Mexico: Drug cartels, violence & US involvement

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[Sirenoftitan]

The events which have no name scythe through the valley like invisible reapers. They slice east to west, west to east, a homicidal pendulum. No one sees anything.

The pair of human heads left in a coolbox on the corner of the plaza? A mystery. The 18 houses burnt in a single night? An enigma. The doctor and his family who disappeared? A rumour.

This much residents do tell you: Juárez valley stretches along the Rio Bravo and used to grow cotton. It roasts by day, shivers by night. Lob a stone over the river and it lands in Texas.

Beyond that, conversation tends to dry up. Of the slaughter, of the reason this has become one of the deadliest places on the planet, residents have little to say. At most they refer to "the situation", "the things happening" or, simply, "it".

Mexico drug war: the new killing fields by Rory Carroll, The Guardian

[Forty Watt]

That is both difficult and fascinating to read. It's not just the horrifying content. There's something haunting in the use of language draws one in.   

[pacos_gal]

The writer is very good. 

[Lani]

I read an article yesterday about people making their way from central America through Mexico in hopes of jobs in the US.  72 were taken hostage and shot near the US border.  Two managed to survive.  Why?  Not known.  The theory is that drug cartels were involved, but the truth is that no one knows.

[Sirenoftitan]

Hilary Clinton has sparked a diplomatic row with Mexico by likening the country's drugs war to a Colombia-style "insurgency", a charge angrily rejected by Mexican politicians.

The US secretary of state pointed to the use of car bombs, a tool once favoured by cartel-allied rebels in Colombia, as evidence that Mexican drugs gangs "are now showing more and more indices of insurgency". Her remarks came as the third mayor in a month became the latest victim of violence in Mexico.

Hilary Clinton: Mexican drugs war is Colombia-style insurgency

[Forty Watt]

Several years ago, my Colombian DIL said to me that she saw many horribly familiar signs in the way events were unfolding in Mexico that made her fear that it was going the way of Colombia.

[Forty Watt]

US drones on the border cruise an area that, ironically, previously belonged to Mexico

As Mexicans celebrate the 200th anniversary of their independence from Spain, evoking a history of resistance against colonialism, a disturbing development unfolds on the country’s northern border: a fleet of US Predator B drones has been deployed on constant patrol.

Fireworks will blast and flags will soar south of the Rio Grande in the most expensive festivities Mexico has ever seen, however the bicentennial may be over-shadowed by growing tensions with the country's biggest trading partner and fiercest historical adversary.

"There is a feeling of increased militarisation on the border," says Juanita Darling, a professor of international relations at San Francisco State University.

[zyxomma]

This is not about the drug war, but it is about Mexico, corruption, and the problems of the State when it's not separate from the church:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/world/americas/23mexico.html?_r=1&ref=world

Eight women in Guanajuato have also been jailed on homicide charges in recent years, stirring a debate over whether the authorities have used the crime as a way to pursue tougher sentences against women who had had abortions, or perhaps simply lost a baby during pregnancy.

Abortion is legal in Mexico City, and other states in Mexico (where the Catholic Church still reigns supreme) have made new laws that "life begins at conception," making women who have miscarriages murder suspects.

I'll ask Mexico (outside la Ciudad) the same question I ask fundamentalist's who spout the same line here:  If life begins at conception, why are there no funeral services for miscarriages?

[Sirenoftitan]

A small army of bloggers and tweeters is filling the gaps left by traditional media in Mexico that are increasingly limiting their coverage of the country's drug wars because of pressure from the cartels.

"Shots fired by the river, unknown number of dead," read one recent tweet on a busy feed from the northern border city of Reynosa, #Reynosafollow. "Organized crime blockade on San Fernando road lifted," said another. "Just saw police officers telling a group of narcos about the positions of navy checkpoints," ran a third.

Nothing of this kind appeared in the city's papers which, along with most media outlets in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, have become better known for what they do not publish than for what they do.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/26/twitter-blog-mexico-drug-wars

[futurexpat?]

Several years ago, my Colombian DIL said to me that she saw many horribly familiar signs in the way events were unfolding in Mexico that made her fear that it was going the way of Colombia.

I missed this, Forty, when I was away and must have just skimmed it when catching up. I have often thought that. Chili sometimes comes to mind, too.

[futurexpat?]

A small army of bloggers and tweeters is filling the gaps left by traditional media in Mexico that are increasingly limiting their coverage of the country's drug wars because of pressure from the cartels.

"Shots fired by the river, unknown number of dead," read one recent tweet on a busy feed from the northern border city of Reynosa, #Reynosafollow. "Organized crime blockade on San Fernando road lifted," said another. "Just saw police officers telling a group of narcos about the positions of navy checkpoints," ran a third.

Nothing of this kind appeared in the city's papers which, along with most media outlets in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, have become better known for what they do not publish than for what they do.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/26/twitter-blog-mexico-drug-wars

This is really a telling point on the mess in Mexico. Really, I like Mexico and its people, but its government, not so much. And I don't like that the US is largely to blame for the mess down there with its failed war on drugs.