Reducing Drug Violence in Mexico: Options for Implementing Targeted Enforcement

摘要

This paper furthers the investigation into the merits of an application of targeted enforcement that could reduce violence related to drug trafficking in Mexico. The authors illustrate the failure of the Mexican President Calderon administration (2006-2012) to counter the escalation of violence while fighting the war on drugs. They then examine successful local violence reduction models and attempt to demonstrate the possibility of their external validity at a trans-national level. This version of targeted enforcement that prioritizes violence over drug flow reduction or organizational decapitation efforts would require unprecedented cooperation between the United States and Mexico for both intelligence and tactical purposes. The reader is left with a deeper appreciation for the promise of this approach and an understanding of what administrative elements require further research and fulfillment in order for Mexico to consider operationalizing this approach.