Study: Mexican Military Should Not Have Intervened In Country's War On Drugs

By Jorge Valencia
February 20, 2017

A new study commissioned by the Mexican Senate found that the Mexican military shouldn’t have intervened in the country’s nearly decade-long war against drug traffickers.

Since early in Mexico’s war on drugs, the government deployed its biggest possible hammer: the army and the navy.

But a new report from the Mexican Senate’s internal research office, the Belisario Dominguez Institute, is questioning the rationale behind that decision.

The takeaway is that there was never any evidence showing the military would help violence decline.

Froylan Enciso is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, a think tank. He said independent research has already made similar conclusions.

"What is new now is that the Belisario Dominguez Institute is systematizing this evidence and putting together, like, a really good intellectual product for Mexican congressman," Enciso said. 

The study concludes that lawmakers have tended to rely more on personal conviction than facts.