Proceso: Agustín Basave*
Nov. 21, 2019
Max Weber is on everyone's lips. The display of a cartel's power to free one of its own [the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzmán, now imprisoned in the U.S.] in Culiacán [capital of the northwest state of Sonora] and the massacre of women and children [members of the Le Baron family of Mormons] by another criminal group in Bavispe [Sonora, on the border with Chihuhua] have sparked a chorus of calls on the State to assume the monopoly of legitimate violence. Mexico lives gripped by crime and frequently atrocities occur involving humanitarian crises, manifestations of cruelty that sow death and desolation. Voices abound calling for the use of public force to suppress organized crime and ensure the security of society.
President López Obrador [aka AMLO] refuses to do so. He rightly argues that this strategy failed and aggravated the problem in the last two administrations [of Felipe Calderón, 2006-2012, and Enrique Peña Nieto, 2012-2018], but he jumps erroneously to the other extreme. He is convinced that the origin of the problem is social injustice and that the illegitimate violence of criminals must not be combated with legitimate State violence. If his predecessors faced it with nothing but force, he will face it with everything but force.
Although it is very difficult to decide what to do, it is easy to know what not to do: under no circumstances should they be allowed to be a de facto government. With selectivity and sagacity, with precision shots and surgical operations, control of cartel territory has to be taken away, and that presupposes resorting to legitimate violence to some extent. Just one hostage allows a serial killer to live in one´s house, and only someone under illusions can hope he will behave well.
Nov. 21, 2019
Max Weber is on everyone's lips. The display of a cartel's power to free one of its own [the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzmán, now imprisoned in the U.S.] in Culiacán [capital of the northwest state of Sonora] and the massacre of women and children [members of the Le Baron family of Mormons] by another criminal group in Bavispe [Sonora, on the border with Chihuhua] have sparked a chorus of calls on the State to assume the monopoly of legitimate violence. Mexico lives gripped by crime and frequently atrocities occur involving humanitarian crises, manifestations of cruelty that sow death and desolation. Voices abound calling for the use of public force to suppress organized crime and ensure the security of society.
President López Obrador [aka AMLO] refuses to do so. He rightly argues that this strategy failed and aggravated the problem in the last two administrations [of Felipe Calderón, 2006-2012, and Enrique Peña Nieto, 2012-2018], but he jumps erroneously to the other extreme. He is convinced that the origin of the problem is social injustice and that the illegitimate violence of criminals must not be combated with legitimate State violence. If his predecessors faced it with nothing but force, he will face it with everything but force.
No one has been able to make him see that in these two convictions he is wrong. In the first, because poverty plays a secondary role in promoting large-scale crime, which supports business empires driven by the desire for profit and power. The logic that the cartels would not exist if there were social welfare would lead to the conclusion that, in the first world, there would not be large companies because there wouldn't be sufficient numbers of poor to supply them with labor. It's not like that. Capital, legal or illegal, uses everything to multiply. Business is business.
The second thesis, that the violent ones should not be confronted with violence, is unsustainable. Of course, inequality and unjust economic order are causes and effects of corruption. Counteracting them is eliminating one of the criminal detonators, but while this justice process is taking place it is imperative to use public force. Then, too, not even the most balanced and prosperous societies can live without armed police.
The second thesis, that the violent ones should not be confronted with violence, is unsustainable. Of course, inequality and unjust economic order are causes and effects of corruption. Counteracting them is eliminating one of the criminal detonators, but while this justice process is taking place it is imperative to use public force. Then, too, not even the most balanced and prosperous societies can live without armed police.
The key is to have a solid state, and the key to that is to eradicate impunity, for which it is necessary to put criminals in jail. Here is the imperative of the just medium: neither the extreme of the war on drug trafficking nor that of hugs without bullets [AMLO's motto for his actions] solves the insecurity that our country is experiencing. A combination of both strategies and even more is required. I reiterate what I wrote in this same space previously: people will say “gross" and "yuck” to criminals when they see them behind bars and not in the midst of their communities.
But let's stop theorizing and look at reality. Our country is infested with violence. Mexicans live in the midst of barbarism of unspeakable proportions. Criminals are everywhere. They produce and traffic in drugs, steal gasoline, illegally cut lumber or grow avocados or are involved with any product that generates profits. They control hundreds of municipalities, decide who and when someone enters their territory. They extort, kidnap and murder. Their arms capacity is gigantic and their logistics are very sophisticated. And they no longer hesitate in riddling families that could receive protection from the United States [the Le Baron family, having migrated from the U.S., holds U.S. citizenship]. Government timidity emboldens them.
So, the criminals are here, and they won't leave or "be left alone" just because there are scholarships, social programs and moralizing statements. They will remain as long as they are allowed to work and their activities continue to generate immense fortunes. AMLO has said that he does not want - and perhaps cannot - make pacts with them, as was done in the past [by the hegemonic PRI, Party of the Institutional Revolution through most of the 20th century], distributing territories and routes and vetoing certain activities.
But let's stop theorizing and look at reality. Our country is infested with violence. Mexicans live in the midst of barbarism of unspeakable proportions. Criminals are everywhere. They produce and traffic in drugs, steal gasoline, illegally cut lumber or grow avocados or are involved with any product that generates profits. They control hundreds of municipalities, decide who and when someone enters their territory. They extort, kidnap and murder. Their arms capacity is gigantic and their logistics are very sophisticated. And they no longer hesitate in riddling families that could receive protection from the United States [the Le Baron family, having migrated from the U.S., holds U.S. citizenship]. Government timidity emboldens them.
So, the criminals are here, and they won't leave or "be left alone" just because there are scholarships, social programs and moralizing statements. They will remain as long as they are allowed to work and their activities continue to generate immense fortunes. AMLO has said that he does not want - and perhaps cannot - make pacts with them, as was done in the past [by the hegemonic PRI, Party of the Institutional Revolution through most of the 20th century], distributing territories and routes and vetoing certain activities.
Financial intelligence [regarding money laundering networks], a fundamental lever that was underutilized in previous administrations, is being used as a strategic axis, and another is being discussed, the legalization of marijuana, which would reduce cartels' profits. I welcome that the Secretary of Public Security [Alfonso Durazo] is promoting both actions, because limiting himself to decapitating cartels does not kill the Hydra, which can regenerate and multiply its heads. However, it is essential to capture some capos. What will be done when they resist? Why was a militarized National Guard created and endowed with a powerful arsenal?
Although it is very difficult to decide what to do, it is easy to know what not to do: under no circumstances should they be allowed to be a de facto government. With selectivity and sagacity, with precision shots and surgical operations, control of cartel territory has to be taken away, and that presupposes resorting to legitimate violence to some extent. Just one hostage allows a serial killer to live in one´s house, and only someone under illusions can hope he will behave well.
And this brings us to one last question: why is AMLO so reluctant to use the force that he legitimately commands? Who is he taking care of? If it is the life of the Mexicans, the error is understood; but if it is his place in the annals of Mexico, the judgment of history will be implacable. We return to Weber: the ethics of conviction does not exclude the ethics of responsibility. Whoever exercises power has no right to take care of his image at the expense of the ungovernability of his country. Spanish original
This analysis was originally published on October 17, 2019 in edition #2246 edition of Proceso magazine.
*Agustín Basave is a Mexican political scientist and politician. He was originally a member of the PRI and served in several elected and appointed positions. In 2002, he left the PRI and in 2006 he participated in the coalition supporting the candidacy of López Obrador. Most recently he was a member of the 2014-17 Chamber of Deputies in Congress for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He was briefly the president of the party from Nov. 2015 to July 2016, when he resigned.
He attained a bachelor's degree in Computer Administration Systems from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in 1980. He obtained a master's degree in public policy and public administration from Purdue University and, in 1991, he graduated from Oxford University with a doctorate in political science.
He has served as a research professor at Monterrey Tec and in 1999, founded the school's Department of Political Science and Law. From 2007 to 2009, he taught at the UNAM's [National Autonomous University of Mexico] School of Political and Social Sciences. He left that post to head the graduate school of the Iberoamerican University, later heading the university's Office of Outreach and Internal Relations.
Basave has been a regular guest on various radio and television opinion programs and has written columns for various newspapers. He has also has published several books, including Soñar no cuesta nada, (To Dream Costs Nothing) México mestizo (Mixed-race Mexico) and Mexicanidad y esquizofrenia (Mexicanness and Schizophrenia). @abasave
He attained a bachelor's degree in Computer Administration Systems from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in 1980. He obtained a master's degree in public policy and public administration from Purdue University and, in 1991, he graduated from Oxford University with a doctorate in political science.
He has served as a research professor at Monterrey Tec and in 1999, founded the school's Department of Political Science and Law. From 2007 to 2009, he taught at the UNAM's [National Autonomous University of Mexico] School of Political and Social Sciences. He left that post to head the graduate school of the Iberoamerican University, later heading the university's Office of Outreach and Internal Relations.
Basave has been a regular guest on various radio and television opinion programs and has written columns for various newspapers. He has also has published several books, including Soñar no cuesta nada, (To Dream Costs Nothing) México mestizo (Mixed-race Mexico) and Mexicanidad y esquizofrenia (Mexicanness and Schizophrenia). @abasave