MADELEINE BRAND, host:
From NPR News, it's Day to Day. Mexico could collapse if it doesn't get control of the drug war there. That's the conclusion of two reports, one from the Defense Department, the other from former drug czar Barry McCaffrey, who says Mexico is, quote, "on the edge of the abyss."
NPR's Mexico City correspondent Jason Beaubien is in Tijuana. And Jason, that sounds pretty dire, "on the edge of the abyss." What are these reports saying?
JASON BEAUBIEN: Both of these reports are basically saying that the drug war in Mexico at the moment is escalating, and it's out of control in some parts of the country, and that the U.S. should be considering that these confrontations that the Mexican state is having with drug cartels almost all across the country could push the state into a failed state.
BRAND: A failed state. So what actually could trigger that? What could push Mexico over the edge?
BEAUBIEN: At the moment, you've got an escalation of this drug war. And when Felipe Calderon came in as president in 2006, he went after the drug gangs. And over the course of last year, that war escalated dramatically. You had a doubling of the killings. You've got parts of the country, particularly Juarez, to a lesser extent here in Tijuana, where the killings have just gone up astronomically. You have killings. Drug-related killings in Juarez increased five times last year.
Basically, police in Juarez have thrown up their hands and said, we cannot contain this. And they're not attempting to contain it. The state is no longer able to do what it needs to do in Juarez. And these reports are saying that that could spread quite dramatically to other parts of the country.
BRAND: So basically, the Mexican army and the police officers, they can't do anything? They can't outfight these drug gangs?
BEAUBIEN: Actually, I have a really interesting example in Juarez that just happened this week. You had a student from the university abducted by people in army uniforms. And the army yesterday released a press release saying, don't just take them for being army just because they're in army uniforms, and we aren't really responsible for his abduction and torture and killing.
The military went on to say that, you know, our people only move in groups of 15. So this clearly wasn't us that was doing it. It's that kind of lawlessness that is occurring and that's really a threat. These gangs are incredibly well armed. They've got billions of dollars worth of resources from the drugs that they're smuggling into the U.S. They're getting tons of weapons. There were a half a million rounds of ammunition seized in Mexicali earlier this week. They were coming in from the U.S. This is a war. This is being fought with military-style weapons. And these reports are pointing out that it's a real threat to U.S. security.
BRAND: So if they are out-financing, out-arming, and out-organizing the Mexican army, what can be done? What can the U.S. do?
BEAUBIEN: Well, the U.S. has put up $1.6 billion in the Merida Initiative. Only a fraction of that has actually gotten released. It's going to be for equipment and training. The Mexicans, on their side, are saying that they would like the U.S. to do more to curb demand for these drugs, which is fueling the drug cartels, and also clamp down on the weapons that are flowing from the U.S. back into Mexico. That's what the Mexicans would like to do.
Basically, these reports are saying the U.S. just really needs to be paying attention to this and giving more thought to what is going on and the seriousness of the problem that's occurring south of its border.
BRAND: Jason, thank you.
BEAUBIEN: You're welcome.
BRAND: That's NPR's Jason Beaubien reporting from Tijuana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
