Mexico is not just partying, drinking and spring break! It faces serious issues that connect to people on this side of the border (Issues such as protests due to the fact of no salaries which is affecting 94,000 workers, and guns being distributed internationally).
A quick short story: a friend of mine, Bryan, mentioned to me that he was talking to his cousin over the phone, he is a teacher in Tijuana, Mexico. Bryan's cousin told him that he was not getting paid, so after that he became involved with the juelgas or strikes. The juelgas were not going as they had hoped for, so he moved to Acapulco, Mexico to strike.
When he told me this I was heartfelt because my close friend's cousin had to shift his life and move to Acapulco to fight for a salary. In order to protest this unbelievable situation, 2,000 teachers had to march to the international airport in Acapulco to put pressure on the Mexican authorities to comply with established bargaining agreements. The only intention the teachers had was to get paid in order to survive and put food on the table for their families. How would you feel if this happened to you or someone you know? Take a moment and think about it. It is sad to say that people don't care or believe in anything until it is present in their own lives. Why would anyone wait for the worst to happen, knowing it has happened or was seen somewhere else, yet no one did anything to prevent it.
Moreover, the federal riot police responded with eviction, which came with tear gas and extreme violence in order to force the teachers away from the airport. This caused an upheaval in the city and burning and blockading was taking place throughout Acapulco to stop the police from entering. The repression by police caused the death of a 65-year-old teacher (who was beaten to death) and several other injuries amongst the protestors. Not only were teachers being assaulted, but journalists as well; the police took their cameras and broke them.
I am not sure if it is just me, but this sounds somewhat familiar. I remember teachers going on strike due to the fact of layoffs and low salaries. I vividly recall that police officers abused their power and hurt and shot the very citizens they are supposed to serve and protect. Is this history repeating itself? Or the same faction having two heads that can speak the proper language of the population?
What I find even more interesting that really shows what kind of government rules not too far from us, is represented by the following tweet by @STRAIGHTEDGEMAD: " El pueblo de #petaquillas se organizó contra las amenazas de narcos y el narcogobierno mexicano," this translates to, The people of #petaquillas organized against the threats from drug traffickers and the Mexican narco government.
This is the type of government the U.S. does business with. You may not care because this does not affect you because the border is well protected. Actually it does. It affects the very neighborhood in which you live in. Let me recall, "Operation Fast and Furious," which was the largest 'gun walking' probe, and this has no connection with the movie with the amazing Paul Walker, may he rest in peace. To carry on, this operation had a goal to track these firearms that were purchased, and link them to higher level traffickers and key leaders in the Mexican cartels, with the exception that this will lead to their arrests or dismantling of the cartels. This is suspicious because there were no means to track the firearms or the traffickers once they left the United States. During "Operation Fast and Furious," the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Phoenix Field Division, along with other partners, only monitored and did not track the sale of about 2,000 firearms of which only 710 were recovered as of February 2012; about two years later, yet none of the high-level cartel figures have been arrested.
Our government pretty much handed weapons to the Mexican cartel which ended up back on the streets of both sides of the border. The ATF tracked guns at the crime scene of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was killed in December 2010. According to Humberto BenÃtez Treviño, former Mexican Attorney General and chair of the justice committee in the Chamber of Deputies, related firearms have been found at numerous crime scenes in Mexico where at least 150 Mexican civilians were maimed or killed.
And who knows what happened to the rest of the firearms or where they have been used. They can possibly be in the house on your block, or even on the person's body who you see in your neighborhood every day. I simply ask you to not be close-minded. The events that happen in the different parts of the world can affect your everyday living, whether it be humans being deprived of their rights or simply business being done. We can show our support to the non-paid teachers by making others aware of the situation. If their government won't help them; we should find a way to help them. All I can think of as of now is for you to share this article with others and tell them about the situation. Knowledge is power, and with power comes action.
