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Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

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111–120 of 233 posts

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#111
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Legalise the drugs and allow legal production - and the cartels will have to find an honest way to make a living like the rest of us have to do. This is magical thinking. Organized crime can make money in other ways. This story is about kidnapping, for example. Organized crime exists in many places where it’s not funded by drug trade.

Given that, according to your profile, you're an appellate lawyer, and the more crime there is, the more work there is for lawyers generally (though maybe not for you personally) that seems like an instance of >“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair ~ 1934 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-ge...

"What a cheap ad hominem" (me, just now)

Searching for their profile on their employers website, and you'll find not a single criminal case. As was to be expected, considering the vast majority of lawsuits are civil law matters.

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#112
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Legalise the drugs and allow legal production - and the cartels will have to find an honest way to make a living like the rest of us have to do. This is magical thinking. Organized crime can make money in other ways. This story is about kidnapping, for example. Organized crime exists in many places where it’s not funded by drug trade.

> Organized crime exists in many places where it’s not funded by drug trade. Organized crime will likely never truly go away, but it has flourished because of the war on drugs (just as it did in America during the prohibition era).

Right, there is a keen difference between organized crime thriving or merely existing. That it would continue to exist misses the point.

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that, according to your profile, you're an appellate lawyer, and the more crime there is, the more work there is for lawyers generally (though maybe not for you personally) that seems like an instance of >“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair ~ 1934 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-ge...

"What a cheap ad hominem" (me, just now) Searching for their profile on their employers website, and you'll find not a single criminal case. As was to be expected, considering the vast majority of lawsuits are civil law matters.

[deleted]

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#114

Criminalization of drugs is a price support program for the cartels. Legalise the drugs and allow legal production - and the cartels will have to find an honest way to make a living like the rest of us have to do.

But isn't aren't drugs de-facto legal in Mexico anyway? The cartels are thought to control the police, judges and politicians enough that they do not fear the rule of law much. If drugs were legalized in Mexico, wouldn't the cartels do what cartels do anyway and prevent everyone else from producing?

Or do you mean make it legal at the destination - the US?

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#115
post #103
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Legalise the drugs and allow legal production - and the cartels will have to find an honest way to make a living like the rest of us have to do. This is magical thinking. Organized crime can make money in other ways. This story is about kidnapping, for example. Organized crime exists in many places where it’s not funded by drug trade.

You serious think that taking away the stream of income that has put trillions of usd in the hands of cartels / organized crime won't have a huge impact?

Look at it another way. Do you really think an industry reaping trillions of dollars is going to go away without a fight?

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#116
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a latino I noticed that Narcos increased the stereotyping of the region, not the other way around.

As a caucasian male, Narcos has made me want to visit Mexico and Colombia and eat yummy food. Reading the New York Times has made me scared of visiting Mexico. Colombia seems okay though.

Mexico City is absolutely swarming in federales, tourist areas seem pretty safe from major crime (though maybe not pickpockets).

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#118
Used to date a girl from Honduras (Tegucigalpa), and heard some real horror stories about the day-to-day crime. One day a gang knocked on her parents door (they owned an apartment) and pretty much gave them a 2-day notice to get out.

They packed their stuff, and left. Their senior neighbor did not - she ended up getting killed. Apparently gangs like that just seize apartments, and use them for criminal activities (prostitution, drugs, kidnappings, torture/executions, etc.).

Her parents eventually managed to get to the US, but her uncle died on the way - victim of some kidnapping scheme, where gangs/cartels snatch up immigrants on the way, and blackmail their families in the target countries.

Suffice to say, we never visited Honduras - but it's pretty surreal to know that this is the everyday stuff a lot of people go through, in Central America. One day everything is normal, the next day you're a refugee, just like that - and there's no justice in sight, because that would mean getting yourself or your family killed.

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#119
post #101

Criminalization of drugs is a price support program for the cartels. Legalise the drugs and allow legal production - and the cartels will have to find an honest way to make a living like the rest of us have to do.

We half-legalized one drug (cannabis) and they pivoted to stealing oil out of pipelines.

...which is a vastly less lucrative business. It's much easier to protect pipelines than to stop two humans exchanging money for drugs in private.

A few more pivots like that, and the cartels will be toothless.

Re: Stalking her daughter’s killers across Mexico, one by one

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather live in an American city then in a Mexican city. Granted, I'd pick a European city over both (albeit that's country dependant, Southern Europe city life is getting considerably worse)

Controlled by income? I will pick Mexico every single time. At 800 USD/month you can live a middle class life in plenty of very nice and safe places in Mexico. Try that in America.

That's not what "controlling for income" means. So let's make this clear, you would rather make $843/month (median) in Mexico vs $3714/month (median) in America?
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