As drug-related violence continues surging in Mexico, new reservations are being raised about the multi-billion dollar aid program the United States has funded for more than a decade to help the Mexican government wage its increasingly violent drug war. But many of the critics nonetheless seem determined to stay the course.
More than 35,000 Mexicans were murdered in 2019, a new record. Perhaps as many as 150,000 Mexicans have been intentionally killed in the drug war since it began in 2006.
In recent months, Mexico’s drug war has featured wild gun battles in town centers, the grisly massacre of a Mormon family, the arming of children to defend against drug cartels, and allegations that one former top Mexican official amassed a fortune from one of the country’s most powerful cartels.
More than 35,000 Mexicans were murdered in 2019, a new record. Perhaps as many as 150,000 Mexicans have been intentionally killed in the drug war since it began in 2006.
The New York Times
Mexican Army soldiers on patrol in Reynosa, Mexico.
Through it all, the U.S. government has been helping the Mexican government wage the drug war through the Mérida Initiative, a program the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations have all supported. Early on, the United States provided Mexico with advanced military training and equipment, including aircraft and Blackhawk helicopters. Since then, the program has expanded to include police training, intelligence sharing, border security, justice sector reform, and crime prevention projects.
Altogether, Congress has appropriated more than $3 billion for the Mérida Initiative, according to a newly updated Congressional Research Service report.
Although the Mérida Initiative has received broad bipartisan support, some Congress members are growing increasingly concerned about it. During a Congressional hearing on January 15, a number of officials blasted the program for failing to end drug-related violence.
“I think it’s a dismal failure,” said Representative Ted Yoho, Republican of Florida. Representative Vicente Gonzalez, Democrat of Texas, agreed, calling the Mérida Initiative “a monumental failure.”
So far this year, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs has held two hearings on the drug war, raising critical new questions about the United States’ role. Some officials have questioned whether they should continue supporting the Mérida Initiative.
“As members of Congress, we need to be willing to look critically at which programs are working and which are not,” U.S. Congressman Albio Sires, Democrat of New Jersey, said at the hearing in January.
Many expert witnesses at the hearings acknowledged that the Mérida Initiative has failed to curb the violence and reduce the power of the drug cartels. “It has failed to achieve those goals,” said former U.S. official Richard Miles.
Yet all of the witnesses argued that the program should continue. Miles said the program “is paying dividends” by creating a stronger relationship between Mexico and the United States. He praised the Mérida Initiative for making Mexican officials “much more open to and accepting of U.S. advice and assistance.”
“The Mérida Initiative also has created a framework for direct military-to-military training and cooperation,” Miles added, citing the growing number of joint military exercises.
David Shirk, the director of Justice in Mexico, an organization that receives funding from the Mérida Initiative, has defended the program. After noting at a hearing in January that “the Mérida Initiative could be seen as a failure,” Shirk insisted that Congress should focus on the ways in which it has reformed Mexican institutions and improved bilateral relations.
For the time being, Congress seems unlikely to stop funding the Mérida Initiative, but some officials are growing increasingly concerned by the implications of ongoing warfare for the Mexican people.
“Part of our goal has been to partner more effectively with Mexico to ensure cooperation between our two governments,” Shirk said. “And in that regard, the Mérida Initiative has been a huge success.”
Officials in the Trump Administration have also supported the Mérida Initiative. While saying little publicly about the program, they have continued providing the Mexican government with various forms of assistance and training.
However, in 2018, The Progressive reported that the Trump Administration has quietly funded the drug war while pressuring Mexican officials to take a tougher approach.
President Donald Trump, who has been thinking about designating the drug cartels as terrorist organizations, announced last December that he will “temporarily hold off this designation” while Mexico and the United States “step up our joint efforts to deal decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations.”
In February, several administration officials told Congress that the Mérida Initiative provided a useful platform for partnering with the Mexican government against the cartels.
“I will be the first to acknowledge that current statistics make it hard to argue we are making headway,” State Department official Richard Glenn conceded. “Nonetheless, these sobering numbers are exactly why we must continue to work closely with Mexico.”
But not all experts agree that the Mexican government should continue waging a war against drug cartels. Human rights organizations have been highly critical of the militarized approach, arguing for years that it has been contributing to the violence.
While Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised during his presidential campaign in 2018 to take a new approach, he has largely continued the drug war. Although he declared last year that the drug war is over, he created a new National Guard to combat the cartels.
For the time being, Congress seems unlikely to stop funding the Mérida Initiative, but some officials are growing increasingly concerned by the implications of ongoing warfare for the Mexican people.
“They've lost more people to violence in the last two years than we did in the entire war in Vietnam,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, we couldn't stomach seeing body bags coming in this way. It's amazing that this is happening right next door, and we kind of sometimes look the other way here in Congress.”