MEXICO: The leftist mayor, who eyes the candidacy for the 2012 presidency, says the army should be taken off the street in drug war, adding the left must unify behind one candidate to win election

Record ID: 304087

  • Title: MEXICO: The leftist mayor, who eyes the candidacy for the 2012 presidency, says the army should be taken off the street in drug war, adding the left must unify behind one candidate to win election
  • Date: 5th May 2010
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (MAY 04, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL PALACE MEXICO CITY'S LEFTIST MAYOR, MARCELO EBRARD AT PUBLIC EVENT MEXICO CITY LOGO EBRARD PEOPLE AT EVENT CLAPPING EBRARD GREETING REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO CITY'S LEFTIST MAYOR, MARCELO EBRARD, SAYING: "Sending the army to do police work is a bad idea, anywhere in the world, because the army is not trained for that or has the faculties of the law. The army can't interrogate, can't request a search warrant. It's a bad idea for the state, for the society and for the soldiers. The army in that type of struggle should be an extreme measure and only for exceptional circumstances." EBRARD'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO CITY'S LEFTIST MAYOR, MARCELO EBRARD, SAYING: "I would substitute the army for a strong state police force with a well-defined plan to invest (in them). Let me explain why, Mexico City has 80,000 men. Not all of them on the street, you have the auxiliary police etc, but is we have an enormous emergency some day we could count with 80,000." MORE OF EBRARD'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO CITY'S LEFTIST MAYOR, MARCELO EBRARD, SAYING: "I say it has to do with the control of resources on behalf of the criminals. They have a lot of money and we take very little from them. It's a sand clock. If you have a country that is growing by two percent and you have a drug trafficking network with utilities that grow faster, they will have more people, more money and more investments and then it'll be very difficult to win the battle." MORE OF EBRARD'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEXICO CITY'S LEFTIST MAYOR, MARCELO EBRARD, SAYING: "And to reach an agreement with the United States about that, we don't need helicopters. That will not solve the problem. Mexico is not Colombia. I'm not saying this in a disparaging way but we are two very different countries. The type of strategy is very different. I think those four... The thing I'm saying about the United States because we need to have a level of economic growth that competes with the economic activity of drug trafficking, which is finally in dollars."
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAY0S7FMHKNB9MSCGE5TWI855L
  • Story Text: Mexico City's leftist Mayor Marcelo Ebrard would take the army off the street and find other ways to tackle drug trafficking should he win the 2012 presidential election.
    Ebrard, who has not formally thrown his hat in to be a presidential candidate for the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, told Reuters on Tuesday that Mexico is on the wrong track in its spiraling war on drug cartels.
    "Sending the army to do police work is a bad idea, anywhere in the world, because the army is not trained for that or has the faculties of the law. The army can't interrogate, can't request a search warrant. It's a bad idea for the state, for the society and for the soldiers. The army in that type of struggle should be an extreme measure and only for exceptional circumstances," Ebrard said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit.
    "I would substitute the army for a strong state police force with a well-defined plan to invest (in them). Let me explain why, Mexico City has 80,000 men. Not all of them on the street, you have the auxiliary police etc, but is we have an enormous emergency some day we could count with 80,000," Ebrard added.
    President Felipe Calderon, a conservative, made weakening drug gangs his first priority on taking office in late 2006 by rolling out tens of thousands of troops and federal police to key smuggling corridors across Mexico.
    But grisly drug killings have steadily surged since then to total nearly 23,000 deaths over his term, sullying Mexico's image abroad and worrying foreign investors and tourists.
    Ebrard, 50, a green-minded former police chief who has pushed progressive policies in the capital like gay marriage and abortion rights, said a possible national agenda for the left should include a change in drug war strategy.
    Calderon and his party are sinking in polls ahead of the 2012 election as the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, that ruled for seven decades until 2000 enjoys a rebound.
    The PRD, divided since losing the 2006 election to Calderon by a slim and disputed margin, is trailing in third place.
    Mexicans mostly support Calderon's army-backed war on drug gangs, but many say the government is losing the battle.
    Allegations of rights abuses by soldiers are rife as heavily armed troops carry out household raids and set up intimidating military checkpoints where they search cars and school buses and delve through handbags.
    A spate of civilian killings, including infants caught in the crossfire of shootouts between troops and drug hitmen, has dented support for Calderon's drug fight.
    Ebrard said having soldiers on the street sent the wrong message and provoked an atmosphere of violence.
    He also said lucrative drug gangs were overtaking the government in earnings.
    "I say it has to do with the control of resources on behalf of the criminals. They have a lot of money and we take very little from them. It's a sand clock. If you have a country that is growing by two percent and you have a drug trafficking network with utilities that grow faster, they will have more people, more money and more investments and then it'll be very difficult to win the battle," Ebrard said.
    "And to reach an agreement with the United States about that, we don't need helicopters. That will not solve the problem. Mexico is not Colombia. I'm not saying this in a disparaging way but we are two very different countries. The type of strategy is very different. I think those four... The thing I'm saying about the United States because we need to have a level of economic growth that competes with the economic activity of drug trafficking, which is finally in dollars," he added.
    Ebrard has emerged as a new face of Mexico's left after the radical Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador alienated moderate voters with rowdy protests claiming electoral fraud after his 2006 election defeat.
    Painting himself as a more modern leader, Ebrard hinted that if he were to run in 2012, it would be on a more investment-friendly platform, seeking to use free-market profits to invest in social programs.
    Ebrard said his idea for an anti-drug agenda would focus on education. He said 40 percent of teenagers between 15 and 19 are out of school and serve as recruits for criminal groups.
    He said he would promote new investments along the heavily industrial U.S.-Mexico border area -- where violence has started to scare away some businesses -- with a focus on green technologies and sophisticated health industry manufacturing.
    He would also seek to rout out money laundering and strengthen the police, often criticized as highly corrupt.
    Ebrard has won support by promoting leisure projects in the capital like a huge ice rink in the central Zocalo square and artificial beaches around the city in the hot summer.
    He has worked to meet environmental goals with city projects to expand public transport, like a rent-a-bicycle system to promote pedaling as alternative to gridlocked traffic.
    The left's chances of winning in 2012 look dim given its deep divisions. The PRD's popularity has been hit hard by a drawn out squabble to choose the party's leadership.
    Lopez Obrador has said he wants to run again for president but Ebrard says the left can only win if it unites behind one candidate.
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