Mexican president-elect: Economic growth is key weapon in drug war
November 28, 2012 -- Updated 0052 GMT (0852 HKT)
Mexico's new leader on U.S. relations
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Enrique Pena Nieto says he wants to create greater North American economic integration
- "We've lost presence and competitiveness on the international market," he says
- The president-elect says his security strategy will focus on reducing violence
- Pena Nieto says he is against legalizing drugs
"That, I think, is going to be the best way my government can prevent organized crime," President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Without jobs and social
programs, he said, "millions of my countrymen have no other option than
to dedicate themselves sometimes to criminal activity."
The wide-ranging
interview was recorded just a few hours before the incoming leader met
with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington. In his first meeting
with Obama, Pena Nieto said he planned to focus on building trust and
boosting economic ties to create jobs.
"We've lost presence and
competitiveness on the international market. ... There's still space, an
opportunity, to achieve greater integration as far as productivity,
which will allow us to improve the competitive conditions for creating
jobs across North America," he said.
Pena Nieto, 46, said his
security strategy will focus on reducing the drug-related violence that
took 60,000 lives during his predecessor's six-year term, though he
provided few specifics about how he would stem the violence or what
aspects of outgoing President Felipe Caderon's strategy he will change.
"We will keep the
policies that I think work," he said, "including cooperation with the
United States to effectively fight organized crime."
The way that fight is
waged may have to change, he said, in light of changing U.S. policies
such as the recent referendums legalizing marijuana for recreational use
in Colorado and Washington state.
"Personally, I am not in
favor of legalization of drugs ... because it's not just about
marijuana. It seems to me that is a gateway through which people will
start taking much more harmful drugs," Pena Nieto said. "But it's clear
that this thing that has happened in two states in the near future could
bring us to rethinking the strategy."
Pena Nieto won Mexico's
July presidential vote, marking a return to power for his Institutional
Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for more than 70 years until
2000, when Vicente Fox of the conservative National Action Party won the
presidency.
On the campaign trail,
some political opponents of Pena Nieto warned that negotiating with drug
cartels and gangs could be on his agenda -- an accusation that Pena
Nieto repeatedly denied. But his denials didn't squelch speculation on
both sides of the border that negotiating with cartels -- or at least
easing the pressure on them -- could be on the table.
In a June congressional
hearing, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner said the war on drugs was nearing a
"potential crossroad," referring to Pena Nieto's plan and his party's
political history.
"While in power, the PRI
minimized violence by turning a blind eye to the cartels," the
Wisconsin Republican said, noting that Pena Nieto did "not emphasize
stopping drug shipments or capturing kingpins."
In a statement the next day, Pena Nieto's campaign said he was committed to combatting organized crime.
"The law is applied, it is never negotiated," the statement said.
In addition to meeting
with Obama in Washington Tuesday, Pena Nieto also spoke with other
officials, including U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Pena Nieto will take
office Saturday in an inauguration ceremony in Mexico City, replacing
Calderon of the National Action Party, who has served as president since
2006.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário