La Jornada, Mexico

La Jornada, Mexico

U.S. Has Only Itself to Blame for Tourist Mystery

 

"It is fitting here to recall that this phenomenon is the price Mexico has been obliged to pay in consequence of a war that's essentially alien to us. This war has gestated due to the production and trade of firearms and the insatiable demand for drugs on U.S. territory."

 

EDITORIAL

 

Translated By Halszka Czarnocka

 

October 15, 2010

 

Mexico - La Jornada - Original Article (Spanish)

Secretary Clinton: 'Until Mexican narcotics police act against the terrorists ... We will have to continue to act like interventionists.'
[La Jornada, Mexico]

CBS NEWS VIDEO: Mexican 'pirates' may have mistaken U.S. tourist David Hartley for someone else, Oct. 15, 00:01:44RealVideo

In an interview broadcast yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the alleged murder of David Hartley, a tourist - supposedly attacked by members of organized crime on Falcon Lake, on the border between Texas and Tamaulipas - a “terrible tragedy” and said that, “we are sickened by it, as we are with the spike in violence that has gone on in Mexico” in consequence of the Calderon's government's “war on drug trafficking.”

 

Of course, any murder - and if this was a murder it is no exception - is intrinsically abhorrent, regardless of the circumstances in which it may occur. The violence and disorder that in recent years has spread throughout the country - and particularly gravely in the U.S. border zone, as well as the corruption and impunity prevalent in Mexico, feed the fear, anxiety and general feeling of powerlessness among our population. In this context, declarations like Clinton's would be legitimate and unassailable if stated by family members of the U.S. citizen or some relative of the more than 30,000 who have died as a result of the government's crusade against the drug cartels.

 

But the fact that the above assertion was expressed by the person responsible for U.S. foreign policy without even waiting for a full clarification of the circumstances of Hartley's death contradicts the restraint and moderation that should prevail in diplomatic circles. It also presents a distorted notion of the violence riddling our country. It is fitting here to recall that this phenomenon is the price Mexico has been obliged to pay in consequence of a war that's essentially alien to us. This war has gestated, on the one hand, due to the production and trade of firearms and the insatiable demand for drugs on U.S. territory; and on the other, by the policies of prohibition and frontal attack on the production and distribution of narcotics that, with support of governments that have given in to its demands, Washington has managed to impose on the region.   

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

Thus, while social, political and institutional normalcy in Mexico is collapsing as a result of the actions of criminal groups, the trafficking, distribution and consumption of illegal narcotics continues as usual in U.S. cities, without news of shootings, executions and drug-related kidnappings in that country.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

El Universal, Mexico: Mexicans Doubtful of U.S. Commitment to Drug War

La Jornada, Mexico: U.S. Consulate Deaths No More Tragic than Our Own

El Universal, Mexico: Hypocrite on Drugs, Obama Must 'Clean Own House'

El Heraldo, Honduras: Drug Busts in U.S. Belie the True Danger …

La Jornada, Mexico: Calderon's Bush-Style Militarization of Mexican Politics

Excelsior, Mexico: Mexico Needs 'Deeds, Not Words' From Obama White House

El Universal , Mexico: How Mexico Could Legalize Pot - Whether U.S. Likes it or Not

Excelsior, Mexico: As Blood Flows, U.S. Gets Serious About the Battle for Mexico

Excelsior, Mexico: Relations Between U.S. and Mexico are Deteriorating

La Tercera, Chile Mexico's Drug War: No Way Out But to Fight On

Semana, Colombia: Michael Phelps and American Hypocricy on the Use of Drugs

 

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Moreover, the consternation and dismay expressed by the U.S. secretary of state on the occasion of this murder is in stark contrast to the lack of similar words expressed about the countless cases of Mexicans killed in the neighboring country, be it by xenophobic groups, criminal organizations or the authorities themselves. Significantly, since the founding of the entity in 1924, no member of the U.S. Border Patrol has been declared culpable of homicide, and only two of its agents have ever appeared in court accused of murder. This, despite the many cases of unjustified deaths of migrants - many of them Mexican - at the hands of that organization.

 

The complaint voiced by Clinton is therefore misleading and improper, both in form and substance, and shows the characteristic moral double standards that prevail within the public power circles of our neighboring country to the north.

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US October 22, 3:39pm]

 







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