Mario López Ahumada studeert Internationale Relaties in Monterrey. Hij wordt er dagelijks geconfronteerd met de gevolgen van het drugsgeweld in de regio. In dit artikel probeert hij ons de structurele oorzaken van het probleem uit te leggen, evenals waarom de drugskartels zo'n lang leven beschoren is.
What could a proud Mexican write about his country? It is hard to leave aside the beautiful landscapes, the food, the music or the traditions. However, if someone is interested in reading about these matters, it would be better for him or her to skip this article, because I’m not going to talk about how beautiful or how proud I feel about my Mexico.
Casualties of war
I will write about the ongoing war against drug lords. It might be a well known fact that these are not easy times for the Mexican people. For over 3 years, almost everyday and at all times, Mexican newspapers report what could be considered the casualties of war. So far, it is said that over 20,000 people have lost their lives.
Most of them are people working for drug lords, but some others are children, students, activists, families, policemen, mayors and even a governor candidate. The violence rates have forced the authorities to teach elementary school students in certain states –especially those in the borders –, how to react in case of an open fire. Now, you may be wondering, are we afraid?
I can’t speak for every single Mexican, but I can say that several journalists have written about how we are getting used to violence. They say we are loosing our capability of amazement. As a person who reads news papers everyday, I would say that death has become part of the news. The same casualties that used to be a piece of information for the biggest headlines, are now mentioned somewhere among the rest of the information. It is true that the media has tried to diminish the relevance of violence in order to prevent people from getting (even more) scared.
However, it is getting harder to feel the fear, the grief or the solidarity in the people. Sometimes I’ve realized that many think that as long as these events don’t bother people close to them, they don’t really have to worry. And that’s not only sad but also a matter of concern. It is hard for me to think what would happen once people get used to death and corruption. But, how did this started? Is it new? Who’s fault is it? The answers are not easy.
Too little, too soon
Mexico has been a drugs passage since the early years of the 20th Century. The South American drug lords, used Mexico as a way to the United States (one of the biggest, if not the biggest, market for illegal drugs). Within time, the levels of consumption in Mexico arouse and instead of being a way to the USA, we became part of the market. Therefore people decided to grow Marihuana and to produce other drugs. Later on some of the earliest Mexican drug lords began to claim their territories.
Back in those days, drug trafficking was a crime but the authorities did few to prevent it. It is well known that several politicians had connections with drug dealers, and nobody interfered even though intervening would have been justified.
In 2007, Mexican President Felipe Calderón decided to prevent drug lords from getting more power. Nonetheless, in spite of being a good idea and part of his duty, he didn’t take the time to consider that the local and federal police were packed with corrupt officers, the army was not ready to put on a fight against these criminals and the justice and legal system are inefficient and filled with “holes”.
Consequently, when the war began the Mexican government had to face its mistakes but it was too late. Some drug lords had been killed and now others were fighting to fill their place. In other words, the government hit the beehive without being well prepared and now that the bees are all over the place, the authorities have to both fight them back and realize what their own problems are in order to solve them.
The war goes on
So far, the violence has forced other countries such as the USA or Great Britain to recommend not to travel to Mexico. Actually, some American representatives working in the northern part of the country have been asked to leave in order to protect their lives.
Right now, we are about to have elections. Next year, President Calderón will leave the position and everyone will be listening to what the presidential candidates have to say about drug trafficking. It is expected that the one able to guarantee to bring peace back will be the one with more chances to become president. However I wonder if that means to rearrange the agreements with the criminals, to change the strategy or a little bit of both.
It is hard to predict what could happen. The authorities have captured several people involved in drug trafficking, but many soldiers and policemen have been killed as well. This is a war that can not be won by any side. And as long as the United States continues to demand drugs, there will be people interested in supply them. And the war in my country will continue.