It was announced Sunday that the US will seek extradition of Mexico's recently captured and most notorious drug lord and head of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. Eric Holder, US Attorney General, called his apprehension "a victory for the citizens of both Mexico and the US." A variety of other high-level US government officials issued similar statements, and it is speculated that he would be tried in federal court in Brooklyn.
These statements track with the US attitude toward the so-called "War on Drugs" that began in early 2007 when Felipe Calderón dispatched the army to occupy notorious drug-trafficking zones. In 2008, the US donated $1.6B to Mexico and Central America as part of the Mérida Initiative – a three year international assistance plan and security cooperation agreement. In 2009, then Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano provided Senate testimony that the US Justice Department considered the Mexican cartels to be the greatest organized crime threat to the US. And it was the result of a yearlong joint US-Mexican task force that El Chapo was apprehended.
The Department of Justice argues that the cartels have infiltrated more than 200 cities nationwide, and blame them for spikes in violence and drug consumption. American officials cite Mexico's notoriously corrupt and backlogged court system as well as El Chapo's previous escape from prison (most likely with the aid of prison guards) as further support for a US trial.
This is all true but cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Yes, the US is the primary end market of the Mexican drug trade and accordingly the US has an interest in the so-called war on drugs. But the war on drugs is a Mexican-run initiative taking place in Mexico affecting the daily lives of Mexicans. Look no further than the estimated 60,000-100,000 Mexicans who have died since the 'war' began in 2007. A good number of these deaths are those who merely got caught in the crosshairs of what many feel is a doomed battle between the government and the cartels.
However one comes out on the issue of the war against drugs, for the government to allow the extradition of El Chapo to the US or to permit a trial anywhere but in Mexico would render the entire concept completely pointless and the resulting collateral damage meaningless. How can you subject a nation to increased violence while arguing that the long-term benefits will outweigh the short-term costs, and then offer up your self-declared 'most powerful' drug lord prize to the US? How can you employ national funds and manpower in the name of rule of law and then tacitly admit that your own court system is incapable of upholding this rule of law? He may escape, he may buy off the judges, he may disappear into thin air as has been apt to happen, but conceding such points and aiming no higher relegate Mexico resolutely to non first-world country status. Set a higher standard, place pressure on the court system, and recognize that even if Guzmán somehow eludes conviction, the consequences to society and sovereignty of instantly giving him up would be far graver.
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