Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
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Location: Sunset Beach
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Attempting to put things in perpective
March 18, 2008
Human Rights News
The "Silent" Side of Mexico's Narco War
The unearthing of at least 48 murder victims from three properties in
Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City during recent weeks, grimly refocused
attention on the persistence of torture and forced disappearance in
Mexico. Since many-if not most-of the victims were presumably associated
with illegal drug trafficking and other criminal activities, the popular
wisdom is that common citizens who keep their noses out of trouble
shouldn't be overly concerned by the discovery of mass horrors like the
latest narco graves.
But victims' relatives have another message for society: human rights are
universal. Contending that authorities are ignoring their pleas for
justice, relatives and friends of victims of forced disappearance are
increasingly taking their plight to the media and to the public. In the
Baja California state capital of Mexicali, members of the Esperanza
Association Against the Forced Disappearance of Persons set up a protest
encampment earlier this month outside state government offices. Members of
the organization charged that 300 cases of disappeared people in five
municipalities of Baja California remain unsolved.
In the Guerrero state capital of Chilpancingo, meanwhile, the Committee of
Friends and Relatives of Murdered, Disappeared and Kidnapped Persons,
contended that Guerrero Governor Zeferino Torreblanca and State Attorney
General Eduardo Murueta have closed their doors to family members of
missing persons presumably kidnapped by organized criminal elements.
"Not a single state official has faced down the violence that this place
is going through," charged Filiberto Ceron Radilla , father of
disappeared architect Jorge Gabriel Ceron Silva. "It is as if they want to
oblige the citizenry to accept a reality that we are not ready to
tolerate." There was no immediate comment from either Governor Torreblanca
or State Attorney General Murueta.
The Guerrero relatives' committee has documented the cases of 107 people
who disappeared in the state from December 2006 to January 2008.
Additionally, the group reported at least 20 similar disappearances in the
first two months of this year. Although violence has diminished somewhat
from last year and 2006, high-profile disappearances and murders suspected
of being carried out by organized criminal gangs continue on a fairly
regular basis. In one of the latest cases to hit the press, Edgar Calvillo
Roux, the director of the Acapulco police department's intelligence
center, was reportedly kidnapped by armed men on March 5. Until now, no
information about Calvillo's fate has come to light.
Condemned by all human rights organizations, forced disappearance
constitutes the silent side of Mexico's narco war. Much more visible, of
course, are the inner city shoot-outs, streetside body dumpings and public
executions that have jarred entire regions of the country. In Ciudad
Juarez, for example, 9 people were reported slain gangland style on
Monday, March 17, including one man who was shot to death inside the
popular Willy's dance club in the city's Pronaf district.
Since the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office
on December 1, 2006 more than 3,000 people have been murdered in gangland
fashion. As of March 14 of this year, the victims included 2,811 men and
197 women. Added together with similar statistics from 2006, more than
5,000 people have been killed in narco-tainted violence in the last two
years. The body count is significantly higher than the total number of US
soldiers killed during the first five years of the Iraq war.
Sources: El Diario de Juarez, March 18, 2008. Article by Martin Orquiz.
Norte, March 18, 2008. Article by Arturo Chacon. Los Angeles Times, March
15, 2008 Article by Marla Dickerson and Richard Marosi. La Jornada de
Guerrero, March 15, 2008. Article by Marlen Castro. La Jornada, March 10,
2008. Article by Antonio Heras. El Sur, March 1, 8, 15, 16, 2008. Articles
by Ezequiel Flores Contreras, Aurora Harrison, editorial staff and the
Agencia Reforma news service.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
IN SPITE OF THIS INFORMATION I still believe that Baja is as safe or safer for the average tourist that Alta California
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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elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 11-19-2002
Location: Yes
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Baja Bernie[/i
........... I still believe that Baja is as safe or safer for the average tourist than Alta California |
We are going to test that theory starting tomorrow. We will let you know if we don't make it back. 
Thanks for posting the article. It is an interesting read and it is sad that the people in power don't seem to care, generally speaking.
MAGA
marooons Are Governing America
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bacquito
Super Nomad
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Sad, but as your title suggest it must be kept in perspective. Some of my wife's relatives consider the U.S. to be a violent place-school shootings,
dumping children off of bridges, child abuse, and the list goes on. Most of the killings in Mexico seem to be confined to drug battles. It would be
great if we could reduce the demand for drugs
bacquito
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bacquito
Super Nomad
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Mood: jubilado
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I forgot to mention that my wife's family are in Mexico City (DF)
bacquito
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Eli
Super Nomad
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Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Just curious, any idea how many drug related murders occur in the U.S. every year? Most people I know, (including myself), have the persecutive that
the U.S. is a pretty darn scary place to live, bacquito's wife's family's see it the way I do, as an outsider looking in.
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movinguy
Nomad
Posts: 257
Registered: 3-19-2004
Location: Chula Vista, CA and Tijuana, MX
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bacquito
Sad, but as your title suggest it must be kept in perspective. Some of my wife's relatives consider the U.S. to be a violent place-school shootings,
dumping children off of bridges, child abuse, and the list goes on. Most of the killings in Mexico seem to be confined to drug battles.
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The perception seems to be that the killing in Mexico is, at least, organized, whereas murders in the U.S. are committed randomly by crazy people (a
la Columbine).
Whether one is better or worse than the other is debatable.
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Baja Bernie
`Normal` Nomad Correspondent
Posts: 2962
Registered: 8-31-2003
Location: Sunset Beach
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Moving Guy
I think I would rather take my chances with 'logical' killings over random...........at least with the logical ones you have a good idea as to how to
stay away from the killers.
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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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
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Registered: 8-20-2003
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Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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Logical Killings
It reminds me of what Debbie Reynolds once said about the Gangland killings in Las Vegas during the Underworld Heyday. She said that nobody worried
because they only killed those who deserved it.
That would be more reassuring than happenstance violence.
I would suggest, though, that Everyone who has doubts about the safety of being in either Baja or Alta California LEAVE at the
earliest possible time. Share your concerns with others and persuade them to leave as well. Influence as many as you possibly can. You, They and
Both Californias will be the better for it.
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