Mexican president rules out new ‘war on drugs’

Members of the National Guard patrol outside a rehabilitation center where gunmen killed four people in the Mexican state of Guanajuato – Copyright AFP/File Mario ARMAS

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday ruled out launching a new war against drug cartels as she presented a national security plan aimed at curbing rampant criminal violence.

Sheinbaum, the first woman to lead the Latin American nation, said her government would prioritize tackling the root causes of crime and better use of intelligence.

“The war on drugs will not return,” the left-wing president told a news conference, referring to an offensive launched in 2006 involving the military and backed by the United States.

Since then, a spiral of criminal violence has left more than 450,000 people dead and tens of thousands missing.

Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City who was sworn in on October 1, vowed to stick to her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs instead of bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle the causes of crime to tackle.

“We are not looking for extrajudicial killings, as happened before. What are we going to use? Prevention, attention to the causes, intelligence and presence” of authorities, she said.

While Lopez Obrador prioritized prevention over violence, he controversially placed the National Guard under the control of the armed forces.

Critics said the move marked another step toward the militarization of the country — a claim both Lopez Obrador and his ally Sheinbaum have denied.

“There are families today who do not have access to a reliable municipal police force or to a fully reinforced state police force. That’s where the National Guard will play an important role,” said Sheinbaum’s Secretary of Public Safety, Omar Garcia Harfuch.

Sheinbaum outlined her strategy amid shock over the killing, reporting on Sunday the beheading of Alejandro Arco, mayor of the capital of the violent southern state of Guerrero.

Meanwhile, in the northwestern cartel stronghold of Sinaloa, bloodshed blamed on gang infighting has killed more than 150 people in a month, while violence has increased in the states of Guanajuato and Chiapas.