Clear and present danger (In Spanish)

Poder 360, November 2011

El gobernador de Texas, Rick Perry dice tener la solución para impedir que la narcoviolencia cruce la frontera: invadir México. En más de dos ocasiones en el pasado mes, el aspirante a la candidatura presidencial republicana se ha pronunciado por enviar tropas a México.

En un mitin de proselitismo en New Hampshire a principios de octubre, Perry comparó a nuestro país con Colombia donde, dijo, el gobierno aceptó el apoyo militar estadounidense para ultimar a capos de la droga. La violencia, manifestó, “podría requerir [la presencia de] nuestro ejército en México (…) para ejecutar a los carteles de la droga, mantenerlos fuera de nuestra frontera y destruir sus redes(…) creo que es importante que trabajemos con ellos [gobierno mexicano] para impedir que el país fracase”.

Una semana después, ante una audiencia de evangélicos en Washington, Perry escaló la retórica al afirmar que la inseguridad en México es producto de una “guerra librada por el narcoterrorismo” que presenta “un peligro claro y actual” para su país.

Desde 2009, como gobernador, Perry ha venido pidiendo que el presidente Barack Obama despliegue 1,000 efectivos de la Guardia Nacional a la frontera para impedir el “derrame” de la narcoviolencia. Insiste en contradecir investigaciones como la de Christopher Wilson, analista del Woodrow Wilson Center, que demuestra que la región fronteriza dista mucho de ser la zona peligrosa y fuera de control. Wilson sostiene que entre 2005 y 2010, la tasa de homicidios en el lado estadounidense de la franja, Texas incluido, bajó 24%.

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Rick Perry takes military-style tack to protect Texas border from Mexican cartels

The Washington Post, 10/16/11

A little before dawn on a sticky summer night in June, one of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’sRanger Reconnaissance Teams was running a clandestine operation along the Rio Grande when its surveillance squad came across a Dodge Durango pickup truck loaded with bales of Mexican marijuana.

Bad idea, messing with Texas.

The lawmen chased the truck along the river, with a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter swooping overhead and Texas game wardens roaring down the Rio Grande in boats, state authorities said. In minutes, the traffickers had ditched the truck in the muddy water and were rafting the dope back to Mexico.

Then the shooting started.

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Rick Perry suggests US military role in Mexico drug war

BBC News, 10/1/11

Texas Governor Rick Perry – who is seeking the Republican nomination for US president – has said he would consider sending American troops into Mexico to combat drug-related violence. Mr Perry was speaking during a campaign appearance in New Hampshire.

“It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and keep them off our border,” he said.

Such a move would go far beyond current US involvement in Mexico’s drugs war. The suggestion is also likely to irritate Mexico’s government over the sensitive issue, correspondents say. Governor Perry gave no further details of what sort of possible military intervention he would consider.

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Perry suggests sending U.S. troops to Mexico to fight drug war

The Dallas Morning News, 10/1/11

Gov. Rick Perry suggested Saturday that Mexico’s raging drug war requires deployment of U.S. troops to Mexico — an idea that would offend Mexican sensibilities, though Perry couched the idea only in the context of cooperation.

“It may require our military, in Mexico, working in concert with them, to kill these drug cartels and to keep them off our border and to destroy their networks. It is very important for us to work with them to keep that country from failing,” he said during a stop in Manchester.

Mexicans, recalling the Mexican-American War, have long cast a wary eye northward. The public, and much of officialdom, resists anything that smacks of an armed incursion.

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Perry Open to Military Intervention in Mexico’s Drug War

The New York Times, 10/1/11

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said on Saturday that as president, he would consider sending American troops into Mexico to help defeat drug cartels and improve border security. He indicated that any such action would be done “in concert” with the Mexican government.

“It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and to keep them off of our border and to destroy their network,” Mr. Perry said during a campaign appearance here.

“I don’t know all the different scenarios that would be out there,” he said. “But I think it is very important for us to work with them to keep that country from failing.”

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Perry in Position to Lead on Immigration Policy

The Houston Chronicle, 8/31/11

Imagination is the key tool missing in the political arena.

Immigration policy, especially, suffers from a lack of creative solutions and imagined possibilities for a better future, not just for immigrants but for all of us. The undocumented population recently was estimated at approximately 12 million. However, no one knows for sure how many there are in the United States.

By definition, the undocumented are unrepresented in our political process, but also in our census. There is no way to accurately count them. There is no way for them to forcefully represent themselves, their interests or to communicate their political will unless citizens and advocates do it for them.

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