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JESSE
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My perspective on the current crime wave
Its been a difficult couple of months lately for some folks on this board. I wanted to writte this not deny whats happening, but to maybe give us a
different perspective on the situation. Its not a secret here that one of the reason why i decided to leave TJ is that i was getting tired of reading
newspapers everyday, detailing who got murdered and guessing why. Since i am from TJ and i have lived in that city for many many years, i think maybe
you will find my perspective on this matter interesting.
Crime in Baja is growing, but this is not just a Baja problem, for years now, Mexico's security problem has steadily gone from bad to worse. The
reason? its a combination of problems and situations. Lets remember that Vicente Fox came into power and the relationship betwen the PRI (ruling
party) and organized crime got severed. 6 years ago organized crime had deals worked out with the goverment, and when someone got out of hand, the
goverment simply stepped in and took care of the problem. This relationship has been working for decades, so thats why there really was no need for
cops to actually have police skills to deal with crime. Cops back then knew who, when, and why, and if they got a call from the mayor or the governor
saying "john doe is making too much trouble, get rid of him", they simply went to his home, arrested him, and in many cases, the destination of that
criminal would be the middle of the desert.
Lets forward in time to when Vicente Fox took over, and all of those relationships got cut. Since the PRI wasnt in power any more, organized crime
didnt need to keep bribing those that didnt have the strings in their hands any more. They tried to cut deals with the new administration, but Fox
actually tried to do good and instructed his police agencies to go after the cartels. This worked very well at first, as you remember a few year ago
many cartel leaders got arrested and things actually looked good. But this would only last for a short while. When the goverment arrested the cartels.
They did not destroy the cartels, but separated them into smaller units, or cells, mostly made of hit men that did not have any connections to keep
doing what they did.
After a while, these hitmen started kidnapping, stealing other drug dealers drugs, killing for hire, and whatever made money for them in the absence
of drugs to trafick. Off course the goverment noticed but something new started to happen. 1st, there wasnt any real cops to deal with these
criminals, what we had was just a bunch of badly trained cops who never really did need to risk their neck or do actual police work. and 2nd, since
the all mighty centralized power of the PRI was dead, local and state authorities started to work out their own deals with these criminal gangs.
The result of a rising wave of crime all over the nation, bad cops all over, local authorities protecting local criminals, and a federal goverment
with no real police muscle to clean the mess. In other words, we destroyed the old rules, but never made new ones.
Now, the bad thing is that we have all felt this crime wave hit us close, some directly. The good news is that its not as bad as we might think, since
the increase in crime has made us pay a lot of attention to crimes that we never even bother with before. The reality is that we should be proud of
our new goverment for ending that crime-goverment relationship that existed for decades at the highest levels. but we should also demand for our
goverment to find new ways to deal with the new problems created from this shift.
I honestly believe Felipe Calderon has the balls to deal with this mess, and i belive the federal goverment has the muscle in the form of our military
and our intelligence agencies to find a way to stop and revert this tendency. We in Baja are experiencing a rise in crime, but lets be thankful we
live in Baja. Things are great compared to the rest of Mexico and or cities like Tijuana.
I wouldnt trade the safety of Mulege for L.A. or Chicago any day. Baja has changed, but we should all be alert, take your security precautions, and
stay safe.
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Skeet/Loreto
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Jesse: Well written and very Wise and correct Knowledge.!
Skeet/Loreto
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vgabndo
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Great post Jesse.
Your assessment make perfect sense. It may be necessary for the military to get into law enforcement before the problem is remedied. As a tourist,
it wouldn't bother me. I'd rather be seeing lots of troops around than a few policemen that I don't know if I can trust.
I'm looking forward to meeting you on the 23rd. Perry
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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Bob and Susan
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excellent jesse
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oladulce
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Thank you Jesse. I would not have seen the connection to the bigger picture and it's very interesting.
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Hook
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Post of the Year.............here, here!!!!!
The military is the only entitiy in Mexico that has the firepower to confront these cells.
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longlegsinlapaz
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Excellent, logical & very informative post! Thank you for taking the time to create this thread!!
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Sharksbaja
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Very interesting
You speak with solid and clear information Jesse. I find the relationship between cartels and govt very scary. You say they coexisted and obviously if
true than the pre-Fox administration was responsible for advancing drugs and their cartel leaders. So correct me if Iam wrong. You are saying that the
govt was loosely married to the cartels thru their tolerance of their activities. Then are they not one and the same?
Now you suggest that although Fox attempted to reign in the bad guys he actually made it worse in terms of violent crimes commited by fractioned
gangs. You also state that you consider the police inept at solving and enforcing the thugs on the street. Can this situation be solved at the ground
level? I mean with all the loose cannons all over place minus a solidarity within the cartels and govt, does this not overwelm the local cop? Do they
even know who to (potentially) shoot at?
This all sounds complex and complicated in terms of control of these thugs and their ability to escape the law easily.
I wonder how fast things can reverse or how the govt can get a hammer on it without declaring martial law or similar. Perhaps as mentioned, the Army
could intervene and create a "real" police state.
Either way you look at this huge problem a major shift in Mexican tactic and attitude is in order.
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Hook
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Naturally, this leaves me wonder who and why Colosio was killed.. Was he talking like a reformer too much?
[Edited on 11-15-2006 by Hook]
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JESSE
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Sharksbaja
You speak with solid and clear information Jesse. I find the relationship between cartels and govt very scary. You say they coexisted and obviously if
true than the pre-Fox administration was responsible for advancing drugs and their cartel leaders. So correct me if Iam wrong. You are saying that the
govt was loosely married to the cartels thru their tolerance of their activities. Then are they not one and the same?
Now you suggest that although Fox attempted to reign in the bad guys he actually made it worse in terms of violent crimes commited by fractioned
gangs. You also state that you consider the police inept at solving and enforcing the thugs on the street. Can this situation be solved at the ground
level? I mean with all the loose cannons all over place minus a solidarity within the cartels and govt, does this not overwelm the local cop? Do they
even know who to (potentially) shoot at?
This all sounds complex and complicated in terms of control of these thugs and their ability to escape the law easily.
I wonder how fast things can reverse or how the govt can get a hammer on it without declaring martial law or similar. Perhaps as mentioned, the Army
could intervene and create a "real" police state.
Either way you look at this huge problem a major shift in Mexican tactic and attitude is in order. |
The goverment used the cartels for money, and they are not one and the same. They never where.
I believe local cops are overwhelmed, but the military is still strong and loyal. If they decide to come down hard on the cartels, its going to be
ugly, but the cartels have no chance.
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DianaT
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Jesse,
Your post was really great. Your insight is appreciated. Thank you.
For the sake of Mexico, I sure hope the military does come down on the cartels----they are ruthless. There will be only one government that rules
Mexico and let's hope it will be the one run by Calderon.
Diane
[Edited on 11-15-2006 by jdtrotter]
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Sharksbaja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by JESSE
| Quote: | Originally posted by Sharksbaja
You speak with solid and clear information Jesse. I find the relationship between cartels and govt very scary. You say they coexisted and obviously if
true than the pre-Fox administration was responsible for advancing drugs and their cartel leaders. So correct me if Iam wrong. You are saying that the
govt was loosely married to the cartels thru their tolerance of their activities. Then are they not one and the same?
Now you suggest that although Fox attempted to reign in the bad guys he actually made it worse in terms of violent crimes commited by fractioned
gangs. You also state that you consider the police inept at solving and enforcing the thugs on the street. Can this situation be solved at the ground
level? I mean with all the loose cannons all over place minus a solidarity within the cartels and govt, does this not overwelm the local cop? Do they
even know who to (potentially) shoot at?
This all sounds complex and complicated in terms of control of these thugs and their ability to escape the law easily.
I wonder how fast things can reverse or how the govt can get a hammer on it without declaring martial law or similar. Perhaps as mentioned, the Army
could intervene and create a "real" police state.
Either way you look at this huge problem a major shift in Mexican tactic and attitude is in order. |
The goverment used the cartels for money, and they are not one and the same. They never where.
I believe local cops are overwhelmed, but the military is still strong and loyal. If they decide to come down hard on the cartels, its going to be
ugly, but the cartels have no chance. |
Ok Jesse, but bedfellows nonetheless. In my eye that makes it hard to delineate one entity from another aside from the uniforms and job title.
A very keen post, thanks.
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Santiago
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Outstanding post, Jesse.
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Baja Bernie
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Jesse
I salute you! First of all for making what I have been saying about you come true. You have the brains and the knowledge to help Mexico become a
better place for Mexicans. The gringos will continue to come and help with the economy if only because of what the country has to offer.
Please keep on keepin on for 'your' country.
Friends, Jesse has just nailed it with his honest post!
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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Lee
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| Quote: | Originally posted by JESSE
Now, the bad thing is that we have all felt this crime wave hit us close, some directly. The good news is that its not as bad as we might think, since
the increase in crime has made us pay a lot of attention to crimes that we never even bother with before. The reality is that we should be proud of
our new goverment for ending that crime-goverment relationship that existed for decades at the highest levels. but we should also demand for our
goverment to find new ways to deal with the new problems created from this shift.
I wouldnt trade the safety of Mulege for L.A. or Chicago any day. Baja has changed, but we should all be alert, take your security precautions, and
stay safe. |
Bravo. Excellente.
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comitan
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The goverment used the cartels for money, and they are not one and the same. They never where.
When you make this statement do you mean using the money for Government or for their own gain?
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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Baja Bernie
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Comitan
Imagine the answer to your question
My smidgen of a claim to fame is that I have had so many really good friends. By Bernie Swaim December 2007
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BajaBruno
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Excellent post, Jesse. What you say makes a lot of sense. I do, however, have less faith in the military than you do. I’ll give you some examples.
Several years ago I spent the evening talking to a PGR (the former federal drug enforcement police) helicopter pilot who was intercepting high-speed
drug smuggling boats off of Quintana Roo (the Caribbean). At that time, the military had taken over most of the drug interdiction efforts, after some
high profile disputes with the PGR. This pilot told me that the tension between the military and PGR stemmed from an incident where two PGR officers
following leads came across some army officers helping smugglers transport drugs. The PGR tried to make an arrest and were killed by the military
officers.
After that, the PGR refused to allow the military to pass their checkpoints without searching them, and the Army, who were suspected of moving lots of
drugs, got into some very tense armed encounters with the PGR at those checkpoints. As I saw myself, this resulted in the PGR and the army having
roadblocks just out of shooting range of each other, and neither letting the other pass. Those were ugly times in south Mexico.
During the same time I was in Xcalak (near Chetumal, in south Quintana Roo) when the PGR tracked and brought in a drug smuggling boat. I talked to
the local fishermen who were recruited to unload the boatful of drugs into awaiting army trucks. They said that they unloaded two tons of drugs. The
newspaper a couple days later touted the success of the army in booking one ton of drugs into evidence at the secure facility near Cancun. About a
month later, even that remaining ton was mysteriously lost from the rock-hard army facility.
Is the army less corrupt now, seven or so years later? Well, they couldn’t be much more corrupt, certainly, so anything must be an improvement.
Considering that the incidence of US border guards succumbing to the temptation of drug and people smuggling money is rising at an uncontrollable
rate, I have a hard time believing that conscripted army men operating on poverty wages will be the answer to the crime problems of Baja and the
border.
The bigger problem that no one seems to recognize is a Napoleonic legal system that invites corruption at a much higher level that the local cops. I
have a wealthy friend who has bribed judges several times to dismiss charges on criminals in custody. With no juries, no public testimony, no
effective oversight, and prosecutors embittered by the corruption around them, it is no wonder that poorly paid and untrained cops are sorely tempted
to take the money or just ignore the troubles. I doubt much real progress can be made until the judicial system is significantly revamped.
OK, that’s my turn on the soapbox! Thanks again Jesse for giving me the opportunity to vent! Now then, where was that tequila?
Always the optimist . ..
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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jerry
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wow Two very well thought throu views thank you both for bring forword both
add in the meth on the street problems petty thefts and desprate crimes its not looking too shinny but understanding is the first step in solving
jerry and judi
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capn.sharky
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Very precise
If there is no fishing in heaven, I am not going
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