Reforma: Sergio Sarmiento
Nov. 6, 2019
The horror story not only doesn't end but gets worse every day. The killing of three women and six children of the LeBarón family of Chihuahua, which also left six children injured, is a painful reminder. [The extended LeBaron family, Mormons originally from the U.S. and U.S. citizens, have been the object of other attacks by drug cartels.] The worst part is that one doesn't see the way to reverse the situation. The plan to offer hugs instead of bullets is not working [The proposal of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aka AMLO].
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Alfonso Durazo, said yesterday in the president's daily morning press conference that he saw the possibility of "confusion" in this case. I remember the sneer with which leftist groups responded in the past when all acts of violence were said to be caused by confusion, from the murder of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo in Guadalajara in 1993 to the kidnapping and murder of Ayotzinapa teachers college students in Iguala in 2014. The killing of the LeBarón family members was carried out in two separate attacks on suburban vans in which the family members were traveling. There were no men in the vehicles: only women and children. Does it sound like confusion?
There is no confusion about the fact that Mexico is reaching new records of violence. Between January and September 2019, 25,890 malicious homicides were recorded, 2.5 percent more than the first nine months of 2018, the most violent year since 1990, when such statistics began to be kept.
Beyond the increase in the number of homicides, in recent weeks there have been several killings that underscore the weakness of the State and the growth of crime and violence. On October 14, in Aguililla, Michoacán, 13 state policemen were killed and nine were injured after an attack by a group apparently belonging to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. On October 16, in Tepochica, Iguala, Guerrero, 14 civilians and a soldier perished in an apparent confrontation. On October 17, in Culiacán, Sinaloa, a failed operation to capture Ovid Guzmán [son of Joaquin "El Chapo (Shorty)" Guzmán, former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, now imprisoned in the U.S.] left eight dead, according to the Secretariat of Defense, or 13, according to the Sinaloa Prosecutor's Office. Now we have this slaughter of women and children of the LeBarón family.
The voices of the left that questioned the violence in the governments of Calderón and Peña Nieto have been silent. The President comes from their ranks and says that everything is going very well. "We already have results," he said yesterday, "we have been able to stop the escalation of violence." Society, however, has other data [a replay of AMLO's regular statement when negative data on some issue is presented to him, "I have other data"].
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Alfonso Durazo, said yesterday in the Senate that the strategy of repression [of the cartels] hasn't worked. He is right. The problem is that sharing hugs doesn't work either. The President says he will not change his strategy. It is positive that we have a President of firm will, but what is his strategy? The creation of a military police force, called the National Guard, and the granting of subsidies to ninis [youth who are neither in school nor have jobs] and other groups of society? The National Guard, however, does nothing but maintain the strategy of repression they tell us has already failed, while subsidies to the needy have nothing to do with violence because it is false that the hitmen emerge from the poorest sectors of society.
The President is wrong when he says that the neoliberal model caused the violence. In 2007, Mexico had the lowest level of homicides in recent decades: 8,867, equivalent to 8 per 100 thousand inhabitants. In 2018 we had 35,964 homicides, 29 per 100 thousand. In 2019, the first year of the López Obrador administration, we are on our way to breaking these records. Violence has no political loyalties.
Reforma only allows subscribers to access its articles online.
*Sergio Sarmiento holds a degree in philosophy from the York University of Toronto. He was editorial director of Encyclopaedia Britannica in Latin America and Spain from 1978 to 1994. He directed the Hispanic Encyclopedia. He has collaborated with El Norte since 1989 and Reforma since 1994, where he is a daily columnist. He was vice president of news for TV Azteca. He was moderator of the program "The Interview with Sarmiento" and other radio and television programs. Knight of the Order of Letters and Arts of France. @SergioSarmiento
Nov. 6, 2019
The horror story not only doesn't end but gets worse every day. The killing of three women and six children of the LeBarón family of Chihuahua, which also left six children injured, is a painful reminder. [The extended LeBaron family, Mormons originally from the U.S. and U.S. citizens, have been the object of other attacks by drug cartels.] The worst part is that one doesn't see the way to reverse the situation. The plan to offer hugs instead of bullets is not working [The proposal of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aka AMLO].
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Alfonso Durazo, said yesterday in the president's daily morning press conference that he saw the possibility of "confusion" in this case. I remember the sneer with which leftist groups responded in the past when all acts of violence were said to be caused by confusion, from the murder of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo in Guadalajara in 1993 to the kidnapping and murder of Ayotzinapa teachers college students in Iguala in 2014. The killing of the LeBarón family members was carried out in two separate attacks on suburban vans in which the family members were traveling. There were no men in the vehicles: only women and children. Does it sound like confusion?
There is no confusion about the fact that Mexico is reaching new records of violence. Between January and September 2019, 25,890 malicious homicides were recorded, 2.5 percent more than the first nine months of 2018, the most violent year since 1990, when such statistics began to be kept.
Beyond the increase in the number of homicides, in recent weeks there have been several killings that underscore the weakness of the State and the growth of crime and violence. On October 14, in Aguililla, Michoacán, 13 state policemen were killed and nine were injured after an attack by a group apparently belonging to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. On October 16, in Tepochica, Iguala, Guerrero, 14 civilians and a soldier perished in an apparent confrontation. On October 17, in Culiacán, Sinaloa, a failed operation to capture Ovid Guzmán [son of Joaquin "El Chapo (Shorty)" Guzmán, former head of the Sinaloa Cartel, now imprisoned in the U.S.] left eight dead, according to the Secretariat of Defense, or 13, according to the Sinaloa Prosecutor's Office. Now we have this slaughter of women and children of the LeBarón family.
The voices of the left that questioned the violence in the governments of Calderón and Peña Nieto have been silent. The President comes from their ranks and says that everything is going very well. "We already have results," he said yesterday, "we have been able to stop the escalation of violence." Society, however, has other data [a replay of AMLO's regular statement when negative data on some issue is presented to him, "I have other data"].
The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Alfonso Durazo, said yesterday in the Senate that the strategy of repression [of the cartels] hasn't worked. He is right. The problem is that sharing hugs doesn't work either. The President says he will not change his strategy. It is positive that we have a President of firm will, but what is his strategy? The creation of a military police force, called the National Guard, and the granting of subsidies to ninis [youth who are neither in school nor have jobs] and other groups of society? The National Guard, however, does nothing but maintain the strategy of repression they tell us has already failed, while subsidies to the needy have nothing to do with violence because it is false that the hitmen emerge from the poorest sectors of society.
The President is wrong when he says that the neoliberal model caused the violence. In 2007, Mexico had the lowest level of homicides in recent decades: 8,867, equivalent to 8 per 100 thousand inhabitants. In 2018 we had 35,964 homicides, 29 per 100 thousand. In 2019, the first year of the López Obrador administration, we are on our way to breaking these records. Violence has no political loyalties.
Reforma only allows subscribers to access its articles online.
*Sergio Sarmiento holds a degree in philosophy from the York University of Toronto. He was editorial director of Encyclopaedia Britannica in Latin America and Spain from 1978 to 1994. He directed the Hispanic Encyclopedia. He has collaborated with El Norte since 1989 and Reforma since 1994, where he is a daily columnist. He was vice president of news for TV Azteca. He was moderator of the program "The Interview with Sarmiento" and other radio and television programs. Knight of the Order of Letters and Arts of France. @SergioSarmiento