Calderón seeks “Plan Colombia” for Mexico

Bill Weinberg

The government of Mexican President Felipe Calderón has issued a formal request to the US Congress for a huge increase in military aid to combat narco-gangs. The request came in a recent US-Mexico Inter-Parliamentary Meeting held in Austin, TX, and was revealed to the Mexican daily La Jornada by Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), leader of the House Intelligence Committee. La Jornada called the request a “Plan Colombia” for Mexico, although without an actual US military troop presence. (La Jornada, June 8)

The revelation comes amid growing concern about the militarization of Mexico since Calderón took office late last year. Miguel Alessio Robles, Gobernación Sub-secretary for Human Rights, accused Amnesty International of “exaggerating” in a new report about the lack of basic guarantees in Mexico, saying the situation is “ten times better than in any other period in the country.” (La Jornada, June 5)

In Tepic, Nayarit, Zapatista Subcommander Marcos, continuing his tour of the country, said that under Calderón, everyone “is in the military machine’s sights.” Marcos warned that “the country is on the path to a social explosion and in the face of that four alternatives present themselves: 1) Calderón’s, which is the use of indiscriminate force, the alternative of massive repression; 2) gradual control and demobilizing, in other words that of the forces that point towards 2012 for an orderly change and a change without rupture; 3) that of chaos and civil war; and, finally, 4) that of an organized alternative, anti-capitalist and to the left, by the organizations, groups, collectives, families and individuals of the Other Campaign.” (La Jornada, May 29, trans. by De Tod@s Para Tod@s)

See our last posts on Mexico, the narco crisis, and the Zapatistas.

  1. PLAN COLOMBIA IS A LIE.
    The PLAN COLOMBIA IS BS. the only one who gets the money and put it in his pocket is Mr. Uribe, the Plan Colombia is made to keep having the guerrillas there because the US government owns the guerrillas and also the contras, this is a game that we in Colombia already know about. So Mr. Calderon wants to fill his pockets like Mr. Uribe, hmmmmm… that is good business at the expense of the American Tax Payers. If I was an american I wouldnt pay taxes to keep feeding the parasites in the World governments. The whole world should keep united to put an end to this Worldwide governments and monarchies mafias. AMERICAN PEOPLE, PLEASE WAKE UP, ALL OF YOU, THE MAFIA IS IN POWER, THE ROTHSCHILDS, ROCKEFELLERS, MONARCHIES, VATICAN AND ALL OF THEM, NEED TO PUT AN END TO THEIR MACHINATIONS.

  2. Narco Wars and The War on Drugs again!
    The war on drugs is a misnomer. Any nation seeking aid from the US to stop the flow of drugs has got to be using the stuff themselves! America is the largest importer of illegal drugs in the world. We need those drugs to kill off our poor and reduce their drain on society. We also need to “pad” the stock market with laundered drug money to keep it afloat now that we no longer produce anything of value. I can’t believe we are still hearing about this so called war on drugs. It’s a war to get the drugs into America to satisfy the rulers of America!