Teague, a Texas A&M University assistant professor, has written a new book on how U.S. counternarcotics policies have shaped the nation’s diplomacy, affecting the fate of Mexico and other countries. She will take audience questions at a College Station book event hosted by the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy, part of The Bush School of Government and Public Service
BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION, TX – How did police with military-grade body armor and guns become the default way to deal with the drug trade?
Aileen Teague, Ph.D., an expert on U.S. relations with Latin America, will explore that and related questions in an upcoming talk about her new book about U.S. efforts to police drugs in Mexico. The public is invited to attend the talk, which includes a question-and-answer session with audience members curious about the history of the U.S. war on drugs – or about recent developments in the Caribbean that U.S. officials say are necessary to stymie the flow of drugs into the country.
The Nov. 20 event, “Policing on Drugs: A Book Talk with Dr. Aileen Teague” (the title mirrors the name of the book), begins at 5:30 p.m. with an hourlong talk and Q&A, followed by a 6:30 p.m. reception. It will be held at the Malek Theater in the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
The U.S. war on drugs began at the tail end of the 1960s, though the term was introduced by then-President Richard Nixon in 1971, in a press conference in which he called drug abuse “America’s public enemy number one.” His administration created the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973 to coordinate anti-drug efforts.
The effort continued through subsequent decades and administrations. Teague is among the many scholars who consider the war on drugs a failure. It did little to stem the flow of drugs or the accompanying cartel violence while distorting domestic politics in Mexico and other Latin American countries, they say. The war on drugs also reframed the issue as not primarily a law-enforcement matter but one of national security – with an accordingly militaristic philosophy. Teague explores that evolution and its consequences in her book, drawing on records from two Mexican intelligence agencies, as well as archival sources in both Mexico and the United States. She also interviewed people on both sides of the border to address contemporary dynamics.
The militaristic philosophy of drug enforcement continues to this day. One prominent, recent example: the two Venezuelan boats sunk in the Pacific Ocean by U.S. forces under allegations that the boats were carrying drugs. Critics say the boats may not have been carrying drugs and that even if they were, the at least 37 people killed in drug-boat strikes in the Pacific and Caribbean have died without a trial or other means of publicly establishing guilt, perhaps as a cover for a true objective of undermining Venezuelan president and Nicolás Maduro; the government of Colombia reportedly said the second strike in the Pacific was “like applying the penalty in a territory that is not yours.” That language, of law enforcement, stands in contrast to that of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said the strikes would continue and that those aboard the boats “are not simply drug runners – these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities.”
