Sunday, December 20, 2009

Reaction from the Famous Mayor of San Pedro

Amid the ongoing media blitz regarding the death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva, I was curious about the reaction of Mauricio Fernández, the mayor of the posh Monterrey suburb who was taped in June seemingly referring to a healthy working relationship between his team and the Beltrán Leyva organization. My search led me to the above photo, about which I still can't pin down a coherent reaction, despite spending a good seven minutes staring at it so far this morning.

Then I found this bit from the mayor:
As far as I'm concerned, this continues being a city of the Beltrán Leyvas, as [the media] asked me I do think they continue selling, that's what we are trying to attack, hitting them in the places where we learn that drugs are sold, which are the most public, discos and night clubs.

And that's going to continue, one of the heads died but that doesn't mean that the organization is extinct or anything like that, there are thousands and thousands that work for them, as far as I'm concerned nothing has changed.
That doesn't sound like the customary triumphal tone from a politician, which, if it weren't replaced by cynical disingenuousness, would be refreshing. Also, his conspicuous emphasis on attacking the sale of drugs (as opposed to their shipment) goes hand in hand with what he was saying on the tapes that emerged in June, essentially: Narcos, don't sell to Mexicans, don't kidnap, and we can get along just fine.

This exchange was included in the same article:
"A little while ago a group from the La Familia tried to come into town, we've already persuaded them to go, but they tried to enter San Pedro."

He was asked if these comments were just an unfounded invention, to which he responded with an overwhelming no.

"It's real, there are lots of things I can't make known, but we're working on this, and the Family tried to enter."

"How did you convince them not to?"

"I have good convincers for persuading people that this work in San Pedro is not accepted."

"With what actions?"

"With the actions that you can imagine, we simply convinced them not to work in San Pedro."

"Did you do so through the federal government?"

"No, we work at every level, our own, state, and federal. The reality is that you have to have information, if not you go crazy. Here and there we are looking for information."
He sounds like the villain from L.A. Confidential.

2 comments:

Mr. Trend said...

"He sounds like the villain from L.A. Confidential."

Wow - that's a perfect simile right there. I even heard the voice of said villain when I read those lines. Seems like a classy, incorruptible guy *sarcasm*.

pc said...

It's uncanny isn't it? If I stare at the picture long enough, I can even convince myself that they look alike and the guy speaks english with a slight irish accent.

Anyway, yeah a model public official.