In recent years, media coverage of Mexico has painted a picture of widespread fear. It is a picture that bears little resemblance to what I experience living in central Mexico. Could this picture have been deliberately invented or exaggerated? Might the government of Felipe Calderón want to justify its policies of militarization to attract further U.S. support?

In November, Chilean mayor Cristián Labbé announced a tribute to a former member of Augusto Pinochet’s secret police, who is serving time on 23 counts of human rights violations. The event, which was held on November 21, sparked outrage, protests, and a debate over public accountability and reconciliation.

Just legalize it, already—that was the message heard at the Cato Institute's “Ending the War on Drugs” conference on November 15. From the heavy death toll in Mexico to the high financial cost to U.S. taxpayers, the only winners in the drug war have been the drug cartels and security companies. Yet the war goes on with no end in sight