Billions in 'Blood Money' Fuel Bloodshed In Juarez, Mexico

Juarez has suffered greatly as a result of the drug violence present in Mexico.  The city has been completely overtaken by the drug war. 2,000 have died as a result of drug violence in the last 14 months.  The army has been occupying the city in a state of martial law for the last six weeks. The mayor had fired half of the police force to attempt to remove corruption,resulting in the deaths of 50 officials. a former mercenary claims to have had help smuggling drugs from us officials on the border. He said the drug cartels have many US officials on payroll and they are known to the cartel members only by number. The FBI has said the corruption from the cartels is on the rise.  Especially as the justice system in Mexico has mostly fallen apart as most cases from 2008 went unsolved.  The Mayor ofJuarez sees a great irony in the continued marijuana usage by Americans and the fact that 90 percent of guns found on cartel members are from the US.

Mexico having even temporily lost a city to complete immersion in drug violence is a very scary thing considering its status is very close to 'failed state'. The US's continuing inability to assist Mexico is severly hurting the Mexicans fight against the drug cartels.

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Millions Gather for Good Friday Pageant

Last friday (Good Friday), a massive re-enactment of the Passion took place all over Mexico, as it has for decades.  As always, the biggest one was located in Iztapalapa, the largest barrio in Mexico City.  Drawing about 2 million visitors yearly, in a tradition going back to 1843, the acting out of the Passion is a major festival which can boast a number of street vendors and even a ferris wheel.  With rainfall at a record low for that area, water itself has become a scarce luxury, but everyone remains cheerful during the Passion.  To play a major part in the re-enactment is a major honor (Diego Zirahuen Villagran Villalobos got the part of Jesus), and people line up for the opportunity even to play Judas.  Altogether, the festival is a yearly, emotional occurrence which draws the people together and helps them forget the misfortune in their lives.

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This festival is a major event with strong ties to Christianity and Catholicism, the predominant religion of Mexico.  It unifies the people in a celebration which permeates geographical separations by drawing on common religious beliefs; as good as the union is, it may later create tensions between religious groups.

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Cap-and-Trade

In an effort to combat global warming around the world, Mexico has joined the multitude of countries now starting a carbon trading market as the crucial part of a cap-and-trade program. This cap and trade program works as follows. There is a limit put on these companies as to how much carbon emissions allowed to escape into the environment. Each company then will have this limit, and those companies that fall below this limit are then allowed to sell the amount that is not being used to a company that is going over the limit. The large scale goal for these programs is to cut in half the amount of carbon-dioxide outputs by 2050, as Mexico's Director of Environmental Issues, Godinez Rosales said.  The main motivation behind these programs is to cut back on the amount of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere.  The real questions is whether or not it will work to sieze that which caused the problem in the first place, commodity fetishism without a regard for anything else, and use it to turn back the problem.  By using the incentive of the market place, they are motivating the companies with regard to profit.  “We want companies to see climate change as a growth opportunity and a way to improve competitiveness" said Rosales

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Mexico's death cult protests shrine destruction

200 worshippers of the 'Sante Muerte'(Death Saint) marched against the government today against what they saw as religious perscution. However the religion is popular with drug traffickers and soliders often see shrines to the saint on raids. Practioners though believe the saint protects them from a violent death.  Officials have denied claims that they are targetting sante Muerte, but in the past month 30 shrines to the saint(which  consist of marble structures and the sketal figure) have been destroyed.  Protestors carried portable shrines and signs proclaiming their faith to the belief. 

Obviously the government's attempts to crack down on drug violence have become to use more desperate measures creating  negative feedback in an already dissatisfied population. Unforunately there has not even been a positive side to this perscution against 'cultists'. This weakens an already frail sense of legitmacy for the government, which in its struggle for the country is acting against the wishes of some of the population. This suggests to me that the Mexican goverment is willing to sacrifice civil liberites if it means that they can keep a hold on the country.

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And Now for Something Completely Different

Taking inspiration from the United States mortgage bubble, Mexico applied for a 40 billion dollar credit line from the International Monetary Fund. This act will occur at .27 percent interest and will double Mexico's foreign investments. The money is a record setting amount from the IMF, which offers no stipulations or conditions on lent money. This move enhances its comparative credibility with other organizations like the World Bank, and shatters the previous record for a flexible credit line of 27 billion to Brazil. The economic response to the initiative was good; the Peso appreciated 2.7 percent in two days and the country in general appears to be stabilizing economically to a certain extent. The impact on public policy making from international organizations is enormous, as it usually imposes some economic restructuring that may trade off with such basic amenities such as public health, and enhances globalizing pressures.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/02/mexico-imf-credit-business-oxford.html

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Death Rates Dropping, Attitudes Rising

Reviewing the figures, it is apparent that the death rates from drug violence in Ciudad Juarez have dropped as of late. In the Jan-Mar period, death rates have dropped 25% from the rates in the Oct-Dec period last year. While they are still double what they were in the Jan-Mar period of 2008, they are a hopeful sign of possible de-escalation in the drug wars. This is the decline hoped for since Mexico sent in troops last month. With this setting the backdrop and joint actions with America looking very possible, things in Mexico may be getting just a little bit better. Maybe.

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In all likelyhood, this statistic means nothing, and all hopes for a quick end are simply wishful thinking. Still, when comparing Mexico to the rest of the world, it is in no way a third world country. With the wealth and political freedoms which many other regimes are unable to match, Mexico's government has a fair deal of legitamacy, and is capable of carrying out changes and policies which just might have some chance of succeeding. Perhaps it's finally working. Or not.

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The Ring..err..Ties of Power!

Attorney General Eric Holder recently met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora.  All parties involved agreed that actions needed to be taken towards the much percieved drug cartel violence sparking all througout Mexico.  However they also refuted the Pentagon claim that Mexico was heading towards attaining the term of "failed state".  On the same schedule was the topic of Colombia, and the rampant drug corruption there as well.  In Colombia, a southern neighbor of Mexico (2 blocks down), corruption is so bad that the leader of the Medellin cartel was just recently elected to Congress.  These drugs are causing problems for both Mexico and the United States.  On the topic of the weakening of the Mexican state Medina-Mora replied, “Mexico has never been a weak state.  It is not today. It will never be in the future. We have faced even more difficult problems than this one. And it is relevant to put this in perspective.”  Adding to this, he said that the purpose of the Mexican war on drugs is to remove from power those who infringe upon the rights of Mexican citizens.  They discussed training Mexican canine teams,  and the US Coast Guard to work alongside the Mexican Navy.  The recent talks between administration of both relevant countries shows the increased diplomacy in the Obama administration and the ability of it to handle a multitude of problems while even in the midst of a global financial crisis.  Alongside this, it shows the Obama administration is adopting new policies that, rather than just putting the US on a world pedestal, raises the entire world onto that same step as well.  The new regime is removing the divide of "Us" and "Them" and allows the US people to see the "Them" as nothing but a different "Us".  “We are going to operate almost like a vise,” Ms. Napolitano said of the United States and Mexico, after the meeting with Mr. Calderón. “We’re going to take out the cartels that have been plaguing our communities for far too long.”  

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