More than drugs, and more than MexFiles

Aguachile, a relatively new blog (with nearly daily posts since the beginning of July), is THE best source I’ve seen on Mexican politics in English (including this site), and better than much of what is available in Spanish.

I recognize that some of that appreciation comes from Aguachile confirming some of my own concerns and issues, as in his (and I will only say that Aguachile is a he) post today on Senadora Rosario Ibarra de Piedra:

Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, head of the Senate´s Human Rights Commission, reminds us of a truth that needs to be repeated ever more often in these days of disappearances and extrajudicial executions:

“I am worried about the situation that happens in the country. One has resorted to a means very much utilized by the government, which is to detain citizens and claim  they are narcos, that they are delinquents and belong to organized crime, because now everyone is walking around masked with hoods, blaming everything on crime, but I say that the fault, the responsibility, is of the government.”

Words to consider. It brings to mind what happened in the early months of the organized mass murder under the Argentine dictatorship, beginning in 1976. As men dressed in civilian clothes snatched away young men and women from the streets, it was not uncommon to hear, from their neighbours, “Well, por algo será. They must have done something.”

While some of the murdered and kidnapped politicians, police officers, functionaries, members of social movements in Mexico undoubtedly had connections to organized crime, one must fall into the temptation of thinking this as a first resort: The ¨War on Drugs” provides a very convenient cover for powers that be to rid oneself of bothersome opponents or mere witnesses.

Senadora Ibarra, knows what she is talking about, her politically active son having been disappeared in 1975, propelling her into international prominence as a voice for the disappeared and other victims of state-sponsored violence. She is someone to whom attention must be paid, although — unfortunately — too many of those who comment on Mexican affairs ignore these important voices in favor of repeating what the present administration presents as facts.

The Senadora is saying what is being said by a number of Mexicans, but you might not know that from those of us who write about the country. While I try — and other alternative types try, as well as the better reporters try — to get beyond the “official story”, we often stick to the immediate and the sensational, and reduce Mexico’s political scene to Calderón v drugs… with maybe a side glance at some potential successors and rivals to today’s names, missing trends and figures who are much more likely to affect the course of Mexican politics over the next several years.

Aguachile is essential reading, and regulars are urged to bookmark it or subscribe to its feed.