Crouching Fox, Hidden Eagle: Drug trafficking and transnational security – A perspective from the Tijuana-San Diego border

Abstract

The combination of mobilizingfor homeland protection and conducting amajor military campaign in Afghanistanunderscores the profound securityimplications of drug trafficking. In thecase of Mexico, drug smuggling has evolvedunder the influence of several dynamics,and has become particularly threatening tothe state and society in the last ten totwenty years with the cocaine boom. Thehistoric ability of the Mexican politicalsystem to manage corruption has diminishedif not collapsed as cartels have largelymoved from a relationship of symbiosis withand subordination to the authorities to oneof dominance and intimidation of them. TheUS has facilitated this process in severalunfortunate ways beyond enormous drugdemand. Recent developments, including amore constructive relationship between theUS and Mexico following the elections ofFox and then Bush, offer some hope that thefuture of Mexico will follow the successesof the anti-mafia campaign in Italy morethan the ongoing disaster of theanti-guerrilla campaign in Colombia.