I agree that the solution in the long run is the legalization of drugs. I have lived in central Mexico for the past six years. Calderon’s war that burst open a sore that lay quietly festering for decades.
It is true that the Mexican people do not have the stomach to do what it would really take to shut down the cartels violently. The beheadings and the kidnapping of civilians state loud and clear “the government cannot protect you” and the war is in their homes.
In the last few weeks, there has been more political murmuring about legalization here. Woe to the US if Mexicans decide that they’d rather accomodate the cartels than the US to that degree.
The Mexican state is not in danger of failing like Pakistan is. In Pakistan, the Taliban’s objectives are political. The cartels’ objectives are “business” and money. The ruling class’s objective is to keep the status quo. A deal will be made between the two groups.
