August 29, 2010

MASS GRAVE IN MEXICO WORK OF DRUG CARTEL

The mass grave of 72 bodies in Mexico is seen as the latest evidence that drug cartels there are increasingly preying on migrants headed to the United States – so writes Sara Miller Llana, staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor-- reporting from Mexico City.

With attention focused on the US tightening its borders, and stepping up deportations mostly of undocumented Mexicans, the plight of migrants crossing through Mexico is often overlooked.

Alejandro Poire, government spokesman for security issues, said during a press conference Wednesday that “It is absolutely terrible -- and it demands the condemnation of all our society.”

President Felipe Calderon’s office issued a statement condemning the attack – adding that “government action against drug cartels has led them to extort and kidnap migrants as a financing mechanism.  This is a result of the activity of the state against them, which has significantly weakened the operational capacity of criminal groups.”

MIGRANTS KIDNAPPED

An estimated 10,000 migrants were kidnapped in Mexico between September 2008 and February 2009, according to a report from the National Human Rights Commission.

Amnesty International has urged the Mexican government to do more to protect migrants passing through.

“Not only are they targeted for money,” says Mr. Poire, “ they are also seen as potential recruits for drug cartels locked in a deadly battle that has taken 28,000 lives since 2006 when Mr. Calderon sent the military to fight organized crime.”

This could be the deadliest massacre since the Calderon effort was launched, but it certainly is not isolated.

In July, 51 bodies were found at a trash dump outside the industrial city of Monterrey.  In May, 55 bodies were found in an old mine near the town of Taxco, not far from Mexico City.

The northern state of Tamaulipas -- where the 72 bodies were found -- has been submerged in a violent struggle between drug gangs trying to secure illegal trafficking routes into the US.

VICTIMS

At a shelter in Tultitlan, migrants say they are victims both of Mexican authorities seeking bribes, Mexican gangs who beat them for cash – and worse -- kidnap them in hopes of getting ransom from relatives in the US.

The journey through Mexico has become more and more treacherous as suspected drug traffickers branch out into other businesses, including human trafficking.

Migrants are often victims – not only because they are presumed to have cash on hand -- but also because many have relatives with cash in the US.  Some become victims when they refuse to become involved in the drug trade.

AND, YET

Willing to face death in fleeing Mexico's peril, poverty, and corruption, and despite our flagging economy, the migrants still come, believing their fortunes will improve by working shunned jobs here.

The result - a slow, profound national demographic shift.  As migrants from Mexico and other countries arrive in this land of opportunity, America's skin color deepens.

Save a thing seven years and you will always find a use for it.

Baseball is 90 percent mental, and the other half is physical.

--- Yogi Berra

A good man in an evil society seems the greatest villain of all.

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist