A variety of Mexican groups along the U.S. border are making international headlines by clamoring for United Nations “peacekeeping” troops to come crack down on the violence plaguing the region.

The Mexican military has already deployed almost 10,000 federal troops and special police in Ciudad Juarez, but the murder, extortion and kidnapping continues. Over 2,000 killings have rocked the city of about 1.4 million people just this year, giving it one of the highest murder rates in the world. Tortured bodies are frequently dumped in the streets.

The situation has become so dire that an estimated 6,000 businesses have already closed or moved out of the city. Regular people report being in fear for their lives simply walking down the street.  

In response, local civic and business leaders are calling for global military intervention via the U.N.’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The coalition is submitting the formal request for help through the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Mexican government.

"This is a proposal ... for international forces to come here to help out the domestic (security) forces," said Daniel Murguia, the local president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism, which also appealed to U.S. military police for help. He explained that businesses were being robbed and extorted. "We have seen the UN peacekeepers enter other countries that have a lot fewer problems than we have."

The U.N. does indeed have troops deployed across the world. The organization boasts on its website that it has over 110,000 personnel spread across 18 “peace operations” on four continents, who are “directly impacting the lives of hundreds of millions of people.” This is an eight-fold increase from a decade ago, with the U.S., of course, paying one fourth of the budget. 

Other border business leaders joined the calls for U.N forces as well. "What we are asking for with the blue helmets (U.N. peacekeepers) is that we know they are the army of peace, so we could use not only the strategies they have developed in other countries ... but they also have technology," the president of a Mexican manufacturing association told the Associated Press. "We know that sooner or later, the violence will spill over into our sister city of El Paso, Texas."

Indeed, just across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez lies the American city of El Paso, which has already started reporting some violence spilling across the border. But if the proposal is accepted, there would likely be U.N. troops patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, just a few dozen feet from U.S. soil.  

Governor Jose Reyes of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located, was quoted in Mexican media saying that “intervention by the U.N. in the security of Ciudad Juarez should be something that the federal government defines.” He appealed to the U.S. government for help clamping down on illegal gun imports from the U.S., though it is well known that corrupt Mexican military and police officials supply a significant portion of the heavy weaponry used by cartels. Guns are illegal in Mexico for the common people.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Felipe Calderon rejected the calls for foreign soldiers to resolve the internal conflict. According to Mexican news reports, he acknowledged having respect and understanding for the locals' point of view. But he emphasized that in his opinion, the key was better local, state, federal, and military cooperation in the matter.  

The U.N. Security Council would have to approve any international troop deployments, and officials from the organization have indicated that they do not necessarily believe it is needed. “It is a very long process that also, in truth, I don’t see as absolutely justified here in Mexico,” said a representative for the U.N.’s regional anti-drug office. The Mexican federal government would likely have to agree as well.

But the security environment in Mexico is certainly bleak. The U.S. Joint Forces Command actually warned early this year in its Joint Operating Environment report that the Mexican government was at risk of “rapid and sudden collapse.” The document noted that the “government, its politicians, police, and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels,” and that Mexico is becoming a failed state could have drastic implications for U.S. security.

Despite the seriousness, however, there are far better solutions to the problem than the use of U.N. troops on America’s border. Ending the failed and unconstitutional war on drugs in the U.S. would likely eliminate the gangs and cartels entirely, since they would be immediately starved of their main source of revenue. Meanwhile, Americans should insist on properly securing the southern border, at the very least to prevent the spread of violence and crime.  

But the true victims of this war are the innocent Mexican people stuck in the cross fire, prohibited from exercising their inalienable right to self-defense in the face of ruthless marauders. Ending Mexico’s war on guns would certainly improve the security situation. And cleaning up rampant corruption would help too, since Mexican government structures are rife with criminals, cartel members and bribed officials — many paid for with the billions in drug profits ironically made possible by the war on drugs. But as long as the U.S. government continues to cheerlead and fund Mexico’s “war on drugs” to the tune of billions of dollars, the violence will persist and even deteriorate. 

Alex Newman is an American freelance writer and the president of Liberty Sentinel Media, Inc., a small media consulting firm. He is currently living in Sweden and has spent most of his life in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. He has a degree in foreign languages and speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian and a little Swedish and Afrikaans. In addition, he earned a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, with emphasis on economics and international relations.

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rprew

November 13, 2009

72.201.107.33

Votes: +8

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...

For three hundred years, Mexico was squeezed for its wealth, which was then sent to Spain. When Mexico finally freed themselves of Spain, the mindset of the people was relatively unchanged. The oppressors remained, the only difference being their nationality. Mexico in the 19th and into the 20th century was one of cyclical repression followed by revolution followed by repression. Mexico today is a dichotomy. There are areas which are modern, and yet there are also vast areas which have not even reached basic levels of sanitation, communication, or infrastructure common in the United States, Canada, Europe, etc.

The people are poor, taxed, denied common rights such as the right to self defense. The government is corrupt on all levels. They are unable to clean up the corruption because the people charged to do the cleanup are themselves corrupt. There is 400 years of history here that cannot be ignored.

The border violence is largely centered around drugs and human trafficking. If the United States would stop the useless, costly, counter productive war on drugs and concentrate on making a serious attempt to secure the border, the reasons for the violence will have been largely eliminated. (As an aside, the vast majority of the weapons used by the cartels did not originate in the United States.)

The last thing I want to see is a bunch of blue helmeted storm troopers sitting on our borders. These troops are anything but "peace keepers". remember Katanga!

DDW

November 13, 2009

173.74.213.85

Votes: +8

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Mexico would be only the first

To "host" the U.N. "peacekeeping" troops. It would probably be a very short time before they would be "keeping peace" right here in these United States. Get these United States OUT of the U.N. and get the U.N. OUT of these United States. Bring our men home and secure the southern AND northern borders.

rprew

November 13, 2009

72.201.107.33

Votes: +2

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UN troops in the US?

"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenarios, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.", Henry Kissinger, May 21, 1991

Mike Powers

November 14, 2009

115.133.53.182

Votes: +1

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Northern border?

I wholeheartedly agree with DDW especially on the northern and southern border situations.A totally U.S.backed and financed border command to keep unwanted Americans from crossing the border into Canada.Great idea keeps out that unwanted hord and saves Canadians yet another tax burden.Have you noticed among you the 2 million resident Canadians living and working in the U.S.?....No?....Exactly!

Bob Donohoo

November 14, 2009

68.225.162.101

Votes: +4

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Is this the purpose of the War on Drugs?

To understand the reason for some issue it is often good to look at the results.

Could it be that the reason for the supposed "War of Drugs" is to give rise to and legitimacy to a U.N. military?

Is the U.S. next?

Fred Frankenberg

November 15, 2009

24.228.202.48

Votes: +0

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We can stop problems like this right away

We can stop criminals making huge profits from selling illegal drugs here in the US. Just legalize them. The only way we'd win a drug war is if we lived in a parralel reality where drugs did not exist.

Metin2 yang

November 25, 2009

222.212.152.31

Votes: +0

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November 27, 2009

123.153.70.24

Votes: +0

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wow gold

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watches

November 27, 2009

123.153.70.24

Votes: +0

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http://www.canwatches.com/ , individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government."

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November 27, 2009

123.153.70.24

Votes: +1

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handbags

It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. http://www.mybagsroom.com/

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