Last spring, I wrote about the possibility of a turning point for Mexico.
Sadly, it looks like that window has long passed.
Anthony Bourdain tells us that not only does Mexico have beautiful colonial architecture, but more so “a tragic, elegant, violent, ludicrous, heroic, lamentable, heartbreaking history,” as well.
And it seems history ?continues to repeat itself.
The disappearance of 43 college students from a rural teachers college in Iguala, Guerrero, incited a surprising firestorm of public outcry from a country desensitized to death.
The fact that the students were likely killed on orders from the local mayor, who ordered their arrests by local police and were later delivered to a cartel to be executed, is not only shocking, but ?utterly appalling.
The reason?
The students were protesting, and the mayor didn’t want them to interrupt his wife’s rally that, interestingly enough, was to launch her own candidacy for mayor of Iguala.
The case hit the country particularly hard given the long-murmured belief that those who end up dead as a result of the drug war somehow deserve it by virtue of being involved in the trade. But in this instance, the students couldn’t have been further removed.
The fallout from the case led to massive protests across the country culminating in a mass demonstration in Mexico City’s plaza that saw the public burning of an effigy of President Enrique Pena Nieto and calls for his resignation.
It’s a far cry from his ?“Saving Mexico” cover on Time magazine.
The mishandling of 43 disappearances by the government and its original reluctance to address the disappearances was just the ?beginning.
Though the mayor and his wife, along with a significant number of Iguala’s police force, were arrested and charged, a recent investigation points to federal police being involved in the disappearance of the students.
For years we’ve been trying to help Mexico fight cartels and maintain the rule ?of law.
Since 2007, the U.S. has given Mexico $2 billion in assistance through the Merida Initiative to combat organized crime.
The Initiative — or Plan Mexico, as it is called derisively in reference to Plan Colombia — exists to fund, train and arm the very type of federal police that seem to have been involved in the ?disappearances.
Despite attempts by Pena Nieto to change Mexico’s narrative through ambitious reforms, the security situation in Mexico has not improved.
If anything, it has worsened because of a government in denial and deep ?institutional corruption.
It begs the question of whether or not Plan Mexico has failed.
The last straw for many Mexicans came when it was revealed that Mexico’s first lady had a house built and financed by a contracting firm awarded public works projects during Pena Nieto’s time as governor.
The same firm was awarded a multi-billion dollar contract to build a high-speed train in Mexico months ago, which was subsequently canceled after these details came to light.
With seemingly no credibility among the people, Mexico’s government is failing. It’s beyond time for a Plan B.
edsalas@indiana.edu
