Honoring Drug War Dead, and Spurring a Debate

The NY Times

By Randal Archibold
Published: January 23, 2013

MEXICO CITY — Reeling from a drug war that has killed tens of thousands and a boom in violent crime in general, Mexico has built a memorial to victims of violence. But like a crime scene still under investigation, it sits off limits behind white tarp, wrapped in questions and uncertainty.

A series of rusted metal slabs amid reflecting pools in a corner of Mexico City’s biggest park, the memorial now stands as an accidental metaphor for the fog and doubts that swirl around the country’s layered debates on violence and victimhood.

Rushed to completion by President Felipe Calderón, whose six-year term was overwhelmed by the explosion of violence, the site has not yet publicly opened. On Nov. 30, in Mr. Calderón’s last 90 minutes in office, his administration sent a short e-mail to reporters announcing that the memorial was complete and in the hands of the civic groups that had called for it.

But in fact the transfer of the military-owned site has been mired in bureaucratic delays, and there remains disagreement over who the victims are — particularly in the bloody war against drug cartels and other organized crime that has consumed the country.  Read more. 

Murder of Miami’s ‘Cocaine Queen’ Offers Teaching Moment

The Narcosphere, Posted by Bill Conroy

The Truth of the Drug War Won’t Be Found in Hollywood or the Mainstream Media — Which Both Work From the Same Tired Script.

Griselda Blanco, 69, was cut down in front of a butcher shop in Medellin, Colombia, in early September by a middle-aged man who was delivered to the murder scene on the back of a motorcycle — and who calmly, methodically, jumped off the back of that bike, held a gun to Blanco’s head, and pumped two bullets into her brain.

Blanco, well prior to her death, had been pumped up as a rock star of the drug war by the US mainstream media and various Hollywood-inspired films, such as the Cocaine Cowboys documentary. In fact, at the time of her death, several feature films about her life as a big-time cocaine dealer and killer in Miami in the 1970s and early 1980s were reportedly in the works — including one in which movie star Jennifer Lopez is seeking to play the leading role as the “Narco Queen” in hopes of winning an Oscar, according to Fox News Latino.

But Blanco, like so many other US-media created narco anti-heroes, is more fiction than reality, and a prime example of how US “news” coverage of the drug war has become essentially indistinguishable from the fiction manufactured in Tinsel Town. Read more. 

Drug War and the Arts: Despite violence, music festival big in Mexico's Monterrey

latimes.com: "The independent music scene has proven itself alive and well in Mexico's wealthiest but increasingly violent city of Monterrey. Last weekend's NRML festival took place without a major problem and was the largest in three years.

Metropolitan Monterrey was once a refuge from the nation's raging drug war. But it has steadily fallen into the same vortex of gang shootings and neighborhood takeovers that plague Mexicans elsewhere. One of the deadliest incidents in the entire drug war was the August 2011 firebombing of a Monterrey casino, in which 52 people were killed." read more

Drug War and the Arts: Murder Capital of the World: Documentary On Mexican Drug War & America's Complicity

Houston News: "​The documentary Murder Capital of the World debuted in Houston last night at Premier Cinema in Greenspoint Mall. Despite the seemingly over-the-top name, it wasn't a horror flick, but there were several scenes that did manage to horrify the audience. You can't make this shit up.

It would be impossible to make a movie about a topic as hugely complex as the drug war in Tijuana, Mexico without including some blood and gore, but New York filmmaker Charlie Minn used such footage sparingly. He wisely let the facts speak for themselves. No one ran from the theater in disgust. Instead, they stuck around for a Q&A session afterward to discuss the issues the movie brought to light with the filmmaker himself." read more

Drug War and the Arts: Art Without Borders

The Huffington Post: "Can art lead the way?

Kenichi Ohmae, author of The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies argues that the nation-state is becoming obsolete because it is no longer the optimal unit for organizing economic activity. San Diego/Tijuana is often cited as representing one of the new metropolitan regions, according to Ohmae and other economists looking at potential "region- states" in the emerging global economy." read more

Drug War and the Arts: Mexican city bans Tigres del Norte for drug songs

The Huffington Post: "The capital of Mexico's Chihuahua state has indefinitely banned the famous norteno group Los Tigres del Norte from playing in the city after the band sang ballads glorifying drug traffickers during a weekend concert.

There have been other attempts in Mexico to ban the ballads known as "narcocorridos," but seldom have they affected a mainstream group as popular as Los Tigres.

The band has been a mainstay of norteno music for decades, with hits like "Contrabando y Traicion" (Contraband and Betrayal) and "Jefe de Jefes" (Boss of Bosses).

"The musical group will not get permits for future shows in the city limits, until such time as authorities decide otherwise," the city said in a statement.
The Chihuahua city government said the band violated a three-month-old city ordinance prohibiting songs that glorify traffickers, and that the concert's organizers would be fined "at least 20,000 pesos" ($1,585)." read more

Drug War: Mexican Activists Protest Drug War Through Public Art

Huffington Post: "While drug-related deaths continue to escalate as the Mexican drug war wages on, Mexican youth have resorted to peaceful and artistic forms of protest against the violence. Last Sunday, activists met on Mexico City's Zocalo Square in an effort to demonstrate against the war. They covered the public space with chalk outlines of human bodies. The bodies were supposed to represent all the lives that have been lost during the war against drugs in Mexico." read more

Drug War and the Arts: Photo project focuses on 31,000 people who haven't lost hope amid violent drug war in Mexico

Here is a remarkable effort by two Mexican photographers to humanize what is happening in Mexico and engage their countrymen and women in making a statement for change. Their photos and videos may be viewed on their website: 31Kproject.com  And see other links to "Art Addresses the Issues" in this blog's left column.

austin360.com: "... instead of focusing on the deaths of 31,000 people, Diego Huerta and Daniela Gutiérrez (photographers from Monterrey, Mexico) embarked on an ambitious photo project that highlights the lives of 31,000 people across Mexico, as well as some in Austin, who hope for a more peaceful future.

... One year and thousands of photos later, "31K Portraits for Peace" has come to the Mexic-Arte Museum, featuring faces from across Mexican urban and rural landscapes. The exhibit, which runs through April 1, shows the breadth of lives lost but also captures a glimpse of the faith that many in Mexico still hold." read more

Drug War: Eugene Jarecki, Sundance Grand Jury Winner, On His Drug War Documentary 'The House I Live In'

Huffington Post: "In 2005, Eugene Jarecki's documentary "Why We Fight" won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for its incisive deconstruction of the military-industrial complex. At this year's festival, he won the award again with a follow-up of sorts, titled "The House I Live In," which examines the unimaginable damage wrought by America's prison-industrial system and the so-called War on Drugs." read more

U.S.-Mexico Border: Camera gives glimpse of life in border state for New Mexico State University researcher

An introduction to the work of photojournalist Bruce Berman and his Border Blog. We invite you to take a look at the blog and listen to his words. He provides a very up-close and personal look at the realities of the border. In our own way, MexicoBlog and the Americas Program share his mission, "to go out and try to learn as much as (we) can and then give that information to an audience who might need to know what (we)'ve learned."

Las Cruces Sun-News: "Bruce Berman is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication and a researcher at New Mexico State University. He doesn't own any lab coats, just jeans with big enough pockets to hold his "Plan B" batteries, memory cards and lens filters. The closest thing he has to a laboratory is the iMac in his office. His high-tech instrument: the Nikon camera he always keeps around his neck or on the passenger seat right next to him while out and around the desert Southwest and the U.S./Mexico border region.

"If you are doing good journalism, you are finding information for other people to use," Berman said of his style of research. "My job is to go out and try to learn as much as I can and then give that information to an audience who might need to know what I've learned."" read more

Portraying the Drug War: Gerardo Naranjo’s ‘Miss Bala’ Reflects Mexican Drug War

Review of the Oscar-nominated Mexican film about the effects of the drug war on the Mexican psyche. It also discusses other Mexican films about or reflecting the devastation of the drug war.

NYTimes.com: "The (mood of the) new Mexican film “Miss Bala,” ... is a reflection of the national mood as Mexico enters the sixth year of the government’s frontal assault on drug traffickers. Estimates put the death toll around 50,000 since 2006, and the murders pile up relentlessly. What feeds despair here more than the daily violence, though, is the suspicion that nobody in charge has the ability, the will or the integrity to defeat the criminals and the corruption that supports them. The anxiety that anyone can become a victim guides “Miss Bala.” " read more

Drug War Movie and Policy Reform: Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's 'The House I Live In'

We will have to keep ours eyes out for the release of this film. 

indieWIRE: "Documentary filmmaker and Sundance staple Eugene Jarecki is back this year with "The House I Live In" (U.S. Documentary competition), a comprehensive work that ... tells very intimate and tender stories of people whose lives have been impacted by the war on drugs.

The filmmaker says, "Between escalating violence in Mexico and recent legislative upheavals regarding drug sentencing and even limited legalization, the role of illegal drugs in American society and the war against their users and distributors is at the forefront of the national conversation. It needs to stay there until real change begins in earnest. I believe this is a pivotal moment for such change and my hope is that people’s reaction to the film is both an emotional one – moved by the characters and their heartbreaking stories – and an intellectual one – aware that only with public opposition will the forces that drive this system be prevented from continuing to damage so many American lives."" read more

Mexico Drug War: Silver screen drug war, "Miss Bala"

GlobalPost: "When Tijuana residents saw ski-masked policemen battling Kalashnikov-wielding thugs near the U.S. border, some feared they were caught in another drug shootout and ran for their lives. But after a second glance, residents could see a scraggly-haired director banging a clipboard, along with an entourage of cameraman and sound engineers. With relief, they realized it was all a show for the silver screen.

That movie, “Miss Bala,” has won acclaim at film festivals around the world — including a 12-minute ovation at Cannes — and has now been selected as Mexico’s entry for the Oscars. The film won critics by combining the intense action sequences with slow, realistic scenes and artful camera work to conjure up the surreal actuality of Mexico’s drug war. It’s part of a growing trend that highlights how the drug war has infiltrated Mexican culture."

read more

Mexico Drug War: Shaul Schwarz's Photos of Narco-Culture in Juárez

NYTimes.com: " Shaul Schwarz was among the first photographers to focus on documenting the drug wars that have ravaged the Mexican city of Juárez. Mr. Schwarz has been working in Juárez, ... since 2007. He can’t get the story of a city “so vicious and so close to home” out of his system. “It is dangerous, chaotic and unpredictable,” said Mr. Schwarz, 37. “I see how cheap life can be there at times.”

After covering drug-related murders almost daily, Mr. Schwarz began to focus on the corrosive effect the violence was having on Mexican society. He started photographing the narco-culture spread by young people — on both sides of the border."

Whack-a-mole goes to the movies: "Miss Bala" - An explosive Mexican thriller

Cannes: An explosive Mexican thriller - Andrew O'Hehir, Movie Critic - Salon.com: "'Miss Bala' ... tells the story of leggy, likable Laura Guerrero (Stephanie Sigman), a 23-year-old who leaves her home on the outskirts of Tijuana one day in hopes of auditioning for the Miss Baja pageant. (The film's title is a play on words; 'bala' is Spanish for bullet.) I'm tempted to tell you what happens in the heartbreaking scene when Laura finally reaches the pageant stage, but I won't. Let's just say that this is one of those movies where a normal person takes one step off the straight and narrow path and winds up on the highway to hell. ...

Terrifically choreographed, violent and amoral, but never wantonly cruel, "Miss Bala" is another impressive Mexican breakthrough. "