July 2, 2012 7:55 pm
Mexico leader shifts focus on drugs war
The winner of Mexico’s presidential election will pursue a new strategy in the country’s almost six-year war on drugs by creating a 40,000 security force to protect citizens rather than chasing drug traffickers and eradicating illicit crops.
Enrique Peña Nieto, the 45-year-old candidate of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), who won Sunday’s election, said it was essential to put Mexicans’ concerns before anything other consideration.
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“[Violence] is the most sensitive issue for Mexicans,” he told the Financial Times in his first interview with an international newspaper. “Mexico cannot put up with this scenario of death and kidnapping.”
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But the president-elect emphasised that focusing on a reduction of violence did not mean taking a step back in the fight against organised crime. “There will be no pact or truce with organised crime,” he said.
Mr Peña Nieto beat his closest rival by just over 5 percentage points, according to the latest official count. His victory will see the PRI, the party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 consecutive years, return to power in one of the region’s most remarkable political comebacks of recent times.
More than 55,000 people have died as a result of drug-related violence in Mexico during the past five years, and the murder rate in Latin America’s second-largest economy has almost tripled from eight per 100,000 inhabitants to more than 22 today, according to official figures.
That jump has also become a concern for international companies, which increasingly see Mexico as a good export base but also keep an eye on the potential fallout from the spike in drug-related violence.
Foreign direct investment hit $18bn last year after a pronounced fall-off during the 2009 economic recession – a figure that will help the country to grow an estimated 3.5 per cent or higher this year. But economists say that achieving greater levels of security would make Mexico an even more attractive place to do business.
Mr Peña Nieto said the Mexican people expected quick results on the violence front, and expressed optimism that his administration would deliver. Asked when it was reasonable to expect results, he responded, “from the beginning”.
His comments are likely to go down well with a population that is tired of reading about decapitations and bloodstained bodies hanging from bridges. But there are still questions as to how Washington will view the proposed change in focus.
Mr Peña Nieto was due to speak with US President Barack Obama on Monday. Asked which country he would visit first as president-elect of Mexico, he said he had still not decided.
The former state governor said it was important to make changes in the joint collaboration of the US and Mexico as both countries fight against organised crime. “Without doubt we have to make adjustments,” he said – though he clarified that the details would only become apparent during the handover period.
He said that reinstating a US ban on the sale of assault weapons, which expired in 2004, would “undoubtedly be an issue but one that we have to discuss with the government of the US”.
Mr Peña Nieto, whose victory is expected to become official sometime this week, is scheduled to take office on December 1.
Enrique Peña Nieto, the 45-year-old candidate of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), who won Sunday’s election, said it was essential to put Mexicans’ concerns before anything other consideration.
.
“[Violence] is the most sensitive issue for Mexicans,” he told the Financial Times in his first interview with an international newspaper. “Mexico cannot put up with this scenario of death and kidnapping.”
.
But the president-elect emphasised that focusing on a reduction of violence did not mean taking a step back in the fight against organised crime. “There will be no pact or truce with organised crime,” he said.
Mr Peña Nieto beat his closest rival by just over 5 percentage points, according to the latest official count. His victory will see the PRI, the party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 consecutive years, return to power in one of the region’s most remarkable political comebacks of recent times.
More than 55,000 people have died as a result of drug-related violence in Mexico during the past five years, and the murder rate in Latin America’s second-largest economy has almost tripled from eight per 100,000 inhabitants to more than 22 today, according to official figures.
That jump has also become a concern for international companies, which increasingly see Mexico as a good export base but also keep an eye on the potential fallout from the spike in drug-related violence.
Foreign direct investment hit $18bn last year after a pronounced fall-off during the 2009 economic recession – a figure that will help the country to grow an estimated 3.5 per cent or higher this year. But economists say that achieving greater levels of security would make Mexico an even more attractive place to do business.
Mr Peña Nieto said the Mexican people expected quick results on the violence front, and expressed optimism that his administration would deliver. Asked when it was reasonable to expect results, he responded, “from the beginning”.
His comments are likely to go down well with a population that is tired of reading about decapitations and bloodstained bodies hanging from bridges. But there are still questions as to how Washington will view the proposed change in focus.
Mr Peña Nieto was due to speak with US President Barack Obama on Monday. Asked which country he would visit first as president-elect of Mexico, he said he had still not decided.
The former state governor said it was important to make changes in the joint collaboration of the US and Mexico as both countries fight against organised crime. “Without doubt we have to make adjustments,” he said – though he clarified that the details would only become apparent during the handover period.
He said that reinstating a US ban on the sale of assault weapons, which expired in 2004, would “undoubtedly be an issue but one that we have to discuss with the government of the US”.
Mr Peña Nieto, whose victory is expected to become official sometime this week, is scheduled to take office on December 1.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012.
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