Chávez Chávez, the head of the PGR (the Attorney General’s office for Mexico) has publicly stated that Mexicans should not worry, there is no narco-terrorism, despite the use of a cell-phone operated car bomb used to ambush police and emergency workers in Juárez.
In one aspect, Chávez Chávez is correct, the use of the car bomb in this instance was not strictly a terrorist act, if we refer to the definition provided by Princeton University: "the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear" (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn).
But, according to this definition, the cartels are engaged in terrorist acts throughout all of the country, which is evident to anyone who has been following the escalating violence, the bodies hanging from bridges, hand grenades thrown into crowds of party-goers, faces stitched to soccer balls and left in public parks, and the kidnappings, killings and torture of any and all who get in the way (whether in their own homes or at private functions). Terrorism is a loaded term, especially with all that has happened all over the world in the last decade, but refusing to acknowledge what is, in fact, happening will not make it go away and only further diminishes what little credibility the Mexican government has.
On another note, under the freedom of information act, the national newspaper "El Universal" has revealed that, since the beginning of Calderón's War, 208 Federal Police officers have been killed in the line of duty. The following break down parallels the escalating violence in Mexico from the war on drugs:
2006 - 1 death
2007 - 11 deaths
2008 - 63 deaths
2009 - 75 deaths
2010 - 53 deaths (from January to June)
These statistics cover only the Federal Police and does not include State Police or Municipal Police officers (who make up nearly 95% of the police force in Mexico and have less training, inferior equipment and more contact with the narcos and thus a higher body count, although statistics have not been released).
For a map of the killings: click: Narco-killings
Follow on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/wmmckay
Sick; my first thought seems to have been the same as yours. As soon as I read he said there was no terrorism, I thought, bodies hanging from overpasses; and weren't they dressed in women's underwear? Also, the messages carved in the bodies of their victims. And of course the "silver or lead" proposition. How anyone could not call that terrorism is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteWhen will Obama and Calderón stop being pawns of the Thug Addicts, the Holier-Than-Thou-Congregation, the High Priests of Assigning Permanent Shame, and the Men of Lawlessness?
When will they finally get the guts to tell these modern-day Senator McCarthy's to get lost and strip them of their powers?
17 more dead today, killed at a party. I saw some video of the garage, there were two rivers of blood coming from under the garage door.