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"Tijuana is about as dangerous as Baltimore or Detroit; and much less dangerous than New Orleans," said Charles Pope, "but I don't think you get that perspective from the news." Pope is the interim director of the Trans-Border Institute at USD. On January 7, he spoke to 54 members of the Rancho Bernardo Rotary Club at the Bernardo Heights Country Club. He stressed that there are 5 to 6 homicides per 100,000 people in San Diego, 42 in Baltimore, 46 in Detroit, and 88 in New Orleans, due to lawlessness in the wake of the Katrina disaster. By comparison, he said, Tijuana has only 46.
"I don't want to diminish the fact that there is a very, very serious problem in Mexico," he said. (but) in my own, personal opinion, I don't think it's as bad as we're hearing about." I think it's a bit over-sensationalized in the media. I think it needs to be put in perspective. For one thing, ...most of the violence is happening in concentrated areas--Baja California, Sinora and the pacific states.
"I don't like the characterization that Mexico, as a whole, is a very, very dangerous place to go, when it (the drug violence) is only happening in certain states and there are some states where nothing is happening."
According to Pope, Mexican drug trafficking proliferated in the 1980s, when the U.S.began targeting the Carribean drug trade. In the 1990s, about 50 percent of U.S.-bound cocaine came from Mexico. In 2004, the figure rose to 94 percent.
"Essentially," Pope said, The Mexican drug cartels have become more powerful than cartels in Colombia." He attributes the problem to U.S. illegal drug consumption and U.S. sales of guns to the cartels.
For 70 years, the Mexican government turned a blind eye to the dirty business of the cartels. But when Presdent Vicente Fox took office, cartel members were arrested, detained, killed and extradited. Then Felipe Calderon became president in 2006 and militarized public security. He sent about 45,000 troops to troubled areas.
So how effective is the military in places like Chihuahua, Michoacan and Baja California? Pope claims that Calderon took this political strategy because the military is the most trusted and respected institution in Mexico. In a poll, it ranked higher in respectability than the Human Rights Commission.
However, Pope isn't convinced that this was the right strategy to take. Between 2001 and 2006, there were thousands of deserters, who jumped ship to work for the cartels--the more lucrative side to fight for. Many of these individuals have training in elite military operations.
The military hasn't been trained to fight Narco drug trafficking and has been accused of human rights abuses. "I don't think this is the right long-term solution," Pope said. "I think eventually, what Mexico is going to have to do is rely on police."
Meanwhile, all hell has broken loose with regard to the cartels. The cost of doing business has become much more expensive and the fragmentation has made them unpredictable. Leadership vacuums have caused cartel members to fight amongst themselves for territory. Therefore. most of the killing is done to each other.
"Tijuana is about as dangerous as Baltimore or Detroit; and much less dangerous than New Orleans," said Charles Pope, "but I don't think you get that perspective from the news." Pope is the interim director of the Trans-Border Institute at USD. On January 7, he spoke to 54 members of the Rancho Bernardo Rotary Club at the Bernardo Heights Country Club. He stressed that there are 5 to 6 homicides per 100,000 people in San Diego, 42 in Baltimore, 46 in Detroit, and 88 in New Orleans, due to lawlessness in the wake of the Katrina disaster. By comparison, he said, Tijuana has only 46.
"I don't want to diminish the fact that there is a very, very serious problem in Mexico," he said. (but) in my own, personal opinion, I don't think it's as bad as we're hearing about." I think it's a bit over-sensationalized in the media. I think it needs to be put in perspective. For one thing, ...most of the violence is happening in concentrated areas--Baja California, Sinora and the pacific states.
"I don't like the characterization that Mexico, as a whole, is a very, very dangerous place to go, when it (the drug violence) is only happening in certain states and there are some states where nothing is happening."
According to Pope, Mexican drug trafficking proliferated in the 1980s, when the U.S.began targeting the Carribean drug trade. In the 1990s, about 50 percent of U.S.-bound cocaine came from Mexico. In 2004, the figure rose to 94 percent.
"Essentially," Pope said, The Mexican drug cartels have become more powerful than cartels in Colombia." He attributes the problem to U.S. illegal drug consumption and U.S. sales of guns to the cartels.
For 70 years, the Mexican government turned a blind eye to the dirty business of the cartels. But when Presdent Vicente Fox took office, cartel members were arrested, detained, killed and extradited. Then Felipe Calderon became president in 2006 and militarized public security. He sent about 45,000 troops to troubled areas.
So how effective is the military in places like Chihuahua, Michoacan and Baja California? Pope claims that Calderon took this political strategy because the military is the most trusted and respected institution in Mexico. In a poll, it ranked higher in respectability than the Human Rights Commission.
However, Pope isn't convinced that this was the right strategy to take. Between 2001 and 2006, there were thousands of deserters, who jumped ship to work for the cartels--the more lucrative side to fight for. Many of these individuals have training in elite military operations.
The military hasn't been trained to fight Narco drug trafficking and has been accused of human rights abuses. "I don't think this is the right long-term solution," Pope said. "I think eventually, what Mexico is going to have to do is rely on police."
Meanwhile, all hell has broken loose with regard to the cartels. The cost of doing business has become much more expensive and the fragmentation has made them unpredictable. Leadership vacuums have caused cartel members to fight amongst themselves for territory. Therefore. most of the killing is done to each other.