Globalist Takeaway: Human Rights Become “Collateral Damage” in the Mexican Drug War

by Clarissa Marzán:

The Mexican military and national police forces were called up to protect civilians in Mexico’s war against the country’s drug cartels, a war where over 30,000 people have died, yet 40% of aggressions against civilians were committed by Mexico’s own security forces. And Mexico’s upholding of military jurisdiction grants the militants almost complete impunity.

Ana Paula Hernández, a Yale World Fellow and co-founder of the Collective for an Integrated Drug Policy, revealed the paradoxical nature of these grim facts on Friday at Yale Law School. Hernández discussed that current drug policies, inspired by a United States prohibitionist approach, have been ineffective. “Drugs are as cheap and as available as they’ve ever been,” she said. She added that because we cannot have a drug-free world the aim should be to “eliminate the harm associated with drugs,” thus viewing the drug problems as a public health issue rather than an enforcement issue.

But Hernández says the root cause of the continually escalating number of casualties stems from the presence of the Mexican army in civilian areas. While Hernández notes that the military presence has always been a constant since the 1980s, the extreme consequences of their presence have never been as clear as it is now under President Calderón. Since the beginning of the use of the army there has been “a 300% increase of complaints for abuse committed by the military.” Abuses include harassment, disappearances, torture, rape, and executions. Yet the military is not being held accountable because of military jurisdiction, which the UN Human Right Commission has recommended to eliminate. But Hernández sees that the government “has no real political will” to eliminate military jurisdiction and send the militants to a civilian court to be tried.

Hernández believes that the military should not be used to handle public security. “The military is trained to look at the population as an enemy,” she said. In contrast, the police works with the population to protect civilians, but the police are easily corrupted by the cartels because of their poor working conditions: they lack life and health insurance and bulletproof vests, they must usually buy their own equipment, and they are grossly underpaid. Hernández believes that reforming the police force, especially democratic reform within the federal, state, and municipal police forces, is a step into improving civilian protection.

But Hernández also believes that there needs to be “an honest debate about alternative [drug policies].” She said there needs to be a focus on “harm reduction policy” and considering decriminalization or even legalization of certain drugs to reduce the power of the cartels. But Hernández said “We [Mexico] have a government that does not listen to its population.” She stressed that the government will not be open to debate alternative approaches to drug policy if it continues to believe that the current policy is working.

Clarissa Marzán ’14 is in Pierson College. Contact her at clarissa.marzan@yale.edu.