NR: "It's Mexican blood
that's being spilt."
Monday, August 10, 2009
Length: 4:06
LARGE (47.4 MB)
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Heidi Collins talks to Michael about the 'Robin
Hood' image that 'El Chapo' Guzman is trying to
build up in order to hide amongst the people, as
well as the fact that America is not putting enough
money into the fight against the cartels.
HEIDI
COLLINS: President Obama holding talks at the top of
the hour with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. The
North American summit taking place in Guadalajara is
focusing on the fight against swine flu. Plus,
regional trade issues and the drug war. Speaking of,
the summit is following one of Mexico's deadliest
months in fighting drug cartels. One of the most
notorious kingpins believed to be in hiding not far
from the U.S. border is Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
One of the world's richest men, he escaped from a
Mexican jail back in 2001. But even on the run,
investigators say he still wields power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RALPH REYES, MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA CHIEF, DEA:
Chapo is the face. He's the guy who is currently at
war against the government of Mexico, against law
enforcement and military forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CNN's Michael Ware is joining us now live from
Guadalajara with more on El Chapo. So Michael, I
understand this guy has some Robin Hood type appeal.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's very
much correct, Heidi. The Drug Enforcement Agency says
that this Robin Hood persona that he has created,
this public image comes from work that he does within
the community, money that he spreads around the
villages and the towns. This, of course, engenders
public support. It's a very, very common tactic. We
saw Pablo Escobar, the famous Colombian drug lord
doing the same thing decades ago. We see the Lebanese
militia organization Hezbollah doing that in Lebanon.
And in U.S. military parlance, what El Chapo Guzman
is doing is winning the hearts and minds of the
people around him, which, of course, allows him to
hide and to operate, Heidi.
COLLINS: Well, what does the U.S. have to offer in
this drug war, Michael?
WARE: Well, that's a really sad answer to a probing
question. I mean, America each year is contributing
to the drug war here in Mexico approximately half of
the personal net worth of El Chapo Guzman himself.
"Forbes" magazine says he's worth about $1 billion,
just him alone. Yet over three years, America is only
contributing about $1.4 billion.
So, we're talking about America in a so-called drug
war -- that honestly it's not fighting -- trying to
defeat a multi-billion dollar business by throwing
just a few hundred million dollars at the problem.
Meanwhile, it's Mexican blood that's being spilt, the
blood of policemen, the blood of soldiers and the
blood too often of innocents on the streets here in a
war being waged for the right to supply America the
illicit drugs it demands and America, as I said, does
not appear to be really putting its heart into this
fight, Heidi.
OCLLINS: But is the kingpin not located in Mexico?
Are the crimes not happening in Mexico, Michael?
WARE: The crimes are happening across Latin America
and North America. You've got American teenagers who
are recruited and trained as hit men for the cartels,
and they're doing assassinations inside the U.S. The
cartels cross the U.S. border and drag their victims
back into Mexico.
And it's a regional problem, Heidi. This is what
America needs to understand. This is not about the
American border. This is a fundamental dynamic that
begins in the Andies in South America where there's
the production of cocaine. It moves to Central
America where you have warehousing and
trans-shipments of cocaine, banking in Panama, retail
in Mexico, and distribution in the United States.
This touches the very streets of the United States,
Heidi.
COLLINS: Yeah, clearly a lot of responsibility on
both sides of both of these countries. CNN's Michael
Ware for us live in Guadalajara this morning, thank
you, Michael.