planet earth looks blue

 An assassination attempt on the Bolivian President Evo Morales has been thwarted, leaving three dead, and two in custody.  The assassins were foreigners, possibly Hungarian or Irish, and some reports say Bolivian.  The plot was against Morales, the leftist President of the past three years, and Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, as well as the Vice President, and one cabinet member.  There was a shoot out in Santa Cruz where the assassins were staying, according to the BBC.  Santa Cruz is the central location of the opposition.  Morales, who was informed by intelligence of the plot days ago, ordered the attack.  The question is - why would foreigners try to assassinate Morales?  What interests do they have in the Andean nation?  They are reported to be a group of international mercenaries - paid by whom? 

The Bolivian opposition, the wealthy conservative class that rules the Senate, or any other interests that don’t like a man of the people, and a supporter of Chavez ruling a South American country.  Were the assassins paid by a political groups, or a conglomerate of corporate interests?  The two survivors will obviously be interrogated for information, although they themselves may not know who they were working for.  Police found heavy weaponry, including C-4 explosives, which are not found in Bolivia, according to a statement by Vice President Alvaro Garcia (Associated Press), as well as plans to go after the presidential motorcade.  

The attempt comes two days after Morales ended his five day hunger strike.  He was acting in protest of the blockage of constitutional changes which the majority of the population had voted for earlier this year.  The changes would allow Morales to run again in December elections, and will reserve seven seats in the lower house of parliament for minority indigenous groups.  Morales has so far done his best to work for his people, giving them a voice that they never had in their own country.  Bolivia has been ruled by the mixed-race, wealthier classes who reside primarily in the south.    

On a side not, to follow up on one of my recent posts - prosecutors in Spain have recommended to the court to drop the case against former Bush officials for their role in alleged Human Rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay, saying that if they are to be brought to trial, the United States should be the first ones to take them to court.  It is still possible that the court itself will choose to go ahead with the case.

The leftist rebel group, the Shining Path, is still active in Peru, if only a small flicker compared to their previous existence when they terrorized the country, and tens of thousands died as part of the fighting between them and the government.  Today, 13 soldiers were killed in the Ayacucho region in the southeast of Peru.  Last year the guerrillas killed 25 soldiers and police.  This is not the full-scale revolution that officially ended in 1992, but it is a rise in violence, and a sign that the political situation in Peru is not settled. 

Why has the Shining Path started fighting again?  It, like most fighting, is a response.  The Peruvian government started Operation Excellence in 2008 to go after the remaining revolutionaries.  These men have most likely been fighting for years, living in the forests, and are not going to be easy targets.  They also are allegedly tied with some of the Peruvian cocaine industry, which would supply revenue for the group.  Meanwhile, the former leader who is hailed as a hero by some for putting down the group, Fujimori, was just recently sentenced to 25 years for human rights abuses.  His daughter is expected to run as a conservative candidate in the next elections.  Looks like the ghosts from the past are coming out to settle things.  I just hope that the people aren’t caught in the cross fire.  

The worldwide sweep of holding former and present heads of state culpable for human rights abuses continues. First, six were charged for war crimes for their involvement in the Bosnian War, then a warrant was put out for al-Bashir, the President of the Sudan, by the international courts, next the court at Madrid goes after former Bush officials, and now Fujimori. The former President of Peru (1990-2000) is sentenced to 25 years for the execution-style slaughter of the communist opposition, in particular, two massacres that killed 25 people. Fujimori defeated the brutal Shining Path guerrillas during his term, and for a time he was considered a savior by the people. Approximately 70,000 people died during 20 years of fighting in Peru. Fujimori’s term ended because of a corruption scandal in 2000. He then went to Japan, and later Chile, were he was arrested and returned to Peru. Still today, a significant chunk of the population supports Fujimori. His daughter, Keiko, is in fact running in Peru’s next election, as the conservative candidate, against Ollanta Humala, representing the liberal left. Now that Fujimori’s charges went through, the current leader of Peru, Alan Garcia, could face charges of human rights abuses as well.

Years of the US slogan for a ‘war on drugs’, and today we are actually fighting one.  Perhaps a case of you get what you ask for?  With the violence in Mexico from the drug wars spilling over the American border, Obama’s hand has been forced.  We will have to finally face this issue for real.  Over 6,000 people have died, many more kidnapped, often children.  The police are terrorized and are the terrorizers, people are living in fear.  Although this reality has taken years to build up, the American media has recently focused on the violence in Mexico as people have been dying on US soil, reportedly due to the reverberations of the drug cartels, and economies compete for spring breakers’ spending money.  There are four warring factions, all vying for billions in trade of cocaine, meth, marijuana, and firearms to and from the United States.  One was taken down earlier this year, and now a leader of the Juarez cartel, 32 year old Vicente Carrillo Leyva, was arrested.  Vicente Carrillo is not the head of the Juarez cartel, although he did hold some responsibility.  He is the son of Arnado Carrillo Fuentes, a drug lord in the 90’s.  This man, called ‘Lord of the Skies’ made his empire and fortune off of flying jetliners packed with cocaine across the border.  He died during plastic surgery - he was trying to have his face changed.  

So Vicente Carrillo, who hardly looks like the hardened drug baron behind unspeakable violence and terror, and more like a man who has inherited power,  has been taken down.  Now what?  Mexico is reporting that the level of violence is down, although 1,600 people have died since the beginning of the year, nearly double the number of murders in the first months of 2008.  The United States has given funding, weaponry, and political support to the Mexican government.  Mexico itself has sent thousands of its own troops to violent areas.  Money, human life, energy, all expended to bandage a problem with roots in another country.  The American responsibility is twofold.  The Mexican drug war exists solely to fund America’s drug habits.  And most of the weapons coming into Mexico are from the United States.  The question is, while weapons and cash continue to flow like rivers into our southern neighbor, can the situation change?   

Bolivia’s new constitution was finally ratified earlier this year, marking a new phase in Evo Morales’ presidency.  Morales has led the country for the past three years.  The first indigenous Bolivian President, he has made sweeping reforms, nationalizing the nation’s energy resources, and pushing for both political and land reform to accommodate the indigenous peoples of Bolivia, who make up two-thirds of the country, particularly the Aymara, the Quechua, and the Guarani.  These people have dealt with discrimination and abuse for decades.  They have worked on the land, often owned by people descended from European immigrants, or foreigners, such as American cattleman Ronald Larsen, in almost indentured servant like conditions.

Morales did make concessions in the constitution, which has been on the table since 2007.  He agreed not to run for a third term in 2014.  Rural land size is limited to 12,400 acres, but only on future sales.  But he did fulfill his promise to the people of Bolivia - he has given them a substantial voice in the government, and has given them back some of their land.  He turned over 94,000 acres so far, taken from five ranches in the east.  

Has President Morales successfully pulled off land re-distribution?  Has he offered justice to the people, and without violence?  Will Bolivia be able to pull itself out of poverty now that change has transcended promise and become reality?  Only the future will tell, but for now, the former leader of coca-leaf farmers has made progress, we just have to discover what progress means.    

$59.1 million, 23 tons of narcotics, 26,400 pounds of cocaine, 16,000 pounds of marijuana, 1,200 pounds of meth, 1.3 million ecstacy pills, 149 vehicles, 3 boats, 3 planes, 169 weapons, and 755 alleged members of the Mexican drug cartel - Sinaloa.  This is the booty of Operation Xcellerator, which has been a collaborative effort of Mexican, US, and Canadian authorities over the past 21 months.  The arrests and seizures were made throughout both the United States (in California, Maryland, and Minnesota) and Mexico.  Authorities claim they found a “super meth lab“, and an ecstacy factory, pumping out 12,000 pills an hour.  

So, Obama announced they are going to use all the non-illegal funds from the seizures and fund after school activities in public schools, to ultimately lessen the demand for the drug trade in the first place.  I’m kidding.  I really am actually wondering what happens to all of this “stuff”.  Does it remain on evidence shelves collecting dust?  

Quite a commendable effort by the international team of drug-busters, and I am sure they feel accomplished.  And of course the biggest winners in this are the three remaining Mexican drug cartels that now are able to move in on the areas that Sinaloa previously operated under.  The Gulf cartel, the Tijuana cartel and the Juarez cartel will now all have one less problem to worry about.  And, I hope and believe this will decrease the violence in Mexico - we can all be happy about that.  

The violence due to the Mexican drug war has reached a new plateau this month.  Now even the military are being terrorized.  At the beginning of February a retired General, a man with respect and a reputation, a proven military leader, Brigadier General Mauro Tello Quinones, came to Cancun to clean up the growing problem.  Within three days, he, his driver, and his bodyguard were abducted, tortured, taken to the jungle and shot.  In response the Mexican military has swooped in and taken over the police force in the area, making it the 11th out of 31 states to be military-controlled.  This of course raises the concern of potential human rights abuses, of which the military will probably not be held accountable.  

But people are getting desperate, with even the Mexican Green party calling for a reinstatement of the death penalty, hoping that would deter some of the murders.  Last year 5,400 people were killed in drug-related violence.  Kidnapping is an epidemic.  No matter what age, what class, everyone is vulnerable.    Mexico has deployed more than 40,000 troops to fight the drug cartels, and the US has deployed $197 million dollars - part of the $400 million passed by Congress last year for the Merida Initiative.  Most of the money is going to buy helicopters and surveillance equipment (American helicopters?).  

So, I have to ask, what exactly is fueling the Mexican drug war?  What circumstances have allowed for all these people to live in fear?  The drug cartels have so much money and power, obviously more even than the government.  The police are either bought by the gangs, or afraid of them.  People who are normally the most progressive and humanitarian politically are asking for the most archaic of policies.  Where is all this coming from?  The demand.  Huge demand.  90% of US cocaine comes from Mexico (as well as 90% of the Mexican gun trade ends up in the US).   7 tons of Mexican cocaine were confiscated this month, and 70 tons in total since President Felipe Calderon started fighting back in 2006.    

But according to the free market, if there is demand, there is supply.  The invisible hand is working against the innocent people of Mexico here.  And since people aren’t going to stop buying cocaine, just like teenagers aren’t going to stop having sex, the situation must be approached from a different angle.  We’ve been mixing up drugs and violence for decades.  Once again, you can’t solve the same problem with the same solution.  You have to find another one.  And what’s takes down the force of the invisible hand?  The government.  Well, and taxes on a several billion dollar industry would help flip those deficit numbers around.  Just a thought.