TRUTH IN POLITICS

Words To Heed
Over the years I have come in close or near contact with many people who became embroiled in the drug trade, either fighting against it, or a peripheral part of two of the largest drug cartels in Mexico, or in high positions within the Mexican government of that country. I took it on my self to contact a couple of these old acquaintances on Feb 24, who were smart enough to get out of the employ of the cartels and walk a straight line. The two I contacted still had pipelines into the illicit trade however, though not connected as they once were.

I asked some pointed questions, assuring them that no names would be used in any information I received and got candid answers that I believe to be true. (Why would these people lie when they had nothing to gain and much to lose if they were ever found out?)  The first question I asked is if the Mexican Government had any connection to the support of any of the Mexican cartels? The answer I got did not astound me, for I had some inclination as to the answer.

The government of Mexico is involved in a way, but only on the peripheral of the bureaucracies, but not at the highest level of government. I was told, “The amount of money that is available to the people who live on less in one month than most Americans make in a day is a draw for many people to become involved with the cartels. This includes the government officials and the public as well. In Mexico they have no American dream to hope for, and the people have an illiteracy of close to 60% in Mexico. What would you do under the circumstances,” I was asked. “Would you take a chance on working for the Cartel for a couple of years and make more money in that time than you could make in 30 years of labor, if you could even be so lucky as to find a job?”

I was not surprised at this answer, because I had owned a factory in Toluca Mexico for a while and believe me the average wage at that time was only about three dollars a day American,  (less than 27 pesos per day) at that time for laborers and only about eight dollars a day (40 pesos per day). That is barely enough to keep a family fed much less have any of the amenities we have here. Even though I paid most of the skilled workers that worked for me fifteen dollars a day (close to 140 pesos per day) it was too tempting for some to take a chance on the rainbow presented by the cartels to become mules, smuggling narcotics across the border.

I lost only two people who worked for me, simply because I paid higher wages than average. The enticement of larger sums of money than most Mexicans would ever see was forever present though not so far south as Toluca. But I digress, the main thing is that in a border city where there are even less jobs and the pay is still about the same; the draw is quite a bit stronger to take the chances with smuggling drugs. To a lot of the Mexican people this is like their Mexican dream.

Questions About Wilderness
The second question I asked was, (and I still was not surprised by the answers) what my friends thought about the proposed Wilderness area in the Potrillo, Organ, Robledo Mountains and the Las Uvas study area, which was being studied for a Wilderness designation. The first thing I got was a chuckle from both my acquaintances, then the answer was quietly put forward thus; “the Americans are playing into the hands of the cartels and the mules they run into the United States. When and if the area actually becomes a Wilderness, no one in the area will be safe. The cartels will own another lucrative avenue to smuggle drugs through.”

“It would actually open the area all the way past Hatch, giving the Border Patrol fits at trying to control the area. That is if the Border Patrol, State Police and local law are not allowed to take vehicles into the area as we understand the Wilderness Act of the United States. They would overrun the area so thoroughly that anyone living close by would be swamped. Does the government really think they could keep the cartels and smugglers at bay?” My answer of course was an unequivocal no.

When I asked if this would mean the people in the towns close to the areas would be in danger, they only laughed and asked, “What do you think?”
An assistant police chief was killed in Juarez Wednesday while dropping his child off at school. I only heard about it when I crossed back over the border, but it shook me a lot. I had met my two acquaintances but a short distance from where it took place, so it struck me harder than most of the other killings that have happened in Juarez while I was on that side of the border. The killing of the Assistant Police Chief was probably a little earlier than when I met with my friends, but the idea of how close it might have been was a bit unnerving.

The last question I asked was, if my friends thought the cartels were preparing for the creation of the Wilderness. Again the answer came with a chuckle and the answer of a very old American expression that I cannot repeat verbatim, but it went something like this; “is a hog’s butt pork?” (but not so colloquially put) “Why do you think so much effort has centered around the Juarez area for the last two years? The cartels knew about the proposed areas being studied before it was known by the American people, because they have many well-paid spies in your country. There are three cartels operating here in Juarez right now, but only one of two will come out controlling the new avenue. The rest will have to pay dearly to use it.”

I paid for dinner and the beers and thanked my old acquaintances and assured them they had nothing to fear from me about anything I said to anyone. If I am ever kidnapped and they tried to torture me at my age I joked, I would have a coronary and die on my captors before they could extract any information. They laughed and said “we hoped it never comes to that.” The friendship with these two had been over many years and with much of my education into the mind of the Mexican people being derived from them, so I was able to talk to them as friends and allies of another long ago day and time.

It was quite edifying to me and I hoped it would be for the people who support the Wilderness and for my many friends in the Border Patrol and in law enforcement. I was quite shaken by the closeness of the violence in killing the Assistant Chief of police and thought I maybe had taken a foolish chance, but I shook it off and made my way safely home. I thought long and hard before imparting this information to the people who read my blog, because of the danger it might possibly impose for me. But since I have no family to be used as hostage and I am close to my 75th birthday, I figured what the hay, who would want to die in their sleep.