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(Photo resisters.ca /Seinforma)
LATIN AMERICA
01/06/09
By Ana Paula Coquet / Seinforma Canada Correspondent
Madrid.- Mexico is going through one of the hardest stages in its history. The war against drug trafficking declared by the president Felipe Calderon has triggered terrible consequences for the civil population. The recent death of the government secretary, Juan Camilo Mouriño, unleashes a murder on the imaginary collective, irrelevant of physical proof to affirm the theory.
To be able to understand the situation in Mexico, it is imperative to analyze how Calderon became president. On campaign period, there was a negative competence between two candidates: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Felipe Calderon; that resulted in a polarization of the society into two groups: the one that wanted the progressive left - wing candidate that implied a big change for the country, and the conservative right - wing that promised employment and stability. With less than half a million votes and rumors that election fraud was committed, Calderon walks behind flags to take protest in San Lazaro. He became president without popular credibility. We must not forget the APPO (Popular Assembly Oaxaca’s people) and the repression that shut out the movement. Calderon became the head of state with a hard hand and made the drug trafficking his enemy number one.
“The fabrication of the war against drug trafficking is to expand extra-legally the powers of the president, to consolidate an image of a powerful leader to the eyes of the society in the middle of difficult circumstances and political weakness.”[2]
The testimony of Calderon failure is the 4,000 deaths related to organized crime during the course of the year. [3] The war goes on, but the low prices and the drug availability in the United States are a proof that the traffic hasn’t been reduced. [4]
Events like the plane crash reveal that the government is weakened.
The facts are uncertain. The growth of violence and insecurity in the country become praises to our government because combat to drug trafficking is evident. The have displaced their responsibilities and present them as results of their effort. Everything worsens quickly and we face the unfamiliar: terrorism. September 15th, the Independence Day, became this year one of the saddest episodes of this country. The bombing in Tarasc Land was blamed on the “Zetas”, a drug trafficking cartel. They confessed the act in front of the media, brutally beaten.
Suspicions exist that the Mexican government is responsible for that terrible event, similar to the Reichtag fire provoked by Hitler to subjugate the Germans. “Events like the plan crash reveal that the collective unconscious of the state, the government, the governors and the people are weakened.” [5]
The militarization in Mexico is happening disguised as a war against drug trafficking. The purpose of the violence is to create fear in order to control. It makes detentions, arrest, censure and actions against liberty much easier.
“The new governing group is trapped in a web of economic interests at stake: from the interest of the drug trafficking, political, media and the contents of the energetic reform” [6] The economic liberal system brings inequality; in the Mexican case its extreme because it is a third world country, and the second richest man in the world inhabits in it. This inequality causes conflicts and discontent groups. The government counteracts this groups and “maintains order” with force and repression; military, paramilitary and police.
The age of the military coups is over and the militarization phenomenon has emerged. To run this process a propagandistic campaign to disturb society about some issues like organized crime is necessary. To counteract this, militia joins the state. Finally, military presence is justified and the population feels gratitude towards it. [7]
In Mexico the army is more involved in society matters
Calderon’s strategy is to “build an external enemy to consolidate his position, supported by the military and using or threaten to use repression.”[8]
The truth is that in Mexico the army is more involved in society matters and that it is being influenced by the American military thinking.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America “seeks that Mexico accepts a series of obligations related to the security of the United States. The participation of the US in Mexico is the planning of local and national measures of security, training of police, military and investigation forces, and the implementation of security policies and actions.”[9]
The ultimate goal of militarization is to secure the political and economical system that prevails. In order to maintain it, it is necessary that the military control the dissident groups that oppose the system. The Mass Media are part of this system that informs the population according to their interests.
Human Rights reported 1,373 violations to fundamental rights perpetrated by military
We’re facing two consequential effects of the military presence in the Mexican society: violations of the human rights and loss of freedom. The murder of the communitarian reporters in Oaxaca, the APPO, the Atenco massacre, the military situation in the southeast part of the country, are some examples of the gravity of the situation. The military immerse in communities cause alcoholism, prostitution, abuse and the degradation of the social tissue. The war against drug trafficking presents severe risks for the population and the state of law in Mexican State.
According to the National Commission of Human Rights, from December of 2006 to May 2008, the military committed 1,373 violations to the fundamental rights. Daniel Cazés Menache, specialist on the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) affirms, “that the country is occupied by military just like 1968, 40 years ago; but now with drug traffic as an excuse, which is not constitutional.”[10]
Calderon transformed Mexico to a war zone by declaring war to drug trafficking. He displayed 40 thousand military soldiers and 5 thousand federal cops. The soldiers have raped women and children, military convoys patrol the streets, and the highways are filled with detention points with military that have murdered families at those points. The homicides have grown 47% in a year. 87 complaints about reporters have reached the office (PGR). On Calderon’s presidency at least 223 people are missing, approximately 23 to 30 are political victims and 200 related to the drug carteles. American private contractors train cops in Guanajuato. They include in their training “the psychological torture to cops” and Calderon’s political party PAN defends those techniques because “they are necessary to fight drug trafficking.” [11]
This war is about the economical interest that drug trafficking implies; and the Mexicans became the collateral effect of this anti - constitutional war.
[1] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> ALBARRÁN de Alba, Gerardo, Cuatro mil muertos por los narcos en MŽxico, P‡gina 12, 25 de Octubre de 2008, http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-113937-2008-10-25.html
[2] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007, http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:HZybtHU9S64J:americas.irc-online.org/pdf/columns/0707militarization-esp.pdf+militarizacion+mexico&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=es&client=firefox-a
[3] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> ALBARRÁN de Alba, Gerardo, Cuatro mil muertos por los narcos en México, Página 12, 25 de Octubre de 2008, http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-113937-2008-10-25.html
[4] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007.
[5] <http://[5]> MARTIN, Ruben, Mouriño y Obama, Milenio, 6 de noviembre de 2008, www.milenio.com/node/108978
[6] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>Ibid.
[7] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>MINELLO, Nelson, La militarización del estado en América Latina: un análisis de Uruguay, Colegio de México, 1976.
[8]CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007,
[9] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007,
[10] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>MARTINEZ Alba, Militarización provoca crisis humanitaria, Contralínea, julio 2008, http://www.contralinea.com.mx/archivo/2008/julio2/htm/militarizacion-provoca-crisis-humanitaria.htm
[11] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>BRICKER Kristin, Plan México: el contexto de la militarización, la violencia relacionada al narcotráfico, y los derechos humanos, The Narcosphere, octubre 12 de 2008, http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2008/10/plan-m%C3%A9xico-el-contexto-de-la-militarizaci%C3%B3n-la-violencia-relaciona
By Ana Paula Coquet / Seinforma Canada Correspondent
Madrid.- Mexico is going through one of the hardest stages in its history. The war against drug trafficking declared by the president Felipe Calderon has triggered terrible consequences for the civil population. The recent death of the government secretary, Juan Camilo Mouriño, unleashes a murder on the imaginary collective, irrelevant of physical proof to affirm the theory.
To be able to understand the situation in Mexico, it is imperative to analyze how Calderon became president. On campaign period, there was a negative competence between two candidates: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Felipe Calderon; that resulted in a polarization of the society into two groups: the one that wanted the progressive left - wing candidate that implied a big change for the country, and the conservative right - wing that promised employment and stability. With less than half a million votes and rumors that election fraud was committed, Calderon walks behind flags to take protest in San Lazaro. He became president without popular credibility. We must not forget the APPO (Popular Assembly Oaxaca’s people) and the repression that shut out the movement. Calderon became the head of state with a hard hand and made the drug trafficking his enemy number one.
“The fabrication of the war against drug trafficking is to expand extra-legally the powers of the president, to consolidate an image of a powerful leader to the eyes of the society in the middle of difficult circumstances and political weakness.”[2]
The testimony of Calderon failure is the 4,000 deaths related to organized crime during the course of the year. [3] The war goes on, but the low prices and the drug availability in the United States are a proof that the traffic hasn’t been reduced. [4]
Events like the plane crash reveal that the government is weakened.
The facts are uncertain. The growth of violence and insecurity in the country become praises to our government because combat to drug trafficking is evident. The have displaced their responsibilities and present them as results of their effort. Everything worsens quickly and we face the unfamiliar: terrorism. September 15th, the Independence Day, became this year one of the saddest episodes of this country. The bombing in Tarasc Land was blamed on the “Zetas”, a drug trafficking cartel. They confessed the act in front of the media, brutally beaten.
Suspicions exist that the Mexican government is responsible for that terrible event, similar to the Reichtag fire provoked by Hitler to subjugate the Germans. “Events like the plan crash reveal that the collective unconscious of the state, the government, the governors and the people are weakened.” [5]
The militarization in Mexico is happening disguised as a war against drug trafficking. The purpose of the violence is to create fear in order to control. It makes detentions, arrest, censure and actions against liberty much easier.
“The new governing group is trapped in a web of economic interests at stake: from the interest of the drug trafficking, political, media and the contents of the energetic reform” [6] The economic liberal system brings inequality; in the Mexican case its extreme because it is a third world country, and the second richest man in the world inhabits in it. This inequality causes conflicts and discontent groups. The government counteracts this groups and “maintains order” with force and repression; military, paramilitary and police.
The age of the military coups is over and the militarization phenomenon has emerged. To run this process a propagandistic campaign to disturb society about some issues like organized crime is necessary. To counteract this, militia joins the state. Finally, military presence is justified and the population feels gratitude towards it. [7]
In Mexico the army is more involved in society matters
Calderon’s strategy is to “build an external enemy to consolidate his position, supported by the military and using or threaten to use repression.”[8]
The truth is that in Mexico the army is more involved in society matters and that it is being influenced by the American military thinking.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America “seeks that Mexico accepts a series of obligations related to the security of the United States. The participation of the US in Mexico is the planning of local and national measures of security, training of police, military and investigation forces, and the implementation of security policies and actions.”[9]
The ultimate goal of militarization is to secure the political and economical system that prevails. In order to maintain it, it is necessary that the military control the dissident groups that oppose the system. The Mass Media are part of this system that informs the population according to their interests.
Human Rights reported 1,373 violations to fundamental rights perpetrated by military
We’re facing two consequential effects of the military presence in the Mexican society: violations of the human rights and loss of freedom. The murder of the communitarian reporters in Oaxaca, the APPO, the Atenco massacre, the military situation in the southeast part of the country, are some examples of the gravity of the situation. The military immerse in communities cause alcoholism, prostitution, abuse and the degradation of the social tissue. The war against drug trafficking presents severe risks for the population and the state of law in Mexican State.
According to the National Commission of Human Rights, from December of 2006 to May 2008, the military committed 1,373 violations to the fundamental rights. Daniel Cazés Menache, specialist on the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) affirms, “that the country is occupied by military just like 1968, 40 years ago; but now with drug traffic as an excuse, which is not constitutional.”[10]
Calderon transformed Mexico to a war zone by declaring war to drug trafficking. He displayed 40 thousand military soldiers and 5 thousand federal cops. The soldiers have raped women and children, military convoys patrol the streets, and the highways are filled with detention points with military that have murdered families at those points. The homicides have grown 47% in a year. 87 complaints about reporters have reached the office (PGR). On Calderon’s presidency at least 223 people are missing, approximately 23 to 30 are political victims and 200 related to the drug carteles. American private contractors train cops in Guanajuato. They include in their training “the psychological torture to cops” and Calderon’s political party PAN defends those techniques because “they are necessary to fight drug trafficking.” [11]
This war is about the economical interest that drug trafficking implies; and the Mexicans became the collateral effect of this anti - constitutional war.
[1] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> ALBARRÁN de Alba, Gerardo, Cuatro mil muertos por los narcos en MŽxico, P‡gina 12, 25 de Octubre de 2008, http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-113937-2008-10-25.html
[2] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007, http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:HZybtHU9S64J:americas.irc-online.org/pdf/columns/0707militarization-esp.pdf+militarizacion+mexico&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=es&client=firefox-a
[3] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> ALBARRÁN de Alba, Gerardo, Cuatro mil muertos por los narcos en México, Página 12, 25 de Octubre de 2008, http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-113937-2008-10-25.html
[4] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png> CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007.
[5] <http://[5]> MARTIN, Ruben, Mouriño y Obama, Milenio, 6 de noviembre de 2008, www.milenio.com/node/108978
[6] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>Ibid.
[7] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>MINELLO, Nelson, La militarización del estado en América Latina: un análisis de Uruguay, Colegio de México, 1976.
[8]CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007,
[9] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>CARLSEN Laura, ¿Guerra contra el narcotráfico o la militarización en México?, Programa de las Américas, 7 julio 2007,
[10] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>MARTINEZ Alba, Militarización provoca crisis humanitaria, Contralínea, julio 2008, http://www.contralinea.com.mx/archivo/2008/julio2/htm/militarizacion-provoca-crisis-humanitaria.htm
[11] <https://mail.resist.ca/images/blank.png>BRICKER Kristin, Plan México: el contexto de la militarización, la violencia relacionada al narcotráfico, y los derechos humanos, The Narcosphere, octubre 12 de 2008, http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2008/10/plan-m%C3%A9xico-el-contexto-de-la-militarizaci%C3%B3n-la-violencia-relaciona
_________________________________________________________________________________
THE MILITARIZATION IN MEXICO
***
Calderon’s front: the war against drug trafficking
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The testimony of Calderon’s failure is the 4,000 deaths related to organized crime during the course of the year. [1] The war goes on, but the low prices and the drug availability in the United States are a proof that the traffic hasn’t been reduced.
(Photo eldebate.com.mx/Seinforma)