People should not rule out the possibility that drug money could play a “fundamental part” in the campaigns for Mexico’s July 2012 general elections, drug expert Ricardo Ravelo said during the Guadalajara International Book Fair.
“The controls we have are not sufficient,” Ravelo said during the presentation on Saturday of his book, “El Narco en Mexico,” which examines Mexico’s drug cartels.
About 70 percent of the municipalities in Mexico are controlled by drug cartels, which have expanded their operations into protection rackets targeting businesses and individuals, Ravelo said.
“The dirty money is going to flow through all the parties. Money is money,” the author said.
Mexico’s next president will face a “very complex” challenge in the face of the control of cities by drug traffickers, the toll the war on drugs has taken on the army and cartels’ infiltration of the country’s institutions, Ravelo said.
