home

Late Night: Mexico

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 12:05:26 AM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

President Obama is launching his previously announced surge of agents and surveillance technology to the Mexican border, to beef up the fight against the drug cartels.

Obama's efforts mark a shift from the homeland security priorities of the Bush administration, targeted mainly at the threat of Islamist terrorists overseas and illegal immigration at home. While the new president has vowed to maintain counter-terrorism efforts, the addition of fighting Mexican drug trafficking as well human smuggling networks represents a new emphasis.

You can expect the military will be involved as well. Another imprudent, ill-advised move, in my opinion.

< Saturday Open Thread | "Australia" Better Than Critics Said >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Late Night: Mexico | 4 comments (4 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    Love that land (none / 0) (#1)
    by Cream City on Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 02:17:40 AM EST
    and have been so welcomed there that I hope this doesn't change relations between everyday Mexicans and us.  I cannot visit often enough to the lovely Yucatan and ancient ruins there, where as old as they are, I learn something new every time -- especially now that the Mayan hieroglyphs have begun to be translated.  The Mayan mastery of astrology and so much more was amazing.  And I have to swim again in a cenote, in their great underground waterway system of old.  And I have yet to get to so many ancient Aztecan sites. . . .

    I'm not going to name our favorite isla, an ancient fishing island with ruins of its own.  It's going condo too fast, as it is.  But the people need the tourism dollars.  This move will hurt them so much.

    From what I've read (none / 0) (#3)
    by Cream City on Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 10:33:15 AM EST
    Columbus was an army-base town.  Most of the dead were Villa's men, and most of the American dead were army men.  But 10 U.S. civilians were killed, and the worrisome lesson may be about establishing an an army base in a border town again.  It can provide security, but it also can provoke attack by the modern-day Villas -- the Mexican gangsters.

    Yes, our military has to stay on our side of the border, but it remains a fluid border in the minds of Mexicans harking back not only to 1916 but to 1848.  There still is understandable anger, we have found, about our theft of a third of their country.

    Hate to break it to Uncle Sam... (none / 0) (#4)
    by kdog on Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 12:47:00 PM EST
    but the cartels' finances are in better order than ours...instead of trying to match them dollar for dollar on weapons and mercenaries...why not just take their revenue stream away by legalizing drugs?  

    The way I look at it, everybody wins...the Mexican people might have a shot at rooting out the systemic corruption in their government, we might get rid of some of our corruption, the prisons are less full, street violence reduced, and addicts don't have to add threat of arrest to their list of problems.

    Oh yeah, and a helluva lot cheaper to boot!

    Sad (none / 0) (#6)
    by catmandu on Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 12:05:07 PM EST
    Mexico is a very dangerous place right now, and it doesn't help when the Mexican military violates our borders. The border isn't very well marked. However, here in Arizona we need help, much more than two dozen border cops.  The Game and Fish in Tucson has issued warnings that Americans need to stay away from the southern part of our state (south of Tucson) because of dangerous smugglers--and this is the US side of the border.  No hunting, camping or hiking in a large part of the desert due to violence.  

    Late Night: Mexico | 4 comments (4 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment