Cartel violence in Mexico

As much as I hate to point to film as a source, I will have to say NARCOS helped me see the nuances or help have me context.

It’s another industry, if you look at it without all the moral grandstanding. The other issue that isn’t really dealt with in these stories is a racial element. The potentional legitimacy of the drug industry most certainly elevate many POC and countries out of poverty.

A tad bit uncomfortable for the old guard in the US.

1 Like

Not sure how this ties into racism. Can you explain? I think its an accepted fact that the drugs contribute to a large % of GDP in many nations like Mexico and Columbia and without that many which flows out of the US and Europe via the users these economies would deflate.

I guess from the official CIA POV they were more interested in fighting Communism in the 50-90s and any tool was used at their disposal including drugs. At least that’s become the official narrative

2 Likes

Sigh…let me get back to on the racial component. I’m gonna have to unpack some stuff to articulate it. LOL

Edit: I just remembered that even while the US might have been fighting communism, in 1970s Nixon kicked of the war on drugs.

Now let’s use that for context. Nixon’s war on drugs was designed to target African Americans and the counterculture. Anyone who has a modicum of common sense knows it was actually to criminalize black folks.:smirk: ThIs and future policies would divide the black communities. There’s no political power in a house divided, m’kay.

The US has effectively held it’s position of world power by effectively weaponizing white supremacy to its advantage by supressing any sort of real growth in many of these Latin countries. In fact, they have actively instigated chaos in some cases. This is where I’m nodding toward the racial angle.

If Cartels were allowed to flourish legitimately, we’d have seen Pablo Escobar and El Chapo on the cover of Forbes rather than behind bars. They’d be on par with the oil sheikhs, rubbing elbows in the UN influencing countries and effecting markets. Effectively reducing the US’s power on the world stage. At least, that’s the idea I’m toying with.

1 Like

I can agree to this to some extent.

Thats quite a statement, I think US was more concerned by the spread Communism in the Western Hemisphere and Russian influence and Russians are some of the Whitest people I know. Also there are lots of Latin Americans that are white or more European/Spanish. They tend to be the ones that get voted into office and have shows on Telemundo, my point being there is racism in every country and white color is preferred even in Latin countries so some self reflection is needed there. The US however has allowed minorities to run at all levels of office Federal, State, Local, Polcie and run the biggest companies Microsoft, Google, Pepsi, Intel, Adobe etc, hard to say that about any other nation.

This one is quite a statement, need to understand your reasoning and POV more to dig into this. Its hard for me to see the racism angle. The US is one of the least racist countries I know of once you start comparing against every other country in the world…its not perfect, there’s room for improvement but theres way more room for improvement in other countries. I say this as a 1st Generation Immigrant to the US . Racism exists in all countries it just doesn’t come up in the news 24/7 for the world to see in most countries like it is in US. US is always open for discussion on the racism topic but elsewhere its not, doesn’t mean it doesnt exist in droves, their societies just don’t make it transparent, it just hasn’t evolved socially to that level yet where open discussions on racism is widely accepted in their own countries, but theyre comfortable discussing how other countries are racist.

I would benchmark how Racist or accepting a country is by how many positions of Real Power and Influence in Politics, Business, and Media that country accepts Minorities, Immigrants and people of color to hold. Also how their laws deal with Immigration and Illegal Immigration vs other countries. Need always to compare to other countries and not in a vacuum or against an ideal. For example what are US Laws in Immigration vs Canada? Vs Mexico? Vs EU? El Salvador? Honduras? Australia? China? Taiwan? India? Singapore? Japan? Korea? Brazil? Russia, The Middle East? Also do these countries allow minorities to run their biggest firms? To hold high levels of public office?

Were there high levels of Racism in US history? Hell yea. But did you ever wonder the same about every other country? The answer is Hellllls yea they were racist too. Asia, Middle East, Europe, South America at a level these countries don’t want to reflect on or admit to. Easier to just blame the US for being racist instead of working on racism within their own countries which have deep roots too, the US is open for racism to be exposed so it can be worked on no matter how hard it is, thats the main difference.

I dont see Brazil a country thats predominantly black and mixed having voted for a Black President twice. Will Mexico vote a native President or Black? I see a lot of White European Spanish Blood Presidents there too(I could be wrong).

4 Likes

I could be wrong but aren’t the Elite Class running many Governments in Latin American White of Spanish origin? I see lots of blonde/blue eyed people also in Mexico and Latin American with very pale skin. Whats the diff between Spanish White and English White? Not sure how many White Americans are actually full European anymore…its likely a low %.Also dont the wealthier class in Mexico tend to be the more Spanish White? Not so much the Indian/Natives? Is that openly discussed in Mexico and Latin America? Possibly in Brazil it is. Some of my Family from Taiwan moved to Brazil in 1980 so I get their perspectives

1 Like

36 posts were split to a new topic: Institutionalized racism in the US and elsewhere

Never trust your other half.

I love how you ooze compassion for the victims of gun violence in Mexico.

Even though they did wear magic underpants.

He probably figured he was somewhere on her laundry list. :doh:

2 Likes

A lot of projection.

image

I bet it would fix 95% of the problem as drugs are the most violent and lucrative and destructive part. It’s the river of cash that fuels these powerful organisations.
Limited legalisation such as with tobacco and alcohol but stricter would definitely put a cramp on them. Legalise it, tax it, monitor it. Poor communities get income govt gets tax revenue, users are provided safer substances in a controlled manner.

At the same time put punitive sanctions on all governments not willing to comply.
There’s absolutely no reason to think that dealing with the root cause wouldn’t help solve the problem not sure where you get that idea from is it some of political meme?
Throwing hands up in the air doesn’t make any sense.

The huge amount of guns trafficked south are like the fire and the oil that consumes and fans the bonfire from the drugs

Understood these countries have multiple problems but drugs are the key underlying factor.

You’re definitely right that legalization would hurt cartel business, it is one of their big three, the other two being prostitutes (slavery), and animal parts.

The root cause of everything was the Big Bang. All we need to do is reverse that somehow and everything will be great.

We can put a man on the moon. Surely we can undo the Big Bang. We’re problem solvers, after all. The solutions are all so obvious. Why haven’t they been implemented yet? Physics is reversible. Scientific fact. Undo the Big Bang already.

1 Like

Ran out of meds on the weekend Rowland ?
Thank God and Obama and all the Clinton Saints for socialized medicine.:grin:

1 Like

Are you saying the “The Genie is out of the bottle” with drugs , I got a but lost on this discourse.

They already did. Where’ve you been, man? Living under a rock in the ocean waiting for the x-th coming of Cthulhu? :roll_eyes:

Daddy ruled as though it were a business. Son ruled as though they were “proper gangsters.”

Officials canceled flights, suspended school and ordered residents to shelter in place as cartel members threw up road blockades in multiple cities, injuring at least 25 security forces and killing one. In Culiacán, Sandoval said, cartel fighters blocked all six entrances to the city and attacked a commercial airport and a nearby air force base. At least one commercial flight and an air force plane were hit with gunfire, officials said.

Is Mexican military/police so shit that they can’t even deal with a few gangsters?

1 Like

Sounds like all-out civil war to me. I would guess police, army and local government are all complicit to some degree, though. I doubt it’s just incompetence.

4 Likes