The Drug War in Mexico by Indonesia
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The Drug War in Mexico by Indonesia
I. Mexico serves as a transit passage for illicit drug trafficking to the United States as well as Europe (12). Felipe Calderon, the Mexican President, has assigned approximately 50,000 soldiers to combat the drug trafficking until the local police are self-sufficient and self-sustainable (7). Since then, more than 28,000 of those soldiers have been killed (7). The war on drugs cripples the nation of Mexico, seeing that combating drug trafficking puts the country at a 46% poverty rate (4). Approximately 90% of the cocaine that enters the United States is said to be originated from Mexico (6). According to Drug War Facts, 64,000 out of 94,000 weapons that were seized in the last 5 years originated from the United States alone (3). According to the Corruption Perception Index that is done by Transparency International, Mexico ranks 105/176, with a score of 34/100 with 0 being the most corrupt (1). According to Transparency International, the control of corruption has been increasing and is currently at 44% (1). In 2010, Mexico has shown success in reducing corruption in the law enforcement sector by firing approximately 3,200 officers out of 34,500, which is an estimated total of 10% of the police force (6).
II. To tackle the problem of international organized crime, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was created in 1997 (10). Since then, the UNODC has played a huge role in combatting drug trafficking within Latin America, Mexico, and the Caribbean (10). The UNODC has done so by providing training programs to help countries create well-trained law enforcement investigators, personnel, judges, prosecutors, customs officials, as well as intelligence analysts (12). Another primary focus that the UNODC has focused on is border control, in which the UNODC has created the UNODC Container Control Pilot Programme which has been effective in Ecuador, Ghana, Senegal, as well as Pakistan (11). For Mexico, the UNODC is working towards the establishment of a Border Liaison Office, which strengthens border control and promotes the exchange of information between nations to combat the illicit drug trade, and it has been established in many countries such as the United States, Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Thailand (13).
III. Indonesia has strict penalties for the drug usage as well as drug trafficking, such as the possibility of the death penalty for foreigners as well as Indonesians (14). Currently, Indonesia is cooperating with Malaysia in order to combat drug trafficking (5). Indonesia focuses on its maritime border control as well as a network of information exchange between Malaysia (5). This is why Indonesia would like to focus on three major objectives: increasing law enforcement capacity with training, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of land, maritime, as well as air border control, and increasing the exchange of information between countries through bi-lateral talks as well as regional talks. First, Indonesia would like to focus on increasing the law enforcement capacity and improving the training done by working closely with the UNODC. In the past, the UNODC has created workshops to train law enforcement personnel, investigators, judges, prosecutors, and customs officials (12). By doing so, Mexico will have a strengthened police force as well as a strong