Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
The relevant thing about drug trafficking is that it is an ancient problem in Mexico, as Guillermo Valdés Castellanos points out in his book, La Historia del Narcotráfico en México (The History of Drug Trafficking in Mexico). It dates back to at least the 19th century and exists as a lucrative business in our country due to our proximity to the United States.
The Chinese building railroads and mining gold in California were the beginning of the opium market, brought first from China and then from Sinaloa. The Mexican political class, especially some governors along the US border, found in this business their “gold mine,” so to speak.
The two world wars were the reason why the US government urged Mexico to produce opium in the form of morphine to ease the pain caused by the wounds of its soldiers on the battlefronts.
The State, politics, and drug trafficking have always been synonymous in Mexico. That is what Valdés Castellanos’ book reveals. That is why we should not be surprised today that the relationship between drug trafficking, the Mexican State, and the political-military class has become closer than ever before. At least the politicians of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) had good reasons to hide their relationship with drug trafficking. These were real relationships, but they were shameful.
Morena completely changed that logic. By proclaiming “hugs, not bullets” as state policy, López Obrador opened the doors to the normalization of drug trafficking as a legitimate industry, both socially and economically. The Morena political class interpreted this normalization as a green light for all of them to establish ties of complicity with prominent drug traffickers in their municipalities, electoral districts, and states. Drug trafficking and Morena merged in a solid embrace.
The relationship with drug trafficking was no longer the shameful policy of the PRI, but now a popular policy of the “good people” who seek to influence their communities, together with Morena politicians. López Obrador normalized the incorporation of drug trafficking into electoral politics and decision-making, as if it were the incorporation of a new political party into the Morena stable. The singing of narcocorridos at events, with a photo of El Mencho in the background, is the direct result of AMLO’s policy of legitimizing drug trafficking in society.
However, none of this is normal. On the contrary, it is an absolute perversion of the nature of the State and the idea of a democratic Republic. It distorts the concept of relations between citizens and the rule of law, since drug trafficking is governed by rules that violate the law, the rules of coexistence, and, with its firepower, challenges the strength of the State and its Armed Forces.
The association that AMLO has established with drug trafficking breaks with all the principles established in the Constitution. Knowing this, AMLO wants Morena and Sheinbaum to banish the current Constitution and create another one where drug trafficking can find a safe haven. The “Republic” that AMLO wants is one where the constitutional army and the parallel army of drug traffickers can coexist. In other words, he wants a Constitution that endorses a dual power of the State: a legal State and another, outside and parallel to that constitutional State.
We Mexicans know this, consciously or unconsciously, it doesn’t matter. If we decide to lie to ourselves about this truth, that’s up to us. But that’s the way it is. And many outside Mexico know it too. That is why it is argued that the new relationship between official politics and drug trafficking represents a national security crisis. It jeopardizes the integrity of the Mexican State. The destruction of the judiciary, to subordinate it to Morena politicians and drug lords, is the clearest sign of this alliance that is destroying the constitutional order and turning it into an instrument for illegal forces to dominate the State from their trenches.
The new open relationship between the Mexican State and drug trafficking is a gigantic powder keg that is going to explode in our faces. It would be better for us to deal with it, and not others.
@rpascoep
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