Mexico making headway in war against drugs
Death of drug baron creates power vacuum
From Mexico City Bureau Chief Chris Kline

MEXICO CITY (CNN) In a report this week before the U.S. Senate, drug
policy adviser Gen. Barry McCaffrey praised Mexico for the progress it has
made in its war on illegal drug trafficking.

"We are seeing an end to impunity, and the best opportunity yet for the
destruction of major drug trafficking organizations," McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey's praise has pleased the Mexican government, which has smarted
from American criticism in the past that it has not been vigorous enough in
attacking a problem of sizable proportions.

Mexico's foreign minister said this week that both sides continue to
improve their technical cooperation and intelligence sharing, but he also
reaffirmed Mexico's longstanding policy of not allowing U.S. drug agents
to carry weapons in Mexico.

In recent months, Mexican authorities have taken steps to make antidrug
efforts more efficient by recruiting new special agents and firing hundreds
of policemen suspected of corruption and inefficiency.

There have been embarrassments, however. Approximately 40 military officers
have been arrested on drug charges in recent months, and most recently, 18
members of an elite federal police unit were caught with a planeload of
cocaine.

Mexico has put a positive spin on the arrests, however, saying they are
proof that its crackdown on corruption is working. It also says it has no
plans to withdraw the army from its role in the front lines of the drug war.

Both Mexican and U.S. authorities say the death in July of Mexico's most
powerful drug baron, Amado Carillo Fuentes, has had a significant impact in
the struggle against the drug cartels.

They say Carillo Fuentes' death has left a power vacuum in Mexico's drug
mafia, and a series of assassinations across the nation since July
indicates that there is a battle going on for control of the drug trade.

They also say it leaves the cartels open to an offensive launched by the
law enforcement agencies.

If the socalled Juarez cartel that Carillo Fuentes headed is collapsing,
sources say the new longterm threat comes from at least seven new cartels
that are emerging to replace it.

Some argue that precisely because they are smaller, diverse, and more
secretive, the cartels will be harder to fight. One thing is certain,
however: Mexico's multibilliondollar narcotics underworld may be ailing,
but it is far from dead.