Borderland Beat
A Forbes reporter "Looking Back at 2012: A Year of #Mexico #Drugwar Tweets"
this post is popping with information and great links- hashtags take you to the tweet, without # takes you to the full referenced article where the photos and graph were from......
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| Relative recognizes victim |
Nathaniel Parish Flannery
On a warm afternoon in Mexico City, I sat down in a restaurant and reviewed my tweets about Mexico from 2012. I think that over the course of the past year the dialogue about Mexico started to shift from the “Under Siege” drugwar theme towards a conversation that focused on the paradox of impressive economic activity taking place in the context of frightening cartel violence.
Although grisly organized crime-related violence persists in many parts of the country, in 2012 many media outlets started paying more attention to the country’s strong underlying economic potential.
On January 3, 2012 I tweeted that Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O’Neill said that as costs in China rise, “ #Mexico might be the big winner.” On January 20 I tweeted a link to this New York Times story and explained “There has been a definite shift of violence away from the border and back to the interior states.”
In this article I wrote for The Global Post about Mexico’s #OCCUPY movement, I explained “The violence, once mostly contained in the pressure cooker along Mexico’s northern border, is now bursting out in an increasing number of cities and towns throughout the country, even singeing the capital city. Violence is emerging as a serious problem in cities from the agrarian state Michoacán to beach-side vacation destinations like Acapulco and Veracruz.”
On February 2 I tweeted that “according to @CIDAC the top googled cities in #Mexico for insecurity are Torreon, Zacatecas, and #Acapulco.”
On February 6 I tweeted a link to my article “Mexico’s Silicon Valley fends off cartel concerns.”
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| Mexican video game masters creating new game in "Silicon Valley" aka Guadalajara |
In the article,I explained that Guadalajara Mexico is emerging as a high-tech IT service hub, even in the context of rising cartel violence. I wrote:
Incidents like the case a few weeks ago where two dozen headless bodies were dumped in the center of the city are part of the reason why a Google search for “Guadalajara IT” turns up the auto-responses not only of expected results like “Guadalajara IT jobs” and “Guadalajara IT industry,” but also “Guadalajara is it safe.”
Guadalara, a city in a state dealing with rising levels of inter-cartel violence, is home to IT operations run by HP, Dell, Intel, and an ecosystem of smaller companies.
On February 9 I tweeted “I’m reading the latest travel advisory to #Mexico:’Millions of US citizens safely visit Mexico, 150K cross border daily.’” I then tweeted that “U.S. Dept of State says #Mexico is safe: just not Juarez, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Tamualipas, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacan…”
On February 13, after attending an event at the Americas Society in New York I tweeted “Tonight at @ascoa @ChrisSabatini said costs in #China are rising but for #Mexico to benefit “security gains have to be deepened.”
On February 17 I tweeted a link to this photo by Dominic Bracco and explained “a couple is killed in #Juarez ‘A single bullet entered the man’s skull & took all 3 lives.’”
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| Young couple executed in Juarez, she was pregnant |
On February 20 I tweeted a link to this interview with Council for Foreign Relations Mexico expert Shannon O’Neil in which she explains “Mexico is a place that’s seen a huge escalation in violence. Under President Felipe Calderon over the last five years, we’ve seen almost 50,000 people killed in drug-related murders.
But at the same time, Mexico’s economy has actually been doing quite well since the end of the global recession. Mexico was the hardest hit in Latin America but it’s recovered quite quickly, and in part it’s been due to a huge boom in manufacturing along the border tied to U.S. companies and to U.S. consumers.”
On February 29, I tweeted an article I wrote for The Atlanticabout artisan tequila production in the hills of Jalisco, Mexico in which I explain that “Overall, according to figures from Mexico’s secretary of economy, tequila production has more than doubled since 1995. In 2011, Mexico exported more than 163 million liters of the agave-based alcohol, up from 64 million in 1995.”
On March 6 I tweeted “An analyst from @EurasiaGroup just told me #Mexico is ‘a contradictory situation – economy is doing relatively well, but security = problem.’”
On March 10 I tweeted a link to a “Good article in Spanish w/ graphics & maps on the recent cartel attacks in Guadalajara,” the home of the expanding tech and tequila industries.
Also on March 10, I tweeted that “After gunmen burn 25 cars, police arrest cartel leaders in Guadalajara, find 30 machine guns & also grenades.”
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| click on any photo to enlarge |
On March 16 I tweeted a link to this Harvard Revista article and explained “w/ widespread violence it is easier for criminals to engage in predatory activities.” On March 18, I tweeted a link to this New York Timesarticle and explained that “In 14 of #Mexico ’s 31 states, the chance of a crime’s leading to trial and sentencing = less than 1%.”
On April 3 I tweeted that “Last week, at least 280 people were killed in #Mexico ’s #drugwar” and also explained that U.S. President Barack Obama said that as a good neighbor, “We have a responsibility to make sure not only guns but also bulk cash isn’t flowing into #Mexico.”
On May 3 I tweeted “I’m reading an article about how un-manned drones helped seize 3150 kilos of pot on the #Texas #border. Meanwhile, 60K are dead in#Mexico.” On May 13 I tweeted a link to this Los Angeles Times article and explained “In the last 8 years, 130 U.S. #Border Patrol agents have been arrested & 600 more are under investigation.”
Also on May 13, I tweeted a link to this New York Timesarticle which explains that “With 50,000 murders over the past six years linked to Mexico’s drug war, the amount of suffering faced by survivors cannot be overstated. But as they mourn their lost loved ones, grieving Mexicans must also grapple with suspicion from those who wonder if the victims were asking for trouble and if their relatives might be outlaws, too.”
On May 14 I tweeted “18 mutilated bodies turned up in abandoned vehicles along a highway near Guadalajara #Mexico.” On June 3 I tweeted “w/less than 10% of the world´s population, countries in#LatAm experience more than 30% of all homicides” and also shared a comment from Guatemala’s president who said that when it comes to drugs, we should “stop following a failed policy.”