Felipe Calderón Says U.S. Fuels Drug War

The BBC took a good interview with Mexican president Felipe Calderón (no relation, ha ha) and we wanted to share it with you here. The BBC interviewer comes off a little arrogant, if you ask me, more interested in making his own points than wanting to listen to what Calderón has to say.

Calderón says what he’s said before, which is the U.S. is responsible for the drug cartels’ existence and drug wars by being the biggest drug consumer in the world and allowing assault weapons to be sold in the U.S. (they subsequently find their way into Mexico).

Obviously just making these assertions isn’t going to change the drug war, but as we’ve written, President Barack Obama hasn’t exactly had his eye on Latin America, either. There won’t be an end to these drug wars unless there’s real cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico to address these issues. Putting the legalization of marijuana and the banning of automatic weapons on the table to have a real conversation about the solution, rather than giving more money and guns to the Mexican government, would be a good start.