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The government is concerned with the steady increase in homicides directly related to organized crime and are trying to avoid the “Mexicanization” of the country.
While security experts in Argentina have expressed their concern over the “Mexicanization” of the country due to a steadily increasing rate of violence linked to organized crime, the government this Tuesday declared a one-year national public safety emergency in a bid to reduce drug trafficking and its consequences.
“The objective is to reverse the situation of collective danger created by crime, organized crime and drug trafficking,” the government of President Mauricio Macri said.
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The official statement highlights that among other issues, “the problems that drug trafficking poses in the country not only affects public health and the security of citizens, but is also a grave violation of national sovereignty because it is clearly a crime that is transnational.”
The government added that in face of such circumstances, authorities have considered that the current situation “merits adopting measures that allow to make extreme use of state resources.”
Even though Argentina has one of the lowest homicide rates in Latin America, authorities are concerned that violent killings have steadily been increasing at a rate of about 16 percent per year. The last available figures are from 2013, when almost 4,000 homicides were reported.
According to the emergency declaration, the government has decided to implement stricter controls at borders, ports of entry and airspace, including shooting down all aircraft that is considered hostile.
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In February of last year, even Pope Francis urged the Argentine government to do everything in its power to avoid the “Mexicanization of Argentina,” a statement that obviously caused outrage in Mexico. The Foreign Ministry of Mexico sent a letter of complaint to the Vatican.
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