AP News, April 27th, 2007
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Thursday the violence in northern Mexico shows the government's campaign against drug trafficking in his nation is working, but cautioned the United States must play a role in the fight.
Fox, who was visiting Arkansas to give an address at Harding University and to visit the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, said he applauded successor Felipe Calderon's use of army troops and federal police in drug-ravaged regions and extradition of cartel leaders to the United States.
However, he said the United States must do its part to cut back on purchases of illegal drugs, whose profits flow back to Mexican drug gangs.
"It's a shared responsibility, because the consumption of drugs is here in the United States," Fox said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Here is where the money is generated to bribe Mexican officials, Mexican policemen and public servants, so we have to work together."
Calderon has launched a national crackdown on organized crime, sending 24,000 soldiers to areas plagued by drug violence. Drug gangs are in the midst of a bloody turf battle, and it has led to beheadings, grenade attacks and execution-style killings across Mexico.
According to a tally kept by Mexico City daily El Universal, there have been more than 700 drug slayings since January. The federal government also says some local police are on the payroll of drug cartels.
Fox, whose electoral win in 2000 shattered 71 years of single-party rule in Mexico, said he was visiting the Clinton center because he plans to build his own presidential library in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
The library will focus on the "defense of democracy and freedom," Fox said, as well as illuminate the dangers of the growing tide of populist leaders in Latin America and focus on social policy issues. He said the library will be privately funded and have ties to universities.
Fox stepped down as Mexico's president in December, after serving one six-year term. The Mexican constitution bars presidents from seeking re-election.
