U.S. role at a crossroads in Mexico’s intelligence war on the cartels

April 29, 2013

Mexican Police catch drug dealer photo by Jesús Villaseca P Latitudes PressThe Washington Post, 4/27/13

For the past seven years, Mexico and the United States have put aside their tension-filled history on security matters to forge an unparalleled alliance against Mexico’s drug cartels, one based on sharing sensitive intelligence, U.S. training and joint operational planning. But now, much of that hard-earned cooperation may be in jeopardy.

The December inauguration of President Enrique Peña Nieto brought the nationalistic Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) back to power after 13 years, and with it a whiff of resentment over the deep U.S. involvement in Mexico’s fight against narco-traffickers. The new administration has shifted priorities away from the U.S.-backed strategy of arresting kingpins, which sparked an unprecedented level of violence among the cartels, and toward an emphasis on prevention and keeping Mexico’s streets safe and calm, Mexican authorities said.

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Mexican Congress Confirms Medina Mora as Ambassador to U.S.

January 9, 2013
Medina Mora announced the death toll has fell 25% in the first 3 months of 2009

Medina Mora

Bloomberg, 1/9/2013

Mexico’s Congress today confirmed Eduardo Medina Mora, the former attorney general and envoy to the U.K., as the nation’s next ambassador to the U.S. Medina Mora, who served as Mexico’s top legal official when President Enrique Pena Nieto’s predecessor, Felipe Calderon, started the nation’s war on drug cartels in 2006, will replace Arturo Sarukhan, whom Calderon sent to Washington.

Medina Mora is also a cousin of Manuel Medina-Mora, who was named a co-president of Citigroup Inc. this week and was previously head of Banamex, the lender’s Mexican unit. The selection of Medina Mora shows the importance of U.S. cooperation in turning the tide on Mexico’s war on drug cartels that resulted in more than 58,000 deaths under Calderon, said Jorge Chabat, a political science professor at the Mexico City-based Center for Economic Research and Teaching. Medina Mora will provide expertise on security without letting the U.S. control Mexico’s strategy, Chabat said.

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New Mexican Ambassador- Mexico Institute in the News

December 17, 2012

Reforma, 12/17/2012

Andrew Selee

Andrew Selee

This article is in Spanish.

Andrew Selee comments on the announcement of a new Mexican Ambassador to the U.S.

El Gobierno de Enrique Peña Nieto considera nombrar a Eduardo Medina Mora como Embajador de México en Estados Unidos.De acuerdo con fuentes diplomáticas, Medina Mora, ex Procurador General de la República y actualmente Embajador de México en Gran Bretaña, relevará en el cargo a Arturo Sarukhan. Para ser nombrado, Medina Mora tiene que ser ratificado por el Senado. Andrew Selee, director del Mexico Institute del Woodrow Wilson Center, con sede en Washington, afirmó que el perfil de Medina Mora es una mezcla interesante, al combinar experiencia en el sector privado, en cuestiones de seguridad y en la diplomacia.

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Mexico blasts Forbes for putting drug lord on list

March 12, 2009

Reuters, 3/12/2009

Medina Mora

Medina Mora

Mexico’s government condemned Forbes Magazine on Thursday for putting the country’s most wanted man, a violent drug lord, on its annual list of the world’s richest people.

Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman made the prestigious business magazine’s list for the first time on Wednesday, sharing the 701st spot at $1 billion in assets. The amount was based on his estimated share of drug shipments to the United States.

Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora accused U.S.-based Forbes of coming to the defense of a criminal and said it was “deplorable” for the publication to compare Guzman with honest and law-abiding business people.

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Mexico “deeply” worried about deadly border city

March 4, 2009

Reuters, 3/4/2009

Medina Mora

Medina Mora

Mexico is deeply worried about an explosion of drug gang killings on its border with Texas, but its army is stronger than the cartels, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora told Reuters on Tuesday.

We think the Mexican state has much a greater power than any criminal group or any combination of criminal groups,” Medina Mora said.

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Mexico applauds U.S. vow to enforce long-ignored weapons ban

February 28, 2009

Associated Press, 2/28/2009

obamacalderonPresident Felipe Calderón said that his police and soldiers are dangerously outgunned because U.S. authorities are failing to stop the smuggling of high-powered weapons into Mexico. His attorney general called for more aggressive prosecutions of gun smugglers, saying that the U.S. constitutional right to bear arms doesn’t protect them.

President Barack Obama’s administration is beginning to respond. On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder promised to enforce a long-ignored ban on importing assault weapons, many of which are resold illegally and smuggled into Mexico to resupply the cartels. Calderón applauded Holder’s announcement as “the first time … in many years that the American government is starting to show more commitment.”

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Killings in Drug War in Mexico Double in ’08

December 8, 2008

New York Times, 12/8/2008

Killings linked to Mexico’s drug war have more than doubled this year compared with 2007 and are likely to grow even further before they begin to fall, Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora said Monday. The prosecutor tied the sharp increase in deaths to a battle for control among cartels and a power vacuum created by a series of high-profile arrests and seizures.

The number of gangland killings reached 5,376 from the beginning of the year until Dec. 2, a 117 percent increase over the 2,477 killings in the same period in 2007, Mr. Medina-Mora said in a luncheon meeting with foreign correspondents.

Even while acknowledging that there was a “significant increase” in drug-related homicides, Mr. Medina-Mora said the overall level of violence in Mexico remained moderate compared with that in other Latin American countries.

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