What is the worst place in Mexico in terms of security", this reporter asked one of the quarterbacks of the war against drug trafficking, a member of Felipe Calderón's cabinet.Assuming none of this is exaggerated (and I think Loret gets a fact wrong elsewhere in the column, so perhaps it isn't 100 percent accurate), I guess the domination of one group (the Zetas and the remains of Osiel Cárdenas' group) explains the lack violence in Tamaulipas over the past few years. With all the reporting from Juárez and Chihuahua in recent months, a deeper look at this very different situation would be much appreciated.
"In murders, Ciudad Juárez. In social decomposition and the penetration of drug traffickers in all of the structures, without a doubt Tamaulipas."
The business have flown from Tampico, in Reynosa the principal informants of organized crime are taxi drivers, in Victoria housewives in populous neighborhoods sell drugs, in Nuevo Laredo the citizens live in fear of speaking. In Tamaulipas, more than the president, the governor, or the mayors, drug traffickers rule and no one doubts it.
The criminal leaders in this state keep society with a pistol in its mouth so that no one talks: they levy taxes on merchants of all branches of economic activity (not just brothels, bars, and restaurant as in the beginning) and those who don't pay receive a grenade the following morning so that the clients never return.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Juárez Isn't the Only Scary Place in Mexico
From commenter JD, this Carlos Loret column from last week opens with a bang:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
this is one of the better articles about the situation in northern tamaulipas, below. my own reporting up there has revealed similar situation; a so-called peace but on-ground reality is that everyone is suffering effects of extortion. matamoros, meanwhile, is back like it always was - dodgy as hell, corrupt and narco-police run the show with Zetas – etc. not a good situation. indeed, basically scarier than juarez because you barely ever see the army.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/world/americas/30mexico.html
And if I recall correctly, wasn't this one of La Tuta's major gripes when he called in to the radio show a few months back? I'm too lazy to go dig up the transcript but I believe he specifically mentioned both the Zetas and Tamaulipas, asking why the the Army is in Michoacan instead of Tamaulipas -- and thus strongly implying that official protection was at least part of the explanation.
JD, that sounds about right, but I dont remember that specifically. I do remember him saying that they had no problem with the army, but that the federal police and Genaro Garcia Luna were biased against him.
Malcolm, did you feel like you had to watch your tail more in Juarez or Tamaulipas? Or Sinaloa?
It's certainly not anything like Tamaulipas here, but the jump in extortion has been really closely associated with the arrival of the Zetas. And lots of small businesses too, which somehow seems a lot more depressing. I dont know if this is what you were talking about, but I also think extortion is a different sort of scary, both in the sense that it is hidden and relies on the threat of violence and lets the imagination to a lot of the work, and in the sense that it is more directed at the society as a whole, whereas drug murders are more isolated.
Post a Comment