COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME AND DRUG TRAFFICKING IN MEXICO: WHAT ARE MEXICAN AND U.S. STRATEGIES? ARE THEY WORKING?

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Chapter%2011-Combating%20Organized%20Crime%20and%20Drug%20Trafficking%20in%20Mexico,%20What%20are%20Mexican%20and%20US%20Strategies.pdf

U.S. STRATEGY: FOLLOW MEXICO’S LEAD

The U.S. and Mexican national governments have cooperated increasingly closely 

to combat drug trafficking since the latter 1980s.36 Complicating this cooperation 

is Mexico’s sensitivity about real and perceived U.S. intervention into its domestic 

affairs (thus the U.S. insistence on following Mexico’s lead) and the distant relations 

between the Mexican and U.S. armed forces (thus the difficulty in dealing with 

Mexico’s Army, the main instrument to combat OC/DTO). It is useful to consider 

U.S. strategy in both general and border-centric perspectives.