Mexico's new president wants to try negotiations to lessen drug violence


Running on a slogan of "abrazos, no balazos" — "hugs, not gunfire" — Mexico's new President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador is planning a radically new approach to drug violence in his country.
López Obrador argues that more than a decade of militarized response to drug gang violence has been unproductive, and that combating violence with more violence cannot work. "You can't fight fire with fire," he said on the campaign trail, proposing negotiations with drug cartels in pursuit of a "plan for reconciliation and peace," as well as anti-poverty programs to lessen the appeal of smuggling work, potential legalization of some drugs, and perhaps even amnesty for nonviolent drug offenders.
So far, he has yet to release a comprehensive, detailed proposal. The amnesty idea in particular will receive significant pushback from much of the Mexican public as well as the United States, which partners with Mexico in military enforcement of drug laws.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The failed strategy of combating insecurity and violence will change," López Obrado declared in his victory speech. "More than through the use of force, we will tend to the causes that give rise to insecurity and violence."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
DOJ indicts John Bolton over classified files
Speed Read Continuing the trend of going after his political enemies, Trump prosecutes his former national security adviser
-
Trump, Putin set summit as Zelenskyy lands in DC
Speed Read Trump and Putin have agreed to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ending the war in Ukraine
-
Doctors sound the alarm about insurance company ‘downcoding’
The Explainer ‘It’s blatantly disrespectful,’ one doctor said
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 years
Speed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Fire
speed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan church
Speed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school mass
Speed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murders
speed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bail
Speed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambush
Speed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrial
Speed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial