This week, I was shocked by the story of
Dn. Alejo Garza (
RIP), a 77 year old man that died defending his ranch from a drug gang that decided to take over his property in
Tamaulipas, my home-state.
When I first read the story, I was surprised it didn't happened in
Monterrey during one of the
drug-gang-blockades that are becoming part of the daily life in the "Sultan of the North." Somehow, I had the impending doom feeling that people in Monterrey would start carrying guns to protect themselves from the gangs stealing cars and trucks to block the city streets, in order to prevent the transit, in and out of town, of the military and federal police during anti-drug operatives.
I have to say that the smallest part of the shock came from the fact that Dn. Alejo (†) managed to kill four gang members and wounded another two; what really freaked me out were the implications of such actions---as
the monopoly of violence is, in the early theories of the role and responsibilities of the state, mainly those proposed by
Max Weber, the defining characteristic differentiating a
sovereign state from a
failed one, and Mexico does not sanction a self-defense stance by an armed population---; that is, added to the illegal acts of violence and terrorism committed by the drug lords and associated gangs, now there is an illegal act of violence committed by a civil in self-defense, which has been praised by some sectors of the civil population as an exemplar attitude and stance.
In our modern times, one could argue that the monopoly of violence is not the only important factor to define a sovereign state. There is the economics factor, the provision of services and law, etc. While there's a relative economical stability in Mexico, it is clear that the state has lost the monopoly of violence, alas, thousands of deaths related to the
drug war of the last three years testify in favor of this thesis; even sadder, the drug war, allegedly started as an answer to the corruption and infiltration of the government by the organized crime, and the possibility of a civil population taking matters on their own hands instead of denouncing the crimes to the authorities, testifies to a generalized perception of a corrupt law enforcement and judicial system that does not protect nor serves the common citizen. With this in mind is not a surprise to find Mexico in the warning list of the
Failed State Index by the
Fund for Peace.
Mexico is not yet a failed state but it will take the efforts of the whole country to steer the future out of harms way. Education and transparency by the government, as well as an exemplar citizenship that denounces and follows the law, are key factors for a safe tomorrow that might or might not depend on legalizing drugs. If corruption and privileges without accountability and responsibilities are the goal in the mind of our everyday José, then, sadly but true, we are fucked up as Mexicans.
ERRATA: My good and old friend Salvador pointed out to me that, while it might be hard to argue self-defense in Mexican Courts, the Mexican Constitution sanctions the right to have non-restricted registered weapons at home and, in some special cases, to carry a weapon for self-defense in its
Article 10.