Provoking Controversy

Former White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey published an article in Lyndon LaRouche's Executive Intelligence Review in which the retired general said that Mexico was on the verge of turning into a narco-state. Hilariously, the article credits McCaffrey wtih "blowing the lid of the narco-insurgency," as if he was Bob Woodward and the heavily publicized, thoroughly documented, decades-long growth in Mexico's drug-trafficking industry was a Watergate-sized secret. 

Aside from the narco-state line, the article is thorough and straightforward, and makes a pretty good if not particularly ground-breaking case for paying more attention to Mexico. But, of course, everyone is focusing only that particular label. It's also frustrating that McCaffrey doesn't define narco-state (no one who makes the suggestion does), preferring to leave it to grow in the reader's imagination. 

Given McCaffrey's problematic history in assessing the Mexican drug trade, you'd think he'd want to steer clear of such bold pronouncements. McCaffrey should also have enough self-awareness to realize he remains one of, if not the, most controversial American drug warriors in Mexico, and any insight he has, no matter how penetrating, will only cause indignation here. Indeed, his article managed to unify the three major political parties (with some exceptions) behind the banner of Quiet Down, General. Such indignation does not bring out the best in Mexican politicians: the PAN's Felipe González said that if the United States was serious about tackling the drug trade, then Mexican organized crime "would end in a month." That is, of course, laughable. So, as his point is that Mexico and the United States both most work together to confront the matter, McCaffrey's readiness to make public comments on this in and of itself is an obstacle.