Sen. John Kerry Says More Resources Needed For Drug War

EL PASO, Texas — Massachusetts Senator John Kerry was on the UTEP campus Monday to discuss the violence in Juarez. Sen. Kerry said he brought the hearing to El Paso because this is “Ground Zero” on the war on drugs, and after listening to testimony that was only confirmed.

Six panelists, including the district attorney and top local officials from the DEA and ATF, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Monday morning.

All of them made an opening statement before it was opened up to questions from the three members of the committee, including a pair of senators and chairman Kerry.

The hearing drew quite a crowd — the Tomas Rivera Conference Centerat UTEP was full. Among those of note in the audience were Paul Foster, city Reps. Beto O’Rourke and Emma Acosta and several top officials from Mexico.

Kerry wanted to know what percentage of the more than 6,200 murders in Mexico last year were innocent people. The DEA special agent in charge of El Paso Joseph Arabat told Kerry only about five percent of those who have died were not tied to the cartels.

Kerry also asked each member of the panel what they needed from Washington in order to win this fight.

“We’re not seeing it” is what District Attorney Jaime Esparza told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when asked about spillover violence from the drug war.

“I do not think bringing the military to the border is the solution at this time,” Esparza said. The committee took note of that, despite the graphic testimony of others.

“Dozens of American citizens have died or disappeared as a result of the drug war,” said UTEP Professor Howard Campbell. Campbell testified it has had a big psychological impact on the area, especially across the border.

“The damage to Mexican society is profound … The cultural trauma is equivalent to that experience by residents of war zones in Iraq or Afghanistan,” he said.

Campbell had a number of suggestions, including cutting down the demand for illegal drugs, slowing the flow across the border, fighting drug organization in the U.S. and…

“We need to consider ending the prohibition of marijuana.”

The committee all but ignored that. But it was Senator Kerry who made the most controversial comment of the hearing, saying that the cartels “must be laughing at our efforts,” which he was left explaining afterward.

“They are playing off our lack of commitment, they play off our lack of resources, they know where the holes in the system are … I’m not laughing about it, let me tell you that … I think it’s deadly serious and it’s life and death and it is a matter of huge concern to us and not just our relationship here but all around the world,” Kerry said.

Kerry said he learned a lot today, all of which he will share with the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.

The biggest thing he learned? That it’s apparent in order to have any shot of winning this war, the U.S. must follow through on more resources for this area.

Click on the links to the left above for more video from the hearing and the news conference afterwards.