OPINION - EDITORIAL

OTHERS SAY: Mexican government needs new strategy to take on cartels

Monday's massacre in northern Mexico of at least nine members of a family with dual American and Mexican citizenship was stunning even by the standards of a nation under assault by violence from organized crime cartels.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump tweeted an offer that the U.S. help Mexico "wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth" and that "The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army."

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador didn't appear ready or willing to take Trump up on his offer of U.S. support, and has generally rejected an overly martial response, favoring a "hugs not bullets" anti-crime approach.

But the bullets keep hitting their targets in Mexico, with record killings in 2018 and 2019.

Monday's murders, which included some victims burned alive in their vehicle, must not go unpunished. But justice must be pursued for other victims, too, and the Mexican government must come up with a more effective strategy to take on the cartels that are waging war within--and, in effect, on--the country.

Editorial on 11/09/2019

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