On Tuesday, President López Obrador reverted to the assertion that his administration “won’t declare war” on cartels in response to several Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) videos that show a clear escalation in military-grade weapons and armor.
In many ways, CJNG now possesses better military-grade weapons and vehicles than most security forces across Mexico–challenging the government’s ability to provide security to the country.
AMLO during his Tuesday conference reiterated, “let it be very clear: no to war–yes to peace.” Less than a month prior, the CJNG attempted to assassinate Mexico City’s chief of police.
“Declaring war is not the solution–we already know what that causes,” he added, referring to deaths caused by 14 years of war on cartels from previous administrations.
The president said, “I continue to call on everyone to behave well, let there be hugs, not bullets.”
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, the law of retaliation, no! … I don’t agree with the retaliation law. If we resort to that, we’ll be left one-eyed or toothless,” he said.
“We have to convince and persuade [people to stop the violence]. Peace and tranquility are the fruits of justice. Violence cannot be confronted with violence, fire isn’t put out with fire, evil cannot be confronted with evil; evil has to be confronted by doing good. So we’re not going to change [our strategy],” the president added.
In May, Breitbart Texas covered the president’s new decree ordering the armed forces to continue carrying out public security tasks for another four years, essentially perpetuating the militarization model he critiques in public.
The president’s administration is facing serious domestic challenges. The cartels possess the capability to challenge Mexico’s forces as witnessed in late October 2019 when Mexican forces arrested Ovidio Guzman in Culiacan. Large gun battles broke out and many citizens were taken hostage until Ovidio was released.
According to data released by the national public security system, the number of homicides in Mexico rose to 35,588 in 2019. The data for the first half of 2020 showed homicides increased 1.9% to 17,982, as compared to 17,653 in the same period of 2019.
Last week, the newly formed National Search Commission released its almost inconceivable findings that since 2006 – 73,200 people are reported missing in Mexico.
Jaeson Jones is a retired Captain from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division and a Breitbart Texas contributor. While on duty, he managed daily operations for the Texas Rangers Border Security Operations Center.