Despite numerous arrests and killings of cartel leaders, Mexico’s “decapitation” strategy for stopping the drug trade is not working, says a top American general.

 

General Charles H. Jacoby Jr., commander of U.S. Northern Command, told a Senate committee this week that eliminating the leadership of cartels made sense at first. But results show the strategy is not effective.

 

Jacoby said that 22 of the top 37 trafficking leaders “have been taken off the board.” However, these accomplishments have “not had an appreciable effect—an appreciable, positive effect.”

 

The problem is that whenever a drug lord is arrested or killed, another person steps in to take his place. Even worse, sometimes the decapitation results in a short-term increase in violence by the cartel in question because of power struggles over who will take charge of the operations, including other gangs moving onto the turf of the disabled gang.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Killing Drug Cartel Bosses Isn’t Working, Says Top U.S. General (by Robert Beckhusen, Wired)