On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. In his inauguration speech, he called Mexico “a dangerous country largely ruled by cartels.”
[Originally published in Spanish on marxismo.mx]
In response, the Mexican government of Claudia Sheinbaum took a page from her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). She reminded the “gringo government” that it is the US that generates the deadly business of the cartels, as the drugs are trafficked and consumed by Americans.
Sheinbaum has promised not to revive the blood-soaked “war on drugs,” referring to the supposed direct confrontation of the Mexican state against the cartels which resulted in thousands of deaths and disappearances during previous administrations. Instead, she intends to maintain AMLO’s policy of addressing the root causes of violence, with preventive and intelligence-driven policies.
The problem is, although murder rates gradually decreased year after year under AMLO’s government, his six-year term was still the most violent in the history of the country. In other words, his policy did not work.
Meanwhile, growing clashes between different armed groups are driving up murder rates. The states of Sinaloa and Chiapas are especially plagued by open confrontations between different cartels for the control of territory. In these and other regions, the “no bullets” policy will not work, nor will the policy of simply deploying more army or national guard troops. The only strategy that can have a real impact against cartel violence is the massive mobilization of workers and youth to set up armed defense committees, taking their destiny into their hands. But this is far from what the government wants. In fact, its policy is moving in the opposite direction.
US imperialism and the cartels
It is worth noting that the US government has an open dialogue with the leaders of the cartels and US intelligence services roam freely throughout Mexico making deals behind the Mexican government’s back. This was made clear last fall with the FBI’s high profile arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder—along with “El Chapo”—of the infamous Sinaloa cartel.
If the imperialist US government wanted to shut down the cartels it could do so quickly without using arms: it could simply cut off arms trafficking from the US, negotiate with the leaders of the murderous enterprises, guarantee them a new life with a different identity, and seize the bank accounts of US drug traffickers. None of this is part of Trump’s plans.
Despite her lofty agitational rhetoric, in practice, Sheinbaum can do nothing to prevent deportations. / Image: EneasMx, Wikimedia Commons
Does this mean that his threats against the cartels are empty bluster? Not exactly. But above all, it’s an attempt to pressure the Mexican government to negotiate on issues like immigration and the fight against Chinese commodities and economic ties with the country. It’s also part of Trump’s constant search for scapegoats or distractions to strengthen his position when faced with internal problems.
The capitalist regime as a whole is not interested in ending drug trafficking because it is useful. First, because it is a lucrative business which greases the wheels of the global financial system, and secondly, because drug addiction helps subdue a part of the youth and the working class, plunging them into dependence and despair rather than organizing for class battles to win concrete demands.
Trump on immigration
Trump has also threatened the mass deportation of immigrants, many of them Mexicans. He has said that he will use the army for the raids and that he will continue to build the border wall to prevent more migrants from entering. Already, he has authorized the sending of 1,500 active duty troops to the border. We may well see the US military help Border Patrol deport countless thousands of people.
As in the case of drug trafficking, this is a case of double standards and doublespeak. While they oppose the entry of undocumented migrants on the one hand, on the other, the capitalists benefit from the arrival of millions under vulnerable conditions.
The movement of millions of human beings around the world does not happen by choice. There are economic, political, social, and even climatic reasons driving people to emigrate. All this, of course, is driven by capitalist domination around the world, and US imperialism, in particular, has benefited from this in many ways.
Trump’s policy aims not only at controlling world markets—it’s also part of the racist ideology of white supremacy which the ruling class has long used to divide working people. Whipping up anti-immigrant sentiment is very useful to hold the right wing together, creating an atmosphere of fear in the face of an “invasion.” Furthermore, it’s a threat against the countries from whence those millions of men and women come, since mass deportations will also put tremendous pressure on Latin American currencies and economies in general.
The Mexican government has prepared a strategy to support migrants with legal advice and has even set up shelters in case there are mass deportations. President Sheinbaum has publicly defended migrants and has said that they are not criminals, but workers. Despite this lofty agitational rhetoric, however, in practice, she can do nothing to prevent deportations. It clearly shows that the relationship between these countries is not one of equal parties.
Within the US, Trump’s provocations could lead to the defensive mobilization of millions of workers who entered that country illegally. These mobilizations should be accompanied by agitation and demonstrations in the streets by the unions and workers’ organizations throughout Latin America. However, this struggle will not be backed by the Mexican government, which has no interest in promoting the mass struggle and organization of the working class. Any real defense of the immigrant working class will be the task of the working class worldwide, and first and foremost, the US working class.