David Brooks and Jim Cason
correspondents
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday March 8, 2023, p. 4
New York and Washington. He lift of four Americans in Matamoros, two of them murdered, is being used by relatively marginal voices in the United States to amplify demands to further militarize the border with Mexico and proposals to authorize the use of US military force against drug cartels in US territory. Mexico.
Although the White House and the State Department have been cautious in their statements, highlighting bilateral cooperation with Mexico to locate the hostages, some legislators have raised their profiles on the issue, helped by the response to their interventionist proposals and complaints to officials and Mexican politicians.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre began her daily press conference Tuesday by praising the successful effort to locate the victims and congratulating the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the DEA and law enforcement. mexican. Attacks on US citizens are unacceptable
affirmed and stressed that We will work closely with the Mexican government to ensure that justice is served.
.
Jean-Pierre reminded reporters that an official US government alert recommending against travel to certain parts of Mexico, including Tamaulipas, remains in effect, but declined to answer questions about whether the Joe Biden government believes the Mexican government you are doing enough to combat violence within your country
or if you think drug cartels should be designated as organizations terrorists
.
In the State and Justice departments, the response was similar. The task from now on is to ensure that justice is done
warned State Department spokesman Ned Price before the news that the four kidnapped Americans were located in Matamoros.
But for some politicians who have dedicated themselves to labeling the border as a serious danger zone, and who more recently had revived old accusations that Mexico is under siege by the cartels responsible for the epidemic of illicit drug overdoses between Americans and who pose a national security threat to the United States, the incident is very useful for their purposes.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he will introduce a bill to set the stage
for the use of outside the US military in Mexico, and that it is time to be tough
with the neighboring country. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Graham indicated that he is preparing a bill to designate some Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
under US law and thereby lay the groundwork for the “use of military force if necessary.
I would tell the Mexican government that if you don’t put order, we will put it for you
he declared, stressing that warning Mexico that if you continue to give safe haven to drug dealers then you are an enemy of America
.
However, he did not detail or offer a draft of his bill. But if he follows through on his threat, it would be something of a parallel to the bill introduced on January 12 by two relatively unknown Republican representatives in the lower house, which seeks to designate Mexican cartels. terrorists
and grant a authorization of the use of military force
to the president to act against them in Mexico.
Texan Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a former lieutenant commander and Navy Seal, whose political profile was instantly raised by the denunciation in Mexico of his proposals to authorize the use of US force against the cartels, declared today that “two of the four Americans kidnapped by the cartels in Mexico were killed and we have not yet declared the cartels a military objective. It is time that we authorize the use of military force against him… Are you listening to López Obrador? We would love for you to be our partner. Help us help you”.
Yesterday, Crenshaw proudly tweeted that the Mexican president stated that he was opposed to my bill
authorizing US military force against the cartels, adding that I’m glad you’re finally finding out
and asked him if he was against facing those who terrify
the Mexican people and corrupt their politicians. Are you against that, Mr. President? Who does it represent? The cartels or the people?
His bill cosponsored by another less-influential Republican congressman, Mike Waltz, gained more weight with the endorsement of former Attorney General Bill Barr in an article he published in the Wall Street Journal to promote his book, where he affirms that in the United States “we cannot accept a narco-state failed at our border, offering sanctuary to groups narcoterrorists that haunt the American people.”
But the two congressmen’s bill and Barr’s article went largely unnoticed in the corridors of power and in the public debate in Washington (where experts dismissed the initiative as an electoral maneuver by ultra-conservative Republicans with no chance of success), until it was raised by the reaction in Mexico. Shortly after, the news of the kidnapped Americans broke out, and with it, suddenly the promoters of a more interventionist policy against Mexico –such as Lindsey Graham and former Trump collaborators– took advantage of the situation for their political ends.
In an interview with Fox News, Barr reiterated his arguments, accusing that the cartels are killing Americans at a rate similar to that of a major war.
The politicization of tragedies and shared problems on both sides of the border will intensify as the US electoral calendar culminates in federal elections at the end of 2024.
