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Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

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Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#81

Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years. For all Steven Pinker writes about the decline of violence, this cannot be in anyway true about Latin America. The crime rate is up 10% since the early 2000’s, even after aggressive “statistical management” by the governments. After including what crimes aren’t reported, it’s probably closer to 30% or 40%. The Navy Seals have done tra…

Mexico and Brazil are on different continents and are very far from each other.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#82
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years.” This is a gross generalization. There are over 600 million people in Latin America and 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Each has had different levels of development, violence and corruption, and overall are vastly improved over the past 10-20 years. Brazil, the largest country in Latam, despite its problems has still…

In a thread about Uber drivers in Brazil scamming, there are people talking about how it's a death sentence to walk into the wrong favela. Are they wrong? That's not a normal, functioning, society, regardless of GDP.

This is also true in places in the US

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never felt unsafe in Mexico and actually enjoy it a lot more than my yearly visits to the US. Incredibly friendly people, great food and beautiful places. Regarding violence, I find that most drug related violence stays contained within the cartel-world. Whilst in the US, random shootings are.. random.. Not that I feel unsafe in the US either though, the odds are pretty good that nothing will happen in either count…

> Whilst in the US, random shootings are.. random.. What you are saying is astonishingly untrue. https://crimeresearch.org/2017/04/number-murders-county-54-u...

I was basing myself mostly on things like mass shootings such as during a recent eSports competition or the school shootings.

But, my previous message might have indicated an idea of random shootings everywhere every day, which is not what I meant.

As mentioned, it is not that I feel unsafe in either country and I realise most parts are safe.

Thank you for the interesting link though!

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#84

Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years. For all Steven Pinker writes about the decline of violence, this cannot be in anyway true about Latin America. The crime rate is up 10% since the early 2000’s, even after aggressive “statistical management” by the governments. After including what crimes aren’t reported, it’s probably closer to 30% or 40%. The Navy Seals have done tra…

This is xenophobic nonsense. I have travelled extensively all over Latin America (a massive and heterogeneous place by the way) for the last 20+ years and literally none of this rings true at all.

I mean are you extending this “age of violence” theory to Chicago, or Orlando nightclubs, the Las Vegas strip, or a typical American public school?

Or do you confine your contempt to brown people who speak a different language?

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#85
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years.” This is a gross generalization. There are over 600 million people in Latin America and 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Each has had different levels of development, violence and corruption, and overall are vastly improved over the past 10-20 years. Brazil, the largest country in Latam, despite its problems has still…

In a thread about Uber drivers in Brazil scamming, there are people talking about how it's a death sentence to walk into the wrong favela. Are they wrong? That's not a normal, functioning, society, regardless of GDP.

Have you been to Baltimore or Detroit?

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#86
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legalizing marijuana (btw I’m a huge proponent) was supposed to hurt the cartels and decrease violence but has made cartels much more violent and brutal. Instead of pushing weed across the border, they’ve been heavily pushing Meth, Heroine, and Cocaine instead. Their distribution from the north east to Chicago to LA is insane, they’ve got people hooked on these terrible drugs. Look at the stats of drug deaths from di…

> Instead of pushing weed across the border, they’ve been heavily pushing Meth, Heroine, and Cocaine instead. Citation needed. They've always pushed all of the above across the border, but you seem to be conflating two unrelated things: legalization in a few states with the opioid epidemic. What seems to be a far more likely driver of the opioid epidemic is the availability of cheap synthetic opiates like fentanyl th…

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cocaine-meth-opioids-all-fuel-r...

First thing I searched up, not the article I originally read but I’ll find it. You tell me how is cocaine related to opiates? Cocaine overdose deaths doubled since 2013...that’s 5 years and it DOUBLED. Cartels are pushing all of these especially meth.

Actually ignore the first link, check out the .gov link here on overdose deaths: https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/o...

Both links have good visuals. Meth quadrupled in 5 years, FIVE times as many deaths from 1 drug, heroin increased even by a larger magnitude.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#87

"The armed conflict between the cartels and Mexico’s military, which has dragged on for 12 years, now ranks as the deadliest war in the world apart from Syria." Do people still voluntarily go on holiday in Mexico?

I’ve been to every country in Central America from Mexico to panama.

I was in areas that had active gang wars between rival cartels, where gangs were driving around in technicals and that had razor wire up on the walls of the hotel I stayed at.

I never once felt like I was in danger, and I was going into way risky areas — comparatively speaking the resort areas are Disney land.

There’s no money and a lot of risk in fucking around with tourists. In fact in one town i went to in Guatemala was heavily implied that the locals murdered a guy that robbed a tourist so they wouldn’t risk the tourist dollars coming into town.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#88

Basically Latin America has been like the entire Middle East for the last 10 years. For all Steven Pinker writes about the decline of violence, this cannot be in anyway true about Latin America. The crime rate is up 10% since the early 2000’s, even after aggressive “statistical management” by the governments. After including what crimes aren’t reported, it’s probably closer to 30% or 40%. The Navy Seals have done tra…

Very different, the middle east violence is sectarian and religious based, latin america is a crime problem and it is hard to generalise anyway because some countries are doing well in both places and some don't.

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#89
post #72
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legalizing marijuana (btw I’m a huge proponent) was supposed to hurt the cartels and decrease violence but has made cartels much more violent and brutal. Instead of pushing weed across the border, they’ve been heavily pushing Meth, Heroine, and Cocaine instead. Their distribution from the north east to Chicago to LA is insane, they’ve got people hooked on these terrible drugs. Look at the stats of drug deaths from di…

If they legalized meth and cocaine that would remove the cartel from the market.

Then they’d push heroin, fenatyl, synthetic opiates, etc. they’d push weapons, other illegal stuff and no way should meth be legal in flyover country. Cocaine is mehh no strong feelings either way there

Re: Mexico’s drug cartels are moving into the gasoline industry

#90
post #25

This story collapses a lot of popular narratives. That peoples in USA buying drugs are the drivers of violence in Mexico. That legalizing drugs would make the cartels and the violence disappear.

>That legalizing drugs would make the cartels and the violence disappear.

I'm super skeptical of this argument. My sense is that they'd just diversify into other industries and create their own black markets - and it seems they're already doing this.

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