Over on the Conversion Diary blog, Jen is doing her 7 Quick Takes for Friday. In among the lighthearted comments about her approaching due date and gingerbread people, there's this, which sticks out like a gingerbread man who's holding a gun to your head:
Is anyone else seriously concerned about what's going on in Mexico?What the crap? Apparently, the national sport of Mexico has changed from soccer to mass executions (actually, less painful than soccer), and nobody in America is saying "boo" about it. How many stories like this are going to have to pile up before this becomes news? And how are we coming with construction of that border fence?
Our families have a lot of ties to Mexico, and over the past couple of months we're starting to see more and more emails flying around from our Mexican friends talking about how the situation down there is degenerating. For example:
- The daughter of a co-worker of my dad's who is from Mexico was out with her daughter, husband and his brother. When they stopped at a light some gunmen came and shot the husband and brother. She threw herself on her daughter. They put a gun to her head but decided to let her and child go.
- Juarez, which borders the U.S., is basically an open war zone. Friends we know who have ties to the police force there say that the police are under strict orders to wait 45 minutes before responding to gunshot calls since the cartels kill all the witnesses, police included, when they murder someone. There have been 200 murders so far in Juarez this month.
- Speaking of Juarez, evidently the cartels released a list on Monday of people they planned to kill, and have effectively worked down the list so far. They also have announced that they're going to behead the mayor and his family.
- We have other friends who live in various parts of Mexico, and almost all who can afford it have had to hire security guards for their families and don't drive alone anymore. Those who can't just try to keep their heads down and stay safe.
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