El combate contra el narcotráfico

President Ernesto Zedillo’s government is in the period in which, according to a report from the International Board on Narcotics Inspection, the trafficking, distribution and consumption of illegal drugs increased to the degree that the activities of criminal organizations connected with drug trafficking and the related crimes acquired a transnational nature and became a problem of national security. Miguel Ruíz-Cabañas says that Mexico has been a producer of narcotics and a transit country for them; this, added to other factors, encouraged the design of a strategy to combat drug trafficking internally as well as bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally. As a result, the mechanisms and agreements that were produced by encounters between the different institutions, countries and regions contributed to establishing a legislative and cooperative framework that avoided the adoption of unilateral measures, which are sometimes a source of tension and disagreement among countries. The author highlights the fact that, during the 1994-2000 Mexico’s administration, 32 bilateral cooperation agreements were signed with the countries of North America, Latin America and Europe, as well as with Asia and the Middle East. Multilaterally, regional governments and bodies held a variety of meetings, including notably the World Summit against Drugs. According to him, these actions have made it possible to attain concrete results in different areas of the fight against drug trafficking, have promoted cooperation with other countries and regional and international bodies, and above all, have provided a better understanding of the phenomenon, its current situation, and the challenges for the future.