Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Ponte en los zapatos del otro...

It seems that Mexico is going back to the one that my parents knew, a country where "desaparecidos" are a common occurrence. The difference is that back in my parent's time the kidnapper was the government only, now the role is taken by both government and criminals.

It is a good thing that at least now there's freedom of speech and press and people ready to go to the streets and media to talk about it:


"Ponte en los zapatos del otro" (Get in each other's shoes) is a campaign by "Movimiento por la Paz" (Movement for Peace) to bring into our minds the fact that forced disappearances—a commonplace occurrence during the strong days of the party dictatorship—are coming back to our times—it seems they never stopped—but they are now committed by both government and criminal organizations.

I do not commune with the slight feeling that the open war on drug cartels should stop that the video seems to give due to the last phrase of Sicila's part but I believe that peace, due process and reign of law should be guaranteed in Mexico. 

Last minute pontification: I used to hear a lot: "tenemos el pais que merecemos" (we have the country that we deserve) but we should aim to  "construir el pais que queremos" (build the country we want). Sometimes, I am ashamed I left, then, I remember why I left. Corruption should be battled at all levels, starting at the self. It is amazingly embarrassing that such things as a state official carrying 25 millions MXP in cash pass by almost no pres coverage, no legal consequences to the state government  and no civil reaction to such things (note from Spain's El Pais, here). 


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