slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
Mexico's presidential candidates have offered so few specifics about the No. 1 issue to voters -- how to tame the grisly violence of their nearly six-year-long drug war -- that, in the words of Juarez news photographer Julian Cardona, "It's as if they're living in another country."
That's fueled a cottage industry of contradictory speculation. "Candidates in Mexico signal a new tack in the drug war," proclaimed a New York Times headline on June 10.
"Mexico election unlikely to reshape drug war," the Los Angeles Times declared on June 24.
So what to expect from "PRI" party candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, who's riding an outsized lead in the polls going into Sunday's election?
To find out, we went to see Luis Videgaray. His title as campaign manager vastly understates his influence with the candidate.
This MIT-educated economist is Pena Nieto's closest adviser and, as the Wall Street Journal put it, "broadly seen as the brains behind the candidate."
Without hesitation, Videgaray said Pena Nieto is determined to reorient President Felipe Calderon's current approach, which has deployed the Mexican army and Marines to break up the most powerful drug cartels and bring down its kingpins.
"As a country we should acknowledge that we have learned something ... a painful learning over this past six years," Videgaray said. Put simply, the fight must be reorient those forces to end the killing spree that's claimed more than 55,000 Mexican lives.
"Enrique Pena Nieto has said that we need to very quickly prioritize reducing violence," he said. If not, "we as a country are endangering the social support for fighting crime."
In other words, to keep the Mexican public behind the fight, people will have to be able to work, shop and go to school once again without fearing for their lives.
That doesn't mean, Videgaray quickly added, making deals or colluding with cartels as some PRI governors -- and those of other partners, too -- have done.
But in a world of limited money and security manpower, it would mean "perhaps not doing some other things that need resources now."
The argument for refocusing the fight was passionately made to us over enchiladas and potent Mexican mezcal one night by Mexico City businessman and co-founder of "Mexico United Against Violence" Armando Santacruz: To wit: any new president's first responsibility will be to protect his own people, not prevent cocaine shipments to drug-hungry consumers in the United States.
"Let's recover our cities, our highways, let's reduce the kidnapping rates, and let's deal as much as we can with drug trafficking. But it's not going to be our primary focus," Santacruz said. "Our primary focus is, we live here, our parents live here, our grandparents live here, our kids are going to be living here. We've got to recover the safety for everyone. "
Santacruz argues the best way to do that is to hammer the most violent cartels operating in Mexico and their customers in the United States, starting with the atrocity-happy Zetas, even if that means letting the others be.
"Criminals in the end are human beings who respond to incentives, so if you beat very hard on the violent ones they'll learn that well maybe we should conduct our trade on a more peaceful fashion," he said.
That's fueled a cottage industry of contradictory speculation. "Candidates in Mexico signal a new tack in the drug war," proclaimed a New York Times headline on June 10.
"Mexico election unlikely to reshape drug war," the Los Angeles Times declared on June 24.
So what to expect from "PRI" party candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto, who's riding an outsized lead in the polls going into Sunday's election?
To find out, we went to see Luis Videgaray. His title as campaign manager vastly understates his influence with the candidate.
This MIT-educated economist is Pena Nieto's closest adviser and, as the Wall Street Journal put it, "broadly seen as the brains behind the candidate."
Without hesitation, Videgaray said Pena Nieto is determined to reorient President Felipe Calderon's current approach, which has deployed the Mexican army and Marines to break up the most powerful drug cartels and bring down its kingpins.
"As a country we should acknowledge that we have learned something ... a painful learning over this past six years," Videgaray said. Put simply, the fight must be reorient those forces to end the killing spree that's claimed more than 55,000 Mexican lives.
"Enrique Pena Nieto has said that we need to very quickly prioritize reducing violence," he said. If not, "we as a country are endangering the social support for fighting crime."
In other words, to keep the Mexican public behind the fight, people will have to be able to work, shop and go to school once again without fearing for their lives.
That doesn't mean, Videgaray quickly added, making deals or colluding with cartels as some PRI governors -- and those of other partners, too -- have done.
But in a world of limited money and security manpower, it would mean "perhaps not doing some other things that need resources now."
The argument for refocusing the fight was passionately made to us over enchiladas and potent Mexican mezcal one night by Mexico City businessman and co-founder of "Mexico United Against Violence" Armando Santacruz: To wit: any new president's first responsibility will be to protect his own people, not prevent cocaine shipments to drug-hungry consumers in the United States.
"Let's recover our cities, our highways, let's reduce the kidnapping rates, and let's deal as much as we can with drug trafficking. But it's not going to be our primary focus," Santacruz said. "Our primary focus is, we live here, our parents live here, our grandparents live here, our kids are going to be living here. We've got to recover the safety for everyone. "
Santacruz argues the best way to do that is to hammer the most violent cartels operating in Mexico and their customers in the United States, starting with the atrocity-happy Zetas, even if that means letting the others be.
"Criminals in the end are human beings who respond to incentives, so if you beat very hard on the violent ones they'll learn that well maybe we should conduct our trade on a more peaceful fashion," he said.
