Have you seen the movie Sicario? Lots of people hated it for the over-the-top Hollywood demonstration of a lot of scenes and inaccuracy of filming with respect to the firearms. I’ve been around lots of Mexico at this point and while I haven’t been to Juarez (like in the movie), I can tell you that generally it’s not as scary as you may think… or how the movie portrays USA being heaven and Mexico being hell.
Having said that, the country is the most ‘raw’ place I’ve ever been. Raw, I believe is the most accurate description. Every experience, emotion, sensation, story can and will be felt if you spend enough time in Mexico. It is covered with winners and losers, predators and prey, victims and guilty.
I heard one person put it like, “When God made Mexico he dropped every single spectrum of life, made sure there were no rules and forbid anyone from intervening”
However, I’ll save the movie review & story-telling for another post–I wanted to draw upon a line at the end of the movie in reference to Mexico
Land of Wolves
In many ways, this is absolutely true. Mexico is the Wild Wild West with added modern technology, a general lack of code seasoned with superstition. In many ways, it’s a big paradox.
It is a country with die-hard Catholics who often commit adultery; romantic, loving partners who will show no remorse for your misfortune; honest people who will help you who also seize opportunities to steal items on the side of the road; it’s a country where the wealthiest people who live better than Kings only a few hundred years ago and the poorest people who continue to live like it is 300 years ago share a street; there are political types who actively encourage communist policies who inherently have no trust for police or the state itself; it’s a country where some processes are more streamlined and faster than the most efficient European countries and others are as efficient as a West African nation and most relevant to the data below, it is a country that has areas/states with levels of safety resembling Central Europe and other areas resembling Iraq; overall it’s a country that is so dysfunctional it’s forced to be functional on a micro-scale.
A paradoxical place to say the least.
From OnTheBall Travels, Mexicans are some of the friendliest & hardest working people in the world
I wanted to write this piece to show you some of the realities of living, investing and generally doing business in Mexico just through the lens of crime. No I am not going to name any groups (as thats often dangerous), but I merely want to show that the country is wildly different that travel brochures paint it or that those at mining conferences present who articulate their predictable exploration to development potential.
Mining Companies are lying when they say that everything is great on the ground
Since I’m going to just post stats relevant to crime, I’m not going to spend the plethora of points that highlight the anti-business approaches that the Mexican government has (they are true, hardcore communists), either.
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Underreporting of Crimes
The National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Public Security estimates unreported crimes to be at 93%, citing general distrust of law enforcement as the cause
Homicide Data
Sadly, Mexican officials not only underestimate or underreport petty crime data but the killings are so numerous they are forced to doctor that data, too. Mexican homicide rates range between 20-26 homicides per 100,000. This is quite consistent; however a major flaw in this data is the increasing rise of “disappearances” which are a distinct category of measurement in the country. This has allowed the numbers to be skewed significantly and make it appear like there’s an element of order in presented numbers.
It’s worth mentioning that the number of victims compared to the number of homicides reliably produces a difference of 9-10 cases per day. Suggesting that the above data is coming in short on how many homicides occur daily in the country.
Mexico is the most raw country. You can find absolutely everything in this country. Everything. The best, the strangest and the worst things. The richest of the world and the poorest of the world.
Femicides Per 100,000
Stories
I personally know of stories where people have or decided not to go to the police because the police may or may not be ‘in’ or at least will report TO the guilty person of their confession.
There are numerous stories of domestic violence in any family in Mexico which is often brushed off as to be expected. One story I heard was someone using the dull side of a Machete to strike his wife (!).
I know of one instance where someone in a crime-ridden area decided to remove their camera outside. Why would someone do this in an area with crime? Because of the high likelihood that crime was around the street that could potentially be caught on the camera (theft, drug dealing, license plates), it would be a liability because the owner of the camera and its data files would effectively become witness to the crime. Being a witness, with police not doing anything to protect the citizen, means something bad may happen to you.
Additionally, I had found out from sources on the ground that Sinaloa is in a very, very bad situation.
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“The situation in Sinaloa is truly horrible”
“My *source* has seen 6 dead people just this month” –just outside, lying there? “Yes”
“One of them he saw was still dying”
“Narcos are kidnapping men and boys to fight for them”
Morena (current political party) is increasingly producing more and more absurd crime statistics, with again only about ~10-20% of homicides going reported/recorded. With Sinaloa’s war (in addition to other wars in various states), these numbers will be far different now.
This comes after the state went into an hardcore lockdown due to the extreme narco violence a few months back (Mayo Zambada being allegedly kidnapped and sent to the United States)–it was not safe enough to leave your house for any reason–but this has continued.
The state of Sinaloa is in an ugly civil war between the criminal factions in the state known as the ‘Los Chapitos’ and ‘Mayo Zambada’s’ side of CDS with no signs of it resolving soon.
Share of Population Living in Poverty (Chiapas is way worse now)
Everything Here and MORE is why I wrote this:
Reason for Writing
One reason why I wanted to write this is for the Mexican people themselves. I know it’s common to say that “nobody represents us” while talking about political representatives in the West and while that is true (government do not govern anything they exist for themselves), it is very true in Mexico.
Mexico is a chaotic place where many players all trying to gain influence, power and money. This is true for your poorest person or your wealthiest person. Generally however, the military, the cartel organizations (and all of their syndicate groups beneath them), the government, the police (and its difference levels) all have their own desires, goals and tactics. Problems are solved with silver and lead (if you get what I mean). The player that doesn’t have any meaningful say is the Mexican people–they are simply a long for the ride in the middle caught between dangerous forces.
I believe that for a young Mexican local, especially from a small town, to achieve anything of value and worthwhile with ease and safety, their best solution is to get out of Mexico at this point. [This is to say nothing of retirees who may be drawing from savings]. The country is packed with great food, entertainment, traditions, people, experiences and landscapes, but it’s inherent volatility and outbursts of crime ruin most people’s chance of growing AND preserving wealth, health and security.
