Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador is considering legalizing all drugs in a creative effort to combat the violent crime and cartels in the country. Obrador, affectionately nicknamed AMLO, has given incoming Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero the freedom to do “Whatever is necessary to restore peace in this country,” according to El Pais.
Cordero was speaking at a seminar to speak on narcotics-related violence when she mentioned that his instruction included a possible reevaluation of drug legislation.
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“He knew perfectly well about my lectures and my articles in the press about the decriminalization of drugs,” Cordero said. “On the subject of decriminalizing drugs, Andres Manuel told me, and I quote: ‘Carte blanche…. Let’s open up the debate,’” she said.
Little headway has been made against the War on Drugs. Since 2006, when Mexico unleashed its army to fight drug trafficking, violence has steadily climbed. The militarization policy resulted in more than 200,000 murders and there is expected to be more than 30,000 murders in 2018. Cordero, who served on the Mexico supreme court for 21 years, said the military action violated the constitutional statute civilian authorities have to public safety.
“What no one can deny with hard data is that, at least in the past 10 years, the Mexican government has been incapable of stopping violence and responding to it with institutional mechanisms,” Cordero insisted.
The future interior minister also spoke about her plans to propose legislation in Congress for a so-called “transitional justice system,” that would include reduced sentences for criminals who cooperate with authorities on unsolved crimes. This would be an attempt to make headway in solving the tens of thousands of missing persons cases currently in Mexico.
But it would also include Lopez Obrador’s controversial proposal to provide legal amnesty for certain drug crimes. In her appearance on Tuesday, Sanchez Cordero clarified that those responsible for “grave human rights violations” would not be eligible for the proposed amnesty.
She also added, “A transitional justice system for Mexico is possible and urgent, not just for the victims of the violence but for all of Mexican society.”
