Mexican Police Capture Leader of Juárez Cartel

Just a quick news update I found. I also found a thoughtful comment that someone wrote about it that I thought I would share. Don´t get freaked out.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials said Sunday that they had captured a leader of the Juárez Cartel, Jesús Salas Aguayo, the man in charge of the gang’s operations in Ciudad Juárez during a convulsion of violence that made the city one of the world’s most murderous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/world/americas/mexican-police-capture-leader-of-juarez-cartel.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The government cannot simply 'impose' itself on the regions where the cartel holds sway. Since the Zetas came into existence in the late 90's, Cartels now generally have a highly trained, well-equiped armed division, as well as divisions of sicarios (assassins) from the barrios. These 'soldiers', such as La Linea of the Juarez Cartel, carry out their operations like professionals, scouting targets for weeks beforehand, planning everything out and bribing whoever needs to be bribed to get it done. These guys are not the street gangs like the Barrio Aztecas - they're organised, efficient and difficult to find. They operate quitely, quickly and are well paid. Some say that moving the army into Juarez was a success, whilst a lot of others say the violence died down because the Sinaloans won, or a cease fire was agreed. Either way, the cartels continued their way irrespective of the Mexican government.
To understand the Drug War you have to understand Mexico's history in relation to drugs. Drugs, especially in Sinaloa and Juarez, and now across vast swathes of the country, are deeply embedded within the culture, politics and economics of society. The government at various levels have been involved and protected the drug industry for years. Plazas (or drug territory) were often assigned to drug bosses by police chiefs and mayors, and during the eighties the Guadalajara Cartel members enjoyed the protection of the DFS and various levels of government. Now, in more modern times, it is even more imbedded. Corruption is Mexico is rife. The municipal police are notriously corrupt. In Juarez they were well known as another armed division of the Juarez cartel (in an interesting piece of narco-propaganda, the Sinaloa cartel would leave a list of police they were going to kill put on the Monument to Fallen Police in Juarez), and the chief of police of Juarez was once arrested smuggling drugs for the cartel (2007, 2008). The municipal police was cleaned up and disbanded in 2008 when the Federal Government got involved, but the point is clear - corruption, drugs and Mexico are so tangled together it's difficult to untangle them.
Reporters are murdered for reporting on narco activities, politicians who stand against them are murdered, policemen and women are 'lifted', rivals are killed, musicians singing narco corridos are shot down. The cartels are not just a drug organisation - they have sophisticated political arms that control how they are seen, how they are heard and what their image is. They entice in young men with promises of trucks, cars and money in a world where the average wage in maquiladores (free trade zone factories) is as low as $40 a week, something which can be tied to the 'wonders' of NAFTA and free trade in general, and the young men come running. Los Ninis (kids not in school or work) are targeted by gangs and cartels. They offer them regular work and pay where the state and society offers them nothing. For some, the Cartel is the best there is - and that's a social issue that needs addressing. As long as becoming a sicario for the Artist Assassins is easier than going to school this will continue.
KidGavilan- Reddit

Tepoztlan

After a few days in Mexico City doing the essentials- Chapultepec, Reforma, Centro Historico, Lucha Libre, Zócalo, Palacio Nacional; my dad and I headed about an hour south of Mexico City on a bus to Tepotzlan. Tepotzlan is a Pueblo Mágico (magic village) known for it´s homeopathic treatments and remedies like stone massages, sweat lodges, and general overall spiritualness. The town is tucked in between these gnarly mountains. 

Cue gnarly mountain picture:

We arrived on Palm Sunday, so everyone was in the main square in front of the church with woven palm leaves. I guess I had never really understood why it was palm Sunday before. Makes sense. 

The main attraction in Tepotzlan is a pyramid constructed on top of a mountain. Being the studs we are, my dad and I thought we would have no problem hiking up said mountain. The hike started off with proper steps, but shortly the steps gave way to rocks that sort of functioned as steps. The hike was literally straight up the side of a mountain. 

The hike was kind of like being in an Indiana Jones movie. The jungle we were hiking through was very lush. But crap was it hard. 

Quick breather

The very last part was this insanely steep cut-back trail with no handrails in between a canyon. 

Finally made it. One of us had to replace our shirts due to sweat. Not saying who.

On the top there were these crazy little animals that were super cute, but there were a billion signs saying not to feed them. 

View from the top back down at the city of Tepotzlan.

We hiked back down and joined some of my friends that also happened to be in Tepotzlan for some Micheladas and bongo music in a roof top bar. Then we headed to Taxco. 

Taxco

Dad came down to visit for 5 days and we decided to take a trip to the old silver mining town of Taxco, Guerrero. The town was a bit of a time capsule as the most popular car was by far the VW Bug. In this picture I captured a red, blue, green, and white one. 

All the taxis in Taxco were white bugs. Mexico City used to be like this with green taxis, so our thought is they must have sold a bunch to Taxco after they started phasing them out. 

Imitation Christ the Redeemer statue in Taxco. This statue is only about 15 years old leaving very little doubt as to which came first. I copied what everyone does in Rio. 

This was our amazing hotel. Hotel Los Arcos. $60/night. 

The little bug that could. These streets were amazingly narrow and steep, but somehow the bugs could make it up with their tiny 1300 cc engine. 

The typical streets in Taxco. It was like being in the Alfama neighborhood of Lisbon. 

http://www.leroyinargentina.blogspot.mx/2012/08/lisboa-portugal.html

Lisbon:

Taxco:

Just some guy walking through the plaza with his donkey. 

Dad getting a $1.00 shoe shine. Lasted about 10 minutes.

Main church in the Zócalo

More hotel shots

View up to see the Christ statue

The rigourous hike up to the Christ statue with a local dog giving zero shits.

Keep hiking up to the Christ statue. No hand rails, naturally.

Mexico: Press Freedom

Back in the fall, I wrote a blog about how the Mexico government botched a high speed rail project from Mexico City to Queretaro as only 1 company put in a bid, and it was later discovered that that 1 company had built a $7 million dollar home for the President's wife. Woops.
http://fulbrightguero.blogspot.com/2014/11/beyond-tacos-political-turmoil-in-mexico.html

That was the second blow to President Enrique Peña Nieto's popularity. The other was the police brutally murdering 43 students who were protesting. Anywhoo, the reporter who brought the $7 million dollar home scandal ("Casa Blanca Scandal") to light was a reporter named Carmen Aristegui.

She is an extremely popular radio personality who is always trying to expose corruption and conflicts of interests on her morning talk show. I sometimes listen. She is kind of annoying, but she serves an important purpose. Press Freedom in Mexico isn't exactly stellar. Out of 180 countries ranked in 2014, Mexico is 152nd, just after the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and just before Iraq. Yikes. The left most column is 2014 and then it goes back annually. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

Two weeks ago the two lead investigative reporters that helped Carmen uncover the Casa Blanca Scandal were inexplicably fired, allegedly for political reasons from the scandal. Carmen believed that she had enough political clout and popularity that she put an ultimatum to the radio station, MVS Radio. Hire them back, or fire her too. They opted for the latter. So just like that, Mexico lost one of the few journalists trying to bring transparency to the system. It's too bad. Here are the reactions from major newspapers:

NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/world/americas/in-mexico-firing-of-carmen-aristegui-highlights-rising-pressures-on-news-media.html?_r=0
"The Aristegui team’s report on the mansion, which appeared in November, opened a national debate about corruption and conflicts of interest and helped strengthen anticorruption legislation working its way through Congress. It also put Mr. Peña Nieto’s government further on the defensive; it was already reeling in the face of public anger over the disappearance of 43 rural college students in September, allegedly at the hands of a drug gang and a corrupt mayor."

Economist
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21646800-crusading-anchorwoman-pushed-air-radio-silenced
"Behind this falling out are problems that systematically undermine journalism in Mexico, where the media have long been dominated by political power. Many outlets, including MVS Radio, rely on the government for advertising and other perks. The biggest television networks, Televisa and TV Azteca, are a pliant duopoly."

The incident makes the comedy "La Dictadura Perfecta," or the "The Perfect Dictatorship" about how the news company Televisa can get anyone it wants elected to political office given their clout, all the more believable.

Centro Historico

My blogs are currently at a 2 week delay. After Sandra and I got back from Guadalajara and Tequila, we explored the Centro Histórico. I had overlooked the Centro Histórico for the last few months because there are ton of people there and it's not exactly relaxing, but it was very much worth it. Mostly pictures in this post.

The most Mexican bug ever

Molcajete. It's a lava rock bowl filled with all kinds of meat, cactus, onion, and salsa verde. We ate it with freshly made corn tortillas. 

We found this in a market in Mexico City. It's jamón ibérico, which comes from Sandra's home town of Guijuelo, Spain (population 7,000).

Mercado de San Juan. You can buy ANYTHING here. I'm told you can even buy lion meat. There were tuna, sharks, piglets, sheep, agave worms (gusanos de maguey), turkeys, geese, chicken, etc...

After the Mercado de San Juan, we went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes to see some of the works by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco (same guy from the Guadalajara chapel). All of the murals are extremely jam packed and complicated. They tell stories, but if the guide isn't there to tell you the story, it's almost impossible to figure out. 

Prostitute with some guns and stuff

Guy that looks like Hitler and some animal faced people.

Apparently "La Gran Victoria" is a reference to the battle won by Mexico on 5 de mayo (not their independence day). 

In this picture the donkeys have blue eyes. Apparently, their blue eyes symbolizes that they are foreigners (gringos). The blue eyed donkeys in suits are writing a contract to take advantage of the Mexican people. Each character in the mural has a meaning just like the donkeys, it's just really hard to figure out.

Something about Robin Hood.

This mural was amazing. It showed the history of everything. You can see Lenin on the right side. There were tons of references to communism, nazism, science, the elite class, the proleteriat, and others. 

The view from the Torre LatinAmericana. Mexico City is a BIG place. Sandra and I discovered that instead of paying $80 pesos to go to the crowded viewing deck, you can pay nothing and go to the bar 2 floors below the viewing deck and have a beer for $45 pesos with a table. 

View of Palacio de Bellas Artes

Guadalajara & Tequila

Sandra came for her Spring Break, and rather than going to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta and getting shit faced and sun burned like most gringos would, we decided to go to Guadalajara, Mexico, the second biggest city after DF with 4 million people. We took the ETN bus, which is pretty much like flying first class. 

The Zócalo of Guadalajara with the iconic church. This church is super iconic for Guadalajara and taxi drivers would have just the outline as a bumper sticker, two triangles connected with an arc. People in DF don't like people in Guadalajara. This seems typical of any two big cities in close proximity: London and Paris, Barcelona and Madrid, New York and Boston, San Francisco and LA, Shelton and Olympia...

Mercado de San Juan. HUGE market with clothing, food, leather, house hold supplies, everything.

At the mercado, we tried the Guadalajara typical dishes, Torta Ahogada (drowning sub sandwich), birria (goat stew), and carne en su jugo (meat stew). Below is the birria. The goat gave it a very strong flavor, but I really enjoyed it. Sandra, not so much.

One of the musts in Guadalajara is the Hospicio Cabañas museum. At first we were like, "what the eff?" as there was a bunch of crappy modern art like these newspapers on the ground,

Or this guitar string nailed to a wall...

But then we got to the crown jewel, the murals painted by José Clemente Orozco who painted the walls and ceiling of a chapel. The Michelangelo of Mexico. The murals showed the history of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. It showed the Spaniards are robotic murder machines and was pretty gruesome. Sandra was surprised to see her country cast is such light.

This mural was painted on the interior or a dome. Therefore, depending on where you are standing, the perspective of the figures completely changes as different characters get larger and smaller and change orientation. Here the man/devil on fire looks like he is walking, whereas on the other side of the chapel, he is laying. 

Couldn´t resist

These murals were also done by Orozco, but at the Palacio Municipal, not the chapel. These murals show Mexico´s fight against Nazism. Also extremely impressive.

After feeling accomplished and culturalized after our day of seeing downtown Guadalajara and the museums, we went to Tequila, Mexico. We hired a guy to take us in his personal car. He picked us up at 10 am, and it was literally just us, him, and his girlfriend until 8 pm. He explained the whole process starting from the agave fields (below):

This one was new for me. Horse parking:

More agave fields. Plants take about 5-7 years to reach maturity.

To the Jimador. Yes, that is a brand of tequila, but it is referring to the guy who cuts open the piñas, or agave hearts, for harvesting using a sharpened spade. The spade is extremely sharp and the jimador sharpens it after every 3 plants or so. 

To the horno, where they cook the piñas with steam for several hours.

Ummm... I thought I had some more pictures showing the distillation process, but we started drinking tequila samples so... you can refer to my post from 2013 showing the process:

http://leroyinargentina.blogspot.mx/2013/12/guadalajara-tapatio-y-tequila.html

The proper technique to taste tequila is:

1) Absolutely no lime or salt. Sorry. This is to mask the flavor of shitty tequilas.

2) Taste a few drops of the tequila to get your mouth ready for the tasting.

3) Put the tequila in your mouth and swish it around for between 3 and 10 seconds, kind of like Listorine. The goal is to get it to touch all parts of your mouth.

4) Swallow tequila. Don´t open your mouth. Inhale deeply through your nose and exhale slowly. 

5) Open mouth.

6) Perform a loud Mexican yell. Aiii Aiiiiiiiiiii AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (optional).

This sign says "Baby on Board", but then you read the subtitle "(but with moderation)" and realize that it is actually saying "Drink on Board."

Mural in downtown Tequila.

And eventually we got a little tipsy, and this photo happened. We only bought one bottle of tequila for about $12, so we didn´t go too crazy. Not like some of my friends when we would go wine tasting in Napa who would buy $300 of wine futures.

Typical market with spices in downtown Tequila.

Overall, Guadalajara is extremely nice, and it is shocking that I am the first Fulbright to have traveled there this year.