[The
Independent, U.K.]
La Jornada, Mexico
Happy New Year! Let the Post-Bush 'Purification' Begin!
"We're in a hurry to distance
ourselves from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, the shattering of Wall Street,
the economic crisis, the collapse of the principle world banks and the
breaking-up of the automobile industry. Will there be consequences? Of course!
But the fall of Bush, and the toppling of the 'Evil Empire' presided over by
Cheney make them worth it."
By Jorge Camil
Translated By Paula van de Werken
December 26, 2008
Mexico
- La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)
With the world upside down,
an economic crisis, no growth, and some acrimonious legislative elections that
probably will hammer the last nail in the coffin of us all - and I mean
everyone without exception - we all anxiously await the arrival of the New
Year. And by this we don't mean the triteness of “New Year, new life,” nor New
Year’s resolutions (such as deciding to go on a diet or quit smoking). Here we
talk of purification.
We anticipate that with the
twelve chimes of midnight, while eating the grapes of good fortune, stuffing
things into absurd red socks, pulling out grandma’s worn out suitcase for a
little visit and upon complying with all of the other harebrained rituals that
seem to multiply with every passing season, we are leaving behind George W.
Bush (the chupacabras, [graphic, right, 
] who destroyed the global
economy), and Dick Cheney (the Prince of Darkness who helped destroy the
security of the planet with a “war against terrorism” which permitted him to
seize Iraq's petroleum reserves).
We're
in a hurry to distance ourselves from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, the
shattering of Wall Street, the economic crisis, the collapse of the principle
central banks and the breaking-up of the automobile industry. Will there be
consequences? Of course! But the fall of Bush, and the toppling of the “Evil
Empire” presided over by Cheney make them worth it. Those who created the
crisis are going, but the damage has been done. Finally, just as the nightmare
seemed about to end, a last farewell gift illustrating capitalism's collapse
has appeared with the incredible story of Bernard Madoff.
The
“darling” of millionaire investors from Hollywood to Florida, he has been
denounced by his own children because of his $50 billion fraud. Yes - that's
right. This is almost the amount that the government of the United States spent
rescuing the economy - and twice what that country's car industry is
requesting.
[International
Herald Tribune]
Here in Mexico, where the
economic crisis and unemployment have begun to hit with great intensity, no one
is sucking their thumbs. We know that the holidays will only be a temporary
distraction - a palliative. We understand that the executions and threats
against the President will continue [reference to the war on narco-traffickers in Mexico]. Even if Ruben Aguilar, a
former spokesman and translator for Vicente Fox (he who always promised but
never delivered) has offered a solution: negotiate with organized crime! With
that, the former spokesman predicted, “The narco-traffickers
wouldn't feel the need for such huge amounts weapons and violence would drop.”
Perhaps Aguilar isn't
entirely wrong. His comments only confirm the perception that we have begun to
reluctantly accept drug trafficking as one of our inexorable realities (along
with the interminable transition [to reform], bribery, insecurity, the absence
of democracy and multi-party governance). Are we witnessing the “humanization”
of narcos? Perhaps.
Especially with the way intellectuals like Lorenzo Meyer and journalists like Ciro Gomez Levya have discussed the
issue in recent days. Gomez Leyva reminded us, with a
touch of Christian charity very much in keeping with the season, that many
victims of the “war on organized crime” are the criminals themselves, and that
these fallen “are also Mexicans.” No kidding!
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
And Meyer,
publishing his conclusions about Julio Schere's long
interview with Sandra Avila on the eve of the holiday (It's Time to Tell,
Hora de Contar),
in which Scherer, with the tact that so characterizes him, brought out the more
human side of the attractive Queen of the Pacific [notorious drug
smuggler, photo right ]; a woman who
has always seemed to me to be straight out of a Greek Tragedy, waiting for the
arrival of a new Sophocles to explain how she managed to survive the
karma of various incarnations of wife, woman and girlfriend to become part of
the “society of narcos.” (the
name Lorenzo Meyer has given to that world, which has been
imperceptibly embedded within and until recently we thought of as “our world”).
With the
intelligence and self-confidence that characterize her, Sandra has acknowledged
that the so-called war on organized crime is twofold: a war to the death with
the drug cartels and a war against corruption. So winning the first is only
“half the war.” The second aspect is more difficult, as it is a war against ourselves, against our way of life and our own karma. It is
a war against a political system that feeds on greed. No one can deny this.
Before and after shots of Mexican beauty Queen
Laura Zuniga, the latest victim of Mexico's 'war on
drugs,' arrested on December 23.
And while we were fully
engaged in “humanization of drug-trafficking” mode, enjoying Christmas parties
and preparing ourselves for the New Year, we also had a sad “end to the party”
that served to bring us back to reality: the brutal decapitation of eight
soldiers in Chilpancingo WATCH 
. And reconfirming the gradual embedding of drugs into
what we considered “our world,” Laura Zuniga , the beautiful Miss Sinaloa of 2008 who was recently
crowned Miss Hispanoamerican in Bolivia, was detained
in Jalisco on Monday along with a group of armed men [photo above ]. So, as
Rosario Castellanos says in his ineffable memorial to
Tlatelolco [the massacre before the 1968 Summer
Olympics in Mexico City ]:
"there wasn't even a moment of silence at the banquet, (since the banquet
continued).”
CLICK
HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
December 27, 10:28pm]
