Photo by: Cuartoscuro |
By Lourdes, Animal Político Reader | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat
This article is part of a digital project by Animal Político called “Aprender a Vivir con el Narco” (Learning to live with El Narco) released in late 2015.
This article is part of a digital project by Animal Político called “Aprender a Vivir con el Narco” (Learning to live with El Narco) released in late 2015.
I’ve been a witness to
the “levantamientos” (kidnappings)
and deaths of youths in my neighborhood, some of them with whom I grew up
with. Among curfews, abductions,
kidnappings, murders, shootouts, and death, everyday life develops in my
neighborhood.
One of the most violent
nights left five dead, all of them youths.
Now, it’s a militarized place. Now,
you just don’t protect yourself from “the habits” but also of the Mexican Army
and the police who extort and threaten.
We have learned to live
in fear, we have reshaped violence and created strategies to survive the terror
that causes us to live in a place without security and justice.
In the block,
solidarity networks were strengthened. Even
in some places, directories were developed with the phone numbers of neighbors
in case an emergency occurs.
I remember after the
killing of four youths in one night at the hands of organized crime, cardboard
signs appeared in busy public places, like in sport fields, announcing a
curfew. The message was more or less as
follows: “To whoever comes out after 8:00, you’re fucking dead.”
Faced with this threat,
every night, mothers and some fathers would be seen pilgrimaging throughout the
empty streets, on their way to pick up their children at the bus stop. They would say: “I’m going for him, I don’t want
them to confuse him.”
I also remember hearing
from people that they would have to be very careful when driving a car in the
town since any behavior that was read as an insult to “the habit” could cost us
our lives. So then the drivers knew that
if there was a car in front of them driving at a very slow speed, they knew
that they should try to pass them, or much less honk the horn to pressure them
to increase their speed. The playing of
loud music in cars even stopped, especially of narcocorridos.
Socialization has been
relegated to the private area, and although violence here is intermittent, life
isn’t the same anymore. Public places
are increasingly looking empty and people are increasingly more
distrustful. Although this distrust does
not apply with the nearest neighbors.
These strategies have
worked in my neighborhood, and while they don’t contribute to a decrease in
attacks against the people of this town nor to decrease crime rates, it has
helped us to not feel alone, to help us feel stronger and supportive, and to
bring about the fear that sometimes permeates everything.
Source: Animal Político
Source: Animal Político
"Cartel Crimes" brought back el PRI, now that they have the police and soldiers to do their dirty deeds for them, and terrorize the people to keep putting them down, they will not stop on their own...
ReplyDeleteThe city residents need to organize and take over block by block and kick the police corporations and soldiers in the ass, they do not need to be anywhere in town, only the criminals and the people, then the criminals will be gone voluntarily, because they are more decent than the government envoys...
@April 22, 2016 at 12:49 AM
Delete'Dirty deeds and their done dirt cheap'
What does Enrique Penis Nieto think n say about all this corruption?
ReplyDelete'No comment'
Deletesigned
E.P.Nieto
Former presidente de colombia Autodefensas Unidas, I mean Alvaro Uribe always answers to any and all questions about his murdering ways and corruption: "otra pregunta, otra pregunta, otra pregunta, otra pregunta..." for hours, sometimes will take notes, but usually he will just stare into the reporter or questioner's face...
Delete--that motherfacker is an evil mass murdering assassin, made himself a millionaire with drug trafficking and murdered his partners and friends and foes, and had hundreds of thousands of his countrymen and women and children killed too, about 7 million displaced to steal their land, all by himself with his little angel's face and his autodefensas...
--any similarity with enrique peña nieto, "el tlacoyo" is not mere coincidence...
So sad , sad , heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteMuy triste la vida , la lucha por la vida , vive la raza.
I had to stop watching a documentary on Link TV about the plight of the Palestinians.
ReplyDeleteWhat has the world become ? Who are these people , certainly not humans anymore, not that history has been very peaceful. The whole world running on caffiene, crank, ice , coke , croc , blablabla..........muy triste .
8:31 slap yourself on the snout! And soldier on, see syria, iraq, afghanistan and all the other bombed cities, and put it all together, then come back to BB and report.
DeleteStarting to get like that in many Mexican barrios in America.
ReplyDeleteYou hear all the excuses of why Mexico is a criminal sheethole.
There is no good reason for Mexicans to be criminals in America.
3:57 it's all been there since forever, you just saw it recently, maybe you just came down a notch or two, did some mexican criminal send your job away to thaililand or taiwan?
DeleteIts only some cities of MX that are like this - right?
ReplyDelete6:53 nope, it is the same all over mexico, but not all the news get out, sorry...
Delete--the circus may be coming home to your city or town if it is not there already, it most likely IS THERE...open your eyes...
What is your problem ?
DeleteWhat a hater,a real barrel of laughs.