WOLA - At the root of the violence

WOLA is pleased to present “At the Root of the Violence,” the English translation of an article by Eduardo Guerrero Gutiérrez that was originally published in Spanish in June 2011.

The author makes a compelling case for shifting from the current drug control strategy to reduce the horrific violence that has been spreading in Mexico. Guerrero contends:

“The [Mexican government’s] punitive strategy shows clear signs of having run its course. The current saturation of the federal security forces, dispersed on several fronts, has ended up diminishing their effectiveness. This has driven the authorities to operate with greater brutality and less precision, increasing the deaths of innocent persons and eroding the reputation of the federal security forces in the eyes of public opinion.”

“In response to this situation, there is a need to reformulate the strategy and gear it toward reducing the violence, which implies selectively dismantling the organizations based on the criteria of the harm they cause society. Such a strategy would be focused on pursuing the most violent organizations sequentially, with the idea of discouraging the others from engaging in this type of conduct.”

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