tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179048494901365426.post5390846041974933389..comments2024-01-16T03:21:37.695-08:00Comments on Gancho: Emulating Colombiapchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13973333514392213258noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179048494901365426.post-49001047812741735262010-06-26T06:46:34.922-07:002010-06-26T06:46:34.922-07:00I figured you'd like these two pieces. Yeah th...I figured you'd like these two pieces. Yeah the cleansed political class and the absolutely normal security levels were the biggest howlers for me in the JFM piece. If that's the characterization, we should all hope for Mexico to remain abnormally violent and politically uncleansed. There are just so many reasons that this comparison is inappropriate and misleading. <br /><br />I dont really know what motivates all of this. Ideology certainly plays a role, and for Americans its probably nice to be able to point to a big role for Uncle Sam in the success. Of course there's also the similarity in both countries being Latin American and having drug gangs (though they are very different in type). But once you start digging, the differences in the challenges the governments face weigh more heavily than the similarities. <br /><br />Cant wait to see the Two Escobars. I wish they had that stuff online. Or on espn deportes.pchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973333514392213258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179048494901365426.post-59293565053608783892010-06-25T16:09:23.083-07:002010-06-25T16:09:23.083-07:00Arrrrgggh. I agree with your conclusion, but more ...Arrrrgggh. I agree with your conclusion, but more broadly, the reality is that the comparisons of Mexico to Colombia--at least in the media--are generally so distorted as to be useless or even counterproductive. I have no idea what level of realism applies in the discussions between the two countries' law enforcement officials, but the media portrayal is total bollocks. There's way too much to unpack here, but let's just focus on a few things: <br /><br />1) the guerrillas sell drugs, but aren't drug cartels. Fernandez is completely conflating the anti-guerrilla effort with moves against narcotrafficking (to be fair, Plan Colombia does the same, but from the US govt. standpoint that's a feature not a bug). In fact, he's also conflating the 1990s and the 2000s, which were fairly distinct in terms of who the main targets were (cartels in the 90s, guerrillas under Uribe, in very crude terms). <br /><br />2) As I've mentioned here before, a major part of the tide turning in Colombia was based on the paramilitary offensive (against both the guerrillas and the cartels - watch "The Two Escobars" for a decent summary of the links between the PEPEs and Carlos Castano, king of the paras). This is important in its own right, but also because, despite the demobilization of many paras, Colombia de ninguna pinche manera has "cleansed its political class." Only an Uribe spokesman could say such a thing with a straight face. And the idea that there was some grand coalition that came together in an embrace of reform is a sick joke for millions of rural Colombians - just look at the displacement numbers under Uribe. Writing about it is making me want to replace the Jabulani with las pelotas de Fernandez.<br /><br />3) The Bonner piece is less...ignorant or ideological, not sure which is the bigger culprit in Fernandez's piece...but it too suffers from placing the state too strongly as the protagonist. The PEPEs, and then the paras, were absolutely vital players in first eliminating Escobar and then "de-cartelizing" Colombian trafficking. The state did some good things in the 1990s and even under Uribe, but other dynamics mattered too - and note that this was in a country where the criminal organizational structures until recently were more coherent than what Mexico faces.<br /><br />There are a million other digressions to go on, plus the point you make - Colombia's still a super-violent country! - without even getting into human rights and other such quaint niceties. Suffice it to say that those who would Colombianize Mexico are caricaturists who base their vision on an uplifting narrative, not the messy reality.jdnoreply@blogger.com