By Chris Covert
A spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Friday tried to walk back remarks that US Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske made earlier in the week when he told the EFE Spanish press service it would be better if the Mexican drug war were "demilitarized".
The walkback was released through the US embassy in Mexico City. According to Mexican press reports, Rafael Lamaitre admitted misinterpreting remarks made by US officials.
Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's war against the cartels is entering its fifth year. Calderon has suffered severe criticisms from international as well as national sources who complain about the great number of deaths associated with Mexican organized crime.
Usually not mentioned in these protests are that 90 percent of those deaths are caused by Mexican organized crime.
Kerlikowske's unguarded remarks are astonishing as they occur as the nascent Mexican Movement for Peace and Dignity conducted a protest march which started Friday and which will last for ten days trekking its way across southern Mexico.
The movement, led by Mexican leftist poet and writer Javier Sicilia, has conducted three previous demonstrations, and has gained a seat at the national legislative negotiation table, especially as it applies to the new national security law. Sicilia himself has also gotten at least two private meetings with President Calderon.
Sicilia has advocated a number of changes in Mexican social policy, many of them so loopy the mainstream Mexican press have yet to repeat them since their airing last spring. They include legalization of drugs, returning Mexican ground forces to the barracks and a signed commitment to non-violence.
Sicilia began his movement only days after his son was murdered in a drug related incident in Morelos state in late March.
In the statement released Friday the spokesman admitted that Kerlikowske's remarks could be interpreted as critical of Calderon's policy of using the Mexican military to fight organized crime.
The statement said that Kerlikowske agrees the use of military forces in Mexico is "temporary and transitional".
The statement also reiterates US support of Calderon's strategy in fighting orgainzed crime.