Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico: Do not drink the water II; Because it's ours

Remember "Do not drink the water!, where I wrote about the water company's monopoly? Where the water company drills water wells right next to contaminated rivers and streams and then supplies water to the cities and towns which is contaminated with fecal coliform and heavy metals? And about how the water company won't allow cities, towns and villages which are sitting on or near clean water supplies to tap into those supplies?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about a newly drilled government water well that has supplied nothing but mud since it began operation?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about a newly built water treatment plant put in operation to treat the water (mud) from the new government-operated well which only lasted for 25 days before the equipment all went kaput because of the mud?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about the state's governor and other members of the hoi polloi dedicating the aforementioned mud-producing water well and soon-to-be-kaput water treatment plant in a big public "Look-what-we-did-for-you-today?-vote-PRI-early-vote-PRI-often ceremony, 25 days after which the water treatment plant went, "Phhhhtttt"?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about the local people, using donated brick, tools and labor, digging, entirely by hand, their own water well because their neighborhoods had not a drop to drink? Then when the city discovered that nice, clear, somewhat clean and somewhat drinkable water was being produced by a well dug, entirely by hand, by simple folk who just needed water in their homes, sending in work crews to begin laying pipe to divert the water from the neighborhood well away to other neighborhoods?

Wait, IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN THAT!

How about Huatulco's mayor, José Humberto Cruz Ramos, fresh from appearing alongside the governor at the dedication of the mud-producing government water well and soon-to-be-in-25-days-kaput water treatment plant, decreeing that the water producing water well, dug entirely by hand with donated labor, tools and bricks, should be named in hizzoner's honor?

Wait, because it may get worse even yet.

The citizens who live in the colonia El Crucero 20 de Noviembre weren't taking this lying down. They attacked the work crews laying the water pipe and chased them away. They now stand guard over their precious water-producing water well 24/7 to protect it from . . . their own city government.

And why can't we reach some accord here? A little cooperation? A little go along to get along? It's the politics of revenge. The inhabitants of El Crucero 20 de Noviembre vote predominantly PRD. The mayor is PRI. The governor is PRI. Now, to be honest, a lot of money was thrown away by the incompetent PRI government on a mud-producing well for the PRD neighborhood as well as the 25 day water treatment plant wonder, and the governor did arrive to dedicate the mud . . er . . . water well. But as soon as he left and the government's failures became obvious, the local political hacks stepped in and the fun began.

As I write this, the citizens of colonia Crucero 20 de Noviembre, joined now by neighboring colonia Fraccionamiento el Zapote, face off 24/7 against city police with violence to soon ensue.

Does one wonder why it is so easy for politically corrupt "people's leaders" to get otherwise honest, hard working folk to march in the streets, burn buses, assault unarmed traffic cops and spray paint a 500 year-old city?


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Huatulco, Oaxaca

Madeira Beach, Florida: It ain't just Mexico, folks.

Readers, especially those who either haven't been around long or who haven't had time to browse my archives, may think that I think that corruption, hanky de pankies, hornswoggling, flim-flamming and cork-screwing are limited to Mexico -- and Venezuela -- and Cuber -- and Bolivia. It just ain't so.

When was the last time you sat down in a US restaurant, especially a Florida restaurant, to a dinner of "fresh Gulf grouper"? Chances are it wasn't grouper at all. This article lays out how diners, restaurants and even multi-million dollar seafood distributors are being defrauded by mislabled fish -- fish filets labeled as Gulf grouper but actually something else. And sometimes that something else is laden with salmonella and carcinogenic fungicides. And sometimes that something else cannot even be identified by laboratories and fish scientists (ichthyologists).

Asian farm-raised catfish, emperor fish, painted sweetlips (what the hell is that?), tilapia and green weakfish (or weak greenfish, I'm not too sure) were fish species identified from samples served at Florida restaurants, all of which thought they were serving Gulf grouper.

So as to avoid confusion in the future as well as fishy fraud, I'll show you what all these fish look like before being fileted.


Gulf Grouper - the real thing

Painted Sweetlips - I think

Emperor fish - sometimes swim with grouper


Tilapia

Self explanatory

Cheap-ass Asian catfish


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Gulf grouper

Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico: The woven web becomes more tangled.

This article caught my eye and I read it, did a little Google action on it which led to more links which led to, well, you know the drill. It concerns one Jesús Argüelles Mandujano, aka Felipe de Jesús Argüelles Mandujano, aka "El Rayo", former Chief of Police of Cancún.

In November of 2003, 5 agents of the AFI (kind of like our FBI) were executed in Cancún. In December of 2004, just over 1 year later, Chief of Police Argüelles Mandujano -- "El Rayo" -- along with some other city, state and federal officials, were taken into custody and sent off to a federal prison in Mexico state. Their arrests were propogated based on information obtained from four "protected witnesses", known by code names as "María", "Rosendo", "Arturo" and "Samantha". The first three appeared in court yesterday in a "careo" against ex-chief Argüelles Mandujano who had just been flown back to Cancún to face a criminal court judge. I don't know what happened to "Samantha".

A "careo" is, literally, a face-to-face confrontation between an accused and his/her accuser(s) in front of a judge. The judge gets to use this faceoff as a means to determine which side is most likely telling the truth. These "careos" are a good reason why sex crimes go unreported here or, if reported, un-prosecuted. A lady knows she is going to have to face her attacker, in close proximity, in front of a judge who has the power to declare the accused innocent on the spot, depending upon how much the judge has been paid by the lawyer and family of the accused, and allow him to walk out of the courtroom along with his accuser. An uncomfortable thought for most ladies, I'm sure.

In any event, I Googled 'ol Jesús, or Felipe de Jesús, or "El Rayo" and guess whose name also popped up? Remember this guy?

That's right, it's Raúl Luis Martins Coggiola, pimp king of Cancun

Three months ago, the Cancún offices of the daily Por Esto!, out of Mérida, Yucatan, were bombed, or rather, hand-grenaded. Por Esto! says that it was the work of Martíns and a group of narco traffickers known as "Grupo Tabasco". The daily charges that the bombing was planned in Martíns night club/whorehouse "The One" and carried out by Martíns personal chief of security, one "Edgar", aka "La Guacha". The newspaper further alleges that Martíns helped Edgar, La Guacha, escape Cancún on the night of the bombing and moved him to the USA where he is currently in hiding. Calling all CIA and DEA!!

But, oh my, the newpaper doesn't stop there. Por Esto! says that its facility in Cancún was bombed because the newspaper has in its possession documents and a list of local businessmen and politicians who have been benefiting from drug proceeds by laundering the money through their hotels, restaurants, night clubs, tourist docks and piers, salons, boutiques etc..

And who handles all that cash -- we're talking tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of Yankee dollars here? Why, our old buddy, pimp Raúl Martíns. Need a gigantic loan that a bank won't touch? See Raúl at The One. Need a politician or group of politicians bought off and you're just a bit short of the necessary cash? See Raúl at The One. Or, on the other hand, if you've got a dozen suitcases stuffed with several millions in hundred dollar bills and need someplace to "invest" it all, see Raúl at The One. "We washee weely kleen."

Grupo Tabasco, according to Por Esto!, is headed by Clemente Soto Peña aka "Jesús Canchola" and Joel Montoya Félix aka "El JR". These guys, along with Edgar "El Guacho", make their money dealing cocaine out of some 600 drug houses throughout Cancún and Quintana Roo's gold coast. In other words, they cater to tourists as well as rich Mexicans who have homes, villas and condos in the area. This is the high end retail end of the drug business in Mexico.

The newspaper charges that former governor Joaquin Hendricks "covered up" the formation of Grupo Tabasco during his reign. It is alleged that "El Rayo", now on trial for the murder of the 5 AFI agents, became chief of police after working his way up through the ranks by means of murder. This gave Grupo Tabasco control of the police force in Cancún and carte blanche for both their drug distribution/sales operations as well as the money laundering operation which was spearheaded by Martíns along with his businessmen and politician buddies.

A retired Mexican army colonel managed to get himself appointed chief if staff of the local police force. What he found horrified him. He went public with the information that he personally knew of at least 167 drug houses in Cancún. He further stated that "organized crime in Cancún is a 'floating business' that changes location all the time." Col. Wilfrido Flores Saucedo and his bodyguard, Alejandro Morales Xicoténcatl, were found machine-gunned to death in their car last June in downtown Cancún.

Add into the mix the secret videos that Martíns is known to have made of local businessmen and politicians playing with Martíns imported Argentine beauties, bombed Jewish social centers and Israeli embassies in Argentina, and it's a real cesspool. By "secret videos" I mean that one doesn't know they exist until one refuses to go along with some sleazy scheme or another. Then, out pops the weasel. And one usually just decides to go along so as to, uh, get along.

Por Esto! charges that the bombing of its Cancún offices was planned during a meeting in The One by Martíns, "El JR", "Jesús Canchola", "El Guacho" and a guy named Mariano Galué Ancona, an ex-assistant police chief to "El Rayo". Now, how do you suppose that the newspaper Por Esto! would come by all of that information? The girls are talkin', Raul, and they'll burn you yet.

We hope.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Cancun Mexico, Raul Martins, Joaquin Hendricks

Oaxaca, Mexico: Do not drink the water!

A city official, the Regidor de Contraloría (comptroller) warned residents that the city's water supplies are of "low quality and, furthermore, contaminated by fecal coliform." Yuuck. No link provided because this is from yesterday's print editions.

Diego Marcos Ortiz Silva was interviewed in his office in City Hall, where he said that the drilling of water wells in close proximity to the rivers and creeks guaranteed that the water delivered to the city would be contaminated. He said that the rivers and streams had been contaminated "for decades with raw sewege, trash, garbage, dead animals, waste oil and heavy metals."

Ortiz Silva accused the water company, ADOSAPACO (don't ask) of failing to test water supplies before drilling the wells. He claims that the state-owned water company prefers to maintain its monopoly on the city's water supplies rather than allow many municipalities and colonias to find their own water. In other words, the water monopoly is supplying contaminated water to communities which are sitting on or near clean water supplies but are not allowed to tap those supplies.

The Comptroller pointed out that the majority of people in the city lack resources sufficient to buy bottled water, so they must drink it from the tap. And it is poison.

Now, if this happened in any civilized country, there would be a water emergency declared. The city, state and federal governments would swing into action to haul in supplies of clean drinking water. Engineers and scientists would be called in to go to work to clean up the water supply so that it no longer would cause the people to sicken and die.

But not here. Here, a city official bitches about it and the newspaper prints it and nobody else really gives a shit so nothing will be done, at least in our lifetimes. Lifetimes that will be considerably shorter if we drink the water.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, fecal coliform

Oaxaca, Mexico: Oaxaca's observatory vandalized and abandoned

Yet another victim of the violence that wracked the city and state from May through the 25th of November is the vandalized and heavily damaged observatory, officially known as the Observatorio Astronomico Canuto Muñoz Mares, located, I think, atop the Cerro de Fortin - the big hill you probably drive around on the northwest corner of the city. This observatory, or at least the telescope therin, was a gift from the city of Palo Alto, California in 1972.

The observatory was attacked, vandalized and stripped of anything that could be carried away at the same time that the Guelaguetza amphitheater was vandalized and burned. According to the Oaxaca daily El Imparcial,

The vandalism and sacking of the observatory by the teachers and other political groups that participated in last year's conflict jsut about destroyed it completely, says the Society (Sociedad Astronómica de Oaxaca), and the city governmet has taken no action to retore it.

Now, the competing daiy, Noticias, which is the virulently anti-government print voice of APPO and the striking teachers and which just could not bring itself to denounce the violence against innocent citizens and institutions, played this just a bit more discreetly. Noticias says,

The lenses and telescopes were the most expensive items lost during the socio-political conflict through which Oaxaca lived.

Noticias says that the director of the city's social development said that "deterioration was inevitable" (meaning it was caused by age) and that he didn't know the total cost of the "sacked" components, broken windows, smashed doors, lost files, etc.

Noticias also immediately changes the subject to two other locales which are in need of repair/restoration due to being abandoned by, er, everybody. Those are another observatory and a library which nobody has ever heard of and probably never will.

Noticias reports the city official as saying that the observatory restoration is well on its way, is 90% complete and should be finished in "a month to a month and a half."

That's not what the director of the Astronomical Society told El Imparcial. He says that the society has just now solicited the city council to do something about the observatory to save it and that the director of social development still has to get a budget approved. So, who to believe?

Newspaper War!!!

I don't believe anything I read in Noticias but you make your own decisions.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Oaxaca observatory

Abraham Lincoln: Happy Birthday!

The Big Trunk (Scott Johnson) at Powerline reminds us to remember the man on his birthday.

Lincoln's words of wisdom, preserved for us in a myriad of sources as quotations, are too numerous to list here. My favorites, however, are:

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.

Whenever I hear any one arguing for slavery I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

This for the Mexican governors, the state and federal legislatures, the judges and the police:

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

And, finally, for our friends in APPO and Sección 22:

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law.

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Abraham Lincoln

Mexico City: Felipe Calderón vows, "We won't surrender" to narco violence.

In a speech at an Air Force base, Mexican President Felipe Calderon answered both the weepy hand wringers as well as Mexican organized crime. And he did so in no uncertain terms.

We will not surrender, neither to threats nor to overt attacks against the security of all Mexicans.

While organized crime's actions against society may be becoming more violent, the response by all three levels of government (local, state, federal), the armed forces and by society itself will become more implacable.

We will neither offer truce nor safe harbor to the enemies of Mexico. This is a fight that we will win if, among all Mexicans, we continue to join forces and solidify our energy, our talent and our will.

The president asked for the help, understanding and patience of the Mexican people, local governments, all political parties, the press, and the Church, because, he emphasized, this subject (organized crime) is of the utmost importance to the nation.

The president mentioned the church in particular perhaps in response to the Bishop of the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa (Guerrero - one of Mexico's most violent states), Alejo Zavala Castro. He sniffled that "More police and weapons are not going to solve the narco-terrorism problem. You've got to give the people more economic opportunities."

Right. Calderón will immediately inaugurate programs whereby grade school dropouts can earn a million bucks a week, pay no taxes, cruise around in limousines and yachts and watch all the competition get gunned down in the streets. Programs like that are just a dime a dozen, there, Bishop.

Oh, and the Bishop also declared that he and his flocks have been diligently praying for, er, what, I'm not exactly sure. I would presume that the Bishop's most heart-felt prayers have been going out to all those who have only recently stopped a bullet or 30.

Mexico's Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera believes in being a lot more practical. After Calderóns call yesterday for the support of the country, Cardinal Rivera Carrera responded during his Mass this morning. He said that the president's call to arms was "very opportune" and that "all Mexicans have something to contribute."

He said that the fight was not that of the State nor the government alone, but had to start within each family "because that's where the problems originate, where there is a lack of values." OK, I'll buy into that much, your Eminence.

Later, at a news conference, he added that the government, all institutions (including, presumably, the Church) and all the citizenry had the duty to join forces against "this cancer of narco traffickers." That's better yet, your Eminence!


Cardinal Rivera Carrera: "I'll whack 'em with my stick.
It's really heavy. It's 24 ct. gold. It'll hurt a lot."


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Felipe Calderón, Cardinal Noriberto Rivera Carrera, narcotraficantes

Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: More on porn, phone porn, this time

Horacio López, sub-director of Colegio de Bachilleres 43 ( a bachiller is kind of a college prep high school), announced that cell phones would be banned from the school's campus. He said that for several days last week teachers and school officials noticed that students were passing a file around over their cell phones.

A teacher snatched a phone and was horrified to find that a porno video was the reason of all the activity. Some number of phones were confiscated and all others have been banned from the school. Parents were notified to "watch their children closely to assure the kids were using cell phones as well as other audio and video equipment solely for school work". Right.

Colegio de Bachilleres 43 must be a prep school for future municipal employees destined for jobs in Guanajuato.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, high school pornography

Uriangato, Guanajuato, Mexico: Busted with porn!

The mayor of Uriangato, suspecting that some hanky de pankies were occurring on his watch, pulled a surprise computer inspection throughout Uriangato municipal offices. Guess what he found? Here, I'll let Mayor Carlos Guzmán tell it:

"More files of photos of naked women and sex acts were found than official government files or projects."

"Everything from nude men to nude women to sex acts were found."

Among those busted in the surprise porno inspection were the municipal Director of Economy, Enrique Patiño; the Director of Public Works, Felipe de Jesús Mora; and the Director of the Property Title Office, Joaquín Mora. 17 other municipal officials were likewise ensnared.

The mayor will dock the 20 officials' paychecks 2 weeks pay for the infractions. He threatened to fire anyone caught a second time. He told the city council:

"We're not going to spend the municipal government's work time and computer equipment on immoral activities."

"This could be considered as the illegal diversion of funds and materials for personal use."

"Watching porno is not the work of a city employee and they should be ashamed to collect their salaries while failing to perform the duties which they were assigned."

The 20 municipal porno monitors had no comment for the press.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Uriangato, Guanajuato, Mexico, pornography

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico: Calderón calls in the Mounties while incompetent, corrupt, local officials whine.

On 8 January, a Canadian citizen, one Adamo de Prisco, died in the middle of Avenida Escénica in Acapulco when he was run over by a car. Acapulco police officials ruled it an unfortunate accident. This in spite of a host of eyewitnesses who claimed that de Prisco was first savagely beaten inside the discotheque Mandara by club employees. Those witnesses told investigating officers that de Prisco managed to get away, then fled out the door into the street where he was subsequently squashed by a passing automobile.

All of that beating and fleeing stuff was too messy for Acapulco police to deal with, so they shoveled it under the rug and declared, "accidental death, nos sentimos muchísimos." Federal authorities were not in quite such a hurry to get back to that week's edition of Juana La Cubana on channel 9, however.

The feds, led by, as you may recall, their commander-in-chief, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, were just a bit too busy rounding up drug cartel capos, triggermen and money cleaners and shipping them off to the USA to disappear forever into the gaping maw of the federal prison system, to take direct action. So, they did the next best thing. They invited the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to come to Acapulco and conduct their own investigation.

RCMP Capt. Edward Nelson bids adieu to his girlfriend,
Donnie MacJeanne, as he takes leave for Acapulco.

WHOA!! That pissed off state and local authorities who thought they had cleverly solved and closed the case. The Guerrero state governor, Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, managed to remain relatively calm as he said that the decision to call in the Mounties was a federal decision and he would welcome the presence of the Mounties with "appreciation", eh. Right, eh.

One of his flunkies, the city's director of tourism, was not nearly so restrained in voicing his opinion. Said an outraged Miguel Angel Elías Aguirre while quaking at the thought that a tourist's death was caused by hired dance hall gorillas, spit,

"I don't like what has happened because it is the jurisdiction of the Mexican government. I would like that the competent authority release its official report."

See, Miguel Angel, that there is the problem. The competent authorities are, er, not competent. But the Mounties certainly are.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Acapulco, Mexico, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Felipe Calderón

Lansing, Michigan: Gov. Granholm to release 5000 criminals because she's not "mad at them" anymore.

PARTEEE!

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, already riding the crest of unpopularity in her state, has proposed releasing 5000 parole-eligible prison inmates, er, immediately. State Corrrections Commissioner Patricia Caruso says,

We need to decide who we're afraid of and who we're mad at.

We need to be sure the people we're afraid of are locked up. Are we mad enough to spend an average of $33,000 a year to lock them up until they die or until they finish every last day of their sentence?

Note that Michigan is a matriarchal society. Other examples of matriarchal societies would be the US House of Representives as well as hyena clans, but I repeat myself.

Charles Manson sings,
"Slide, ride, fly to Michigan
Stomp, romp, hop to Michigan"

Manson has been eligible for parole sine 1978. Under Granholm's grand plan, he would have been loose on the streets for the past 29 years. Think about that.

Manson, imprisoned, unfortunately, in California back when they could get a conviction there, described Governor Granholm and the other Michigan matriarchs quite well during his 1998 parole hearing:

So don't blame me and say I'm taking over your minds,
because you didn't have any to start with.

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Michigan, Jennifer Granholm

Caracas, Venezuela: Chávez says, "Let'em eat . . . chicken feet?"

Ooh, yummy!

Hugo Chávez's garden of Eden in Venezuela has run out of beef. And pork and chicken breasts, thighs, backs, legs and wings. All he's got left are chicken feet.


Nobody here but us chicken's feets.

Could these people be any more stupid? Chávez and his government toadies are blaming "hoarders and speculators" for the shortages. The real problem is Chávez's price controls. Beef is artificially priced at $1.82 per pound when $2.41 per pound is required just to get it to the supermarket shelves. That means that the supermarkets have to sell it at cost, which they refuse to do, and the middlemen have to eat a $0.59 per pound loss, which they also refuse to do. Hence, no beef. Since the cattle raisers can't sell their beef to anyone, I guess that means they are hoarding it.

Chávez insituted price controls on over 400 basic items in 2003 in an effort to control inflation and help the poor. He successfully reduced the inflation rate from 25% where it was in 2003 to 78% where it stands today. And now the poor can't afford to buy even chicken feets. Nice job, Hugo!

The same problem exists for chicken parts (parts is parts, right?) of the more edible varieties, leaving nothing but chicken feets on the menu. As if this wasn't enough, the same thing is happening with sugar, so if you can manage to choke down your chicken feets, they'll go down bitterly, literally.

As a friend of mine once wisely remarked,

"I ain't eatin' nuthin' that's been stompin' around in chicken shit."

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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, chicken feet

Mexico City: Calderón's war continues but he's not getting much help

President Felipe Calderón continues his war against the big drug cartels but I fear that the people of Mexico, influenced by columnists, pundits, politicians, businessmen and radio and TV personalities, are bailing out on him already.

Yesterday in Acapulco, an office of the Ministerio Público (local prosecutor's office) was attacked by heavily armed, masked paramilitaries who left a death toll behind of 7. They also left a pointed message for the government.

Murdered in the attack were 4 police officers, an agent for the Ministerio Público and 2 secretaries. The message left inside the building read,

We don't give a shit about the government and this is proof of that.

In spite of, or perhaps, because of the government's actions against the drug cartels, violence may actually have increased. This increase was predicted by the federal government and it did so quite publicly. The government predicted an upsurge of violence in response to the extradition to the US of 14 wanted criminals, including the heads of two of the big drug cartels. Calderón's people announced that, in addition to those extraditions, there were a lot more to come, including the ex-governor of Quintana Roo, Mario Villanueva; i.e., more violence to come.

The reaction to the violence in the Mexican news has been disappointing. Instead of lauding the government's efforts, underlining the fact that the violence demonstrates that the government is accomplishing something, encouraging support amongst the people for the government's efforts or, at least just keeping their mouths shut, the airways and print media have been filled with weeping, whining and hand wringing. To wit:

This altogether regrettable and useless column by the otherwise respected Francisco Cárdenas Cruz in El Universal is a good case in point. We'll call him FCC. His opinion piece is entitled,

"Drugs and organized crime overwhelm the State
More violence, in spite of operations"

Well, no shit, Sherlock. While the criminal gangs are allowed to operate in an atmosphere of relative freedom from harrassment by the State, violence against the State will be minimal. Mostly from people stepping in front of speeding bullets and the like. When the State takes strong actions against those gangs, there will be a backlash.

But FCC doesn't mention this. What he does is lay out a litany of the State's "failure" of its anti-cartel actions. He does compile a nice, concise, little list of violent acts (read: murder) committed against police, army, government officials, businessmen etc: Acapulco, Uruapan, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo, Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Culiacán, Morelia, Cancún, Villahermosa and Acayucan as well as other incidents in the states of Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Michoacan and Baja California. Thanks, FCC, nice list.

FCC lampoons the Secretaries of public security, the army, the navy, the federal Attorney General and Calderón as being unready to confront the cartels. He calls the government "inefficient" for allowing the violence. I guess he expected the government to round up 50,000 or so drug cartel operatives at every level from capo to hit man to chemist to mule, spread out through the cities, valleys, deserts and mountains of 742,485 square miles of territory, in just 30 days or less.

Since that did not happen, according to FCC, Felipe Calderón's anti-cartel campaign is a failure after, uh, 2.5 months.

Now, FCC has been a famous journalist, columnist, opinion stater and pundit for 45 years. In other words, he has been a funtioning and contributing part of Mexican society for 45 years. That would be the same Mexican society that allowed the creation of the big drug cartels in the first place. That would be your Mexican society, Sr. Francisco Cárdenas Cruz; yours and your buddies' and your family's and your political party's. This unholy disaster is your fault.

You and yours spent 45 years creating it and now you whine that President Calderón hasn't cleaned up your smelly, pudrid pile in less than 3 months. And you wring your hands and warn, ominously,

The risk is that they (the cartel gunmen) will raise their sights on others besides just police chiefs.

The risk is, FCC, that they'll be shooting the wrong people.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Felipe Calderón, Mexican drug cartels

Mexico City: Police commisioner claims 91% adoption of Giuliani's recommendations

Secretary of Public Security Joel Ortega Cuevas also has a rather large bridge for sale.

He claims that the Mexico City government has implemented or is in the process of implementing 125 of the 146 recommendations made by Rudolph Giuliani's security team in 2003.

The only recommendation that he could point to with pride was the creation of a central "crime data warehouse" supposedly suggested by Giuliani's team. Ortega said that the database now had 66 million files and 43 databases.

That's it. 66 million files and 43 databases.

You can read the entire report presented to Mexico City Andrés Manuél López Obrador (AMLO) on 7 August, 2003. It is titled "Reporte Giuliani SSP" and is in Spanish. I haven't found a copy of the report in English.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, mexico City, Rudi Giuliani

Oaxaca, Mexico: Are these people ever going to learn?

One would think that after a seven month seige, broken only by the power of the federal government, the destruction of the state's economy and 1.3 million kids missing almost one half of this school year, the Oaxaca government would have learned its lesson. Sigh. It appears not.

In Matías Romero, indigenous peoples from San Juan del Río have taken over a Ministerio Público office (local prosecutor) in protest of their lands being invaded by cattle operations and the state government aiding and abetting the cattlemen. I have not done much research into this but I have little reason to doubt the indigenous leader's statements and actions.

Carlos Beas Torres says that 27 dirt poor campesinos have been charged with various crimes by large cattlemen who tore down their fences (if there were any) and sent their cattle onto the campesinos' land. The state's Procuraduría Agraria has apparently been aiding the cattlemen by doing the usual song-and-dance over who holds title to the land. Lost documents, misplaced files, smudged, 50 year-old signatures and interminable court proceddings have all allowed the cattlemen to invade the campesinos' land and get away with it. When one or more of the poor farmers gets violent in defense of his property, the cattlemen file charges and the state has him arrested.

This is the kind of crap that blew up in the governor's face once before and, if it keeps on keepin' on, will all blow up again.

I think we should all prepare ourselves for the next explosion because the PRI, the state government and the big, monied interests don't really give a damn.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, San Juan del Río

Oaxaca, Mexico: Learn to speak English, then adopt English law

This news is a couple of weeks old, but I'm just now digging through a mountain of Email that, uh, mounted up during my bout with dysentary/malaria/rickets/ebola/poison ivy, or whatever.

g c blues in Costa Rica (who also is recovering from a year-end illness -- must be an epidemic) sends along a link to Mary Katherine Ham, writing in the Townhall Blog. She mentions the release of the International Index of Economic Freedom. This, as she explains, is a measurement of how easy it is to do business in a given country.

The index makes a couple of things glaringly clear. First, if you want a successful economy, adopt English rule of law. Only 7 countries are designated as having truly "free economies":

Hong Kong
Singapore
Australia
United States
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Ireland.

Notice that 5 of the 7 are English speaking and remain under the English form of rule of law. Hong Kong, of course, was under British rule from 1842 to 1997 and continues to maintain its own legal system, monetary system, customs policy, cultural delegation, international sports teams, and immigration policy distinct from China.

Singapore was under British colonial rule from 1819 til 1963. So, one could say that English rule of law and English free commerce are represented by all 7 of the only "free" economies on earth.

Now, as far as an overall ranking, first to last, of economic freedom, the top 20 on the list look like this:
Hong Kong
Singapore
Australia
United States
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Ireland
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Canada
Chile
Estonia
Denmark
Netherlands
Iceland
Finland
Belgium
Japan
Germany
Cyprus

Mexico is ranked 49th, behind such countries as Panama, Latvia, and Africa's Botswana and Mauritius. This is the challenge facing Calderón which no Mexican president, ever, in the country's entire history, has been willing to face.

The rankings are based upon 10 "Freedoms". Each country is ranked 0-100 on each of the ten criteria. Each criterion is weighted equally. The "10 Freedoms" are:

Business Freedom
Trade Freedom
Fiscal Freedom
Freedom from Government
Monetary Freedom
Investment Freedom
Financial Freedom
Property rights
Freedom from Corruption
Labor Freedom

Now, if you want a good yuk, try to find Venezuela. It takes a concerted effort to find Hugo's Utopia. It's ranked 144th, alongside such economic powerhouses as Cuba, Bangladesh, Burundi and Chad.

What are your expectations concerning the long term welfare of the Venezuelan people? Pretty dismal, I should think.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Index of Economic Freedom

Oaxaca, Mexico: The long, hot summer cometh

Man. The weather man, that is. The temperature here in Oaxaca is already shooting into the 80's every day. The Mexican meteorologists are predicting 50°C this summer. For those of you not abreast of metric-English conversion factors, I'll help.

°F = ((°C x 9) / 5) + 32, or
°F = ((50x9)/5)+32, or
°F = (450/5)+32, or
°F = 90+32, or
122°F, or
Hot As Hell.

I haven't seen 120°+ temps since longer ago than I really care to remember and in places that I would rather not remember.




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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, 120°F

Mexico City: Not better than a stick in the eye

Here is a horrifying report from El Universal about men being killed by eye drops. Eye drops? Apparently so.

Prostitutes operating in at least 10 Mexico City hotels, including the Zona Rosa, are accompanying men to those hotels, then, on the sly, putting drops of Refractyl Ofteno or Eye Mo in the men's drinks as well as smearing it on their breasts (those of the, er, ladies, that is). Refractyl Ofteno contains chlorohydrate of ciclopentolate or cyclopentolate hydrochloride or something like that. This stuff slows the heart rate, cranks blood pressure, causes loss of conciousness and, at least 13 times in the past 2 years, a heart attack and death.

When those men lucky enough to survive the experience wake up, they have been stripped of wallet, cash, car, credit cards, everything. One guy who went with a friend and two of the ladies woke up to find said friend dead.

The most notorious and dangerous bars are the cantina La Polar in Colonia San Rafael, the bars Freedom and La Vitrola, both in the Zona Rosa, and many restaurants and bars in Colonia Garibaldi. I've been in Freeedom in the Zona Rosa but, as I recall, had no eye problems and therefore did not require a nurse to administer any eye drops in my eyes or wherever.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Mexico City, Zona Rosa

Oaxaca, Mexico: OK, back to the Oaxaca sleaze

Taking a look at the print editions of two local dailies -- Tiempo and Noticias - the Oaxaca sleaze continues unabated.

Tehuantepec: Mayor José Enrique Ojendis Garfias of Tehuantepec was arrested last night by ministerial police but not without some problems. Mayor Ojendis Garfias is charged with "diversion of public funds" to the tune, so far, of 109 million pesos, about 10 million dollars. The arrest comes in response to days of civil unrest in the city, up to and including a blockade of the entrances to the city.

The mayor was accompanied by his lawyer, driver and a bodyguard. The driver and bodyguard put up some resistance which resulted in a few gunshots fired in the air. The mayor's lawyer, Wilfredo Cruz Valente, said he had an "amparo" (the magic Mexican bullet that, in this case, acted as both a temporary restraining order prohibiting his arrest as well as a writ of habeus corpus). The ministeriales ignored it.

The police, according to his lawyer, refused to present an arrest warrant. They bundled Mayor Ojendis Garfias into a police car, drove him to Salina Cruz and from there flew him here to Oaxaca.

So what we had and have here is the following:
1. A mayor who cannot account for or refuses to account for 109 million missing pesos.
2. An order prohibiting his arrest issued by a friendly federal judge.
3. State police officers who ignored that federal order.
4. Stare police officers who failed or refused to present the arrest warrant.

So, what's worse? Pick 'em.

Huajuapan: Sección 22, the striking teachers union section that started all this crap last May, will receive the first installment of 1 billion (that's billion with a "B") pesos towards their salary demands. This installment is part of the 42 billion (that's billion with a "B") pesos to bring their salaries up to the same level as teachers in the rest of the country -- called "rezonificación". This money is in addition to their already negotiated salary increase.

And the reaction of Sección 22? Huzzahs? Hoorahs? A smattering of applause, maybe? Nah. They voted to hold another "mega-march" this Saturday and to again take over government buildings by force until the governor, who signs the checks, resigns.

I think that Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz should, in fact, resign immediately. His farewell speech should be short and to-the-point. "Adiós, bye-bye, see-ya. Oh, and by the way . . . I didn't sign the check."

Oaxaca de Juarez: Ex-collaborators of taxi union leader (CROC) David Aguilar Robles say he has ripped off some 26 million pesos paid by 1340 taxi owners for their annual permits. Guadalupe Juárez Hernández and Gilberto Luís Martínez, recently tossed out of the union, say that Aguilar Robles demands a 20,000 peso "anticipo" (down payment) from the taxi owners. Of this money, only 1000 pesos is paid to the state as a licensing fee. 8000 pesos more is used to pay bribes to bureaucrats in the office of the State Secretary of Transit (COTRAN) which leaves David Robles Aguilar with 11,000 pesos, or 14 million, give or take, for his own pocket.

And, speaking of the State Secretary of Transit, one Gonzalo Ruíz Galón, he is being accused of demanding 10,000 pesos each from another 180 taxi owners represented by a different union. These taxi owners say that when Galón took over the position last year from the previous secretary, Aurora López Acevedo, he declared their permits to all be "clones" or falsified. He further told them that their applications and other records were "not in the system".

The taxi union officials say that's impossible. "If the permits are clones or falsified, the state did it and it's the state's problem to rectify," said Donato Vargas Jiménez, president of Alianza Estatal de Transportistas Estatales de Oaxaca. He says that if the permits are, indeed, falsified, then López Acevedo did it.

Union officials say that Galón's brother who owns a taxi company on the coast, presumably in Huatulco, had no trouble getting his permits. Vargas Jiménez said that two taxi owners were convinced by COTRAN bureaucrats to approach Gonzalo Ruíz Galón himself personally to request that their permits be issued. He reportedly told them, "10,000 pesos each, muchachos."

Near as I can figure it, after the ripoffs by corrupt taxi union officials, corrupt bureaucrats and corrupt politicians, an annual taxi permit in Oaxaca costs about, uh, 50,000 dollars. That doesn't leave much for maintenance.


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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, corruption

Washington, DC: Republican party's racist, sexist sleazeballs strike again.

Today's look at at the latest racism, sexism and sleaze from the Republican party:

In the House of Representatives, Rep. Loretta Sanchez quit the House Hispanic Caucus because caucus chairman Joe Baca called her a "whore". She says he made the comments to a group of California legislators that included state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. Said Rep. Sanchez:

Nunez "is a friend of mine. Did he think he wouldn't tell me?"

A year ago 6 Hispanic representatives, Sanchez, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. (Loretta's sister), Democratic Reps. Dennis Cardoza of California, Jim Costa of California, Raul M. Grijalva of Arizona and Hilda L. Solis of California quit the caucus's political action committee because Baca was diverting PAC funds to relatives and friends.

What's that you say? Baca is a Democrat? Sanchez is a Democrat? There are no Republicans on the Hispanic Caucus because they all quit in the late 90's?

Oh.

Never mind.

In the Senate, Joseph Biden announced his candidacy for president. He described one opponent, Barack Obama, as,

"the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Under fire for these racially insensitive remarks, Biden than said,

"Call Senator Obama. He knew what I meant by it."

Barack Obama:

"I didn't take Senator Biden's comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate. African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate."

Biden:

"And I have no doubt that Jesse Jackson and every other black leader - Al Sharpton and the rest - will know exactly what I meant."

Jesse Jackson:

"I am not sure what he means - ask him to explain what he meant."

Al Sharpton:

"I told him I take a bath every day."

What's that? Biden is a Democrat? Obama, Jackson, Sharpton, Chisholm and Moseley Braun are also all Democrats?

Oh.

Never mind.

In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom was ripping Ruby which torqued Tourk. The mayor's re-election campaign manager, Alex Tourk, quit after learning the mayor had been, er, torqueing Tourk's wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk. She is in some sort of substance abuse program and as part of her treatment she confessed all to her husband, Tourk. He got torqued, went behind closed doors with his soon to be ex-boss, ripped him a newsom one and walked out.

Aids say that Mayor Newsom is "in shock" ("I've told her and told her; 'Deny. Deny. Deny.'"). Probably still in shock that Tourk didn't just shoot him, ala Harvey Milk.

What's that you say? Newsom is a Democrat? A Pelosi San Francisco Democrat, no less?

Oh.

Never mind.

Well, I guess that's it for today from the sleazy world of sexist, racist Republicans.



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TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, Republican sleaze