Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Mexico's Curbs On U.S. Cooperation In The War Against The Drug Cartels Is Raising Concerns In Washington


Mexico’s Curbs On U.S. Role In Drug Fight Spark Friction -- New York Times

MEXICO CITY — In their joint fight against drug traffickers, the United States and Mexico have forged an unusually close relationship in recent years, with the Americans regularly conducting polygraph tests on elite Mexican security officials to root out anyone who had been corrupted.

But shortly after Mexico’s new president, Enrique Peña Nieto, took office in December, American agents got a clear message that the dynamics, with Washington holding the clear upper hand, were about to change.

“So do we get to polygraph you?” one incoming Mexican official asked his American counterparts, alarming United States security officials who consider the vetting of the Mexicans central to tracking down drug kingpins. The Mexican government briefly stopped its vetted officials from cooperating in sensitive investigations. The Americans are waiting to see if Mexico allows polygraphs when assigning new members to units, a senior Obama administration official said.

Read more .....

Update #1: Mexico ends open access for US security agencies in fight against cartels -- FOX News/AP
Update #2: U.S. role at a crossroads in Mexico’s intelligence war on the cartels -- Washington Post

My Comment: Mexico is shifting it's enforcement policies on the drug war .... but I doubt that the drug cartels even care.

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