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Caribbean-Latin America | ||||
New levels of drug violence in Mexico in 2010 | ||||
2011-01-03 | ||||
In 2010, the levels of Mexican violence and the kind of extreme cruelty once reserved for Quentin Tarantino movies reached new heights, not just along the Texas-Mexico border, but in regions that were once spared such bloodshed. More than 13,000 people were killed across the country in drug violence, up from an estimated 9,600 a year earlier. "Mexico has a long history of violence, which is completely different from a culture of violence," said Harvard historian John Womack. "This kind of violence, however, hasn't been seen in Mexican modern history." Theories as to why such violence is surfacing now include Mexico's difficult transition to democratic government after decades of authoritarian rule, when unwritten understandings -- even among drug gangs -- kept a lid on things.
Mexico has fought multi-generational intneral wars before, successfully. They may not have been pretty, but they did end successfully. For decades, cartels have operated in Mexico, often enmeshed with the government itself. Democracy was supposed to change that, strengthening institutions like the courts and reducing the number of crimes that go unpunished. The reality has been starkly different: Ten years after the so-called democratic opening, with the election of the first opposition party to the presidency in 2000, the rate of unsolved crimes hovers around 98 percent, virtually unchanged from a decade ago.
With democracy, "the top came off the pressure cooker," she said, and the violence that had long been simmering boiled over. Business between rival cartels was once negotiated quietly, but now these groups, including those operating along Mexico's border with Texas, battle openly for territory and have become notorious for torture and horrendous killings. One group in particular, the Zetas, has raised the stakes for violence. "Previously you had an informal code of ethics," said Maureen Meyer, a Mexico analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America. "Women were not targeted; children were not targeted. You took out your rivals, but you didn't hang their bodies from bridges. It was a quieter type of violence than what you're seeing now." | ||||
Posted by:Steve White |