The coronavirus pandemic hit Mexico with a triple whammy:
Remittances, tourism and oil are all on the downslide, or have come to a
screeching halt.
Mask wearing man walks past Mexico City Jamaica Market vendor
The coronavirus pandemic hit
Mexico with a triple whammy: Remittances, tourism and oil are all on the
downslide, or have come to a screeching halt.
Crime, especially drugs, is the
only thriving business in Mexico now.
The timing of the pandemic
couldn’t be worse for Mexico, especially in this downtrodden city, which has
long been marred by drug violence carried out by warring criminal
organizations. The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has
called for social distancing because of the virus, but violence rages on.
The viral outbreak has led to a
renewed sense of urgency over the long simmering debate about how Mexicans save
Mexico from organized crime. Some say legalization, starting with marijuana, is
the answer.
Meanwhile, they worry that
coronavirus will only add to the likelihood that more and more of the nation
will slip into lawlessness.
“As millions of Mexicans lose
their incomes, as kids potentially lose their parents, the social fabric will
further fray,” said Shannon O’Neil, a senior fellow for Latin America Studies
at the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan foreign-policy think tank
and author of Two Nations Indivisible. “The same goes for police forces and the
national guard, if members fall ill. The combination may increase lawlessness
in a country already teetering.”
Increasing violence is leading
to mounting frustration over Lopez Obrador’s non-confrontation abrazos, no
balazos -- hugs not bullets -- strategy against criminals. And people are
increasingly worried over the president’s slow, dismissive response to COVID-19,
leaving Mexico’s health and economic future vulnerable.
Juarez has long boasted of low
unemployment, drawing on plentiful jobs from hundreds of assembly plants in
this bustling city of 1.4 million people across El Paso. With unemployment
rising as the maquiladoras are mostly sidelined due to health measures to slow
down the spread of coronavirus, some social and economic experts fear dark days
ahead. Already, more than 50,000 people are expected to lose their jobs in
Juarez this week.
The city is a hotbed for
organized crime. Some experts lament the likelihood that many of the unemployed
will head in even greater numbers to the informal market for survival,
including by joining the ranks of criminal groups.
“The immediate war we face is
Covid-19, but the forever war looming larger is insecurity,” said Jorge
Contreras Fornelli, president of the Citizens’ Council for Public Security,
known as FICOSS, in Juarez, which has long monitored organized crime and worked
on solutions to keep young people away from the reach of warring cartels.
“We’re very concerned of what’s to come.”
Mexico’s homicide rate raced to
a new record in March. Other countries in the region saw a sudden fall in crime
as the virus spread.
Lopez Obrador downplayed the threats
and was even seen shaking hands with the mother of drug lord Joaquin “Chapo”
Guzman, sending mixed messages and generating anger among drug war victims.
Meanwhile, armed criminal groups have been delivering food, even toilet paper,
to desperate residents in high-crime states like Michoacan and Tamaulipas,
across the border from Texas.
Statistics underscore the
worrisome economic impact of the coronavirus: On Wednesday, Hugo Lopez-Gatell,
undersecretary of health, said that “with reasonably certainty” there are more
than 26,000 cases in country but only 3,181 are confirmed. At least 174 people
have died amid criticism of not enough testing.
Billions of dollars are at
stake as the economy winds down: Some tourist destinations, including Los
Cabos, closed temporarily because of coronavirus restrictions.
All-important remittances --
money sent from hard-working migrants in the U.S. back to their often
struggling families in Mexico -- are being affected. Remittances reached an
estimated $35 billion in 2019, or about 2.7% of total GDP, and now are expected
to decline by at least 10 percent.
Juarez street vendor
Last March, Mexico registered
its highest number of monthly homicides, with more than 2,500, and the country
is poised to break last year’s record of more than 35,000 murders.
Juarez alone recorded 160
homicides, just in March, according to a tally compiled by Molly Molloy, a
librarian at New Mexico State University, from local media like El Diario de
Juarez.
Last weekend, a shoot-out
between rival drug gangs left 19 people dead in Ciudad Madero, about five
hours’ drive from Juarez but also in the state of Chihuahua.
Contreras, president of the
Citizens’ Council for Public Security, said Juarez is already seeing a rise in
robberies and soon, “we expect to see a return to extortions, kidnappings,
car-jackings. The type of crimes that have been on the decline will rise up
again. It’s frustrating, maddening for us, but that is what we will have to
deal with again. Unemployment puts our personal security at greater risk.”
Contreras and others say Mexico
has to look at new alternatives to tackle the danger, including the
legalization of marijuana. For instance, he said, people who go to prison for
small time sales or for possessing small quantities of marijuana usually come
out of prisoners as workers for criminal organizations.
The debate over legalization in
Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies and Senate is on hold because of COVID-19, said
Zara Snapp, who helps lead RIA Institute, a Mexico City-based organization
promoting legalization with a social justice focus.
“Regulating cannabis becomes
more relevant now -- especially after the post- COVID-19 crisis -- as we will
need to find ways to generate more jobs and we think more jobs in the formal
market could be created through the legal regulation of cannabis,” Snapp said.
A recent poll by the Mexico
City Reforma newspaper and The Dallas Morning News found that 59% of 1,000
people said they are against the legalization of marijuana. But when asked if
they would be in favor of the drug’s legalization if it helped reduce violence,
22% of those who initially were against it changed their stance.
Mexico City devoid of traffic
Angel Lopez Ortiz, 25, a
psychologist in Juarez, is about to finish his masters’ degree. For his thesis,
he has been looking into the addiction of illegal drugs, including marijuana.
He’s worked at a rehabilitation center in Juarez with more than 80 patients.
“Usually, the people who begin
to consume marijuana later experiment with stronger illegal drugs,” Lopez Ortiz
said. “If marijuana was legalized to reduce drug trafficking, reduce organized
crime, there are still other drugs that are being trafficked in large quantities.”
Class divisions, religion, and
weak rule-of-law are obstacles, say experts like Howard Campbell, an
anthropologist and drug expert at the University of Texas at El Paso. He said
those factors mask whatever economic benefits legalization might have on the
country of 130 million people.
“Historically, ‘marijuano’ or
‘marijuanito’ was a slur used by Mexican people of a higher social class and
supposedly better morality to put down the poor and juvenile delinquents, and
later American hippies, “ said Campbell, author of Drug War Zone.
He said those factors aren’t
very different to what the U.S. faced with alcohol during prohibition, and
marijuana until now, he added.
“A similar sentiment also
prevailed in the U.S. and only changed because middle class Baby Boomers smoked
marijuana in the ’60s and onward,” Campbell said. “They normalized marijuana
use and then changed the laws as future generations were less negative about
pot.”
Juarez knows the lessons of
shifting attitudes all too well. Federico Delgado is one of the managers at the
Kentucky Club & Grill, a legendary bar that claims to be the birthplace of
the margarita. It opened its doors in 1920, feet away from the U.S.-Mexico
international crossing, just in time to coincide with U.S. prohibition.
In its prime, Ciudad Juarez
thrived and profited off the legalization of substances like alcohol.
Delgado said the avenue was
once packed with U.S. patrons, especially during the nighttime. People
constantly crossed the border from El Paso to Juarez in order to freely enjoy
what they couldn’t in the U.S., including prostitution.
“It was a busy avenue with many
bars, dance halls, restaurants, cabarets,” Delgado said in Spanish. “It was
incredibly bright. There were so, so many neon lights.”
Today, as COVID-19 spreads in
the city, leaving at least four dead as of Wednesday, the Kentucky bar and
other establishments are locked down.
As Arpeo prepared one of his
last orders of chile verde burritos, he ominously lamented, “I dread at the
thought of what’s coming next.”
What a sad state of affairs for the hard working Mexican people. They have to contend with cartel crime and the corona virus. I have read that Nicaragua lacks clear , strong leadership in this crisis. It is the honest, everyday citizens who suffer from corrupt governance . May God help our beloved Mexico.
ReplyDeleteAmlo says Hug A Criminal today
Delete70,000 Americans die from drug overdoses a year. Only 35,000 homicides in Mexico last year. Whose to blame r the users, it's a market sell it. I am American and not a user.
DeleteU have Amlo who just doesn't care, about the virus or crime, r the Mexican people, sure elected a Winner "
Delete9:59 dependent economies make the rich richer until they are not needed, then the people that work maquiladoras can go back to &the rancho or rollover and die.
DeleteLegalization of grifa in Mexico will be a problem, starting at who is going to buy millions of dollars worth of licenses to sell legal grifa at 20 times the price on the street right now.
Movimiento Ciudadano, alias "Consejo Ciudadano" is a bunch of grass roots style full of promise for their brainwashed recruits in the rust, old moldy mold of the PANista neo-conservador way of business to make personal coin from the public through political position.
Meanwhile governor Corral plays golf like the world is about to end,
blame AMLO all you want, but he is too far in mexico City to come and rescue juareños from poverty, violence or their pipe dreams...
Without jobs, prices for vices will come down tremendously, but Paseños are about to be broke assed unemployed crown victims too.
What they all should do is rob the banks, that where the moneys is.
Apparently the ceasing of criminal activities memo was rerouted.
ReplyDeleteMisinformation of what's acceptable and not acceptable by criminal organizations during this pandemic are being tested. As if rules of criminal activities are abided to.
Quotas are still required by organizations. Expect crime rates to skyrocket while many public officials are taking extra precautions.
This media HOAX is just enabling the drug cartels, as they always do.
ReplyDeleteMexico is long overdue for an even bigger Chastisement than it’s current barbarism.
ReplyDeleteIn the coming weeks, or months, the “China Virus” will sweep through Mexico and claim Both good and bad.
Sad thing is; this world is overpopulated and a balance is needed.
DeleteDeforestation, pollution and the depletion of natural resources are destructive behavioral factors mankind has made.
8:59 ay no names güey,
ReplyDeletey si mamas no te names los bigotes de Don Porfirio,
los necesita de ID en el infierno...
--MEXICO did not do anything to deserve this crap, but the US has declared 1/2 million infected victims, what crimes are they paying for?
If there is a terrorist here, that is you.
Amazing I think he is still very Popular Guy
ReplyDeleteWeak President Amlo, the Cartel will continue to grow and homicides will reach new highest in2020
ReplyDelete1:09 you ain't lying, AMLO's popularity comes from the hearts of the mexicans not from the brainwashed bought and now unpaid chayoteros of FECAL and EPN.
ReplyDelete