MEXICO, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said his successor Felipe Calderon had failed to tackle drug trafficking and organized crime in the country.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has made the fight against drug cartels one of his top priorities. Fox said Calderon's attempt to curb drug trafficking and turf wars between cartels by deploying additional police and military forces went awry.
"The use of army in the fight against drug mafia and organized crime, the use of force against force gave no positive results. On the contrary, the number of crimes only grows," Fox told journalists on Saturday.
Over 14,000 drug-related killings have been registered in Mexico since Calderon took office in 2006. This year, 5,637 people have been killed in turf wars between drug cartels fighting to control drug trafficking routes into the U.S. The ongoing violence claims on average 20 lives a day, up from last year's 15.
"It's time to think of alternative ways to fight the crime," Fox said, adding that police and governments of Mexican states should be charged with anti-drug efforts on their territory, instead of federal forces.
He said that a full ban on drugs should be introduced in the country as a measure to curb drug-related violence. Under the current legislation, small amounts of drugs could be stored and transported in the country.
Fox added that anti-drug measures should be fully coordinated with the U.S., the main recipient of drugs from Latin America. Each year drugs worth up to $40 billion are trafficked to the U.S. via the Mexican territory.
