Mexico and the United States have a number of shared problems, and they have to work together to find solutions for the sake of both countries. We can't just keep pointing fingers at one another and refusing to accept responsibility for what ails us. That includes drug trafficking and the violence that goes with it. As any economist can tell you, where there is demand, there will be supply. That Mexico is now the world's top exporter of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines may have something to do with the fact that it borders a country whose people have an insatiable appetite for illegal drugs.
That was a point that one Mexican economist drove home during a recent luncheon meeting in Tijuana with members of the Union-Tribune editorial board. That economist is José Guadalupe Osuna Millán , the relatively new governor of Baja California. In office for just over seven months, Gov. Osuna Millán seems to be a capable leader who knows his way around politics, having served as mayor of Tijuana from 1998-2000. But he also knows his way around spreadsheets, having studied and taught economics before entering public life. That background should serve him well as he charts a course for the economic development of Baja.
But Osuna Millán 's first priority is combating the drug violence that is scaring away American tourists and inflicting a terrible toll on Tijuana businesses that depend on those dollars. His task isn't made any easier by the fact that the cartels are now armed to the teeth with weapons smuggled in from the United States, guns that are then used to kill Mexican police officers. There is yet another illustration of the law of supply and demand, one with deadly consequences.
The United States seems to have a solid partner in Gov. Osuna Millán . We should make sure he has the tools to succeed.
Union Tribune