H.E. Arturo Sarukhan, Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., is a fighting-mad defender of his country’s interests and standing.  Most recently, the good ambassador was profiled in the June edition of The Washington Diplomat. 

He ends his spirited defense of Mexico by saying his country is in no danger of sudden and rapid collapse, as suggested months ago in the U.S. military’s Joint Operating Environment 2008.

Rather, Sarukhan argues that Mexico’s counterassault on drug cartels and its defense against the health, economic and reputational consequences of swine flu have proven the country’s resiliency.  Few countries – developed and not – would fare well against the dual challenges to personal security and public health, as Mexico has.  The ambassador’s optimism is partly warranted.

That said, Mexico is an embattled state whose legitimacy is eroded by drug-related violence.  There’s a vivid picture of the localized chaos in the Narco War Next Door, a documentary that is part of Current TV’s award-winning Vanguard documentary series.

Thankfully, the El Paso Times reminds us that spillover violence into the U.S., while chilling to fathom, is isolated and often drug-related.

Americans have started to care about Mexico now that there are lurid reports of wild west-style shootouts reported in The Wall Street Journal and clandestine drug cartel activity in the lesser-known distribution point of Atlanta, as reported by The Washington Times.

In these reports U.S. law enforcement, federal down to local, consistently appear to be spot-on in their assessments and their intelligence-led policing of the drug cartel problem.  This cannot be said of their counterparts south of the border. 

Law enforcement corruption in Mexico isn’t exactly a confidence booster.  Corruption is reported to be so bad in Mexico that the federal government disarmed the local police in Tijuana, as RealClearPolitics noted last January.

There are reports of a federal government crackdown on state and local corruption in the run-up to Mexico elections, such as in The Wall Street Journal’s recent report concerning the violence-plagued Mexican state of Michoacán

However, the same report described the alarming scope and depth of government corruption.  No less than 27 state and local officials were detained for alleged ties to drug trafficking, and Mexican federal authorities disarmed Michoacán’s 10 municipal police forces.  And one cannot forget the farce of 53 drug criminals walking out of a Zacatecas prison.  The BBC News and others have reported that rather than guards being overwhelmed or duped, it was massive corruption that facilitated the peaceful prison break.

These developments – none of them minor – are inconsistent with Ambassador Sarukhan’s rosy picture of a Mexico that has proven much to the world.  Rather, Mexico has much to prove even as it has a lot to offer in the way of good. 

All of this doesn’t mean we should run away from Mexico.  Often when people see smoke, they run toward the fire to see if they can help.  This was evident when courageous Mexicans broke down the walls of a burning daycare center in Hermosillo, Sonora state, to rescue as many children as possible.

Such bravery engenders confidence and sympathy.  What is so disheartening about the Mexico drug cartel wars is how the government’s legendary corruption continues to make Mexico such an unsympathetic character.