The future Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is seriously considering implementing the amnesty law, which proposes a process of peace and of national reconciliation

It seems that drug trafficking is spreading to every corner of the Aztec nation, affecting even areas that seemed immune. The death of an American tourist victim of a stray bullet, while she was waiting to enter a fashionable place in the exclusive Polanco area of ​​Mexico City, is still fresh. No one is safe from the war for drug control, so the new Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) wants to promote an alternative to the usual "iron fist" policy.

Leer en español: México: ¿La legalización de las drogas es la solución a la lucha contra el narcotráfico?

One of the strong points of Obrador's campaign is the controversial amnesty law, which proposes a process of peace and national reconciliation, something that the opposition sees as a pact with organized crime, according to media such as La Nación. During the past campaign, López Obrador defended his maxim that "without a process of pacification and reconciliation, there will never be a turning point in the levels of violence that define the tragedy of the country," as stated by AMLO's security adviser Alfonso Durazo.

Olga Sánchez Cordero, who will be the future Interior Secretary, revealed that she had received the green light from the president-elect to do whatever was necessary for the pacification of Mexico. Sánchez is known in the country for her favorable speech towards the decriminalization of drugs. In the seminar "Violencia y Paz. ¿Olvido, Verdad o Justicia?" (Violence and Peace. Oblivion, Truth or Justice?) she confirmed her intention to open a debate, although she made it clear that if there was a general amnesty, those who, according to the Constitution, committed crimes that involve serious violations of human rights would be excluded from it.

Among the strategies of the new Government, the loosening of sentences, the implementation of a transitional justice system, the reparation of victims (mainly families of the disappeared) and the decriminalization of drugs stand out. However, it is evident that a part of the Mexican society rejects these measures because they consider that the State is bending its knees before the organized crime.

Read also: Drug trafficking: The growing Latin American business

It is inevitable that the debate on the legalization of some substances will take more and more force. There are already several countries and regions that are adopting this measure to reduce the attractiveness that some drugs have in the society and thus diminish the benefit of those who profit from them.

In the last decade, there have been few leaders who claim that the drug is not treated only from a criminal perspective but as a public health problem. In Latin America, some leaders out of office and others close to ceasing to be presidents, such as Otto Pérez Molina in Guatemala, José Mujica in Uruguay, Felipe Calderón in Mexico and Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia, have been favorable to this path before the proven failure of the arms to fight against the drug trafficking, according to a report by the Colegio de Contadores Públicos de México (Association of Public Accountants of Mexico).

LatinAmerican Post | José María González Alonso

Translated from "México: ¿La legalización de las drogas es la solución a la lucha contra el narcotráfico?"