Blog about sports and politics and whatever else seems interesting from a guy (formerly) in Mexico.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Ominous Story
As of about a week ago, the guards in Los Pinos are wearing bullet-proof vests. I wonder if this is due a specific threat, or just a general context of rising violence.
it's about time. last year, i went to a press conference in los pinos: the security guards were half asleep, the two guys checking the x-ray scanner didn't even look at the monitor. i showed no real ID (just a business card) walked in with my bag, which could have contained a grenade or a gun, and sat about 15 meters from Calderon. this was two months after Sept. 15 in morelia. i love the 'ni modo' attitude at most times, but if i were the government, i'd take more precautions
Wow that's alarming. I think the White House requires a lot more than that just for a tour. This isnt quite as bad, but when Calderón was in Torreón, the brother of a drug runner handled the sound system for his speech earlier this year. You just kind of figure that in a country like Mexico people would take the physical safety of the president very seriously, but evidently not so much.
What's alarming is buying into the idea that the only major security problem in Mexico -- run-of-the-mill gangsters -- require any more than the usual security around high level political figures.
As it is, there has never been a Presidential assassination in Mexico. Madero had already resigned when he was murdered, and Obregon hadn't taken office yet. Otherwise, you have to look to Colossio, who was only campaigning for President to find a high level political murder.
Not that there isn't security around the President, it's just relatively non-intrusive... as it should be in an open society.
Was Carranza not president when he was killed? Also, unless I'm mistaken, Madero didn't resign of his own free will exactly. Usually they write it as him being deposed, then killed.
I don't think having presidential guards a bit more alert than what Malcolm describes is incongruent with a free society. I dont know what the proper definition of run-of-the-mill is for gangsters, but Mexico's have killed plenty of politicians, and Calderón has said that he has received threats. I'm not saying he should live in a bunker, but correcting the kind of lapses Malcolm mentions seems like prudence, not buying into a false narrative.
4 comments:
it's about time. last year, i went to a press conference in los pinos: the security guards were half asleep, the two guys checking the x-ray scanner didn't even look at the monitor. i showed no real ID (just a business card) walked in with my bag, which could have contained a grenade or a gun, and sat about 15 meters from Calderon. this was two months after Sept. 15 in morelia. i love the 'ni modo' attitude at most times, but if i were the government, i'd take more precautions
Wow that's alarming. I think the White House requires a lot more than that just for a tour. This isnt quite as bad, but when Calderón was in Torreón, the brother of a drug runner handled the sound system for his speech earlier this year. You just kind of figure that in a country like Mexico people would take the physical safety of the president very seriously, but evidently not so much.
What's alarming is buying into the idea that the only major security problem in Mexico -- run-of-the-mill gangsters -- require any more than the usual security around high level political figures.
As it is, there has never been a Presidential assassination in Mexico. Madero had already resigned when he was murdered, and Obregon hadn't taken office yet. Otherwise, you have to look to Colossio, who was only campaigning for President to find a high level political murder.
Not that there isn't security around the President, it's just relatively non-intrusive... as it should be in an open society.
Was Carranza not president when he was killed? Also, unless I'm mistaken, Madero didn't resign of his own free will exactly. Usually they write it as him being deposed, then killed.
I don't think having presidential guards a bit more alert than what Malcolm describes is incongruent with a free society. I dont know what the proper definition of run-of-the-mill is for gangsters, but Mexico's have killed plenty of politicians, and Calderón has said that he has received threats. I'm not saying he should live in a bunker, but correcting the kind of lapses Malcolm mentions seems like prudence, not buying into a false narrative.
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