Happy 2011...first post of the new year. Local news first - the last week of January was a little hairy with a shootout here in our town. The area Zeta comnander, known as "El Lino," was killed along with six of his henchmen. I'd seen him being driven around town in his nice Mercedes which is now, unfortunately, ridden with bullet holes.
The shootout happened around 2:30 pm on the afternoon of Monday, 24 January and the northeast exit of our town was on lockdown for 3 hours. The army has been busy with increased patrols and have been flushing the Zetas out of their hiding places. The story can be read on a very good news source I recently found that covers the Mexican Drug Wars in depth (in English) so bookmark it:
In other news, The Trans-Border Institute out of San Diego State University, has released a report entitled Drug Violence in Mexico: Data & Analysis Through 2010 (pdf format). The report is excellent and chock-full of good data and research (hat tip to the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars website). The body count is now almost at 35,000 and the report notes that Drug Wars related murders increased 60% in 2010. What will 2011 bring?
And, finally, I would like to share something that, I believe, reinforces the work I do here in Mexico. Sometimes I have felt so helpless over the last three years as I have watched this country explode in violence and despair. As a humble professor of New Testament Studies at a Bible Institute that trains Mexican pastors and church workers, sometimes it's hard to see how my work contributes to the immediate well-being of the society at large. However, I've often heard that the only acceptable way that a person can get out of the drug cartels or gangs is to become an evangelical Christian. When I read a chilling interview on the Borderland Beat, "It Was Just Better to Shoot Them," about an interview between author Charles Bowden and a former cartel hitman (which was made into a documentary entitled, "El Sicario, Room 164"), I got to the end of the interview and read this:
"During the last part of the documentary, the sicario (hitman) explains his transformation from 'la vida loca' to a practicing Christian."
There is hope even for the most cold-hearted, violent person! I'm training my students to be peacemakers and reconcilers here in a war-torn and violence-ridden place. I have encouraged them not to be afraid to reach out to the cartels. In reading the last of the article, my hope in what I'm doing was reinforced.