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News > Latin America

Interview: The Role of the Next US President in War on Drugs

Published 30 January 2016
Opinion

The new president of the U.S. will play an important role in the war on drugs against the cartels of narcotics traffickers in Latin America. 

The famous quote by Dictator Porfirio Diaz "poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States" makes sense whenever the political leadership in the White House is about to change. 

Mexican analyst John Ackerman spoke with teleSUR about the implications of new policies in the war on drugs against the drug cartels that former president Felipe Calderon initially started in 2006 at Washington’s behest.

“The worst case scenario would be if Hillary Clinton becomes president, she’s much worse than Barack Obama, in terms of international relations, she's much more of a hawk,” Ackerman said, assured that if elected, the Democratic presidential hopeful will continue “the repressive drug war politics.”

According to the analyst, Donald Trump could be a better option for Latin Americans, but not for U.S. citizens. “He will help us to justify and defend national sovereignty and would make more transparent and direct the United States in Latin America. However, our only hope would be Bernie Sanders.”

OPINION: Mexico Controlled by Politicians Linked to Drug Trafficking

Ackerman says that even when the U.S. claims it has advanced in its war on drugs, and has legalized marijuana in some states, the war on drugs in Latin America and especially in Mexico is still claiming lives everyday.

“The war on drugs and especially in Mexico has little or nothing to do with drugs, it is about social control, is about economic interests, particularly the NRA (National Rifle Association) gun interests for instance, is about national security, maintaining the violence in the south border and not the nort.,” he said.

Mexico has been for years stangled in the debate of legalizing drugs, but it has made little advances so far. The past presidents Vicente Fox, Calderon and current leader Enrique Peña Nieto have been aligned with the U.S. drug war policies. 

The analyst believes that the only way that Mexico and Latin America will get rid of the U.S. war on drugs is to have leaders who speak for their people without kowtowing to Washington's interests. 

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