Friday, August 26, 2011

A Biography of Torreón's Last Five Years

I have a piece here about my former city. Two other things I didn't mention: one, something like half the city's trees lost all over their foliage during a cold snap this winter, so the parts of the city that used to be nice and shady are now drenched in sunshine, which sucks. Oddly, the leaves have grown back around the trunk in many cases, but in the upper reaches of the branches, there is nothing.

Also, the cops in the city used to walk around with six-shooters, a patrol belt with some bullets and whatnot, and a hat. That was about it. I don't know what exactly they were, but these were big pistols that looked like they could stop an elephant, but they were just revolvers. Today, the cops walk around with ski-masks, assault rifles, and bullet-proof vests. Yet the city has gotten worse and worse, with the police being powerless to stop it. That serves as a demonstration, yet another one, that Mexican security is not a problem of insufficient government firepower.

2 comments:

jd said...

Good piece. And thank you, Gen. Villa Castillo, for saving a washed-up American screenwriter the five minutes it might take him to create such a hackneyed stereotype of a Mexican law enforcement agent.

The article does remind me, though, that I don't think you've really ever said much about YOUR experience as the atmosphere changed in La Laguna. I could've missed it, but if not, your readers would certainly be much obliged to hear the tale sometime.

pc said...

I guess I really haven't written anything like that, I'd be happy to do so...gimme a couple of days.