Mexico in Focus

Violence reaches UTEP

The violence in Ciudad Juárez has directly affected the UTEP community.

According to Daniel Borunda's story in today’s El Paso Times, UTEP student Alejandro Ruiz Salazar and former student Jorge Pedro Gonzalez Quintero were killed near Juarez this weekend.

Ruiz, 19, was a sophomore nursing major who entered UTEP last fall. Gonzalez, 21, was an engineering student, who was enrolled at UTEP from fall 2006 through the spring semester of 2009.

This is the first time that we are aware of that UTEP students have been killed due to the violence in the Juárez area. Although many El Paso families have already been impacted by the violence happening in their neighboring city.

But when the violence affects students, people’s reactions are usually stronger.

At a recent national meeting, the rectores (the equivalent of a university president) of more than 150 public and private universities in Mexico expressed their concerns about how the violence is impacting campus life.  They said that students and faculty members have been assaulted, attacked, kidnapped, extort or killed due to the ongoing violence

In an interview with a local newspaper, the rector of the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), Jorge Mario Quintana Silveyra, said that in the last two years, two of the university's students have been reported as missing, another one was kidnapped and 11 students and professors have been killed.

The rector of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Jesus Ancer Rodriguez, said that one of his students, a woman enrolled in their architecture program, died as a result of the violence. In the same state, two students of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey were killed when they were trapped in the middle of a confrontation between organized crime and military forces.

Many of the rectores participating in the event said that they have substantially increased the funding assigned to security, something that was not a priority in previous years. Fernando Bilbao, rector of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM), said that his institution increased the funding for security by 100 percent.

Unfortunately, the more sophisticated security equipment won't protect citizens or students from being killed.

In the particular case of UTEP, the situation is even more difficult, given that many of the students commute everyday between Juárez and El Paso. They can't avoid going there because they live there and their loved ones are there.  Besides that, many probably can’t afford to move to El Paso.

Many people living in El Paso have stopped visiting Juárez. They are not visiting their relatives or friends. They are losing contact with their roots because they don’t want to expose themselves to a dangerous situation.

The killing of these UTEP students validates not only the existing dangers of Juárez, but it also might prompt parents to send their kids to live on the other side of the border.  Although this would disrupt these families emotionally and economically, unfortunately they don’t have many choices.

Nothing new after Calderon's visit to Washington

President Felipe Calderón concluded his two-day visit with President Barack Obama on Thursday.

There were not many surprises about the issues they discussed. There were not any surprises either in Calderon’s message to the U.S. Congress. It was a rhetorical message or a well-intentioned wish list with a doubtful possibility of any of them being implemented.

Calderón urged Congress to do something to stop the flow of weapons into Mexican territory. He asked legislators to bring back the Federal Assault Weapons Ban–which expired in 2004–arguing that more than 80 percent of the weapons seized in Mexico in recent years came from the U.S.

Knowing that he was stepping into difficult terrain, Calderón alluded to the Second Amendment, saying that although he understands and respects the purpose of it, “many of the guns are not going to honest American hands.”  He went further, advising legislators to regulate the sale of those weapons saying that by letting the weapons get into criminal hands, they will, in turn, attack American authorities and citizens.

Calderón said what he was supposed to say, but it’s hard to imagine that after listening to him the Congress will reinstate the AWB. In fact, it is not likely that Democrats are willing to discuss the ban with their Republican counterparts right now. It will surely be a surprise if they actually decide to do so.

And the same can be said for the immigration issue. Although President Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress may be in favor of immigration reform, it doesn’t seem likely they will achieve it in the short term. 

Obama’s comment to Calderon on Tuesday, “I don’t have 60 votes in the Senate,” summarized the status of the issue. The question remains– is Obama’s Administration determined to push for an issue that historically has divided Americans? After the heated health care debate and with the upcoming mid-term elections in November, it appears very unlikely that Congress will move toward a debate on immigration reform.

You could say that Calderon did his homework and brought the issue before Congress, but, unfortunately, besides all the applause and a fancy dinner in the White House, his visit won’t result in the short term in any concrete or visible actions that will benefit Mexicans living in Mexico or abroad.

Venting their anger by writing

After reading the numerous comments posted by readers in Mexican newspaper in regards with the disappearance of former presidential candidate and former Senator Diego Fernández de Cevallos, one can get a very good idea of how disappointed Mexicans are about their authorities and how deep their resentment against politicians is.

Thousands of comments have been posted in almost all national newspapers since Saturday, when Fernández de Cevallos -also a prominent lawyer-, was reported missing. Some of the comments are really rude, as the ones celebrating the kidnapping and anticipating, if not demanding, a tragic outcome.

Several readers justify or explain the kidnapping as a result of Mr. Fernandez’s wrongdoings as a politician and as lawyer. They claim he deserved it. Many other readers complain about the national coverage this particular case is getting in comparison with the minimum attention  that ordinary citizens get when victims of crime. Some other comments can be funny, as the ones asking the kidnappers to kidnap more politicians, including President Felipe Calderon. Just few, very few readers regret the disappearance of Mr. Fernández and show some kind of respect for the National Action Party politician.

 In general terms, the majority of the comments are visceral, which means that they are not the result of thought, deep analysis or research. Readers write from their gut and because of that, their writing reflect anger, disenchantment and cynicism. They are venting their frustration and you can’t blame them for those feelings. As Frankv wrote in his comment in El Universal “only in countries were corruption is too high, people can feel happy when something like this happens to one of its ‘leaders’. Ordinary citizens don’t feel sympathy for their politicians. Most people are against them.”

However, whatever their reasons are, it is deplorable that citizens can celebrate the tragedy of others. What happened to Mr. Fernandez is one more sign that reveals the deterioration of life in the country and we shouldn’t celebrate it.

If law enforcement agencies can’t find and rescue Mr. Fernandez in the next few hours, citizens will have a new evidence of police force’s inability to face organized crime. If Mr. Fernández doesn’t appear alive soon, if the kidnappers get away with their crime, they will have shown their capacities to bend the state forces. And that would be a real tragedy for the entire country.

 

 

Prominent Mexican politician reported as dissapeared

His nickname is “The Boss” or ‘El Jefe’ and he is one of Mexico’s most powerful men in terms of economic and political power.

Diego Fernández de Cevallos is also a former presidential candidate and a former Senator. He is one of the most influential figures in the National Action Party (PAN), which is President Felipe Calderon’s party.  But as today, Fernández de Cevallos is an alleged victim of kidnapping. Rumors about his death have spread all Saturday by social media. Federal authorities have just confirmed that he is missing and that traces of violence were found in his vehicle in a ranch in Querétaro (central México).

An avalanche of questions comes to mind.  What is the message that kidnappers are sending? Who win with this situation?  Why him?

There is not enough information yet to answer these questions. Until now, we don’t know who are the possible kidnappers and what –if any– their demands are. But assuming that organized crime is behind the kidnapping, the most obvious answer would be that the message for the government is that there are not untouchables and that there is nothing that can stop them.

What it calls attention is that Fernández was not part of Calderon’s team and in fact, he had a cold relationship with the President. In the middle of 2009 Fernández said in an interview that he and Calderón had “very different temperaments”, and because off that, he had decided to keep away from his party’s internal decisions as well as from government issues. 

So the question remains, why him?

Besides being a politician, Fernández de Cevallos is a powerful lawyer. He was a partner of Fernando Gomez Mont, the current Interior Minister, who is also a lawyer. Fernandez’s buffet has represented numerous companies and businessmen in famous public cases. He represented former bankers accused of multimillionaire fraud as Carlos Cabal Peniche, Jorge Lankenau, Gerardo de Prevoisin and many others surrounded by controversy.  The Mexican press has documented some of the cases that he has represented lately and perhaps looking at some of them could give us a possible reason for his kidnapping.

Fernández’s kidnapping occurs when several states are preparing for elections on July 4. An event such as this reinforces the perception that the country is out of control and that the government is not just losing the war against organized crime, but also that it is unable to take the reins of the country.

Two weeks ago, President Calderon said in Germany that his government has defeated the “five” horsemen of the Apocalyse. One of those horse riders, he said, was the insecurity. This Saturday before traveling again to Europe, he received a probe that his “five” horseman is far away from being defeated.  Mr. Fernández’s kidnapping is a clear evidence of that. 

Mexican elections: Who wants to run for public office?

Few days after having accepted to run for mayor of Valle Hermoso, a small town in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, José María Guajardo Varela was killed along with his son and his driver.

According to press reports, the National Action Party (PAN) candidate was murdered this morning when he arrived to his agricultural business.

Few hours after the killings, the PAN President, Cesar Nava, said that Guajardo had received several death threats before. He attributed those threats to organized crime.

The killing today made evident that organized crime is determined to control not jut the drug trafficking business, but also to have a stronger influence in politics. In fact, before Guajardo’s assassination, the PAN had announced that due to the fact that several of its candidates have received death threats, they wouldn’t campaign openly in some important municipalities of Tamaulipas such as Camargo, Ciudad Mier and Nueva Ciudad Guerrero.

Julian Sacramento, the PAN candidate for governor in Tamaulipas said recently that they were having problems to register candidates because those who could run for public offices, were afraid of the “narcos”.

“For the possible candidates it is a very difficult situation and we don’t want to put them at risk. All this area is out of control… the state is out of control and there are many towns without law”, said Sacramento.

The leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) reported a similar situation. The party decided not to nominate candidates in at least 10 municipalities of Tamaulipas “where organized crime has taken control of the political participation”, said Hortensia Aragon, general secretary of the PRD.

This is the first time in Mexico’s recent history that organized crime is having a direct and visible impact in the electoral process. 

Fourteen states will have elections in July 4, among them Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas. In those states, the drug trafficking violence is already an “issue” for all of the candidates, but we haven’t seen yet how it will affect their political campaigns. But the unfortunate killing of Mr. Guajardo is probably the first sign of how things have started to change for political candidates.

Mexicans put hopes in the 'Tricolor'

Every four years, faithful Mexicans renew their passion for soccer and their hopes in the national team.

And exactly one month before the beginning of the soccer World Cup, Mexicans’ hope is in its highest level.

Off course, just a few Mexicans dare to think that Mexico will be the world soccer champion, but almost a quarter of them said that the tricolor (the national team or the 'Tri') will get into the quarterfinals and with some luck, it will achieve the eighth world position.

These numbers come from a poll conducted by Consulta Mitofsky and published by Fut140, a soccer specialized online magazine. According to its results, just 3.7 percent of the soccer fans said the national team would get the World Cup trophy.

As you probably know, Mexico’s first match will be June 11 against South Africa, the host team. In spite of an extended belief that the host team rarely lose an inaugural game, Mexicans are encouraging their team: Almost 37.1 percent said that the tricolor will win the match with a minimum difference, and 32.2 percent thinks that Mexico will defeat the South Africans with a two-goals difference. If Mexico wins that game and an additional one, most likely it will pass to the following round.

However, the Mexican team rivals’ for the first round are not the easy ones: Uruguay and France, the 1998 World Cup champion.

The bets already started and as it has happened before, a big percentage of the Mexican population will be following all of the games, crossing their fingers, holding their breath and forgetting about the too many problems affecting the country. Many will watch the games hoping that this time, hopefully this time, the tricolor will do it better giving the country a good reason to feel proud about.

 

 

Children in the middle of the drug war

More than 4,000 children have died in Mexico as a result of the drug war. Most of them have died in crossfire situations or have been killed by members of organized crime.

These numbers came from a report released by Mexican legislator Teresa Incháustegui last Friday.

Incháustegui, who represents the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), said that no federal or local authority has documented the particular causes or circumstances around these killings.

She asked the federal government to start a national database containing information such as age, sex and the legal situation of the deceased person in terms of his/her involvement or non-involvement in organized crime activities.

With her remarks, the PRD legislator is bringing up a sensitive and important issue.

There is no pertinent information about the overwhelming number of killings, and we –as society– are not informed about the consequent investigations and judicial resolutions around these cases. It is almost impossible to determine the number of criminal investigations that are going on related to these killings.

On several occasions, we have heard politicians or public officials saying that around 10 percent of the drug war victims are innocent. But how have they come to that conclusion? Where are the investigations supporting this statement?

Incháustegui also mentioned another troubling issue: according to her numbers, more than 400 children have been recruited to work by organized crime in Ciudad Juárez.

Those numbers made me think about the situation affecting children in Colombia, where, according to a report by the International Tribunal for Children affected by War and Poverty, more than 3,000 minors were killed between 2005 and 2010 in incidents related to their war on drugs.

In the last two years, the armed conflict in Colombia has changed and children are now part of the intermediate structures of the armed groups. These children are recruited to perform intelligence tasks for the organized crime. “It is possible to find a 6-year-old boy doing intelligence jobs in the neighborhoods or transporting arms,” said the report. “The conflict in the cities is a time bomb and we think that the future of Colombian generations is already at risk”.

If Mexican crime organizations are already recruiting children, how far off are we now from a situation like the one in Colombia?  Is there still time to stop it?

Debating about covering the drug war

With the escalation of violence in the entire country, the Mexican press is going through one of the most interesting moments of its history.

El Universal, one of the oldest and biggest newspapers in Mexico, published an editorial this week pointing out the daily dilemmas that newspapers are facing every day.

“Is it right to run a statement written by a crime organization or to run an interview with a drug trafficker? Does publishing a drug cartel’s message (narcomantas) equal giving them space for their purposes? Should we publish names and images of innocent victims because of the ‘public’s right’ to know everything?” (Translated from El Universal’s editorial)

Those questions are now more relevant than ever, and a discussion such as the one that El Universal is bringing up is not just healthy and necessary for the country’s newspapers, but for the entire society. In the end, drug trafficking is a relatively new issue on the Mexican national scene and the press has not been prepared to deal with and to cover all the issues that come with it.

In some cities in northern Mexico, newspapers are not even reporting on the violence because the editors’ and reporters’ lives have been threatened. The killings of more than a dozen of journalists have proved that those threats are not an idle threat.

Several journalists have joined El Universal’s discussion and they are talking about the need to create a common strategy to cover organized crime, which should include not only how to approach the issue in terms of ethics and journalistic values, but also how to report with sensitivity about the outcomes of the bloodshed and violence. 

“The Mexican press is reporting crimes, but it is not telling people’s story, so we don’t know who were the victim and how and why they were killed. We are not questioning the authorities enough. The coverage has been poor, but part of it is because of the risk,” as was told to me by Octavio Rivera, a friend of mine who is a Mexico City-based journalist.

Reporting on daily killings is also having a harmful effect: we are getting used to the violence–in other words, the violence doesn’t surprise us anymore. The victims are becoming just a vast amount of numbers (more than 22,700 in the last three years).

This is one of the biggest challenges for the Mexican press now. To be able to break the gag imposed by the drug lords, to denounce wrongdoing and to tell the stories about the individual tragedies in the wake of any one of the victims of the drug war.

It’s not an easy challenge, but at least the debate is on and that is one reason to be optimistic.

 

 

President Calderon's fantasy world

Some Mexican politicians live in a fantasy world.

Surrounded by their advisors and friends, Mexican politicians create they own truth and after repeating it many times, they end up believing it.

That’s the only way I can explain what President Felipe Calderon’s said in Germany this Monday.  He spoke about how Mexico has defeated “not just four horsemen of the Apocalypse, but five.”

In 2009, he said, Mexico overcame several challenges, including the pandemic of influenza, the world economic downturn, the worse drought in 71 years, the drop in oil production drop and…the perilous situation of Mexico.

You’ve got to be kidding! Does anybody can take his words seriously?

Mexico is facing the worse crisis ever in terms of security, with more than 22,750 killings in the three years of President Calderon’s administration, with organized crime challenging the country’s institutions every single day, and with some areas of the country being controlled by the drug traffickers in a kind of parallel state.

Almost at the same time that President Calderón was speaking in Germany, the Inter-American Press Association reaffirmed Mexico as one the countries where free press is most threatened by organized crime. From 2006 to date, 30 journalists have been killed in Mexico.

And while Calderon was boasting about defeating the five horsemen of the Apocalypse, one of those riders, the perilous one, was showing how strong and alive he is in the entire country:  In Acapulco, five people were killed during a soccer game, in Sonora, four people were executed, included a municipal police officer, in Ciudad Juárez, another police officer was killed… and the list goes on and on.

Does President Calderon really believe his own words? Doesn’t he realize that a political speech such as the one he delivered in Germany damages his credibility? Does he really think that Mexicans trust him?

I hope not. And as many Mexicans, I hope that he will come out of his fantasy world and will face the reality of his country at least in the two years that he will remain in power.