It wasn't supposed to work this way
Guadalajara -
Eight weeks ago today, on Dec. 1, the new Institutional Revolutionary Party administration took the reins of power in this country. On its 57th day in charge of Los Pinos, Mexico's White House, things are not going exactly as planned.
Speaking at an economic summit in Santiago de Chile yesterday, Peña Nieto acknowledged "grave security issues" in many parts of Mexico. Coming from a president who at times has been noted for his mastery of hyperbole, that's perhaps an understatement.
Last month, EPN's first full one in office, drug war deaths and organized crime executions were up from November, the final one in the six year term of former PAN preseident Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. January's tally probably won't be much better, and may be worse. (Mexican narco violence stats after first month of new PRI administration not encouraging: 982 executions, 32 a day).
But what's most troublesome is where the violence is now occurring. Some places were predictable: Cancún, Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya, along Mexico's southeastern Caribbean coast. The state of Jalisco. Guadalajara and its environs. Always problematic Michoacán.
Mexico City and its outlying areas, which have been fairly safe throughout the 73 month old drug war, were not predictable. And that's where the violence is skyrocketing. Today Mexico's Milenio network reported that thus far in January, 83 executions have been recorded in the State of Mexico (Edomex). That's the largest monthly death toll since 2007. On average, 3.4 persons were executed every day in Edomex this month. And there are still five days left.
Edomex, as Milenio reminded its readers, is on the orillas of the nation's capital - the banks or the shores. In English we'd call it suburbia, or perhaps exurbia. All that huge mass of terrain just beyond the capital city proper has become a very active drug war battleground. And although a large federal and state force is patrolling neighborhood streets, one local resident said Thursday of security where he lives, "está de la chingada". A crude but accurate English translation would be, "it's f__ked."
As a former governor of Edomex, the new president surely must be chagrined.
Mr. Peña Nieto and his supporters promised Mexican voters a significant reduction in violence in the first 100 days of his PRI administration - up to a 50% reduction. Of course, all political promises are made to be broken. But many are watching to see what rabbit the president next pulls out of his hat.
In the meantime, Mexico bleeds.
Mar. 4 - Edomex recorded seven executions over the weekend, with three victims decapitated.
Jan. 29 - This excellent article contends that the roots of the present security disaster in Edomex go back to the days when Peña Nieto was its governor (his last year in office was 2011). It claims the major drug cartels are at war, as they ship tons of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela, through Panama and Guatemala, to U.S. cities like Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. Things will get worse before they get better, it suggests. Edomex: creció la delincuencia organizada durante los años de EPN.
Jan. 28 - To show its grave concern for deteriorating security in the area, Mexico's National Security Council convened this morning in Edomex, on the campus of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico. Peña Nieto's highest ranking cabinet member, Secretary of Government Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, said the administration is determined to "confront head on the insegurity in the region."
Jan. 27 - A wave of narco murders in Edomex, as three vicious cartels duke it out.
Jan. 26 - SinEmbargo's opinion: Peña Nieto has no solution for the escalating violence in Mexico, and that's why he hasn't announced any more "new strategies." El incómodo silencio de EPN.
Feb. 1 - Yucatán safety continues to be subject of hot debate
Jan. 28 - Anybody can die in Mexico's drug war - anybody
Jan. 27 - With Cassez case now history, France will assist Mexico in setting up new gendarmerie.
Jan. 7 - Peña Nieto: no option but to follow Calderón strategy
Dec. 28 - Local police resign or desert posts in Jalisco, Michoacán
Dec. 19 - Enrique's challenging homework
Dec. 1 - Enrique Peña Nieto takes oath of office before Mexico's congress
Nov. 30 - Enrique Peña Nieto takes the helm in Mexico City
Sept. 24, 2011 - The Daily Obscenities of Mexico
Sept. 15, 2011 - Mexico, will you free yourself?
Aug. 27, 2011 -Mexico's Continuing Agony
The Sunday, Jan. 27 front page of Por Esto!, a Yucatán newspaper, notes the huge deployment of federal troops throughout central Mexico: "On the streets," it says. In Edomex, Marine units arrived.
" (Mexican narco violence stats after first month of new PRI administration not encouraging: 982 executions, 32 a day)"
ReplyDelete44.54 murders per day in USA=Americans are safer in Mexico.
America bleeds.
Yes . . . but please don't try to sell that story to the families of Jaime Zapata or Víctor Ávila:
Deletehttp://www.mexicogulfreporter.com/2012/06/family-of-ice-agent-murdered-in-mexico.html
or to the U.S. State Department:
http://www.mexicogulfreporter.com/2012/11/us-state-dept-renews-general-travel.html
But how much bigger is the USA, a per capita count would be a better comparison, no
ReplyDeleteI think I understand what your point is, and it's one I missed in my reply to the reader above, who argues that things are safer in Mexico than in the U.S. I disagree with his opinion for many reasons, but here are two:
Delete1. The population of Mexico is about 112 million. The population of the United States is just shy of 315 million. That has to be taken into consideration when you're comparing homicide rates.
2. But the main point the reader missed entirely is this: Last month (December 2012) Mexico recorded just under 1,000 ORGANIZED CRIME/DRUG WAR executions. The emphasis is on the capitalized words. Those homicides don't include ordinary garden variety murders (arising out of domestic and family violence, jealous boyfriends, bar room quarrels and the dozens of other types of ordinary criminal scenarios which Mexico, like all countries, experiences).
If the U.S. suffered 982 Mafia executions in a YEAR, or 982 murders carried out at the hands of political terrorists in ALL OF 2012, it would be a front page story for weeks. Here, it's just another month in the drug war.
I suspect that writer is an expat living in Mexico, perhaps making his/her living here. That may account for the bizarre analysis, which I think most people will not regard as particularly persuasive.
Yes one website...that will go unnamed...... says that Mexico is safer than the US but they too do not include the total homicide count.... And yes they are Americans living in Mexico making these false comments.
ReplyDeleteI too am an American living in Mexico but it is a bald face lie to say that Mexico is safer than the US.
Of course it's a "bald face lie," as you say - spread by angry expats who don't want to read anything bad about Mexico. They're Americans and Canadians, overwhelmingly, and they act 100% out of self-interest. They're peddling real estate and trinkets and Spanish lessons and "life style changes" to anyone they can sucker out of a buck. Anyone can easily find their websites, including a particularly prominent one in Mérida (one reason, perhaps, some expats in that town were so enraged at MGRR for reporting on the brutal murders of two gay Americans in 2012 - they would have preferred to sweep it all under the rug).
DeleteIn any case, to borrow the beautiful words of an Arab proverb: "The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on." MGRR is committed to reporting the truth - good and bad - about Mexico, and will continue to do so in the year ahead. As for some of those expats, perhaps they should consider a permanent relocation.
Thanks for writing, and thanks for being a witness to the truth.