Weekly Report - 8 February 2007

The killing of seven state law enforcement officials in Guerrero on 6 February highlighted major problems with the federal government's offensives across the country against the drug gangs. The principal problem is the suspicion the feds have of local police. This means that there is little coordination and even confrontation between federal and local law enforcers. Another problem is that law enforcement, at both the federal and local level, is handicapped by leaks to the drug gangs. Gloomy academics claim that unless there is a radical change in the way the government attacks organised crime, it will not win its war.