Mexican Senate: Not Drug War, ‘Limpia Social’

I have to give props to Molly Molloy for sending this out, but it’s pretty terrifying to think about.  Apparently, the Mexican Senate has officially requested details from CISEN (Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional) about criminal “death squads” that they believe have been responsible for as many as 28,000 murders in Mexico.

I’m translating one of the articles here:

“In September, the Senate formally asked the Center for National Investigation and Security (CISEN) detailed reports about the existence of these groups, called ‘death squads,’ because they were deemed responsible for the greater part of 28,000 murders officially recognized in this (drug) war, as well as thousands of forced disappearances.”

There’s another article here.

In essence, I think it’s important for us as a nation to care about what happens in Mexico, given that they’re our cultural, economic, security and otherwise neighbor.  Unfortunately, the debate about what’s happening in that country typically turns into a “those people” type of discussion which rarely solves any problems.  What’s more, the Obama Administration has been really interested in giving the government more money and guns, which is like fighting fire with fire, and not likely to solve the problem.

Meanwhile, in this country, we just barely are starting to legalize marijuana — a traditional cash crop for drug cartels — and we keep asking why the violence in Mexico is continuing. Despite how the government in this country would like to characterize what happened in Columbia, the fact of the matter is that country continues to experience drug-related violence, even as its modern counterpart, Mexico, is devolving into an increasingly unstable and violent place.