By Adam B. Kushner | NEWSWEEK Published Mar 28, 2009 From the magazine issue dated Apr 6, 2009

Once upon a time, Mexico was only an adjunct in the war on drugs, which Gen. Barry McCaffrey fought in his job as Bill Clinton's drug czar. The Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran used to see Latin America through the lens of Colombia, where he persuaded Clinton to initiate an aid program that helped topple the cartels. Now though, Mexico is ground zero—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was there in March to pledge American support—and McCaffrey has plenty of advice. He chatted with NEWSWEEK's Adam B. Kushner. Excerpts:

KUSHNER: So how bad is it?

MCCAFFREY: The good news about the administration in Mexico is that they're paying attention.

That's a departure.

Oh, yeah. You have the president personally addressing the issue and dispatching three cabinet officers—State, Homeland Security and attorney general—to engage. It hadn't happened in several years.
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What's the bad news?

On both sides of the border, political authorities are tempted to be in denial of the scope of the problem. A senior Mexican official just said the crime rate in Mexico is lower than in New Orleans. That's preposterous! It implies that New Orleans has squads of police being abducted, tortured to death, decapitated. Some American mayors say the crime wave hasn't yet hit U.S. cities, which is errant nonsense. Phoenix has seen more than 300 home invasions. American citizens have disappeared crossing the border. On both sides of the border, you hear, "This is criminal-on-criminal mayhem." Since when is that exculpatory?

Is denial worse in municipalities than in Washington?

The worst denial is in Mexico. We had the mayor of Ciudad Juárez hiding out with his family in El Paso; the police chief resigned, his two predecessors having been murdered; in some of the small towns on the border, the entire police force has quit. The problem is getting worse.

And the solution?

Step one is engagement, and we're there. Step two is resources commensurate with the problem. We just sent 300 officers to the 2,000-mile border, where more than 100,000 cartel members roam. At the same time, we're deploying more than 17,000 military personnel to Afghanistan.

Is this a greater problem than Afghanistan?

What I'd say is that the dominant foreign-policy interests of the United States—in economics, in homeland security—are Canada and Mexico. If you don't engage those two countries seriously, you don't have a sense of what's important to the American people.

Will Mexico be a failed state?

That's a political red herring. It's true that things will get worse, but the administration is being very careful not to call it a failed state.

Don't they lack control of their territory?

Yes! I heard a senior Mexican say, "We haven't lost control of our territory." That's categorically not the case.

So then what constitutes a failed state?

There was a point in 2000 when one third of Colombia had no national police presence. That's not happening in Mexico, and I can't imagine a situation where a narcoguerrilla force could run the army out of town. On the other hand, in midday they hung a policeman's body on a bridge in Juárez, and the police couldn't cut it down until after dark.

What should Clinton's trip accomplish?

Their sensitivity to our public pronouncements is unbelievable, so they were thrilled when she said, "We're in this together, it's the same lifeboat." We have to be aware that they think we're imperialistic, arrogant and ignorant of the conditions there, all of which are true. This accomplishes step one: The Americans are listening to us.

Let's say you have all the resources you need for this fight. What's the strategy?

Any civilized nation puts together law enforcement to control its own frontiers in cooperation with its neighbors. We don't control our own frontiers in any way. There should be 45,000 people—not 18,000—on border patrol, and we need real and virtual fencing. The second thing is to provide resources, in deference to Mexican sovereignty, to support their internal efforts. I'm told there are eight ATF agents doing gun smuggling into Mexico—six here, two there. C'mon! There are 2,000 weapons per day going into Mexico.

Tourist Zones Up To 26 Times Safer In Mexico Than U.S.A.

New research comparing homicide rates in the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico shows that Mexican tourist zones are much safer than those in the U.S.A. and many tourists are probably safer on vacation in Mexico than when on vacation or living at home.”

We knew Mexico’s tourist areas were safe, but our homicide rate research really put things in perspective. Many tourists are probably safer on vacation in Mexico than when on vacation or living at home.

(Issues Wire / PRWEB) April 16, 2009 — New homicide rate research released today by Mexican real estate agency, RE/MAX Investment Properties, indicates that major tourist zones in Mexico are up to 26 times safer than some tourist zones in the U.S.A.

The Mexican state of Baja California Sur - location of tourist zones Los Cabos, La Paz and Loreto - has a homicide rate 26 times lower than Orlando, 18 times lower than Miami, 17 times lower than West Palm Beach, 12 times lower than Tampa and half that of Honolulu.

The Mexican state of Quintana Roo - location of tourist zones Cancun and the Riviera Maya - has a homicide rate 14 times lower than Orlando, 10 times lower than Miami, 9 times lower than West Palm Beach, 6 times lower than Tampa and lower than that of Honolulu.

The study looks at homicide rates for the first 3 months of 2009 in 15 Mexican states and compares them with the average 3 month homicide rates for 18 cities in the U.S.A. and 9 cities in Canada in 2007 and 2008.

The figures also show that Mexican tourist zones are even safer when the homicide rate is compared with major cities in the U.S.A. and Canada, where many tourists to Mexico have their homes.

For example, Baja California Sur has a homicide rate 39 times lower than Washington D.C., 19 times lower than Houston, 17 times lower than Dallas, 7 times lower than the city of New York and 3 times lower than Vancouver.

Gary Almedal, Broker at RE/MAX Investment Properties, said, “We knew Mexico’s tourist areas were safe, but our homicide rate research really put things in perspective. Many tourists are probably safer on vacation in Mexico than when on vacation or living at home.”

As President Obama visits Mexico, most hope that the research will help overcome the recent representation in some media of Mexico as a violent country all over.

The new study shows most violence in Mexico is restricted to isolated zones in Chihuahua, Guerrero and U.S. border areas. Mexico’s biggest tourist areas remain a paradise for vacationers.