Blog #13: 16 police officers arrested in connection with Mexico mass graves

Keena Wilson

14 April 2011

16 police officers arrested in connection with Mexico mass graves

Blog #13

Once again Mexico is in the news for its crime. In Mexico City sixteen municipal police officers from the northeastern Mexican town of San Fernando have been arrested for allegedly protecting those responsible for the mass graves uncovered there. The police officers worked to cover up the killings of the Zetas drug cartel. Authorities recovered 10 more bodies from the mass graves Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total number of bodies found to 126. Investigators have identified 17 people who participated in the executions of the victims, who have been arrested. The authors of the crime have been identified as Salvador Martinez Escobedo, Omar Estrada Luna, and Roman Paloma. Paloma is the leader of the Zetas in San Fernando. Mexico is offering a reward of 15 million pesos ($1.3 million) for information leading to their arrests. Authorities began finding the graves earlier this month during an investigation into a report of the kidnapping of passengers from a bus in late March. The investigation led them to San Fernando. The Zetas have been blamed for the killings of the 72 migrants found in San Fernando last year. Nationwide, the Mexican government says there have been some 35,000 drug-related deaths since President Felipe Calderon began a crackdown on the cartels in December 2006.

People know that the epidemic of crime and drug-related violence in Mexico is a global drug problem, caused by trafficking. Drug trafficking isn’t merely one country’s problem but a global problem. Drugs from Mexico can be traced in the Caribbean and the United States to Europe and Africa. But that isn’t the problem here. The major problem is the police. Policemen are supposed to be protectors and even though they killed drug cartels that still doesn’t make it right. I look at this issue this way; if the police had a reason for killing the drug cartels, like maybe they were under some sort of attack then maybe it would have been justified. But these police officers had to cover it up, which means they knew that what they were doing was wrong. This is a problem because if we needed help from the Mexican police, for whatever reason, how would we be able to trust them. If they are going off and killing drug cartels on their own and covering it up, who knows what else they are doing?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/14/mexico.mass.graves/index.html?npt=NP1

Blog #12: 39 killed in Ciudad Juarez in four days

Keena Wilson

13 April 2011

39 killed in Ciudad Juarez in four days

Blog# 12

This past weekend the most dangerous city in Mexico had a total of 39 killings between Friday and Monday, including the murders of three police officers. Eight people were killed on Friday, including the coordinator of the Police Station "Chihuahua," Ismael Sergio Apodaca. On Saturday, another 16 people were killed, including six victims shot dead at a workshop and another four killed in front of a garage. The victims, all male, were between 20 and 30 years old. Nine people were executed on Sunday. Juarez municipal police officers were operating on high alert after finding "narcopintas,” graffiti messages left by suspected drug traffickers, on public walls near a local park. By the end of that day, another two police officers had been killed by suspects thought to be involved with organized crime. It’s bad that people are being shot and killed, but there was one homicide in the four-day period that was the most gruesome. The torso of a man was found Monday. The body had no head or limbs, officials said. He was one of six killed that day, and has not been identified. According to unofficial estimates, as many as 600 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since the beginning of the year. More than 3,000 people were killed in drug-related violence in 2010. In a visit to the Texas Senate in Austin in the wake of the bloody weekend, Juarez Mayor Hector "Teto" Murguia Lardizabal told reporters that improved communication between U.S. and Mexican officials is a key to combating the drug violence.

Global increases in problems like drug trafficking can both reflect and contribute to international tensions. The origins of some of these tensions are clear. Take the increased crime in Mexico for example. I know that there are some improvements taken place in some sectors of Mexico, but the improvement of the quality of life for others have really come up short. This means that this country, with numerous drug trafficking activities, will be weak in protecting its citizens and institutions. Because of all these drug related issues Mexico has largely missed out on the benefits of increases in world trade and investment and consequent economic growth. The lack of economic progress has put such countries, like Mexico, in a financial bind and has placed severe restrictions on government services available to the most vulnerable segments of the population and this can be a serious global problem.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/04/12/mexico.deadly.weekend/index.html?npt=NP1

Blog #11: Mexico: Thousands missing in drugs war

Keena Wilson

6 April 2011

Mexico: Thousands missing in drugs war

Blog #11

Many people have heard about the drug war that has been going on in Mexico, but it is hard to say if many people have heard about the disappearances that have been going along with it. A Mexican human rights organization says thousands of people have disappeared in Mexico since 2006. Mexico's human rights commission, CNDH, said 5,397 people had been reported missing since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels. The CNDH collated data provided by relatives and by state authorities and included all of those "reported missing or absent". The commission said 3,457 of those disappeared were men and 1,885 women, while there was no data on the remaining 55 cases. The CNDH said it was investigating the reasons behind the disappearances, and stated that the figure included those kidnapped for ransom and economic migrants from within Mexico and Central America whose whereabouts were unknown. The figures were released just days after the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said it had received reports of several cases of forced disappearances allegedly carried out by Mexican soldiers. Mr. Calderon has deployed 50,000 troops since he declared war on the cartels. The UN group urged the Mexican government to stop using the army in drug operations. But, President Calderon reasoning for using the army was to curb the violence perpetrated by the country's drug cartels in which more than 34,000 have been killed since he took office.

When reading this article I guess you could say that this could be used as a topic under war or war and terror, but this too could be a topic under crime as well. Selling drugs, kidnapping, and killing others are crimes. This article really stuck out as a social global problem because there are some public outcries happening, people have also become actively involved in discussing this problem (United Nations), and there has also been a rapid increase in the number of people affected by this drug war problem (the disappearances). When the countries own army gets involved and starts killing there own people it becomes a social global problem. No one can help a country when its government is killing there own people and covering it up. There have been many drug wars around the world, but at the moment it’s Mexico that needs to be focused on. People, innocent or not, are disappearing and this is a problem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12948840

Blog #10: Scots drug deaths 'may be far higher' than figures show

Keena Wilson

30 March 2011

Scots drug deaths 'may be far higher' than figures show

Blog #10

I noticed that when drug dealers are caught and sent to court, their jail sentences can be extremely harsh. I’ve seen drug dealers get 20, 25, and even 40 years for selling drugs. I know that it is illegal to sell drugs, but I never thought that would deserve a 40 year sentence. But then I realized drug dealers will sell drugs to anybody who has the money for it, even the unhealthiest person who really does not need it. With drugs sometimes comes death and that could be the reason why drug dealers get a harsher punishment. Drug related deaths have been on the rise, especially in Scotland. Scotland's death toll from drugs could be far higher than official figures show, a doctor has warned. Statistics show there were 545 drug abuse deaths recorded in 2009. But Edinburgh University researcher Dr. Roy Robertson said the total would be much higher if deaths from related diseases and violence were included. He said: "I can imagine within the space of a few years we would see several hundred new cases added to the total." He also argued that the overall total would be far greater if these fatalities were included, along with victims of other infections acquired through drugs, such as HIV and anthrax, and drug-fuelled violence and suicides. "If we did include a larger number we would probably see several hundred more deaths and that trend would be upwards, because the trend in combined alcohol and drug use is greater than ever before," he said.

Drugs, of course, are a big social global problem. I feel that drug prohibition only makes things worse. When drug dealers are told not to sell drugs that only makes them do it more. Crimes, the spread of HIV, violence, and of course deaths are major consequences of drug prohibition. But these represent only part of the damage caused by drug use. Consider drug-exposed infants, drug-induced accidents, and loss of productivity and employment, not to mention the breakdown of families and the degeneration of drug-inflicted neighborhoods. These too are consequences of drugs. Drugs affect people everywhere which is why drugs and drug abuse can be a social global problem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12906927

Blog #9: Soldier accused of killing Afghan citizens to stand trial

Keena Wilson

24 March 2011

Soldier accused of killing Afghan citizens to stand trial

Blog # 9

Soldiers hold the title of being the protectors of this country. Some may call them patriots and heroes. And some of them are, but this article made me think somewhat different. There is a trial of a soldier accused of killing Afghan citizens for sport. Spc. Jeremy Morlock is one of two U.S. soldiers who are scheduled to be tried on Wednesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. He is charged with three counts of murder. He is accused of killing one Afghan civilian in January 2010 with a grenade and rifle; killing another in May 2010 in a similar manner; and shooting a third to death in February 2010. The second solider Pfc. Andrew Holmes is also facing charges in the case but a start date for his court martial has not been publicly announced. Both of the soldiers are part of a larger case that involves several other soldiers, all accused of similar killings. Officials have charged 12 U.S. soldiers with what they call a conspiracy to kill Afghan civilians and cover it up; along with charges they mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs. Morlock was the first to face an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing. If convicted, Morlock faces a maximum punishment of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole, the military said. The second soldier, Holmes, is charged with the premeditated deaths of three civilians, possessing a dismembered human finger, wrongfully possessing photographs of human casualties and smoking hashish. Holmes is also accused of conspiring with Morlock to shoot at a civilian and then toss a grenade so it would look like the soldiers were under attack. Several of the soldiers are charged with taking pictures of the corpses, and one soldier is charged with stabbing a corpse. A German news outlet Der Spiegel published photographs of what they identified as Morlock and Holmes posing over the bodies of dead Afghan this week. The images showed the soldiers kneeling by a bloody body sprawled over a patch of sand and grass. A third shows two bodies propped up, back to back, against a post in front of a military vehicle. The U.S. Army released a statement Monday calling the photographs "repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army." "We apologize for the distress these photos cause," the statement said.

How anyone can do something as horrible as this I’ll never understand. This is a big social global issue. Other countries already hate the United States as it is and once this story reaches other countries, they will hate us even more. Something as horrible as this can backfire and cause the people from Afghanistan to retaliate. This will lead to the deaths of innocent soldiers as well as even more innocent Afghans. More deaths from either country are bad, but having soldiers who do thing like this to innocent people is worse. We should screen soldiers to see what they are capable of before we throw a gun in there hand and send them off to “fight.”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/03/23/us.afghan.sport.killing/index.html