While Republicans are becoming more and more divided over whether or not to support Ukraine, they are coming together against the idea of conducting military raids in Mexico.
If last week’s debate was any indication, Ron DeSantis is committed to sparking a historic diplomatic crisis with a neighbouring country in the opening hours of his presidency by sending special forces into Mexico to hit the drug cartels on Day One.
Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott are just some of the other contenders who have taken a similarly combative stance.
Since the fentanyl issue is so unbearable (estimated at 70,000 deaths per year) and the porousness and disarray at the Southern border are so unbecoming of a great nation, the tough stance is reasonable.
The threat of military action sends a message of determination and plays into the populist right’s belief that the United States is more concerned with defending Ukraine’s borders than its own (despite the fact that it was only after Russia launched a devastating military invasion of Ukraine that it started paying attention to those borders).
It’s possible that military actions are warranted under some conditions, and even the fear of them, if used well, could be a means of coercing the Mexican government into providing more cooperation.
However, we cannot expect the Southern Border to be safe from drones and raids. The unfortunate truth is that any cooperation with the Mexican government will be met with resistance because of Mexico’s understandable desire to safeguard its territory and national pride, particularly in relation to the superpower to the north.
Drug trafficking gangs are a devilish problem. They have deep roots in the Mexican government and use bribery and assassination to control the flow of drugs and people into the United States.
It takes more than a few decapitation attacks or raids on headquarters to bring down a group that has been ingrained in a culture. Long-term, multi-pronged fight including military action and anti-corruption activities are needed to defeat them. This “war of counterinsurgency” involves denying them safe haven and public support.
We accomplished this seemingly impossible task in Colombia. More than a decade and $10 billion later, the Andean nation is back on its feet thanks to the United States’ cooperation known as Plan Colombia, which offered everything from military trainers to economic aid. The FARC insurgents and cocaine gangs were defeated, but only because Colombians took the initiative. President Alvaro Uribe was the perfect ally since he was fully invested in the struggle.
At this time, there are no plans in Mexico of a similar nature. The government hasn’t exactly been sitting on its hands forever. For decades, the cartels and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) worked together to make Mexico a one-party state. However, the PRI’s monopoly on power was shattered in 2000 when Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive and member of the conservative National Action Party, was elected president.
