The (not-so) Great Escape
If the break-out of what’s described as 53 “Zetas” from Reclusorio Cienguillas was such a well-planned job, you think the masterminds might have thought about the security cameras? Nah!
The head of the Zacatecas State Security, Alejando Rojas Chalico, has resigned, and the warden and several guards were detained on suspicion that they were involved in the mass breakout, as politicos try to spin the story to fit their own agendas. PRD Governor Amelia Garcia blames the previous administration of Ricardo Monreal (formerly PRI, til he was thrown out on allegations of family ties to narcos, but elected governor on the PRD ticket and now a Senator from the Workers’ Party) for conditions at the prison. That a warehouse owned by Monreal’s family was recently found to contain 14.5 tons of marijuana Monreal lays to “dirty tricks” by Governor Garcia.
Everybody blames PAN… but then, in Zacatecas (one of the few northern states where the PRD is competitive with PAN and PRI) local politicos blame everything on PAN.
I think the prison problems have something to do with the unusual demographics of Zacatecas. Neither of the two traditional industries — mining and agriculture — are viable any more. The mines are worked out, and farming doesn’t pay anywhere, least of all in the desert. The state is the only one in Mexico to be losing population, mostly to emigration to the United States. It is not at all unusual to go into a small town in Zacatecas and find that there are no males between 16 and 60 living in the community. While this has created opportunities for women to take non-traditional roles (like the governor), it has meant that low-status jobs that require male workers are particularly difficult to fill.
Competent, skilled and educated men can find good work. What’s left for the rest — those who can’t find decent jobs, or have the gumption to emigrate — are the crap work. Gangsters probably pay better than the prison system, but even bringing in out of town talent, they seem to have trouble finding people who remember little things like covering the security cameras… good help is SO hard to find these days.
mexfiles.net 
What;s with your mania about “work”????
why do people have to be presupposed to “work””” bourgeois swine
Hi Richard,
I recently became a reader of your blog. I live in the States but I am originally from Zacatecas. I always heard about Mexican drug cartels and the cold blooded killings, the corruption and everything else that surrounded them. It all seemed foreign to me or at least the part of Mexico I am from until recently with the spread of the zetas to Zacatecas. The zetas have taken such control of the town I am from that nobody wants to go there anymore. I lived in the States since 1995 and we have visited Zacatecas 3 or 4 times since. Until the last time we visited in Dec of 2007 it seemed unchanged like many small towns in Mexico but I guess since then the Zetas started to take control and grow in size. Relatives there tell their families in the States not to visit and to stay away. Zetas prey on people coming from el norte and their vehicles and dollars. The situation sounds very scary. They control the Presdidencia Municipal and the presidenta of course from the PRD. Anyways I appreciate what you are doing very much its really hard to find good information through online local news papers or at least I am very reluctant to believe a lot of their half truth and sketchy stories.