Monday, May 30, 2005
Crime, politics and disorder in Mexico
By Barnard R. Thompson
It is a sad fact that crime, crimes against women,
kidnappings, violence and murder — especially drug gang related warfare, contract killings and mayhem, are raging out
of control in far too many parts of Mexico.
It is also a fact that President Vicente Fox and
his administration cannot solve these horrendous situations by proclamation, or through misrepresentation and spin by expressing
views gleaned through rose-colored glasses.
And it is a fact that the U.S.A. has such a massive
demand for illegal narcotics that other countries will quite possibly never solve organized crime epidemics until the pandemic
demand and booming use of illegal drugs can be curtailed in this country.
Yet the situation has reached such a critical stage
in Mexico something must be done and it must be done now. The nation can wait
no more, for the very existence of civilized society is at stake. The alternative
is to go over the edge and into the abyss, a permanent netherworld of narcotization.
The figures are staggering.
As of the final week in May,
for the year 2005, there have been 526 “organized crime” related killings reported in northern Mexico (“organized
crime” is most often a Mexican euphemism for drug cartels, narcotics traffickers and their associates), with most of
the carnage in Sinaloa and states along the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to a report in El
Sol de la Laguna, on May 22 and quoting unnamed sources in the office of Mexico’s Attorney General, the nationwide
total was over 900 executions during the first four months of 2005, compared to 1,300 killings for 2004 as a whole.
The real numbers however may
be much higher, especially when even official figures surpass the lowball totals. It
must also be mentioned that conflicting reports, at times from government sources, often confuse the body count statistics.
The killings in the north are
reportedly part of turf wars over smuggling routes and control of growing Mexican user and addict markets, but too they may
include revenge murders, inter- and intra-cartel shootouts, maybe even joy killings and those committed for who-knows-why. The main perpetrators are said to be members and hit men of the Sinaloa, Tijuana,
Gulf and Tamaulipas Cartels.
The Pacific coast state of Sinaloa
leads the wave of executions, with at least 270 killings since January 1.
Baja California comes in second
with 223 slayings as of May 10 (and others since). There were 166 killings in
Tijuana alone, including a record 54 dead in the month of April.
At the eastern end of the border,
in Tamaulipas and also as of May 10, those murdered in drug related incidents total 116.
As of May 28 the count had risen to 55 killed in the city of Nuevo Laredo.
So in Sinaloa and but two of
Mexico’s six border states, the reported narco related deaths to date this year sum up to 609.
On May 23, during speeches in
Mexico City, President Fox rather unceremoniously blamed opposition party congressional members of the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) for Mexico’s current security, crime and violence problems. Speaking at an insurance industry convention, Fox told those assembled that the time
has arrived for Mexican PRI and PRD senators and deputies to act responsibly and pass the public safety and criminal justice
reform bill that he sent to Congress on March 29, 2004.
As must have been anticipated,
those blamed went ballistic. Members of the opposition in Congress criticized
Fox for his comments, plus they scolded the president personally for his inability to slow violence in Mexico. They also charged that the legislation Fox complained is being held up in Congress is stalled in a Senate
committee chaired by a member of the president’s own National Action Party (PAN).
“(Fox) is blaming others for his own mistakes,” they stated.
Oddly, or maybe due to the counter-criticism, Fox
subsequently seemed to drop his attack on the members of Congress.
And the next day, according to El Financiero,
Fox asked PAN deputies to publicize eight important areas of success by his administration, including advances in fighting
organized crime and narcotics trafficking.
Fox traveled to Sinaloa on May 26, to attend a public
security workshop and apparently to tout anti-crime success. But crime and violence
were shown to be so serious the president had to acknowledge the situation. As
such, agreements were reached for 30, 60 and 90 day plans to restore order, and Fox announced plans to visit all states where
crime is prevalent.
Barnard Thompson, a consultant, is also editor of
MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at mexidata@ix.netcom.com.
