Katherine Corcoran
Associated Press
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Friday that he will fight to the last day of his term to defeat the drug cartels that have taken over towns, police forces and institutions in parts of Mexico.Calderon also promised in his annual state-of-the-nation address to clean up corruption among police and federal attorneys by the time he leaves office in December 2012.
In his second-to-last year in office, Calderon cut much of the usual fanfare around the speech out of respect for 52 civilians who died last week in a casino fire, a presumed extortion attack by Zetas cartel members in the northern city of Monterrey.
A police officer has been arrested in the attack. The Monterrey mayor's brother has been questioned regarding casino-related corruption.
Calderon announced the creation of a federal prosecutor dedicated entirely to victims of violence. The prosecutor's job will be to identify victims and find people who have disappeared at the hands of criminal groups.
Calderon has come under fire from victims' groups for minimizing the impact of violence on innocents. One of those groups is headed by the poet Javier Sicilia, who lost his son to an attack by drug gangs.
The new prosecutor "will take a major step to close the wounds that have opened in the country," Calderon said.
Last week he called the casino fire the worst incident of drug-related violence involving civilians in his term and declared three days of national mourning.
After encounters with the general public, Calderon said it became clear that "victims should be the center of our attention."
Most of people are bashing Carderon's war on cartels. It's taken only 5 years now.
ReplyDeleteI'd give it at least same amount of years more before I'd bury it.
Comparing to how long this situation has been evolved, it's crazy to think it could be changed in any way in short period of time.
Be patient. You know, through suffering to the victory.
If they'd bury this war now when just got started, those innocent people has died for nothing. You mexicans are too impatient on this, but I know it's easy to say from this distance when your people is getting killed and you live in so unsecured conditions this days.
Believe me, I want Mexico to get rid of issues what causes this days problems.
No matter what I do believe on this president. No one is perfect in life, and so far this is the only president that I have seen confronting the cartels head on.
ReplyDeletefrom the BBC...
ReplyDelete'A Mexican state police officer has been arrested in connection with the arson attack on a casino in the northern city of Monterrey that killed 52 people. The Mexican Attorney General's office said the officer had been caught on CCTV pulling up in a vehicle outside the casino as the attack was launched.'
Obviously, Calderon has failed to deliver 'clean cops' to Mexico, but has delivered cops gone wild instead. Nobody is much impressed except for the USA BB Right Winger crowd.
President Calderon... What a GREAT Man for going after Mexico's scum. Go get' em sir!!! Show no weakness.
ReplyDelete@ Ardent Obviously, Calderon has failed to deliver 'clean cops' to Mexico, but has delivered cops gone wild instead.
ReplyDeleteYour comment can only apply if any of the bad, wild or corrupted cops were hired in the last four to five years during Calderon's government. Calderon can't be responsible for bad cops hired before his government.
Start with making the two girls that were served up to the zetas by delivery strait from jail, only to be butcherd and put in cantainers, the poster girls for corruption, until change is known, trust no one and avoid the so called authority.
ReplyDeleteArdent is a fool with no logic.
ReplyDeleteOfficial corruption in Mexico is nothing new. People used to chuckle and say, flash em a twenty and they'll let you go". This and the large amount of U.S. drug dollars is what has allowed things to spiral out of control. Add to that a largely rural country with low wages and unemployment and you have a perfect storm for lawlessness. I hope that President Calderone is ramping up to creating a national police force. I support his militarized 'war on drugs. What is the alternative? Play nice? Ignore the villains? Legalize?...No,no and no. Go after the cartel leaders, midlevel guys, street level guys, halcones, everyone. Do it in waves, sectors north to south, helter-skelter or whatever. Just keep up the fire!
ReplyDeleteArdent does make a good point.Viva mexico but with a new president were tired of you calderon and your stupid,pointless war on drugs
ReplyDeleteA of people here need to go to Mexico, live there for a while, and then ask the questions
ReplyDelete1. Is Mexico equipped to have "clean" cops?
2. How would that happen?
3. What would stop them from becoming "dirty" again?
The thing is, there is a culture of corruption. Mexico will not have clean cops, as it is a failed state. No-one cares about them anymore. Look at the USA. 60 killed in a terror attack, and no-one North of the border even pays attention.
Clean cops? That is like going into a jail or prison and saying "ok, you guys are now all going to be good citizens, ok", and hoping that will do the trick. It won't.
Mexico's police are quite literally useless. If someone can tell me what they do that is useful, I'll listen. They are government paid enforcers for the cartels. They extort pennies from the people. Basically, the police should be disbanded. If the municipals were disbanded tomorrow, and not replaced, then can someone point out how Mexico would suffer? I am interested in the debate. I think they would save money, and have safer streets. For a start, the bad guys couldn't hide behind a uniform.
Clean cops in Mexico. Get real.
@ September 3, 2011 10:04 AM
ReplyDeleteYou are tired of Calderon and the stupid, pointless war on drugs. What about the cartels? Are you tired of the cartels, the pointless killing for power, the rape, theft, kidnapping, extortion and many more crimes? As far as I know all this crimes started before Calderon. Before who's fault was it?
The whole report was a joke... he is asking for the corrupt governors to clean up their forces? Yeah, sure...
ReplyDeleteEvery single poster that criticizes Calderon has absolutely no alternative to offer except to give up. Morons like ardent complain that the money could be better spent or some vague "plan" to create more jobs. Unless you have something constructive and specific to suggest you should shut the fuck up.
ReplyDeleteThe negative naysayers like 11:29, 11:24, 10:04 are just trying to impress us with their cynical worldliness. You are not helping either so fuck off.
The problems that Calderon is trying to fix are systemic and will take a lot longer than 6 years to fix. Obviously the next president will have to continue Calderon's work.
@Texcoco,Mexico11:27
ReplyDeleteNo
matter what theres gonna be crimes and people who are willing to commit them.This is pointless! Or what do you have a solution?It was better before calderon came into office he just made it worse.
I could only imagine little kids looking at the soldiers with their guns patrolling the streets,and wanting to grow up an do the same,but as part of their local organized crime group.
Maybe Mexico has to do the same thing they did back in the 1876 to 1911. In order to stop the crime Porfirio Diaz had a phrase Matenlos en Caliente, it was kill them right on the spot.
ReplyDelete@ September 3, 2011 12:02 PM
ReplyDeleteThat was very well said.
Thank you.
Anonymous 9:41 AM writes,
ReplyDelete"I support his militarized 'war on drugs.
What is the alternative? Play nice? Ignore
the villains? Legalize?...No,no and no.
... Just keep up the fire!"
Play nice? No, I agree.
Ignore the villains? No, again I agree.
Legalize? No? Come on! Don't be so ... so...
You don't want to address the main driver of the problem? You want to maintain the government's fabulously successful Cartel Support Program otherwise known as Prohibition? And it _is_ fabulously successful (from the points of view of the Cartels and their counterparts on the other side of the legal line.)
Legalize? Yes! Yes, and in doing so, remove a huge source of Cartel profits and re-direct presently wasted resources to where they might actually do some good, like protecting Mexico's oil from theft, strengthening anti-corruption efforts and improving the lives of the average Mexican citizen.
Legalize-no-just-keep-up-the-fire makes sense only if you want to continue the same failure, corruption and waste. Worse than that! Increasing corruption and an increasingly diminished future.
Legalize. Yes!
Calderon hasn't managed to do anything but destroy's Mexico moral-fabric little by little, there isn't a counted number of criminals in the drug trade, people join the drug trade for survival. Calderon should of go after the politicians, intelligence agencies and police protecting these criminals or try to freeze the cartel's international accounts. Mexico has spent too much money and lives on this war, yet drugs still go North and cash go South.
ReplyDeleteAt least Calderon is trying! Failed war on drugs? What about a failed war in Viet Nam. And the failed policies of US Congress? And the failed policies of Clinton, Reagan, both Bush's policies in Kwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the failed policies of Obama. More than twenty years of failed policies that have cost the lives of more than 75,000 servicemembers? And guess what 50% of young americans are still crarving their daily doses of their favorite drug. At least President Calderon is trying to end this, no matter what! Thanks . Viet Nam Veteran. And Proud Of It!
ReplyDeleteI really don't see what the alternative is to fighting the Cartels I mean was he seriously supposed to stand up there before this all got serious and announce that he is working towards helping the cartels and forming an alliance with them?!?! whatever the hell he says he will get backlash but it would be worse if he didn't try to do something against the cartels. Things are bad but they would be worse without some effort by Caulderon and the forces.
ReplyDeleteThere will be casualties in wars its just how it is and things will get worse before they get better.
Culture is the issue here. What are the norms, what are the expected behaviors, what groups are most identified with, what are the socials customs, and what are the common rituals? What values are put on family, friends, community, environment, welfare, education, social activities, and employment opportunities? What beliefs are in place? The belief that Mexico is safe, secure, fair, just and fun? I am afraid that six more years of the direction Calderon has taken Mexico would create an entire generation of young Mexicans with a culture of war in the streets is a norm. That is a failed culture. This is where good leadership would need to connect to make change.
ReplyDeleteMexico has allowed autonomy to states forever. That was the social norm and there was very little federal intervention. Calderon has tried to change this by a very aggressive federal approach which has and will always create a justified reaction of hostility from the states.
The illicit drug industry in Mexico is second only to their oil industry and "nobody" there wants to give up their cash cow. Everything we see going on in Mexico is due to a few conflicts, PAN vs PRI, States versus Federal systems, and regional cartels vs other regions. Resolutions will have to come by; State and Federal negotiation, elections for PRI vs PAN and negotiation between the two parties, and forced cartel negotiation and peace. The drug problem is not going away because neither Mexico nor the US want it to. It employs too many people and too many people enjoy using drugs.
But labeling your agenda of supporting one particular cartel through a "war on drugs" and causing fire in every street in Mexico to achieve a selfish agenda will fail miserable. This is not brave and quality leadership. This is a man that considers himself a member of the European Culture and above lowly Mexicans. I have yet to see him try to connect in any way to the Mexican people. The people of Juarez saw through him fast and ran him out of their town meeting.
TRC
You have to understand that it's not just a "war on drugs" it's a war on organized crime!!
ReplyDeleteYears ago there were not much violence because the cartels were doing business with drugs only, but they started to kidnapp, extortion, and all kinds of crime imaginable, plus they had more power than the local police, so... What do you wanted calderon to do???
other than send soldiers and federales???
Calderon needs to give the army and federales green light to shoot and kill those sicarios, because the judical system is where the problem is.
No matter how many garbage they caught, they receive light sentences if any, and in a short time they are back in the streets doing the same crap all over again!!!
This is the first President to stand up bravely against the cartels....I hope this is contagious because many would close an eye to corruption...there is still so much to do but so few who would stand up and those who have...have perished.
ReplyDeleteTEXCOCO MEX.....are ya referring to firing squads? I concur!!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with "Anonymous September 3, 2011 2:07 PM". I just hope that the leaders and populous have the intestinal fortitude and patience to continue to see the progress that Calderon has started through to the end. Its funny to read people's comments about how corrupt Mexico is...they have no idea how much it has improved compared to 10 years ago!
ReplyDeleteThere's a famous photograph from the time of the Cristeros Rebellion. It shows cristeros handing from telephone poles as far as you can see.
ReplyDeleteElias Calles said he would not put up with any opposition to the laws/restrictions on the Catholic Church. The true believers fought back and Elias Calles crushed them. The Rurales were ruthless but also loyal to the Mexican Govt.
September 3, 2011 2:34 PM are ya referring to firing squads? No, not really, but during Porfirio Diaz there was insecurity in Mexico to many robberies and all other crimes. Porfirio Diaz created fear on criminals if you were cough committing a crime you will be killed on the spot. Mexican criminals have one way of working, if you get in their way they will kill you. Well Mexico should do the same before we get as bad as Brazil. Did you people know that Brazil has had more than 800,000 murders since 1980, 2003 was the worse year with 51,043 murders.
ReplyDeleteSeptember 3, 2011 2:07 PM I totally agree with you.
ReplyDeleteGood to know he'll have all Mexico's problems sorted out shortly.
ReplyDeleteIf you want a culture of war, find one and promote it. If you want peace, negotiate it and cherish it.
ReplyDeleteThis site is full of arm chair war mongers. You don't have to worry about your wife or child catching a stray bullet. So root, root for more blood shed in Mexico, so you can come home from work and read about it and look at the photos. You can be the arm chair hind sight general you all think you are.
Calderon is no hero, he is a war monger just like you only he and Chapo are making billions from it. He has a reason, you poor fools don't.
It remains to be seen how much impact Pres. Calderon will have on corruption and the criminal element of Mexico during the remainder of his term. Actually, at this point it could be said that the drug cartels have made a more negative impact on each other than the negative impact instituted by his government.
ReplyDeleteWhen a person speaks of corruption in Mexico it's usually thought of in terms of politicians and the police. However, one aspect that I've never seen addressed is the fact that corruption runs much deeper in this country. It appears that anywhere money is involved there is deeply embedded dishonesty. That includes the shopkeeper, the service station operator, the taxi driver, the bus driver, the beauty operator, the restaurant owner, the automobile dealer, the auto mechanic, the schoolteacher, doctors,newspaper delivery person, and the list just goes on and on.
If corruption is to be brought under control in Mexico, it has to start in the home. Unfortunately, the only way to stop corruption in the older generation is by forcing them to be honest. Children can be taught to want to be honest, and there's a big difference.
@ 5:38 PM..."That includes the shopkeeper, the service station operator, the taxi driver, the bus driver, the beauty operator, the restaurant owner, the automobile dealer, the auto mechanic, the schoolteacher, doctors,newspaper delivery person, and the list just goes on and on."
ReplyDeleteDon't be so critical of the working class. That is a huge over generalization and that is unacceptable to say about the working class. In fact, they are targeted by cartels and police through extortion. Your opinion is very wrong on that point.
This really is not Calderon's 'war on drugs' at all. The guy is a mere puppet for the US and like all US puppets abroad, not really much of a patriot for his own country.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it. The US 'war on drugs' has been nothing more than an excuse to militarize first America's inner cities, and now to militarize Latin America.
Calderon is a mere sergeant lowest class in all this effort by the US government to run the world. Establishing an all pervasive police state still will not stop drug proliferation in the world's poorer areas. Not in the US, not in Mexico, and not anywhere. Calderon is set to have a future popularity rating below even that of Obama!
I agree 100% Ardent.....TRC
ReplyDeleteOk Ard Calderon is evil. He's only thinking about himself. Are you telling me that he, along with the U.S. is forcing Mexicans to traffick, distribute, and sell drugs? Don't the people have free-will? Can't they make up their minds and decide to not get into this drug trade? Why can't Mexicans simply stop getting involved? Why don't they leave all this shit for some other country to handle? Oh, I see, because there's no jobs. Well whose job is it to make jobs? The government's? Since when has it been the government's job to do that, anywhere? It's the pepole, the people who have to change, and with it they'll change their government as well. But until then they're just sitting on their ass doing nothing. I don't know if we are talking about a broken country, a broken people that have given up, that will not fight to oust their own government but for a people to simply allow or let themselves believe that their government runs their lives pretty much tells me they are a hopeless people unwilling to do anything. People are accountable to themselves and to themselves only.
ReplyDelete@ September 3, 2011 4:56 PM Calderon is no hero, he is a war monger just like you only he and Chapo are making billions from it. He has a reason, you poor fools don't.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you tell that to all the people who had been abuse, kidnapped, under extortion, robbed, or have had family killed by organized crime.
Ardent you are an Idiot, if Calderon is a U.S puppet why he doesn't do what U.S said or ask for?. He always blame the U.S for things, he kick out U.S ambassador Carlos Pascual even when the U.S ask him not to do so, and not once he has apologized for anything he has said about the U.S but he has receive a lot of apologizes for what U.S employees have said about Mexico.
ReplyDeleteTRC you are an idiot for agreeing with Ardent too, you two have to get your heads out of your asses.
The person commenting that the working class of Mexico are honest people is either wrong or just doesn't know what they are talking about. The working class will cheat you in a New York minute if not watched closely. Do you count your change when paying for an item, or do you know they are going to be honest with you. I worked and traveled in Mexico for many years as a missionary. I helped build homes for needy,dug water wells, helped build dams, and seveal other worthwhile projects. The amazing part was I never got past the part of always having to be on guard when it came to money. When you confront them with their dishonesty they would always apologize and claim it was an honest mistake. However, the "mistake" was always in their favor. Anytime an honest mistake is made, 50% of the time it will be in your favor. So, the commentor is correct. There is an over abundance of dishonesty in the working class. When I say this I don't mean that everyone is dishonest, but enough are that it gives the remaining population the stigma of dishonesty. When it comes to honesty there isn't a middle ground, either you are, or you aren't.
ReplyDelete@ 9/4 6:54-I see being a missionary certainly helped your rosy outlook on life!
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note, what I found interesting about the speech is the proposal to charge an individual for the crimes of the entire organization. I personally think it's a step in the right direction. I also liked the fact that the President announced the creation of a new department to deal strictly with the victims. Only time will tell how these steps will help in the broad picture of defeating these criminal organizations.
These are not really ardent's views. He is a puppet of the US Left Wing liberal progressives who want to set up more Left Wing dictatorship governments like Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Iran, Nicaragua, Ecuador, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe people who pull ardent's strings only use the so-called drug war as a pretense to involve innocent counties like Mexico in their multi-level plot to control all firearms sales and take over South America and it's drug industry.
They have ardent trapped in a conspiracy he does not/cannot understand. He should not be blamed for trying to make sense of it. For example, he thinks the US is at the root of the manipulations. In fact the US is only higher in the chain of command that controls ardent and his associates so skillfully.
By the time ardent realizes he has been supporting and paying quota to these leftwingers that are in truth rightwingers, the trap will have been sprung.
Che
@ September 4, 2011 10:08 AM My friend I have live in Mexico all my life and I don't come across on the dishonest mistakes as much as you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you and me live in a different world.
I also remember reading and watching on the news how food stores all over U.S will cheat you out on food product always adding 2 to 5 or 10 cent more on every product you will buy and most of the people will not know about it because they will not check the receipt thinking that U.S has no dishonest people.
@September 4, 2011 2:16 PM I don’t have any idea how food stores operate in the U.S. since I am from Canada. But, I do know that the word among local people here that once spent winters on the Pacific coast was to always be on guard against rip-offs when dealing with Mexicans. These are tourist that no longer go there because of imminent danger. I, also, know that a large part of our orientation for working in Mexico as missionaries was how to prevent petty theft, and the orientation leaders were Mexicans. However, I contend that dishonesty is dishonesty on any level and among any people, whatever their native country. If I’m dishonest and I point my finger at Mexico, the United States, Canada, or any other country and say they are dishonest too, that doesn't change my status one iota, I'm still dishonest. If you will check with the State Department’s of the industrialized nations of the world for the top 10 reasons why they advise their citizens not to travel in Mexico the top three is because of - 1) Personal Safety, 2) Corruption (dishonesty), and 3) Food Hygiene. During the 12 years I worked in Mexico, I worked in every state of the Republic. The Mexican citizens that I met and worked with were kind and gentle people. But, if tools weren’t stored away and locked properly, which happened on many occasions, you wouldn’t find them the next morning. Too, most Mexican homes aren’t built behind high walls and fences to keep the honest people out. Why is Mexico viewed as one of the most dangerous countries in the world today? What, or who, allowed this beautiful country to deteriorate to such a deplorable state. Was it honest and forthright dealings by its citizens, or was it greed and power hungry individuals to whom truth and honesty meant nothing? All that I know about what’s going on in Mexico is what I get from the media, which I don’t always take as being 100% correct. But, it appears that many of the participants of the drug cartels grew up in impoverished conditions. When people are oppressed they usually build a tremendous amount of anger. Then when they get in a situation where they have the opportunity to strike back, they normally do it with full force. Could this be what is happening in Mexico at this very moment? How does Mexico regain its status and become a world leader of the twentieth century? It will only happen when every citizen of the country does some soul searching and asks the question, “am I a part of the problem, or am I a part of the solution?” Defending dishonesty is condoning dishonesty. I'm not asking anyone to believe as I believe, but this is an open forum where we are given the opportunity to express our thoughts and beliefs and that is exactly what I'm doing. So, if you don't agree with me, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't really matter. Too, in the last few months there has been several books recently written, by what appears to be very knowledgeable Mexican authors, that follows along the same train of thought as I have expressed here. There are those among us that believe honesty begins at home and should be taught by example.
ReplyDeleteSeptember 6, 2011 11:22 AM Well during all the time I have lived in Mexico in el D.F I have only come across a few dishonest incident, and let me tell you a lot of people have always accused us chilangos as thief's and not once I have been robed on the Mexican metro, the only time I was robed it was by the judiciales in Mexico because we were speeding on the periferico and we were stopped the judiciales slapped me and my friend around and they confiscated our cash. About Food Hygiene I have been eating all over the place in Mexico on small restaurants and street vendors in many states of my Mexico like México, Federal District, Veracruz, Jalisco, Puebla, Guanajuato, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Baja California, Sinaloa, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, Morelos, Aguascalientes, Tlaxcala and not once I have got sick. I guess you have your point of view and I have mine, but for what is worth, thank you for the missionary work you have done in México. Te lo dice un Mexicano que orgullosamente vivió y creció en México.
ReplyDeleteCalderon should make guns legal.Let the citizens be able to protect themselves,families, and property.People have the right to protect themselves. What is going on is pure tyranny
ReplyDelete