For a mix of technical and political reasons, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo has directed the armed forces to play a larger role in the fight against drug trafficking.
Consignments now arrive on aging commercial jetliners converted into cargo carriers.
Limited to turboprop interceptors, the elite anti-drug units of the Federal Judicial Police are helpless to respond. However reasonable the use of Mexican jet interceptors as a stopgap solution, any wider militarization of the anti-drug effort is fraught with serious risks. Not the least of these is that the armed forces themselves are among the most corrupt of Mexican institutions. In keeping with an unwritten rule that forbids prosecution of members of the Cabinet and the military high command, he was not seriously investigated. With impunity at the top, corruption permeates the ranks, reinforced by military discipline.