In the News: Gladys McCormick

"The Mexican attorney general may follow through on the pretense of investigating Cienfuegos, but nothing will come of it because he is untouchable," says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"All in all, freeing Cienfuegos without any charges or penalties showcases that his arrest was a complete debacle for both the DEA and DOJ [Department of Justice]," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"Following through on prosecuting Cienfuegos would have compromised intelligence gathering and joint military operations for years to come, which is part of the reason why the original arrest was so scandalous," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

If Biden wins the presidential election, "it's a return back to normalcy, the status quo, the way in which we knew politics to work across the border," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. 

"Everything he (Lopez Obrador) has put into place in terms of security has either been amateur or just very papered over in terms of political rhetoric," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"As communities take matters into their own hands, implementing their own safety protocols and taking the helm of how they each prepare for the coming pandemic, we see a further erosion of the federal government’s authority," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. 

"With poorly communicated and inconsistent messaging that offers no clear guidelines, [Mexico's] federal government’s inaction has given rise to widespread rumors that are beginning to stoke panic and insecurity," says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

According to Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard are anticipated to resist and challenge the designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist groups by the United States.

A whole series of sort of mid-tier and lower level and smaller kind of up-and-coming, wannabe cartels are trying to set up shop in this terrain," says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "They're striking deals with each other, with the big players."

Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations, says Thursday’s apparent capitulation to the Sinaloa Cartel was "sending a loud message to other organized crime networks…that if they show up with enough firepower to a fight, they will win and get their way because the government does not have the wherewithal to fight back."

"What is incontrovertible is that the Sinaloa Cartel won yesterday’s battle," said Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "Not only did they get the government to release Ovidio, they demonstrated to the citizens of Culiacan as well as the rest of Mexico who is in control."

"Because of the fact that it has a horizontal leadership structure, the decentralized network of bosses, a lot of local gangs with specialized duties that are affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel, what we're witnessing is sort of a moment of transition," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"Since Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón declared the start of the Drug War in 2006, both the U.S. and Mexico’s security forces have aggressively pursued what is referred to as the kingpin strategy: they go after the 'head’ with the intent of weakening the ‘body,’" says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"The question we should all ask is whether President Donald Trump’s threat of imposing scaled tariffs on Mexico will go the way he plans—including shutting down the border," says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

"The fallout of such tariffs could be catastrophic to Mexico's economy, thereby worsening the migration north," says Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.