AmericaLatina

By Eric Jason Baron

Kidnappings have always been a major issue in Mexico. However, since Felipe Calderón, the current president of Mexico was elected in 2006, it has gotten worse. Even though kidnappings are mostly an issue in Mexico and other countries around Central America, some cases have occurred in Arizona during the past years. Crime in Mexico has gone up by almost fifteen percent in 2011. This is a response from the drug cartels to Felipe Calderón and the Federal Government who are trying to fight them. Trying to fight cartels is very complicated since authorities are sometimes part of them, too. Calderón is the first President that is trying to do this and trying to end a long lasting corrupt government in Mexico. Numbers of reported abductions keep going up every day, especially in Mexico City and in El Estado de Mexico. Statistics show children and young adults are usually more targeted for kidnappings. Tourists and wealthy businessmen come after.

There are three common types of kidnappings in Mexico. The first one is abduction of children. Kidnapping children can be done in either a sophisticated way or in a non- sophisticated manner.  A sophisticated technique is when members of a gang follow families for a long time to know their daily routine and then abduct the child. Once the child is abducted, they ask for ransom in return. Non-sophisticated techniques are employed through the use of public transportation and taxi cabs. Something that is becoming more common is the use of taxi-cabs to kidnap children. The most common one out of the three would be express kidnappings. Lately, kidnappings have become more organized and professional whereas before most abductions were made by gangs and small groups of delinquents. It consists in abducting someone, and then taking something valuable from them, credit cards, jewelry, cellular phones, and etcetera. Kidnapping for ransom would be the last one. Well organized gangs are usually the ones to kidnap for ransom. Most targeted people for this type are wealthy families who can afford to pay ransom to rescue the person that has been abducted. A 13-person gang who used taxis in order to kidnap people was caught earlier in September. They did express kidnappings and also kidnappings for ransom.

There have been thousands of kidnappings in Mexico during the past years. One of the most famous ones is the Rubén Omar Romano one. Romano is the coach for one of the most important professional soccer clubs in Mexico. He was found sixty-five days after his abduction in a “casa de seguridad”, this is the name for the house kidnappers used to keep their victims so that no one can find them. One of the kidnappers that was arrested happened to be the same one that had participated in the kidnapping in 2002 of Laura Zapata, the sister of a famous singer in Mexico, Thalía. Romano was found by the AFI, Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (Federal Investigations Agency). The AFI deals with most of the kidnappings for ransom that happen in Mexico. Another example would be the abduction of the mayor of a city outside Monterrey on August, 2010. He devoted his life to fighting drug cartels. He was tortured and killed after he was kidnapped.

People in Mexico have attempted to stop violence in many ways. More rigid sentences for delinquents are an example of one of them. Songs by famous singers like Ricardo Arjona’s “La nena”, based on a true story about his niece who was abducted, and books like Jayne Valesca’s “We have your husband” are also examples of people’s attempts to stop this. Her book is based on the true story of her husband who was also kidnapped. Some scholars predict violence in Mexico, especially abductions, will continue to rise until Calderón gives up the fight against drug cartels.

By Claire E. Olsen

For many years now the Mexican government has been fighting a gruesome and bloody war with drug cartels. These cartels have been around for decades, but since the demise of two very important Columbian cartels, Mexican cartels have grown in size and strength. Their location has allowed them to dominate the illicit drug market in the United States and this is estimated to bring in between 13.6 to 48.4 billion dollars annually. And not only are they at war with the government, but they are at war with themselves.

The cartels in Mexico change leadership and alliance often, but five of the largest and most powerful cartels are the Tijuana cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Juarez cartel, the Sinaloa Federation, and the Zeta cartel. The Tijuana cartel is currently led by Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano and was once the strongest of the cartels, but recently has somewhat weakened. Tijuana has infiltrated the Mexican government and is responsible for much of the trafficking to the U.S. This cartel is widely known for its extremely violent character. The Gulf Cartel is led by Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez and is currently considered one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico. This cartel has made an alliance with the Zeta Cartel and is also a big supplier of illicit drugs to the U.S. It traffics many drugs including cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin, and it imposes taxes on anyone passing drugs or aliens through Gulf Cartel territory. This cartel is also widely known for its violence and commonly uses methods such as kidnapping for ransom. The Juarez cartel controls one of the main transportation routes for the majority of illegal drug trafficking, but has lost a good amount of power since the death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes. The Sinaloa Cartel has taken a great deal of its territory and is growing in power.  These gangs are constantly at war, and will often times leak information about the whereabouts of an enemy cartel to the police as a means of revenge. The Zeta Cartel is one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, and is currently in alliance with the Gulf Cartel.This cartel is famous for their ruthless and violent tactics, and just several weeks ago they were targeted by another gang in retaliation for their violent and careless massacres of innocent civilians which is frowned upon by most drug cartels.

Both the Mexican and U.S. government have taken measures to shut down these cartels, and seem to be approaching it with a new and intensified vigor. In Mexico, President Felipe Calderón was elected in 2006 and got down to business by sending 6,500 troops to Michoacan to terminate the drug violence existing in this state. Since then, the cartels and government have been at war and an estimated 40,000 people have been killed as violence rates continue to rise.

In 2009 the United States created the Merida Initiative which has supplied hundreds of millions of dollars to Mexico as well as Central America, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Though both governments have made a huge effort to eliminate these drug cartels, they continue to thrive. Despite the 40,000 death toll and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, this war is far from over.

The Juarez Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel, based in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, sharing a boarder with El Paso, Texas.  Ciudad Juarez is considered Mexico’s most violent city, and almost all of its violence is attributed to the drug and cartel wars.  This cartel controls one of the primary routes drug traffickers use to distribute billions of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs to the United States. The Juarez cartel has one of the most ruthless armed wings, La Linea which corrupt officers that many times perform murders and executions.  The corruption and ruthlessness of this cartel, which severely affects Mexico, is portrayed in the following 2 articles.

The effect of corruption related to Mexican government officers only enables the cartels to continue to grow stronger.  Recently, 10 Mexican Federal Cops were indicted for extortion and kidnapping.  “Judge Carlos Miguel Garcia Treviño formally accused the officers Wednesday after finding sufficient evidence of their involvement in crimes that also included causing bodily injury, abuse of authority, illegal weapons possession and crimes against health.”  A businessman from Juarez, Mexico stated the policemen kidnapped him and demanded a $5,000 payment.  If the businessman didn’t pay, he said the police officers told him they would plant drugs on him, as well as beat him and steal his bank cards.  This level of corruption related to cartels, particularly the Juarez cartel makes it nearly impossible to stop their illegal activities.  In attempt to combat the corruption, “Some 5,000 federal forces have been sent to Ciudad Juarez, which has been battered in recent years by a turf war pitting the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels with backing from local street gangs.”  These federal officers were sent to replace notoriously corrupt local cops.

The Juarez cartel and its enforcement wing, La Linea have been noted as one of the most ruthless in Mexico.  Luckily, Mexican authorities recently arrested a high ranking leader of the Juarez cartel.  Atonio Acosta Hernadez, one of Mexico’s most wanted criminals, was arrested with collaboration from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mexican federal police anti-drug unit.  During investigation, Acosta “said he ordered the killings of about 1,500 people, mostly in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua’s capital.”  Acosta was also accused of being connected with the massacre at a house party which killed 15 people and a car bombing outside a police station.  Although the arrest of Acosta is encouraging, the federal government realizes bringing down the cartels is an ongoing battle, much of which is uphill.

U.S. and Cuban Relations

            The current relations between Cuba and the United States of America still have lingering doubt about trusting the each other.  The U.S. is a democracy where people vote for their leaders and have many rights.  Cuba was run by a tyrant named Fidel Castro, who has ruled his country with an iron fist and destroyed all ties with the U.S. The two countries have been at odds for almost half a century dating back to when John F. Kennedy was President.  Cuba is pressing for improved relations with the U.S.  Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, is one who is trying for Cuba to work with the U.S. saying, “It will be the beginning of a dialogue aimed at solving bilateral problems like the smuggling of drugs and humans.”

            Several incidents in the past have led the relations between Cuba and The U.S. to be stressed with constant distrust.  Fidel Castro and the Communist party took control in 1959, after a Cuban revolution ending with the execution of 15,000 people.  Three months after John F. Kennedy was elected into office, the Bay of Pigs, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban Government with U.S. trained Cuban exiles, had failed. Another incident that hurt relations between the U.S. and Cuba was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.  Cuba was going to let the Soviet Union station nuclear missiles there.  Nuclear weapons close enough to destroy many U.S. cities if a nuclear war was to break out with the Soviet Union.  In the same year an agreement was made between the Soviet to dismantle their weapons from Cuba and ship them back.  Recently, Fidel Castro has ridiculed President Barack Obama’s ideas, and has made little attempt to improve relations.   In 2008, Fidel Castro resigned his duties as the Cuban President to his brother the vice president Raul Castro.  Fidel had grown sick from what some believed was a stomach disease that was not terminal.

Below is a picture of President Fidel Castro (left) with his brother vice President Raul Castro (right) in 2001.

U.S. Cuban relations are important for Latin America because much trading is done around the two.  Since the two countries are only now slowly normalizing their relations with each other, trading and other legal services are not up to speed.  Latin America can benefit, because if Cuba and the U.S. are satisfied with each other, then many more opportunities including tourism, trading, and alliances can be possible.  Countries will not have to pick any sides, or be judged by the two countries for their decisions.    There are still problems with the two countries, but with hard fighting officials to become civil and stay calm with each other, peace and prosperity can be one day achieved.

People generally don’t fully understand and appreciate what they have until it’s gone, and that is now becoming the case with forests in Latin America and the rest of the world. Before even getting into what deforestation is, what it’s doing to Latin America, and where it’s going, it’s important to go over what we get out of the forests (especially the Amazon Rain Forest) in Latin America and why it’s crucial to preserve and protect them. The forests of Latin America provide an extremely long list of products that are used in everyday life or are luxuries that people are drawn to. Some of these products include fruits / berries, nuts, gums, maple syrup, pulp (used in sponges especially), fibers, wood (for building materials or cooking), bark, dyes, tanning compounds / waxes, and so many other products that humans depend on. I personally have a major addiction to chewing gum and losing more and more of the gums found in forests would limit the supply of gum which would lead to price hikes for the limited supply which makes for one unhappy consumer, me. Ecosystem services provided are another crucial element of the forests. The biological diversity (especially in the Amazon Rain Forest) out there has so much potential to provide humans with new medicines and crop varieties that can only make us stronger and better. Forests help to maintain the local climates, have strong impacts on the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen, and forests protect the topsoil and some of the essential nutrients. That’s a pretty broad overview of some of the important things and features that come out of the Latin American forests, now it’s important to understand the deforestation that is threatening all of this.

Deforestation is basically the long-term or permanent loss of forest due to human destruction (generally done on purpose). Many things are going on that are leading to this deforestation but the one doing a large chunk of the damage is human greed. As humans, we always want more resources, more land, and more money and all three of these can be found in a Latin American forest. Agriculture is expanding as is industry, logging, mining, cattle pastures and many more all for economic development, which really doesn’t sound all that bad on paper (especially with how poor the economy is in so many places in the world today). The problem is that people aren’t looking far enough into the consequences of their actions, which are losses in the products and services that were addressed and play an important role in humans’ lives. Chemicals are being used in the Amazon Rain Forest (the most biodiverse tropical rainforest) for plantation, and what these different pesticides and methods of irrigation are doing is harming the land where animals live (killing the animals), hampering the water balance, destroying other plants / trees, and leading to human life loss. The whole situation is ironic because you hear so many people stating that these forests are vitally important and yet these forests are still being exploited to an excessive amount in order for many people to get rich. When a lot of these people are rich (or get rich) they push the poor off their land and these peasants are forced to relocate to treed forest areas in which they must remove trees for their farming (it’s their only way of attaining food and some money). Here are a few alarming statistics that may make the average Joe comprehend the damage being done in Latin America: less than 10% of the original tropical rain forest in Mexico is left; Brazil has lost 90-95% of its Mata Atlantica forest; and deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest is now moving twice as fast as scientists previously believed just a few years ago. There was also a prediction I stumbled across saying that by the year 2050 (if things continue at the rate they are going) there will be major reductions in water resources, new and current diseases will spread all across the world, pest and crop disease will rise, and plant and animal species will decrease dramatically. None of those things sound pleasant for humans forty years from now so it’s urgent that people are aware of the deforestation occurring in Latin America and the rest of the world. It’s easy to say “that’s awful what’s going” and then move on and keeping doing what your doing while the world loses vital resources. If Latin Americans can push their different countries governments into stricter policies / rules about deforestation then it may indeed be the key starting point needed to slow down and prevent the increasing deforestation that is slowing but surely destroying out world. It’s effort that will need to be made by many and not just a handful of avid supporters.

Sources:

• http://visitlatinamerica.com/articles/the-deforestation-in-latin-america-1.html
• http://blogs.worldwatch.org/revolt/struggles-of-deforestation-in-latin-america-does-protecting-your-forest-mean-remaining-poor/
• http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/deforest/deforest.html
• http://www.mapsofworld.com/south-america/information/deforestation-in-south-america.html
• http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/World_Outlook/latin_america_and_the_caribbea3.html

Carlos Estevez, a Cuban artist showing his work Sept. 16-Oct. 14 at the LatinoArts gallery in Milwaukee, will lead a discussion on the restrictions and inspirations that face any artist from that island. Estevez will also speak about the changes since he has moved to the U.S. The discussion will take place Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. at the gallery and auditorium, located 1028 S. 9th Street, near the National Ave. exit from I-94.

The quartet Molotov, the biggest hiphop act in Mexico for many years, is bringing its brash and political show to Milwaukee’s Rave this month.

An example of their clenched-fist political work is the hit “frijolero”, which uses a florid version of both English and Spanish. Notice the mocking “gringo” accent.

Jo Ellen Burkholder is an archaeologist at UW–Whitewater specializing in Andean cultures. Her position is within the Women’s Studies Department. In between her semesters in the classroom on campus she is often in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America, either participating in the excavations that archaeologists conduct to uncover relics of the time before the arrival of Europeans, or leading students to begin their own discovery of the richness of the region’s heritage.

Dr. Burkholder uses a short film made by the Peruvian government to explore the idea of cultural heritage and how it is packaged and presented. Here is a link to that film, which was cleverly shot in the town of  Peru, Nebraska.

At the present she is preparing another travel study experience that will depart next spring.

The festival website provides the showing schedule, location and cost.

The series of news articles were reworked to become this book

Former Los Angeles Times Miles Corwin takes an admiring look at the work of one of our most important living writers at the time when a young Gabriel García Márquez was a newspaper reporter. The breakthrough was a series that García Márquez wrote about a shipwrecked sailor.

By the time the series ended, El Espectador’s circulation had almost doubled. The public always likes an exposé, but what made the stories so popular was not simply the explosive revelations of military incompetence. García Márquez had managed to transform [the shipwrecked sailor] Velasco’s account into a narrative so dramatic and compelling that readers lined up in front of the newspaper’s offices, waiting to buy copies.

I wouldn’t think a reporter could manage that much popularity, except in the case of  García Márquez. The article author Corwin delves into some well-done side routes into biography, the pros and cons of newspaper work for literary writers, comparisons to Hemingway, and a comparison of the first lines in the writings of el maestro.

Worth a read.