Not so well, according to Pete Guither. Specifically with regard to the 17 people killed in a rehab clinic in Juarez. At least they’ll never take drugs again.
Tag: Mexico
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Mexico Decriminalizes Drug Possession
The story in the New York Times.
The law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities will no longer face criminal prosecution; the law goes into effect on Friday.
Too bad this won’t stop the narco violence.
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Prison Labor
In Mexico, on the road between Merida and Campeche, you pass a large prison (filled with people from Mexico City, they say). Lining the highway are a dozen or so stores selling hammocks and other labor-intensive hand-crafted good. They’re made by prisoners.Why don’t we have this?
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Viva Mexico
I’m in the same place for two nights for the first time in a week. So I have a little more time to write and check email and the like.
I’m always amazed how different things are in Mexico from what most Americans think things are like. Maybe things are worse up in border towns in the north. Or some of the nasty resorts. Or in the slums of Mexico City. But down south, in the Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, Campeche, and Tabasco, everything is fine. Clean. Civilized.
The drivers here (I’ve done a lot of driving) are generally more polite and courteous than drivers in America. Actually the people here might be more polite and courteous than Americans, too.
When it comes to driving, there are some different rules, like using your turn signal to indicate what others should do (a car with the left blinker going means you should pass it. Unless of course it’s turning left, but then it will pull over to right. Usually). But if you learn the rules, the driving here is easy and the roads fine (as long as you keep your eye out for topes, killer speed bumps).
Now yes, in the back roads of Chiapas, we did see a freshly butchered cow being sold on the side of the road. But who doesn’t like fresh meat? And that’s the country. There are still cowboys riding around.
You can even drink the water… at least in three cities. Maybe it’s clean everywhere. I don’t know. My rule is to ask a middle-class person. If people who can afford to buy bottled water say the tap water is fine, I’ll drink it. There’s no magical Mexican immunity from drinking dirty water. It’s either clean or it’s not.
With the recent flu problems, there is a great emphasis on hygiene. I wish I could say the same about New York City. Even many street food carts, and they’re a lot of them, have hand-washing stations.
And Villahermosa, where I am now, had a horrible flood two years ago. Today everything seems find. I dare you to go to New Orleans and say the same about the flood five years ago.
I know people talk with their feet and you don’t see too many Americans sneaking across the border to live here. It is poorer here. And people want a better life. I’m just saying it’s not all bad here. And it’s far less third-world than most Americans think.
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Drug Decriminalization in Mexico
The Mexican legislature has voted to decriminalize possession of up to 5 grams of marijuana, 1/2 gram of cocaine, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine, and 50 milligrams of heroin.
From the story by Tracy Wilkinson in the LA Times:
The battle between law enforcement authorities and drug suspects has claimed more than 11,000 lives since he took office in late 2006.
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In May 2006, then-President Vicente Fox … backed down only under pressure from the Bush administration, which complained that decriminalization for even small amounts could increase use.But with about two weeks to go before crucial mid-term elections in which his party is struggling to maintain control of Congress, Calderon cannot afford to be seen as bowing to the United States, analysts say.
Already under intense criticism for the drug-related violence, Calderon needs to maintain good relations with his nation’s Congress, where much of the opposition voted in favor of the decriminalization bill.
And so, political observers say, he probably will sign it into law.
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Drug Cartel Violence Spills Into U.S. From Mexico
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. It’s just another sign of the failure of the drug war. What’s our exit strategy?Here’s the story in the New York Times.
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Mexico and the “Failed State”
Spin this all want, drug warriors, it’s not good. From Ciudad Juárez. The whole story in the New York Times is here.
It was drug traffickers who decided that Chief Roberto Orduña Cruz, a retired army major who had been on the job since May, should go. To make clear their insistence, they vowed to kill a police officer every 48 hours until he resigned.
They first killed Mr. Orduña’s deputy … together with three of his men. Then another police officer and a prison guard turned up dead. As the body count grew, Mr. Orduña eventually did as the traffickers had demanded, resigning his post on Feb. 20 and fleeing the city.
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“I’m not going to give in,” [the mayor] vowed in an interview, welcoming the arrival of soldiers so that the traffickers will feel the heat even more.Mexico doesn’t need more heat.
How many days left till we win the war on drugs?
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Wait till Next Year!
“Mexican president rejects ‘failed state’ label.”
Well, I suppose he would.
He also says he’ll have the war on the drugs pretty much wrapped up when he leaves office in 2012.
Mean more than 1,000 people have been killed in Mexican war-on-drugs violence in the first eight weeks of 2009. According to the Mexican Attorney General, Eduardo Medina Mora, the total killed in 2008 (6,290) was double that of 2007. About 90% are suspected drug traffickers; 6% police and soldiers; 4% innocents caught in the crossfire.
Medina Mora also took a page from our DEA and starting marking shit up. He said the cartels are “melting down” under pressure from turf wars and the national crackdown. He also lied when he says that US cocaine prices have increased 100% and purity dropped by 35% since the Mexican crackdown began in 2006.
Really?
Why do foreign leaders lie? Because American leaders pay them. That’s what foreign aid is all about. We give them money. But I guess the gravy train runs out for former presidents. They start telling the truth.
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Mexicans block border to protest drug war
“Hundreds of people in Mexico have blocked key crossings into the US in protests against the deployment of the army fighting drug traffickers.” Read the complete story in the BBC.