Drugs, Murder, and Pueblo Mágico

With President Felipe Caldron taking a harsher stance against drug cartels and police corruption, violence between traffickers and the Mexican military is occurring more and more frequently. The breakdown of many of the larger cartels throughout Mexico has led to the increase in the activity of smaller gangs especially in areas of small crime.  In response to the increase in violence, tourism, one of Mexico’s largest and most profitable industries, has significantly dropped with people fearing the "oh my god it's happening next door" type of criminal activity.  Writer Maribeth Mellin summed it up by saying, “I just think that your chances of being an innocent bystander or witnessing something bad are higher now.” 

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Mexican Peso Takes the Sharpest Downturn in Years

It appears as if all of Latin America is being sucked into the economic vaccuum created by the United States' economic decline, and Mexico is no exception. A previous competitor to the US Dollar, the Peso shows little chance of catching up now, with a gross contraction of 1.8%, and that number is expected to rise as 2009 continues.


"The steepest decline in Mexico’s peso in 13 years blindsided everyone from UBS AG economists to Gustavo Huitron, the local marketing manager for Mercedes-Benz.

After weakening 20 percent last year, the currency fell to a record low of 14.4484 per dollar today. RBS Greenwich Capital Markets in Greenwich, Connecticut, now predicts another 4.5 percent drop by June 30. The peso’s worst performance since 1995’s so-called Tequila Crisis is being driven by the U.S. recession and falling oil prices, which are cutting Mexican exports and government revenues."

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The Matador

Where is the line drawn between culture and cruelty? A bull fighter of 11 years in Mexico slaughtered 6 bulls in single combat, in an attempt to surpass two world records. Animal rights groups are incensed, and use this as a rallying point to express their indignation, but is this merely another American ideal being applied universally to all cultures? Additionally, although we are outraged at the visible spectacle of children killing for pleasure, how is this any different than the faceless anonymous violence directed against all animals in factory farms? We tend to focus on the most visible outbursts of blood and gore while allowing systemic slaughter to go unchallenged, so all changes amount to nothing more than minor corrections to hide the fact indeed all remains the same.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jWKkXq6vL1nm-5POR0arckAAs78g

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President Calderon Defends his Nation Against Dire Predictions

"Stark assessments of the threat that drug crime poses to Mexico's stability have put the government of President Felipe Calderon on the defensive as he tries to forge a relationship with a new U.S. president.Rising violence, spurred in part by Calderon's 2-year-old offensive against drug traffickers, has prompted some officials and analysts in the United States to warn that Mexico faces a risk of collapse within several years."

With the recent inauguration of President Obama, he sought to quickly reconcile his neighbours with tough talk of civil reform and a new face for the internecine "War on Drugs" that is spreading police brutality, gang uprisings, and local-level corruption. With the recent prediction of Mexico collapsing within the few years by the US Government, Mexico's President Calderon has promised a new method of management and offers proof of success for his new anti-drug policies. Calderon continues to propose that while drug trafficking is a problem that is in the process of being handled, the core governmental system of Mexico has been able to side-skirt these damming issues, staying largely free of corruption and general incompetence.

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Alternative Energy in Mexico

Cemex Inc and the Mexican government have inaugurated one of the worlds largest wind farm projects in La Ventosa ('Windy' in English). However local residents are strongly against the project. They feel that only foreign companies will benefit as they will be running the project to produce power for foreign companies. The residents are attempting to defend the land of their ancestors from what they see as continued foreign incursions.
This is a good example of the Mexican government ignoring the feedback of their people in order to increase their reputation in world and make more profit for themselves. Foreign big busines constantly takes away land from the locals as can be seen along the border.

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Mexican Make-Out Session

Interesting tidbit here:  Mayor Eduardo Romero of Guanajuato has urged people to gather at his city on Valentine's Day and break the world record for most people simultaneously kissing at one place.  He will need nearly 7000 couples in order to beat the record set in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina.  This attempt is largely to dispel accusations that his new anti-obscenity laws prohibited kissing, an infringement on the civil liberties which we have come to regard so closely with democracy.

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The chemical components just got a lot more organic...

Santiago Meza Lopez was arrested for literally dissolving 300 bodies into chemicals. Mexican drug wars drive this particular industry.  The 300 bodies (or lack thereof) were once rivals of a Mexican drug trafficking gang lead by kingpin Teodoro Garcia Simental.  The drug wars are over drug trafficking routes through Tijuana.  In a statement, Meza bluntly said that when he was "disposing of" the bodies he felt "nothing".  It was just a job for him.  He was payed $600 a week to get rid of 300 bodies.  The question I pose to you is this: was it because of impoverishment that people do such things, or is it simply for the pure pursuit of money? Would this job be regarded as democratic since Meza didn't murder anybody, and he has the freedom to a contract?  At what point can the government curtail this freedom to a contract, especially in a society as problematic and poverty-ridden as Mexico is today.  Would it be worse to eliminate his opportunity to work in such an impoverished nation?

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