THE BORDER REPORT

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza set off a rather terrific explosion in Mexico Tuesday night, saying that the blame for Mexico's national security crisis can be squarely placed right at the feet of the United States' addiction to narcotics. I'm wondering if Garza expects to lose his post this coming January. The rumor is Garza wants to be governor of Texas. Maybe endearing himself first to Mexico, then to the Tex-Mex crowd will help prod that along. His move would come as Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is considered for Homeland Security Secretary.

Speaking before the Texas Chamber of Commerce, Garza said: "Mexico wouldn't be a center of cartel activity nor would it be experiencing this level of violence if it weren't for the United States, a major consumer of illegal drugs and the principal supplier of arms to the cartels."

As far as I can tell, this is the first time Ambassador Garza has ever acknowledged the U.S.'s responsibility in Mexico's organized crime woes. Some 6,000 people have been murdered in Mexico this year, including judges, journalists, cops, soldiers and uninvolved innocents in gunbattles from Tijuana to Nogales to Matamoros to Sinaloa to Mexico City and Acapulco. This week alone, 500 police officers were removed pending background checks in Tijuana while in Juárez, a reporter was gunned down and the publisher of a news Web site fled to Texas. I'm very surprised the U.S. media missed this story; politically, this is one of the most significant events since Merida.

A Bush appointee since 2002, Garza spent most of those years criticizing Mexico for not managing its public security. With his blessing, the State Department has issued a travel warning for U.S. citizens entering Mexico in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

His 2004 travel warning criticized Mexican law enforcement, "warning of a deteriorating situation" along the Texas border.

Now – rightly or wrongly – he blames the Americans.

The question is why.

Does Garza expects to lose his post as ambassador to Mexico when Barack Obama is inaugurated?

After all, it's not as if the ambassador can easily pick up roots and move to Korea. The diplomat is heavily invested in Mexico, married to the Corona heiress Maria Asunción, considered to be at the top of Mexico's business hierarchy.

So was his move sabotage? There's a couple points to consider here.

First, Mexico will use Garza's words for the next decade as a rationale for its continued security mess. Garza had to know that.

If he keeps his post under Obama, this may be the beginning of a new set of variables in the U.S.'s direct involvement into Mexico's public security. We may see more initiatives like Merida, more U.S. dollars funding Mexican law enforcement; you name it.

If he's losing his post, Garza may have forced the U.S.'s hand in its future involvements in Mexico. If his words carry over to a new ambassador, then the current climate of dumping billions into Mexico' law enforcement may be forced to continue. After all, it will be noted, even the gringo heads of state admit our problems are their fault.

Petty sabotage? Something akin to Clintonites removing all the W keys from the White House keyboards to annoy the incoming Bush Administration? I don't think so.

Whyever he did it, Garza just set off about a dozen years of dialogue. We shall see.

-- Michel Marizco