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Mexico Institute in the News: Is Mexico's drug war strategy working?

Andrew Selee

President Calderon has used a military approach to combat the drug cartel problem in Mexico. Some wonder if tolerance or legalizing drugs would be a better approach.

CNN, February 16, 2012

Mexico has landed some hard punches against the drug cartels that have stirred violence in parts of the country -- at least on paper...

...The years of military involvement has not stopped the number of violent deaths from growing. The government has released only a partial death toll for 2011, which is expected to set a new record. The good news, the government said, is that the rate at which the killings were growing has slowed down considerably...

...slowdowns in violence are evidence that sending in the military does have an impact, said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

"I think the government overstates its case often, but there is progress,"...

...Mexico has made such strides that it's not impossible to imagine that

"they actually might get every major trafficker at some point," Selee said. "The glass is half full."...

Read the full article here.

About the Author

Andrew Selee

Andrew Selee

Former Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor to the Mexico Institute;
President, Migration Policy Institute
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Mexico Institute

The Mexico Institute seeks to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship. A binational Advisory Board, chaired by Luis Téllez and Earl Anthony Wayne, oversees the work of the Mexico Institute.   Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more