...But not just for the reasons you might first think.
Natalie Kitroeff and Ronen Bergman have a story in The NY Times about the 2014 mass kidnapping and murder of students in Mexico that contains some shocking revelations. (Link through the paywall.)
The Mexican police, military officers and others secretly colluded with a cartel that kidnapped 43 students, a case unsolved after nearly a decade. Wiretaps show just how much the authorities helped the cartel behind the mass abduction, and what led to it.
...A vast trove of about 23,000 unpublished text messages, witness testimony and investigative files obtained by The New York Times point to an answer: Just about every arm of government in that part of southern Mexico had been secretly working for the criminal group for months, putting the machinery of the state in the cartel’s hands and flattening any obstacle that got in its way.
The police commanders whose officers snatched many of the students that night in 2014 had been taking direct orders from the drug traffickers, the text messages show. One of the commanders gave guns to cartel members, while another hunted down their rivals on command.
The entire story is horrific, not least because people in both Mexico and the United States have been sitting on this information for years. It should upset every right-thinking person about the extent to which the power of drug money bought both law enforcement and the military, and how the threats from those involved have forced high-level investigators to flee Mexico for their lives. Connections to cartel operators in Chicago and the drug traffic across the border make this more than a problem for Mexico.
But that’s not the only thing worrying me.
See those people on stage in the picture above? Those are considered mainstream candidates seeking the Republican nomination for President, and they’re not alone in their views. Heather Digby Parton writing at SALON has the story:
The "isolationist" GOP of 2023 may love to call the Democrats warmongers, but just listen to them on Mexico
Here’s a tweet from Marjorie Taylor Greene, referenced in the article:
I’m proud to co-sponsor
@RepDanCrenshaw’s legislation to declare WAR on the Mexican cartels.We must authorize the use of military force to eliminate the thugs who are smuggling drugs and illegal aliens across our southern border, leading to crime and the murder of countless Americans.
While cartel members wait for their fate to be sealed by our great military, we will put a hit on their bank accounts by sanctioning any government that supports or allows cartels to operate.
This legislation will use every tool available from increased federal criminal penalties, bypassing Democrat District Attorneys and prosecutors who refuse to apply existing federal law, and even denaturalization.
There is a war going on that affects every single American, but it’s not in Ukraine or the Middle East, it’s on our Southern border.
Trump echoes these views:
As you can see, they've actually introduced legislation to "declare war" on the Mexican cartels. Trump is echoing this in his presidential campaign:
I will order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure and operations.
As do some of those candidates above:
...Asked if he would send special forces over the border into Mexico at last month's presidential primary debate, Florida Governor Ron Desantis said "yes, and I will do it on day one." (He has likewise vowed to kill drug smugglers "stone cold dead" at the border which means that he's going to order summary executions as well — which is illegal, obviously.)
...Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the alleged moderate who told Vivek Ramaswamy in that same debate that his lack of foreign policy experience was showing, told Fox News that:
When it comes to the cartels, we should treat them like the terrorists that they are. I would send special operations in there and eliminate them just like we eliminated ISIS and make sure that they know there's no place for them. If Mexico won't deal with it, I'll make sure I deal with it," she added.
Digby’s essay cites other Republicans making similar statements, and makes this observation:
...This talk is, to be blunt, batshit crazy. Mexico is a sovereign country and taking any of these actions unilaterally would be an act of war. Even such hawkish Republicans as former Ambassador John Negroponte are appalled at the idea. He points out that "Mexico is our largest trading partner, we share a 2,200 mile border and we have inter-relationships that are extensive and across an entire spectrum of issues such as migration, trade, people-to-people relations and environmental concerns." Needless to say, the Mexican government and its people would be outraged and defiant and the consequences would be dire.
Don’t forget Texas Governor Greg Abbott has already militarized the border with troops and floating death traps. From July:
WASHINGTON — Gov. Greg Abbott hit back with defiance on Friday after the Biden administration warned that Texas’ use of razor wire and floating barriers to deter migrants from crossing the Rio Grande is illegal, insisting the state is within its rights and vowing to defend its costly efforts.
“Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border, under the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution,” Abbott wrote on Twitter. “We will continue to deploy every strategy to protect Texans and Americans — and the migrants risking their lives. We will see you in court, Mr. President.”
This 2022 article from the Texas Tribune discusses how the National Guard soldiers Abbott sent to the border found their mission to be badly managed, less than effective, and a real hardship.
...During a two-month period beginning in September, Operation Lone Star ballooned from a lean 1,000-volunteer outfit to a mandatory mobilization of up to 10,000 members of the Texas Military Department. According to a senior Guard leader’s leaked comments during a virtual town hall for unit leaders, they’re expecting the current wave of troops to be there for a year, and they’re preparing for yet another wave of deployments.
The troops there say they faced a deluge of problems when they were mobilized — some of which have been slowly improving in recent weeks:
- As many as 1 in 5 troops in the 6,500-strong “operational force” who have been sent to the border have reported problems with their pay, including being paid late, too little or not at all for months.
- Service members say they have struggled with shortages of critical equipment, including cold weather gear, medical equipment and plates for their ballistic vests.
- Many are living in cramped trailers with dozens of troops.
- Some say they feel underutilized and rarely see migrants while working isolated observation posts that in some cases lacked portable toilets for months.
Task a group of people with a military mission who are not full-time military, disrupt their lives, put them in horrendous working conditions… and then ask how susceptible they’d be to people with a lot of money asking them to look the other way, and maybe do a few other things as well. Nothing big… at first.
As Digby points out in her opinion piece at Salon, Republicans seem to be freaking out over confronting Putin in Ukraine — but can’t wait to take on Mexico. We’re not dealing with rational actors here. Their talk about Mexico is all about stirring up fears to gin up votes — while distracting away from all the other horrible things they do when given power. There are real problems here, but they don’t have real solutions — just sound bites, hype, ‘easy’ answers, and faux outrage.
This, after all, is the party that sabotaged the Paris Peace Talks, invaded Grenada, fled the debacle in Lebanon, traded arms for hostages, financed a covert war in Central America with drug money, invaded Panama, pivoted from Afghanistan to invade Iraq, walked away from Afghanistan leaving Biden to clean up their mess, and so on. And while they were doing that, they were also deregulating like mad and cutting taxes for the rich while attacking the social safety net. They don’t ask what makes sense, what might be a real solution, what’s in the best interest of the country. It’s always about what they think is best for them.
So, what are the odds they’ll pounce on this story in The NY Times and use it to catapult their propaganda?