as well as working as violent foot soldiers in the war to control the trafficking routes not only in the US but also throughout Latin America.