Napolitano and Fernando Gomez Mont Testify at the Brookings Institute
May 04, 2010
by Wais Hassan
On the afternoon of May 4, the Brookings Institution hosted a panel talk with Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano and Mexican Interior Secretary Fernando Gómez-Mont on the issues of US-Mexico cooperation, border security, law enforcement and commerce. E.J. Dionne Jr., columnist with the Washington Post, moderated the panel talk.
Napolitano and Gómez-Mont began the talk by declaring their commitments to increase trade between the countries, secure the border and decrease narco violence. Most of the conversation during the panel talk centered on the drug wars within Mexico and how that violence was affecting both countries. Unlike numerous academic experts who have been studying the issue, neither figure would categorize the current drug war initiated by Mexican president Felipe Calderón as being a failure. Gómez-Mont insisted the government would eventually prevail over the cartels and that signs of progress were already evident in Mexico. He claimed that he witnessed positive political evolution in Mexico in which the Mexican government has become less corrupt and its fragile judicial system more able to deal with narco trafficking. However, he would not offer any timeline on when he expected to see a drop in violent crime.
Statistics of the drug violence in Mexico belie Gómez-Mont’s testimony. The number of Mexicans murdered doubled between 2007 and 2008. Last year was the deadliest since the Calderón offensive began as 8,928 people were reported murdered. The Mexican daily newspaper Reforma reported that 2,904 people were killed this year alone. In total, 22,700 people have been murdered during the Calderón campaign and there are few statistical signs that such violence is abating. In the face of such staggering violence, Gómez-Mont seemed unjustifably optimistic.
Napolitano later addressed how some of the violence in Mexico was spilling onto American streets and her commitment to tackle this problem head on. Phoenix has seen a huge increase in narco-related kidnappings, 366 in 2008 alone. A reporter brought up the possibility of sending the National Guard to the border as a response to the violence and asked Gómez-Mont whether the Mexican government would support such a move. Strangely, Gómez-Mont completely avoided the question and instead offered meaningless generalities about how the Mexican government is becoming stronger and more responsive.
Gómez-Mont also avoided a question about undocumented migration to the US. When asked what the Mexican government could do to prevent undocumented migration, Gómez-Mont offered no response or insights and instead droned on about the violence in Ciudad Juárez. He spoke at length about building community policing and bolstering public safety institutions in Ciudad Juárez and made no connection to the major question of undocumented immigration.
When later probed about Juárez, Gómez-Mont also offered a shaky response about his recent decision to pull federal troops out of Juarez. A significant number of people have been brutally killed since the pullout, but Gómez-Mont expressed confidence that the decision was the right one. He provided no clear rationale for the decision and simply stated that, “confrontation will not change from one day to another.” He did not discuss the numerous human rights violations perpretrated by the Mexican army and the possibility that media criticism of their behavior compelled him to pull troops out of Juárez.
Overall, Gómez-Mont’s testimony was not very reassuring, which suggests that the Obama administration is placing blind faith in Calderón’s leadership to produce results and stem the violence. In 2008, the Bush administration, through the Mérida Initiative, pledged 1.4 billion dollars over several years to help supply Mexico with high-end equipment like helicopters and surveillance technology. The Obama adminstration promised to continue Bush’s policies in this arena and has thus far delivered $465 million dollars of the promised $1.4 billion to Calderón’s government. Many US officials are now clamoring for accountability measures to ensure that the money is being spent wisely and that Calderón’s government is embracing a winnable strategy against the narco gangs. Calderón’s government insists that the Mérida initiative is a joint parternship between nations, not a US handout. If this is true, Calderón’s represenatives like Gómez-Mont should be more forthcoming and honest when dealing with serious questions concerning Mexico’s gang offensive and its numerous impacts on US and Mexican people.
