In this essay I will trace the development of Latin American countries that have led to a violent state of impunity and corruption, particularly in Mexico. The current state of things will be analyzed in light of the recent disappearance of 43 students, a crime in which authorities and criminal organizations are equally responsible.
The history of Latin America is very enlightening when thinking about its current issues. Take poverty for example, Latin American countries were conquered by different European nations and conquerors cohabited with local people. The locals were obligated to serve their conquerors and to live as slaves. Eventually these countries had Independence wars and established their own sovereign states but the dynamics of an oppressing class remained. Inequality is regarded as an ordinary misfortunate fact about society where the poorest people live in resignation of their fate because, of course the system is designed to preserve itself and so, maintain the order of things.
Poverty in Latin America has become a relevant issue. According to the World Bank in 2012 52.3% of Mexico’s population lived in poverty while at the same time having one of the richest men in the world. In countries with such differences between its population the lower classes learn to distrust and resent the higher ones.
Unfortunately, political class has become an economical class. Since the conquest times, a political class was formed by the conquerors, the oppressors. Government cannot be trusted for it has always belonged to individuals who do not represent the people, but themselves and their own kind. The people have never been able to identify themselves with the authorities and they are not meant to do so. This distance between people and authorities has led to a separation of law and life. Law in countries such as Mexico is regularly broken, and people actually count on that, may it be to get out of a speeding ticket or to get away with murder.
When placed in a specific scenario, any reasonable person chooses the alternative that offers maximum benefit at minimum cost. This allows us to understand why things work the way they do in Mexico. People grow up learning that running a red light is no problem if no one is looking, and even if the police witness this violation, a few pesos will get you out of trouble. So why wait out the red light or risk being late for your meeting when it’s definitely easier to just go ahead and break the rules. More complex examples can be discussed. Why pay taxes when authorities will misuse them and a fiscal investigation can be dismissed with an illegal fee smaller than your actual debt.
This distance between current law and its actual application has created an unsupervised government that works only to provide wealth for the already wealthy politicians. And if creating wealth is government policy, then corruption will be found on every level. For a long time that has been the state of things, but since 2006 when president Felipe Calderón declared the war on drugs things have gotten out of control. “Large sections of the country have descended into lawlessness, with criminal gangs – drug cartels with international reach as well as local groups of bandits – taking the place of governmental authority.” (Raimondo)
The increase of violence in the country has long been tolerated, but the recent Ayotzinapa events have triggered strong reactions among the Mexican population and displays of support around the world. Students from the “Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos”, an institution that prepares future public school teachers in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, passing through the town of Iguala, were attacked by police forces. The local governor who feared a protest might ruin a social event his wife was hosting that day ordered the operation. Six people were killed, twenty five injured, and forty three violently taken. These 43 students were then turned over to organized crime for their execution.
It took over ten days for the president to make a comment on such an event and to this day there is no definitive answer to their whereabouts. An official declaration states that the executioners came forth and confessed to killing around 43 boys given to them by authorities the day of the student´s disappearance. The bodies were burned and their remainings were thrown into a river, so without bodies there is no way of confirming their identities through a forensic investigation.
“The crushing of protests by ordinary citizens follows a pattern of violence stretching back to 1968.” (Vulliamy) During the search for these students, eleven communal graves have been found with thirty eight victims. Now the search has stopped, but there is no doubt, numerous more pits would be found if it continued. The horror of this crime does not limit itself to the disappearance of these 43 students. It shows how government authorities and criminal organizations work hand in hand. It shows how Mexico has become a graveyard for thousands of unreported victims. Authorities’ responses portrait a cold and cynical incapable government that doesn’t concern itself with its citizens’ safety and that couldn’t care for it if it wanted to.
“Three heavy words sum up the challenge now facing Mr Peña and Mexico as a whole: impunity, accountability and governability.” (“When crime is unchecked”) A reaction to the Ayotzinapa crime has been to demand the presidents’ resignation, for he has proven to be unfit to deal with the nations’ problems. This might seem like a reasonable request, and maybe it would be beneficial for the country, but the problem runs much deeper. Mexico’s president behaves the way he does because the system around him allows him to, or even dictates him to do so.
Mexico is the inevitable gateway for drugs from South America to the USA, so for as long as there is demand in America, there will be supplies going through Mexico. The violence that has been unleashed since the war on drugs began can only be stopped by reaching certain agreements with the drug cartels, this constitutes in itself an illegal scenario. On another hand, the whole political class is already so used to impunity and to illegally taking benefits for themselves that any member of a political party to assume presidency would continue the state of things. Even worse, the system wouldn’t let anyone willing to change it to reach a meaningful position.
There is no simple or immediate solution for the wave of violence in Mexico. At best, the Ayotzinapa events are a wakeup call for both citizens and government figures to realize things must be done differently to avoid reaching the breaking point of a civil war.
References
CNN Library. “Mexico Drug War Fast Facts.” CNN World. CNN. 18 November 2014. Web. 30 November 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/02/world/americas/mexico-drug-war-fast-facts/>
“Mexico Data.” The World Bank. N.p. 2012. Web. 30 November 2014 <http://data.worldbank.org/country/mexico>
Raimondo, Justin. “Is Mexico a Failed State?” Antiwar. N.p. 20 October 2014. Web. 30 November 2014. <http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/10/19/is-mexico-a-failed-state/>
Vulliamy, Edward. “Mexico’s murderous alliance of state, the army and the drug cartels.” The Guardian. The Observer.16 November 2014. Web. 30 November 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/16/mexicos-murderous-alliance-of-state-army-and-the-drug-cartels?CMP=share_btn_fb>
“When crime is unchecked.” The Economist. N.p. 18 October 2014. Web. 30 November 2014. <http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21625789-modernise-country-needs-law-and-order-much-economic-reform-when-crime-unchecked>
