Kristin Bricker
* Rebellion
March 12, 2009
Original: Narco News
** Translation: Germain Leyens
Calderón and the military are heroes, social organizers and the poor are demonized
The February 9, 2009, several hundred young with faces covered blocked major roads in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, in a highly coordinated series of actions, paralyzing the city of 1.1 million people. The protesters returned almost every day for more than a week, allegedly coordinated actions by young people with Nextel phones. Each time the protesters again blocked arteries, accompanied by more women with young children in their arms.
At first, the motives of the protesters were not evident. Then they know who protested against the use of the military in the war against drugs. Specifically, they demanded the withdrawal of the Army civilian police functions and the resignation of the commander of the 7th Military Zone, Cuauhtémoc Pérez Antúnez.
Within days of the first protest, the Mexican military - who were deployed to Nuevo Leon by President Felipe Calderon in February 2007 to combat organized crime - arrested six suspected members of the Zetas, the organization founded by defectors from Mexican army working for drug trafficking organizations. The government accused the six of leading the demonstrations that created chaos in Monterrey. Among those arrested is Juan Antonio Beltrán Cruz. The military said they found illegal firearms and 71 backpacks filled with school supplies in his truck. Cruz Beltran was allegedly poor neighborhoods to entice parents and youth to participate in the protests.
Some protesters also admitted to the government and the media that they were paid for participating between 200 and 1,000 pesos (13 to $ 70), women received more money, and women with young children in the arms receiving maximum.
February 17, the day of the most intense protests in Monterrey, blockades to protest the military occurred in Reynosa and Matamoros in Tamaulipas state, several cities in Veracruz and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.
February 18, the military began patrolling the streets of Monterrey. The protesters were gone.
February 19, President Felipe Calderon made a speech commemorating the Mexican Army Day at the base of the 7th Military Zone in Monterrey. In his speech, described as "cowardly" to the drug cartels by paying women, children and older people to manifest, and stated that the Army would not return to their barracks until the civil police has the capacity to continue the fight.
are not normal events
Narco News spoke with a supporter of the Zapatistas' Other Campaign in Ciudad Juárez over the February 17 demonstrations that shut down three international bridges in that city. She actively participates in multiple networks of organization throughout the city and says she knows most of the social organizations and know of protests before they occur. Wishes to remain anonymous for his own safety. Narco News says that two of the three blocks were advertised before they occurred and organizations known-dups and families of missing persons, took part. Their particular focus on new-army was generally taxi drivers are protesting against the policies of Public Transport Secretary regarding plates for taxis, the lack of stops for taxis, and other topics related to their work. Similarly, families of missing persons generally protest against violence, insecurity and militarization, but never focus only on the military.
The third protest, however, was "very strange" he says. It was announced before it happened. She says she knows most of the organizers of the city, but when observed protest in the news, "did not see a single familiar face." Although he says that the demonstrations of February 17 were not with characteristic for Ciudad Juárez, said that there were not nearly as strange as the protests that took place in Monterrey.
In Monterrey, the local organizers knew immediately that the anti-military protest their protest was not normal. A Monterrey-based group that adheres to the Other Campaign told Narco News that is in contact with most social organizations in town that make demonstrations, and none of them knew some activists and organizations that participated in the protests. Did not even know that protests take place until that happened, there was no email notices or flyers in the streets calling on people to demonstrate. Don Héctor Camero
NGO based in Monterrey, Tierra y Libertad, also knew immediately that this event was different. Radio Bemba told that groups usually involved in the protests are released, their organizations and their demands. It was not the case with the protests against the army. The protesters remained anonymous, even with their faces covered. Did not immediately know their demands and did not express how they had suffered since the army took to the streets in his city. Camero
known that At least some of the participants were paid. Radio Bemba told how the family member of a friend agreed to 500 pesos for participating. The homeowner had just lost his job, and someone offered her 500 pesos women to participate in a blockade. She accepted the offer.
Followers of the Other Campaign in Monterrey also became suspicious when they saw the police reaction to the protest. Although this protest was one of the most aggressive that Monterrey has seen in recent history, the police were more considerate than previous protests. There was no burning barricades in the streets of Monterrey for normal manifestations, says the source of Narco News. But when 80 to 90 youths set fire to a barricade on Avenida Fidel Velásquez during protests against the army, the police preferred dialogue to repression. "If social organizations have done that would have been a very violent repression," said a supporter of the Other Campaign that wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. Camero
agrees: "Young people gather at Civil Plaza del Colegio Monterrey. As young people begin to congregate, the police intervened. Do not let young people gather. They [youth] educational films shown there, political and civic - it is not a sin - and they [the police] can not perform their cultural activities. They are sent from. But in this case [the "narco protests"], the police acted very wisely. "
reaction "cautious" of the police and army to quell the protests is widely documented in the Mexican media. About 50 people were arrested during the protests. They were released hours later after paying bail of 500 pesos. Thanks to the draconian laws of Mexico on organized crime, these people, whom the government accuses of working for drug cartels, could have been held without bail, but not what happened. Reforma reports that a young man was arrested on the Avenue of the Constitution, but was released minutes later. Shortly afterwards he was seen blocking the Gonzalitos Avenue.
not know why the police acted with much caution. The local government official reason is that many women, elderly people and children participated in the protests. The source of Narco News in Monterrey talking about rumors that the police had received threats. It's a possibility: the day after police arrested the alleged Zeta, Beltran Cruz, with a 9 mm submachine gun and 71 bags in his possession, a police commander involved in his arrest was murdered in broad daylight. The attackers shot him many times that his face was unrecognizable. The cartridges recovered from the crime scene show that at least some of the weapons used, a 9-mm submachine gun and an assault rifle, are limited by Mexican law to exclusive military use (although the law did not prevent nuclear weapons end up in the hands of members of drug cartel).
Winners and Losers in the "narcoprotestas"
During the "narco protests," the world's attention focused on one thing: Who was behind the protests? The government says the Gulf cartel and its partners armed Zeta organized protests Monterrey. Some have speculated quietly that the government itself organized the protests to strengthen the military's popularity. The truth is that nobody, except the organizers of the protest may come to know who was really responsible. Therefore, the real question is not "Who did it?" But "why did it?"
The reasoning behind the careful planning and masterful execution of the protests of Monterrey is best understood by evaluating who came out ahead and who lost when he finally finished the "narco protests."
Winners
President Felipe Calderon: Calderon presented with a platform of "hit hard on organized crime." Days after taking over from his post, took the controversial decision to deploy troops to states where they believed had been lost ground to the drug. Since then, drug violence has surged in 2008, the number of killings related to organized crime has more than doubled the 2007 total, making the drug war is more deadly than the drugs themselves. However, the day he arrived at the army base in Monterrey to give his speech of the Day Army was the first day in over a week in which there was no "narco protests" in Monterrey. While Calderon was previously associated with increased rates of homicide, mayhem, and violence, is now associated with peace and tranquility. As described by the anonymous supporter of the Other Campaign in Montreal: "Everybody talks about a 'failed state' and Calderón arrives and brings the order."
The National Action Party (PAN) and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) : 2009 is an election year in Nuevo León. The post of mayor in Monterrey and the governor will be in play on 5 July. Monterrey is controlled currently by the PAN, while the governor of Nuevo León is PRI. Both contests have become races to see what can repress political dissent better than other candidates. The PAN, as the party following the deployment of the army to fight organized crime, and has proven a strong hand when it comes to organized crime. However, the PRI, which ruled Mexico with an iron fist for more than seven decades, will not be so easily defeated.
Rodrigo Medina de la Cruz, the PRI candidate for governor, proposed that the state of Nuevo Leon Congress passes a law making blocking a path "in a violent way" is punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine between 7,500 and 25,000 pesos (492-1639 dollars). The mayor of the PAN in Monterrey, Adalberto Madero Quiroga, submitted its own proposal to the state legislature: roadblocks should be punishable by six years in prison, but if someone dies in the protest, the sentence is doubled to 12. Quiroga's proposal does not specify whether the sentence of 12 years applies only if the protesters kill the person, or is applied if the police or the army also killed someone. In Mexico, the police, the army and pro-government paramilitary groups are generally responsible for the deaths of protesters, not the participants in the protests.
The army Monterrey protests have become heroes to the military. The press and eyewitnesses say that the people of Monterrey literally welcomed with open arms when the soldiers began patrolling the streets of the city just a day before the arrival of Calderon. According to reports, people in the streets cheered and applauded when they saw the soldiers. Contact Monterrey Narco News says that "the city is completely militarized," and that people seem to like.
If someone wanted to organize protests to increase the popularity of the Army, Monterrey is the perfect place to do so. The group of Monterrey told Narco News that there was never a significant sentiment against the Army in Monterrey, despite the military presence in Nuevo Leon for over a year. Cameron explains why: "In Monterrey has not been the kind of transgressions committed by soldiers that have taken place elsewhere. I'm not saying there, there have been 150 or 200 agents of the Federal Preventive Police (PFP). Are federal police have also been deployed in the war against drugs and participating in joint operations with the Army. But in general, soldiers patrols are carried out with care. There have been some complaints due to incorrect or raids by Army checkpoints. But in general there have been many complaints about their treatment of the population. So these protests, in which young people have not only disguised, but have walked around with clubs threatening to drivers or young women, have created a situation in which the people support the military. He says: 'We're with the military. " So the protests are actually causing the opposite "of its stated objective, which is the withdrawal of the army."
Indeed. Just two weeks after the end of the protest, the federal government announced it was sending another 5,000 troops to Ciudad Juarez, is the most violent city in Mexico and also the site of a protest that the media associated with the "narco protests." thousand federal police officers and two thousand soldiers have already arrived. Before the recent strengthening, there were 2,000 soldiers stationed in Ciudad Juarez, which means that when all the reinforcements arrive, 7,000 soldiers will patrol the city of 1.4 million inhabitants. It is one soldier for every 200 civilians in a city with a population density of more than 4,632 persons per square kilometer, or 23 soldiers per square kilometer. Although the federal government's announcement is not likely a direct result of the "narco protests," certainly did not hurt demonstrations Army public relations before one of the 'waves' strongest military in the country.
All narco-trafficking organization to work with sectors of the army: In December 2008, a correspondent for Narco News, Bill Conroy, presented evidence that corruption within the Mexican Army would not be limited to a few isolated incidents officers (albeit high range) on the payroll of the cartel in his article "Murder in Juárez bringing to light a 'military cartel' pop." A source, former DEA agent Celerino "Cele" Castillo III, told Conroy:
"During the presidential election, El Chapo [Joaquín Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa drug organization supported [Mexican President] Calderon. Calderon then rented the Army to eliminate El Chapo Osiel [Cardenas Guillen, head of the Gulf drug organization that controlled the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo]. You have to remember: Why has not been arrested Shorty? "Conroy goes on:" Castle added that recently received information indicating that another group has become quite famous through the media, the Zetas (Mexican group trained by U.S. special operations who deserted the Mexican Army) now support the Mexican military in drug trafficking operations along the border. "
Calderon retired military and now works hand in hand with El Chapo. U.S. Veterans ... [the war] Iraq were acting as mercenaries for the Mexican military. Right now as we speak, U.S. veterans of Iraq is working for that organization. Do reinforcement work on this side [of the U.S. border] to the Mexican military. ... They are charging the profits of drug sales in the U.S. They [those who owe money to the drug organization] are trapped and give them 24 hours to send some money to bank accounts in Mexico. If not, are executed ...
Former M-70 grenade launcher 40 mm ammunition used. Are on the table in the picture [of weapons confiscated by Mexican authorities] of today's newspaper. What the story does not say is that the ammunition of 40 mm is U.S. production. And that, what you think? "
In the same article quoted William Conroy Peyro Ramírez, a former senior member of the Juarez drug organization, reporting in the case of the House of Death, who describes how the Mexican Navy smuggled drugs for DTO from Colombia.
Conroy's story does not specify a drug organization that has control over the Mexican Army. Mentions three or four separate organizations that supposedly are in collusion with the military: the organization of El Chapo Guzman, the Zetas (who supposedly work for the Gulf drug organization or anyone who pays well), and DTO Juárez. Rather, the evidence and Conroy sources show that to survive an underground industry has to keep close to their friends close and even closer to their enemies. In a business where alliances and rivalries that change with the wind, and where politicians, police and military officers to the highest bidder, the military has emerged as another participant in the game. Just as in other cartels, alliances of soldiers to the cartel "change the conditions, and find new allies if the price is right. May prefer different allied military officers and soldiers under his command, with different drug trafficking organizations. And even if the rumors that President Calderón has its preferred drug trafficking organization and using its military campaign to eliminate the enemies of that organization were true, Calderon can not control all of his soldiers better than how El Chapo can control all the cells of the "Federation" Sinaloa.
So, although it is possible that a drug organization or a partnership between that organization and a section of the Army has organized the "narco protests," nobody knows what military officer and his soldiers working with what organization until someone withdraws the officer. Even then, it is doubtful that the complainant told the truth. So the official winner and clear of "narco protest" was the Army as a whole. Whatever the drug trafficking organizations that are currently aligned with sectors of the Army, just witnessed the rise the power of her ally, and with it his own. And because the military, who have been waging a constant public relations battle over his involvement in the war against drugs, just to increase his power and popularity, they may have just increased the present value of that loyalty.
Losers Apart from all the drug cartel that is not aligned with the Army, particularly in regions in which occurred the "narco protests," civil society suffered a significant blow because of the protests.
social organizations and : protests "against the army" in Monterrey managed to neutralize very legitimate demands (that the military withdraw from civil duties of maintaining law and order) and complaints (the soldiers perform civilian functions to maintain order without a formal declaration of war is unconstitutional).
When anti-military protests erupted in areas with a history of legitimate protests against militarization, such as Veracruz and Ciudad Juarez, there was immediate speculation in the press that they were also linked to drug traffickers. However, unlike Monterrey, no concrete evidence has emerged that these protests have been organized by none other than the protesters themselves. As a supporter of the Other Campaign in Ciudad Juárez told Narco News that one of the anti-military blocks of an international bridge in that city was "very strange" compared to similar protests, she said legitimate social organizations were definitely involved in the protests and blockades occurred in other parts of Ciudad Juárez that day. Even though the government found that participated legitimate members of families of people have disappeared by the military, the press reported, without citing other evidence, that "security agents" unidentified people said they were hired to protest. Although the government has not presented any evidence or facts no official statement to the effect that at least some protesters in Ciudad Juarez have received compensation for their participation, if someone paid people to protest where legitimate social organizations also were protesting, they succeeded in destroying all credibility with in that city that had legitimate social organizations. And even if not a single protester in Juárez participated by receiving payment, the spectrum still exists - the media discussed the protests in all four states as if all were the same, without a shred of proof that there have been participants outside Monterrey who have received some compensation.
social organizers are thorns on the back of undemocratic power. As such, activists can be so inconvenient for drug traffickers to the government. In locations where drug dealers are owners of, or form the government, or in regions where drug traffickers are the bosses, activists threaten the power of the drug trafficking organization. Whoever has been following the protests, whether the government or a drug organization or a mixture of both, has consolidated his power to wrest the social and political organizers.
The "narco protests" not only served to damage the credibility of activists; The government also is using them to push for measures to suppress the protests and get some control over them, in a way very similar to that used by the U.S. government As mentioned earlier, Nuevo León officials have proposed sentences between 6 and 12 years and heavy fines for blocking a road during a protest, which currently is a traffic violation. The only proposed exception to the law is if a legitimate protest to alert the government before the action you want to block a road during a demonstration. This effectively introduced a permit system for events in Mexico, where demonstrators will want to demonstrate ask the government for permission to do so. The current system is largely U.S. and gives the government significant control over the demonstrations. The government says the organizers where and when they can demonstrate. When the government does not want to have protests, denies permits directly to the protesters, as was the case during the Republican National Convention [RNC, for its acronym in English] in Philadelphia in 2000. The city government granted permits to indicate to the RNC for the whole city for the duration of the convention, leaving nothing for social organizations (the RNC, obviously not used the permit to protest - just wanted to exclude activists). The only given permission to the organizers of the demonstration was a "free speech zone" (meaning "freedom of expression was a right only in that area, but not the rest of the city) which was an enclosed area in a corner of a park so far from the Convention Center that no one paid attention to the few protesters who decided to use the area. If the event serves to raise the costs of a government policy or decision as a war, the demonstrations led to reduced costs for the government to a minor headache and temporary.
Thanks to the "narco protests," Monterrey public opinion has given the green light to kill the government demonstrators and pro-government civilians. The contact in Monterrey Narco News sent us comments in online forums that in his opinion accurately represent the feelings of citizens of Monterrey on the protests. At a forum on the website of the Monterrey newspaper El Norte, a comment says: "if you're in the car and you go through, although aviéntales the car run over and do not stop lying if you let them. Moreover, neither turn around, like you've hit a frog. If you're a mere block later, take the same car. " Another comment said that after hitting a protester, the Drivers should give "reverse to see if they are eager to follow argüernderas by clowns and a backpack." Another one says "if they stand near a bridge take him and it's their fault." And: "if they kill all these people no one will miss, every piece of shit trash or leave these starving or just paste it to the trees of the indepenaca or RISC, and those things go from there, some dead of those most do not do anyone any harm, so you better do something good for society does not keep fucking starving in the boat ...! "[sic]. Nobody
forum similar critical comments that call to murder. Being
activist in Mexico it is dangerous, even without public support for his murder. In February, Mexico's Supreme Court refused to blame the police who killed Alexis Benhumea and Francisco Javier Cortés at demonstrations in San Salvador Atenco in 2006. In its decision, or even acknowledge that the police were responsible for the killings, despite a tear gas bomb killed Benhumea and the gun that killed Cortez is of a size which is given to state police commanders, but whose bearing on civilians is illegal. Also in February, armed men "who appeared to be soldiers" kidnapped two Indian activists for human rights in Guerrero, tortured and murdered.
neighborhoods: The poor neighborhoods are neighborhoods on the outskirts of cities. Have to fight for basic municipal services such as paved streets, running water, and sewer systems and sanitary facilities.
Narco News has documented how the joint operation of the federal police and army in Michoacán is used to suppress the neighborhoods, in particular those belonging to social organizations. Since there is evidence that residents of neighborhoods were paid to block roads during the "narco protests," you can expect increased government repression in the colonies Popular Monterrey-even those who did not. If the locks
provoked fury against protesters in general, provoked a particularly fierce anger against the poorest residents of Monterrey because it is known that some of them participated in exchange for school supplies and money. A comment in the forum of the North wrote that the military should be deployed against the protesters (they were made six days after the comment) and "total kill these people if no one will miss him, every piece of shit trash or leave These starving or just paste it to the trees of the indepenaca or cliffs. "
hatred against poor residents Monterrey is misguided says Cameron, because it ignores the conditions created by the government itself, leading people to block roads in exchange for school supplies and money. "There is a crisis of unemployment and neglect of young people. There is no guarantee [of employment for young people]. I'm not even talking about schools or sports-talk job. This closure is easy to make such offers [to be paid for protesting]. It's a very strange scene, unimaginable, but it can happen easily due to the situation. " Camero
blames the government to spend millions of pesos in public funds to support political parties when no adequate provision to schools with their basic needs. "How is it possible that the narcos are providing school supplies to the people? We have an ongoing campaign to get school supplies in schools [Nuevo Leon]. These are conditions that the government has allowed to develop, and organized crime may seize them. "
* Kristin Bricker is a correspondent based in Mexico Narco News. Also part of the Rebel Imports collective that sells textiles, coffee and fair trade honey from Zapatista cooperatives. For contacts with Kristin krisbricker@gmail.com write. His personal blog is http://mywordismyweapon.blogspot.com . ** Feature
original
English: h ttp: / / narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/kristin-bricker/2009/03/who-won-and-who-lost-mexicos-narco-protests
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