Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Monday, August 3, 2015
Schools shutting out US-educated Mexicans back home
The life of a migrant, legal or illegal, is always uncertain & up in the air. A migrant loses his/her network when he/she moves, & hence, can never settle down completely in his/her new surroundings. Making a new network is like starting life from scratch, which is not possible for many.
They are considered "foreigners" in their own countries (& by their fellow compatriots) because they are not culturally, socially, & in many cases, linguistically (at least those migrants' kids) similar to their compatriots. Their hardships in life can only be understood by other migrants.
At the same time, those migrants are considered "foreigners" / "aliens" in their adopted country, especially if they cannot completely adopt the culture of their adopted country, due to religious or cultural reasons. Heck, even if they do adopt, they can still be considered as "foreigners," during a national crisis, like Japanese were interned in US & Germans were viewed as suspicious during world wars. Come 21st Century & Muslims are considered "2nd-class" citizens.
For instance, Canadian government just passed Bill C-24 that will effectively take away Canadian citizenship of a Canadian citizen, if that person is dual national & his/her home country judges him/her to be a "terrorist" (without any court oversight, the minister / government will cancel his/her citizenship based on the judgement of another government, which in many cases, is / will be considered as corrupt court & government).
People always think life is going to be greener on the other side (the other side being a "developed" country) but it's not a certainty. Developed countries have their own rules & customs (some quite absurd) & native residents of developed countries will always get the preferential treatment in all spheres of life, in addition of them having a solid lifelong social network.
Migrants, legal or illegal, are like people without a home. Life of a migrant is always harsh, hard & disappointing (at least for most migrants).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Efigenia Martínez said it was one of the biggest mistakes of her life to bring her grandson Javier back with her to Mexico.
"They treat him like a foreigner but he’s Mexican, he's from here. They've made it so difficult for him to study. I feel like they are discriminating against us."
Efigenia has cared for her grandson since birth & when he was 9 she took him illegally to Los Angeles. He crossed the border in a car with a smuggler & then when she knew he was safe, she followed in the back of a trailer.
It was her third illegal crossing. For 5 years they lived with some of her other children & grandchildren in San Fernando. Despite his illegal status, Javier had no problems enrolling in a US school.
He was a good student & was about to start high school when Efigenia's husband got sick & they came back to Mexico.
It was then that Javier's education problems began. Despite a visit to the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles to get Javier's documents in order, the director of her local school in Cuautepec north of Mexico City said they wouldn't admit him without proof of what grade he had completed.
"I thought because he's from here it would be easy to get him into a school, but it was easier in the US. Here they asked for many things," Efigenia told Al Jazeera. "They said his classes in the US weren't valid. I was sent all over the city dozens of times to different authorities."
In the end, after almost 6 months, they had no choice but to enrol Javier as an "oyente" - or unofficial student. He was allowed to go to classes to listen but he wasn't the school's responsibility & wouldn't receive any qualifications.
It's a familiar tale for thousands of children - originally from Mexico or born in the US to Mexican parents who return to Mexico after having studied in the US.
Outside the system
According to migrant rights' groups, the full number of children stuck in this bureaucractic limbo is not known.
Gretchen Kuhner of Instituo para las Mujeres en la Migración (IMUMI) says the issue is ongoing.
"There are more and more kids facing this situation because of the number of deportations & many are coming back to Mexico for economic reasons," she said.
The 2010 Mexican census identified 597,000 US-born children living in Mexico. The next census, out later this year, is expected to see a significant rise in those numbers.
Children need birth certificates & documents that prove their level of education, & they have to be translated & stamped in such a way that the Mexican authorities accept them.
But parents are left to their own devices to navigate a complex situation, said Kuhner.
"They don't know what to do, & many are afraid of turning to the authorities. And it can be as simple as not having a credit card because they're undocumented or poor. If you have the right network & access to the internet, it's easier, but it can take a year just to get a birth certificate."
The Mexican constitution states that every child has an unconditional right to a free education. But because Mexico signed the Hague convention, certain documents must be legally certified for international use & school directors do not want to break the rules.
Some countries have exempted themselves from this provision but not Mexico, said Kuhner.
"It's a lack of political will - there's no other explanation."
Despite repeated calls, the Mexican Ministry of Education did not comment.
Access to education is not the only obstacle facing those trying to integrate back into life in Mexico.
At Efigenia's house, recent returnees, many with family still living in the US, meet every week to discuss their problems.
Most yearn to go back north & hope to be granted a visa. Many of the mothers at the meeting describe how without the required papers or identification their children couldn't use Mexican health services.
Patrica Lujano returned because her mother was sick & her family's immigration status was in jeopardy after her husband committed a crime.
Unable to get her two children, aged two & three, into a kindergarten in Mexico City or seen by doctors because their paperwork was not in order, the family moved to another Mexican state with more relaxed rules & paid to fix the problem.
"We could do it because we had the economic means but many can't, leaving them outside the system," Lujano said.
More dangerous life
Ma Elena Ayala's son Hector is one of the most extreme examples. Deported months before he was due to graduate from high school, he had nothing to show for his 15 years in California.
Not only was he unable to complete school in Mexico but as a result his work options were very limited Ma Elena says.
"At nearly 19, with poor written Spanish & no certificates, he was told he would need to start his education all over again in Mexico."
In the end he went to work selling candles.
Conscious of this growing problem, the US embassy in Mexico is trying to ensure those born in the US get their US passports.
Karin Lang, Chief of American Services in Mexico, told Al Jazeera it is doing what it can to help "this large & very vulnerable population".
"These children face significant challenges in economic, educational, & social integration in Mexico. While the Mexican Constitution guarantees access to education for all children regardless of documentation or immigration status, as a practical matter many children are either not admitted to school or are admitted on a conditional status that precludes them from obtaining certificates of completion.
"Without access to education, children anywhere are at high risk. With these children, this is an issue for both countries. These children are US citizens & they are Mexican citizens."
As for Javier, 16, he dreams of going back to California & studying music. Living back among his cousins, uncles & aunts, adjusting to life in Mexico has been tough.
At school he was made fun of because he sounded American. And on the streets where he lives he still does not feel safe.
"Life here is more dangerous," he says, "people get robbed or killed. The schools here have fewer resources too. There we had playing fields & computers."
When his grandmother, who has since obtained a US visa, last returned to California, he got sick & pleaded that she take him.
Efigenia finally got Javier's documents in order before he completed secondary school, but he still has not received his certificate.
"They've told me they don't recognise his classes in the US, but they've also asked me to pay double," she said.
He left school over a year ago & cannot go back to finish his education without the certificate.
Efigenia, too, dreams of taking him back to the US legally or illegally, but she said smuggling him over the border again is virtually impossible.
"I want to take him but my children say these days it costs $9,000. It's so expensive. Where can I find that money?"
They are considered "foreigners" in their own countries (& by their fellow compatriots) because they are not culturally, socially, & in many cases, linguistically (at least those migrants' kids) similar to their compatriots. Their hardships in life can only be understood by other migrants.
At the same time, those migrants are considered "foreigners" / "aliens" in their adopted country, especially if they cannot completely adopt the culture of their adopted country, due to religious or cultural reasons. Heck, even if they do adopt, they can still be considered as "foreigners," during a national crisis, like Japanese were interned in US & Germans were viewed as suspicious during world wars. Come 21st Century & Muslims are considered "2nd-class" citizens.
For instance, Canadian government just passed Bill C-24 that will effectively take away Canadian citizenship of a Canadian citizen, if that person is dual national & his/her home country judges him/her to be a "terrorist" (without any court oversight, the minister / government will cancel his/her citizenship based on the judgement of another government, which in many cases, is / will be considered as corrupt court & government).
People always think life is going to be greener on the other side (the other side being a "developed" country) but it's not a certainty. Developed countries have their own rules & customs (some quite absurd) & native residents of developed countries will always get the preferential treatment in all spheres of life, in addition of them having a solid lifelong social network.
Migrants, legal or illegal, are like people without a home. Life of a migrant is always harsh, hard & disappointing (at least for most migrants).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Efigenia Martínez said it was one of the biggest mistakes of her life to bring her grandson Javier back with her to Mexico.
"They treat him like a foreigner but he’s Mexican, he's from here. They've made it so difficult for him to study. I feel like they are discriminating against us."
Efigenia has cared for her grandson since birth & when he was 9 she took him illegally to Los Angeles. He crossed the border in a car with a smuggler & then when she knew he was safe, she followed in the back of a trailer.
It was her third illegal crossing. For 5 years they lived with some of her other children & grandchildren in San Fernando. Despite his illegal status, Javier had no problems enrolling in a US school.
He was a good student & was about to start high school when Efigenia's husband got sick & they came back to Mexico.
It was then that Javier's education problems began. Despite a visit to the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles to get Javier's documents in order, the director of her local school in Cuautepec north of Mexico City said they wouldn't admit him without proof of what grade he had completed.
"I thought because he's from here it would be easy to get him into a school, but it was easier in the US. Here they asked for many things," Efigenia told Al Jazeera. "They said his classes in the US weren't valid. I was sent all over the city dozens of times to different authorities."
In the end, after almost 6 months, they had no choice but to enrol Javier as an "oyente" - or unofficial student. He was allowed to go to classes to listen but he wasn't the school's responsibility & wouldn't receive any qualifications.
It's a familiar tale for thousands of children - originally from Mexico or born in the US to Mexican parents who return to Mexico after having studied in the US.
Outside the system
According to migrant rights' groups, the full number of children stuck in this bureaucractic limbo is not known.
Gretchen Kuhner of Instituo para las Mujeres en la Migración (IMUMI) says the issue is ongoing.
"There are more and more kids facing this situation because of the number of deportations & many are coming back to Mexico for economic reasons," she said.
The 2010 Mexican census identified 597,000 US-born children living in Mexico. The next census, out later this year, is expected to see a significant rise in those numbers.
Children need birth certificates & documents that prove their level of education, & they have to be translated & stamped in such a way that the Mexican authorities accept them.
But parents are left to their own devices to navigate a complex situation, said Kuhner.
"They don't know what to do, & many are afraid of turning to the authorities. And it can be as simple as not having a credit card because they're undocumented or poor. If you have the right network & access to the internet, it's easier, but it can take a year just to get a birth certificate."
The Mexican constitution states that every child has an unconditional right to a free education. But because Mexico signed the Hague convention, certain documents must be legally certified for international use & school directors do not want to break the rules.
Some countries have exempted themselves from this provision but not Mexico, said Kuhner.
"It's a lack of political will - there's no other explanation."
Despite repeated calls, the Mexican Ministry of Education did not comment.
Access to education is not the only obstacle facing those trying to integrate back into life in Mexico.
At Efigenia's house, recent returnees, many with family still living in the US, meet every week to discuss their problems.
Most yearn to go back north & hope to be granted a visa. Many of the mothers at the meeting describe how without the required papers or identification their children couldn't use Mexican health services.
Patrica Lujano returned because her mother was sick & her family's immigration status was in jeopardy after her husband committed a crime.
Unable to get her two children, aged two & three, into a kindergarten in Mexico City or seen by doctors because their paperwork was not in order, the family moved to another Mexican state with more relaxed rules & paid to fix the problem.
"We could do it because we had the economic means but many can't, leaving them outside the system," Lujano said.
More dangerous life
Ma Elena Ayala's son Hector is one of the most extreme examples. Deported months before he was due to graduate from high school, he had nothing to show for his 15 years in California.
Not only was he unable to complete school in Mexico but as a result his work options were very limited Ma Elena says.
"At nearly 19, with poor written Spanish & no certificates, he was told he would need to start his education all over again in Mexico."
In the end he went to work selling candles.
Conscious of this growing problem, the US embassy in Mexico is trying to ensure those born in the US get their US passports.
Karin Lang, Chief of American Services in Mexico, told Al Jazeera it is doing what it can to help "this large & very vulnerable population".
"These children face significant challenges in economic, educational, & social integration in Mexico. While the Mexican Constitution guarantees access to education for all children regardless of documentation or immigration status, as a practical matter many children are either not admitted to school or are admitted on a conditional status that precludes them from obtaining certificates of completion.
"Without access to education, children anywhere are at high risk. With these children, this is an issue for both countries. These children are US citizens & they are Mexican citizens."
As for Javier, 16, he dreams of going back to California & studying music. Living back among his cousins, uncles & aunts, adjusting to life in Mexico has been tough.
At school he was made fun of because he sounded American. And on the streets where he lives he still does not feel safe.
"Life here is more dangerous," he says, "people get robbed or killed. The schools here have fewer resources too. There we had playing fields & computers."
When his grandmother, who has since obtained a US visa, last returned to California, he got sick & pleaded that she take him.
Efigenia finally got Javier's documents in order before he completed secondary school, but he still has not received his certificate.
"They've told me they don't recognise his classes in the US, but they've also asked me to pay double," she said.
He left school over a year ago & cannot go back to finish his education without the certificate.
Efigenia, too, dreams of taking him back to the US legally or illegally, but she said smuggling him over the border again is virtually impossible.
"I want to take him but my children say these days it costs $9,000. It's so expensive. Where can I find that money?"
Sunday, June 28, 2015
"Heckler & Koch in Mexico" by Rainer Hachfeld
"Heckler & Koch in Mexico" - Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Berlin, Germany
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Tenancingo: Small town at the dark heart of Mexico's sex-slave trade
As I have blogged before that human trafficking, & especially women being trafficked, for the sole purpose of sex slavery is very common around the world; be it from Nepal to India, or South Asia to Dubai, or East Europe to West Europe, or in Latin America, but the sad part is that it has not only increased in the past decades or so, it is not even reported in the news as vigorously as what ISIS is apparently doing with captured Yazidi girls.
I am not saying that what ISIS is doing is correct, but we need to put this human trafficking & sex slavery phenomenon into perspective. What ISIS is doing is definitely abhorrent & should be stopped, but young girls are becoming sex slaves in Western Europe, Dubai, India, & even North America ... countries / regions, which purport to protect women & their rights.
The scope of what ISIS or Boko Haram is doing is rather small compared to how many girls are being forced into prostitution in law-abiding countries/regions. What's happening to girls in Iraq, Syria, or Nigeria is wrong but considering those are warzones, why is this such a prominent practice (sex slavery) in non-warzones, like Dubai, India, US, Canada, UK, Germany etc.?
Halfway through the article below (around paragraph 11), what strikes me as a universal trait of criminal nowadays is that criminals are the community leaders now, who host & fund religious & community gatherings. They all seem so genuine to the public. It's same all over the world. Now, it's becoming in our society, all over the world, that the younger generation wants to emulate the criminals of their communities. What will happen to that society when role models of the younger generations are the people who themselves are devoid of any morals & ethics?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
María Méndez was a live-in domestic worker when she met Ricardo López on her way to the supermarket. She was 15, from a poor family in the state of Mexico, & had been cleaning houses since the age of 8. He was a cocky, charming 16-year-old from Tenancingo, a small town in the neighbouring state of Tlaxcala. He courted her, promising marriage & a home. She desperately wanted it to be true, & within a fortnight moved with him to Tenancingo.
At first López & his family treated her well, but it quickly turned violent. “He sent me to work as a prostitute in Tijuana, Guadalajara, Torreón, Aguascalientes – all over the country to make money selling my body,” Méndez, now 59, told the Observer. “He said the money was to buy land so we could build a little house, but it was all false, even the name he’d given me was false. He made me live a very sad, ugly, desperate life. I was so ashamed.”
Méndez, like thousands of other vulnerable women in Mexico, was hoodwinked by a family of traffickers in Tlaxcala, the country’s smallest state just 2 hours east of Mexico City. This is a deeply religious place, where the indigenous Nahua people united with the Spanish to conquer the mighty Aztecs, but which over the past 5 decades has transformed into an unlikely hub of human trafficking.
In the US, five of the 10 “most wanted” sex traffickers are from Tenancingo, where Mendez’s nightmare began. Trafficking networks rooted in Tlaxcala are the biggest source of sex slaves in the US, the state department has said.
This improbable crime story began in the 1950s after industrialisation, when working-age men returned home from neighbouring states to find few opportunities beyond badly paid factory jobs. Pimping & trafficking, which they had seen while working away, was a way to get ahead, & many set up small, family-run sexual exploitation rings.
Some of the most powerful Tlaxcala families are believed to collaborate with Mexico’s most feared cartels.
In 2008 trafficking was detected in 23 of Tlaxcala’s 60 municipalities. By last year this had increased to 35, according to research conducted by local human rights group the Fray Julián Garcés centre, which has identified six “red zones” where sexual exploitation is most concentrated. (A government official told the Observer there were no red zones in Tlaxcala).
In Tenancingo, population 11,000, the presence of organised crime is breathtaking. Huge, tawdry houses are scattered among rows of ordinary, modest homes. Everyone knows who own the big houses, though, despite pressure from NGOs to improve transparency & target trafficking proceeds, there is no public land registry. The mansions look like fancy multilayered wedding cakes adorned with sculptured eagles, lions & swans. The grandiosity continues into the cemetery, where tombs are ornate & extravagant – not unlike those seen in villages of the northern state of Sinaloa, from where many of the drug cartel leaders hail.
In Tenancingo’s main square, a striking colonial church towers over taco stalls & shoe-shiners, a typical lunchtime scene apart from the new white Mustang & Chevrolet parked beside a bar. Here, a group of men in their 30s & 40s sporting designer jeans & T-shirts knock back cold beers under the piercing afternoon sun. Two police officers are stationed less than 150 metres away.
“These guys are the archetypal padrotes [pimps],” said Emilio Muñoz, a Tlaxcala native & director of human rights & gender violence at the Fray Julián Garcés centre.
“They are the ones who go to other states looking for vulnerable girls to trick – that’s their role in the family business. Everyone knows who the padrotes are, it’s no secret, & it’s the same families who sponsor religious festivals & community events. They operate with almost complete impunity. Trafficking has become so normalised & rewarding that young people look up to them.”
One in 5 children here wants to be a pimp when they grow up, according to a 2010 University of Tlaxcala study. Two-thirds of youngsters surveyed knew of at least one relative or friend working as a pimp or trafficker.
Tenancingo is the most notorious hotspot in Tlaxcala, with some estimates suggesting one in 10 people are actively involved in trafficking. But 16km north in Axotla del Monte, population 2,000, the concentration of garish mansions & flashy sports cars is even more conspicuous. This is another red zone, home to loyal, close-knit communities. In December 2012 the army was drafted in after police officers were almost lynched trying to detain an alleged trafficking family.
The old interstate highway connecting Axotla with Tenancingo is lined with cheap hotels. Official notices indicate a few recent closures, but many more are under construction. Around midday, young women wearing fake leather trousers & platform heels emerge near the hotels to attract the attention of passing motorists.
It is a wretched scene. The women’s features suggest they come from the poor southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca & Guerrero, where a large proportion of trafficking victims originate, according to the United Nations Office for Drugs & Crime (UNODC). For most, Tlaxcala is only a pit stop until they are sent to more lucrative locations in northern Mexico & the US.
In recent years the modus operandi for trafficking throughout Mexico has shifted from kidnap & brute violence towards psychological deception & fake relationships. Poor, uneducated & often indigenous girls & women are dazzled & lured with the promise of jobs or marriage. Most commonly, as in Méndez’s case, women are initially persuaded to prostitute “for love”, in order to help resolve a financial crisis which the trafficking family feigns. By the time they realise & accept they are victims, their “husbands” use beatings & threats against their parents & children – often fathered by the traffickers – to control them.
“The few successful prosecutions have mainly involved international crime groups, yet most trafficking in Mexico occurs within close family & friends’ circles using rustic methods of seduction which are very difficult to investigate & prosecute,” Felipe de la Torre, UNODC adviser in Mexico, said.
US authorities have prosecuted several powerful Tlaxcala families, most famously the Carreto clan, who between 1991 & 2004 duped, coerced & trafficked Mexican women into prostitution in New York City.
It took almost 10 years for one victim, a woman from Guadalajara, to be reunited with her daughter who was left growing up within the Carreto family in Tenancingo.
“There is a lack of political will & legal sensitivity when it comes to reuniting victims with their children – who are at huge risk of being trafficked or absorbed into the crime family,” said Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Institute for Women in Migration.
The Tlaxcala government told the Observer that it has jailed 14 people for trafficking-related crimes since 2011 – around 10% of the national total. Authorities have rescued 127 trafficking victims, closed down more than 200 bars, nightclubs & hotels, & conducted hundreds of awareness-raising events, it added.
There are an estimated 20,000 trafficking victims in Mexico every year, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Tlaxcala has no refuge for trafficking victims.
Méndez endured 10 years of arrests, humiliation & threats, before finding strength through her faith to stand up to López & stop prostituting herself. “He beat me, threatened to take our children, but I stayed with him because of the shame. I couldn’t bear to tell my family the awful things I had done, or who my husband really was.”
They are still married, & live together near where the girls are forced to prostitute themselves on the highway. López works in a shop, though his extended family continue trafficking. Méndez added: “These men in their nice cars think money is more important than human dignity, but they are monsters, just like my husband. Sometimes when I see the poor girls I can’t breathe. I pray one day this town can come out of this.”
I am not saying that what ISIS is doing is correct, but we need to put this human trafficking & sex slavery phenomenon into perspective. What ISIS is doing is definitely abhorrent & should be stopped, but young girls are becoming sex slaves in Western Europe, Dubai, India, & even North America ... countries / regions, which purport to protect women & their rights.
The scope of what ISIS or Boko Haram is doing is rather small compared to how many girls are being forced into prostitution in law-abiding countries/regions. What's happening to girls in Iraq, Syria, or Nigeria is wrong but considering those are warzones, why is this such a prominent practice (sex slavery) in non-warzones, like Dubai, India, US, Canada, UK, Germany etc.?
Halfway through the article below (around paragraph 11), what strikes me as a universal trait of criminal nowadays is that criminals are the community leaders now, who host & fund religious & community gatherings. They all seem so genuine to the public. It's same all over the world. Now, it's becoming in our society, all over the world, that the younger generation wants to emulate the criminals of their communities. What will happen to that society when role models of the younger generations are the people who themselves are devoid of any morals & ethics?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
María Méndez was a live-in domestic worker when she met Ricardo López on her way to the supermarket. She was 15, from a poor family in the state of Mexico, & had been cleaning houses since the age of 8. He was a cocky, charming 16-year-old from Tenancingo, a small town in the neighbouring state of Tlaxcala. He courted her, promising marriage & a home. She desperately wanted it to be true, & within a fortnight moved with him to Tenancingo.
At first López & his family treated her well, but it quickly turned violent. “He sent me to work as a prostitute in Tijuana, Guadalajara, Torreón, Aguascalientes – all over the country to make money selling my body,” Méndez, now 59, told the Observer. “He said the money was to buy land so we could build a little house, but it was all false, even the name he’d given me was false. He made me live a very sad, ugly, desperate life. I was so ashamed.”
Méndez, like thousands of other vulnerable women in Mexico, was hoodwinked by a family of traffickers in Tlaxcala, the country’s smallest state just 2 hours east of Mexico City. This is a deeply religious place, where the indigenous Nahua people united with the Spanish to conquer the mighty Aztecs, but which over the past 5 decades has transformed into an unlikely hub of human trafficking.
In the US, five of the 10 “most wanted” sex traffickers are from Tenancingo, where Mendez’s nightmare began. Trafficking networks rooted in Tlaxcala are the biggest source of sex slaves in the US, the state department has said.
This improbable crime story began in the 1950s after industrialisation, when working-age men returned home from neighbouring states to find few opportunities beyond badly paid factory jobs. Pimping & trafficking, which they had seen while working away, was a way to get ahead, & many set up small, family-run sexual exploitation rings.
Some of the most powerful Tlaxcala families are believed to collaborate with Mexico’s most feared cartels.
In 2008 trafficking was detected in 23 of Tlaxcala’s 60 municipalities. By last year this had increased to 35, according to research conducted by local human rights group the Fray Julián Garcés centre, which has identified six “red zones” where sexual exploitation is most concentrated. (A government official told the Observer there were no red zones in Tlaxcala).
In Tenancingo, population 11,000, the presence of organised crime is breathtaking. Huge, tawdry houses are scattered among rows of ordinary, modest homes. Everyone knows who own the big houses, though, despite pressure from NGOs to improve transparency & target trafficking proceeds, there is no public land registry. The mansions look like fancy multilayered wedding cakes adorned with sculptured eagles, lions & swans. The grandiosity continues into the cemetery, where tombs are ornate & extravagant – not unlike those seen in villages of the northern state of Sinaloa, from where many of the drug cartel leaders hail.
In Tenancingo’s main square, a striking colonial church towers over taco stalls & shoe-shiners, a typical lunchtime scene apart from the new white Mustang & Chevrolet parked beside a bar. Here, a group of men in their 30s & 40s sporting designer jeans & T-shirts knock back cold beers under the piercing afternoon sun. Two police officers are stationed less than 150 metres away.
“These guys are the archetypal padrotes [pimps],” said Emilio Muñoz, a Tlaxcala native & director of human rights & gender violence at the Fray Julián Garcés centre.
“They are the ones who go to other states looking for vulnerable girls to trick – that’s their role in the family business. Everyone knows who the padrotes are, it’s no secret, & it’s the same families who sponsor religious festivals & community events. They operate with almost complete impunity. Trafficking has become so normalised & rewarding that young people look up to them.”
One in 5 children here wants to be a pimp when they grow up, according to a 2010 University of Tlaxcala study. Two-thirds of youngsters surveyed knew of at least one relative or friend working as a pimp or trafficker.
Tenancingo is the most notorious hotspot in Tlaxcala, with some estimates suggesting one in 10 people are actively involved in trafficking. But 16km north in Axotla del Monte, population 2,000, the concentration of garish mansions & flashy sports cars is even more conspicuous. This is another red zone, home to loyal, close-knit communities. In December 2012 the army was drafted in after police officers were almost lynched trying to detain an alleged trafficking family.
The old interstate highway connecting Axotla with Tenancingo is lined with cheap hotels. Official notices indicate a few recent closures, but many more are under construction. Around midday, young women wearing fake leather trousers & platform heels emerge near the hotels to attract the attention of passing motorists.
It is a wretched scene. The women’s features suggest they come from the poor southern states of Chiapas, Oaxaca & Guerrero, where a large proportion of trafficking victims originate, according to the United Nations Office for Drugs & Crime (UNODC). For most, Tlaxcala is only a pit stop until they are sent to more lucrative locations in northern Mexico & the US.
In recent years the modus operandi for trafficking throughout Mexico has shifted from kidnap & brute violence towards psychological deception & fake relationships. Poor, uneducated & often indigenous girls & women are dazzled & lured with the promise of jobs or marriage. Most commonly, as in Méndez’s case, women are initially persuaded to prostitute “for love”, in order to help resolve a financial crisis which the trafficking family feigns. By the time they realise & accept they are victims, their “husbands” use beatings & threats against their parents & children – often fathered by the traffickers – to control them.
“The few successful prosecutions have mainly involved international crime groups, yet most trafficking in Mexico occurs within close family & friends’ circles using rustic methods of seduction which are very difficult to investigate & prosecute,” Felipe de la Torre, UNODC adviser in Mexico, said.
US authorities have prosecuted several powerful Tlaxcala families, most famously the Carreto clan, who between 1991 & 2004 duped, coerced & trafficked Mexican women into prostitution in New York City.
It took almost 10 years for one victim, a woman from Guadalajara, to be reunited with her daughter who was left growing up within the Carreto family in Tenancingo.
“There is a lack of political will & legal sensitivity when it comes to reuniting victims with their children – who are at huge risk of being trafficked or absorbed into the crime family,” said Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Institute for Women in Migration.
The Tlaxcala government told the Observer that it has jailed 14 people for trafficking-related crimes since 2011 – around 10% of the national total. Authorities have rescued 127 trafficking victims, closed down more than 200 bars, nightclubs & hotels, & conducted hundreds of awareness-raising events, it added.
There are an estimated 20,000 trafficking victims in Mexico every year, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Tlaxcala has no refuge for trafficking victims.
Méndez endured 10 years of arrests, humiliation & threats, before finding strength through her faith to stand up to López & stop prostituting herself. “He beat me, threatened to take our children, but I stayed with him because of the shame. I couldn’t bear to tell my family the awful things I had done, or who my husband really was.”
They are still married, & live together near where the girls are forced to prostitute themselves on the highway. López works in a shop, though his extended family continue trafficking. Méndez added: “These men in their nice cars think money is more important than human dignity, but they are monsters, just like my husband. Sometimes when I see the poor girls I can’t breathe. I pray one day this town can come out of this.”
Monday, April 6, 2015
Bill Clinton apologizes to Mexico for war on drugs
Why do Presidents & their support staff always backtrack or even apologize for their actions AFTER they have gotten out of office? At the time when they are in office, they are enthusiastically drumming up support for their policies, which are not thoroughly thought out, & refuse to hear any voice, which may say otherwise.
What's the point of apologizing now? Will that bring back thousands of innocent Mexicans who have been killed in this war on drugs?
Controlling or trying to destroying the logistics of drugs is not going to help reduce the flow of drugs. You need to destroy the source. UN is reporting year-over-year huge increase in opium growth in Afghanistan now. Opium flows out from Afghanistan into Central Asia to Latin America & finally into US via Mexico. Mexico or Colombia don't grow opium; they are only refineries & logistical routes to the consumer market in US.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Former President Bill Clinton has apologized to Mexico during a speech in which he suggests that the U.S. war on drugs has been responsible for fueling escalating violence.
Clinton spoke at the Laureate Summit on Youth & Productivity in Mexico where he told the audience that the war had backfired & led to violence which is crippling the country.
He said: 'I wish you had no narco-trafficking, but it's not really your fault. Basically, we did too good of a job of taking the transportation out of the air & water, & so we ran it over land. I apologize for that.'
The Clinton administration took on old drugs policies enacted by his predecessors, Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush, according to The Huffington Post.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush doubled his annual drug-war spending to $12 billion & committed the military to the cause.
In addition, Clinton's administration opened Mexico's border with the U.S. which encouraged land-based trafficking, & enforcement efforts that broke up Colombian cartels.
This empowered Mexican drug gangs, who increased in power although they had largely been middle men.
However, as the money flowed in, it's led to horrific acts of violence.
At present, the U.S. government spends roughly $40 billion to $50 billion each year fighting the war on drugs around the world.
The battle has taken a particularly devastating toll in Mexico.
Over the past few years, at least 60,000 to 100,000 people are believed to have been murdered in Mexico, many in drug-related violence.
There are estimated to be 2 murders a day, horrific kidnappings & no-go areas in some parts of the country where the police can struggle to maintain order.
Mexico's half-dozen powerful & violent cartels carry out breathtakingly gruesome kidnappings & violence against rivals.
Citizens continually voice their concern over the high level of violence among the cartels & corruption within the government.
And despite the U.S. war on drugs, 90% of the cocaine that arrives in America travels through Mexico & Central America, according to a recent State Department report.
Cartels also continue to deliver a significant amount of heroin, marijuana & methamphetamine into the U.S.
What's the point of apologizing now? Will that bring back thousands of innocent Mexicans who have been killed in this war on drugs?
Controlling or trying to destroying the logistics of drugs is not going to help reduce the flow of drugs. You need to destroy the source. UN is reporting year-over-year huge increase in opium growth in Afghanistan now. Opium flows out from Afghanistan into Central Asia to Latin America & finally into US via Mexico. Mexico or Colombia don't grow opium; they are only refineries & logistical routes to the consumer market in US.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Former President Bill Clinton has apologized to Mexico during a speech in which he suggests that the U.S. war on drugs has been responsible for fueling escalating violence.
Clinton spoke at the Laureate Summit on Youth & Productivity in Mexico where he told the audience that the war had backfired & led to violence which is crippling the country.
He said: 'I wish you had no narco-trafficking, but it's not really your fault. Basically, we did too good of a job of taking the transportation out of the air & water, & so we ran it over land. I apologize for that.'
The Clinton administration took on old drugs policies enacted by his predecessors, Ronald Reagan & George H.W. Bush, according to The Huffington Post.
In 1989, President George H.W. Bush doubled his annual drug-war spending to $12 billion & committed the military to the cause.
In addition, Clinton's administration opened Mexico's border with the U.S. which encouraged land-based trafficking, & enforcement efforts that broke up Colombian cartels.
This empowered Mexican drug gangs, who increased in power although they had largely been middle men.
However, as the money flowed in, it's led to horrific acts of violence.
At present, the U.S. government spends roughly $40 billion to $50 billion each year fighting the war on drugs around the world.
The battle has taken a particularly devastating toll in Mexico.
Over the past few years, at least 60,000 to 100,000 people are believed to have been murdered in Mexico, many in drug-related violence.
There are estimated to be 2 murders a day, horrific kidnappings & no-go areas in some parts of the country where the police can struggle to maintain order.
Mexico's half-dozen powerful & violent cartels carry out breathtakingly gruesome kidnappings & violence against rivals.
Citizens continually voice their concern over the high level of violence among the cartels & corruption within the government.
And despite the U.S. war on drugs, 90% of the cocaine that arrives in America travels through Mexico & Central America, according to a recent State Department report.
Cartels also continue to deliver a significant amount of heroin, marijuana & methamphetamine into the U.S.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)