The sword of Juarez-November 2008
There’s a sword hanging over Juarez. The sword of Juarez. Murder. 1500, this year and we have a month to go. A drug war? A crazy’s war. Get it over with. Somebody win the war for turf, already. Nobody cares. Get it over with, one side win, one side lose, then send your drug shit to the gringos and let the people go free, let them come out of their houses at night, let the undertakers worry about their bills, again. Somebody win, already, because nobody is winning at all.Get back to your stealing and corruption and verve. Get it over with and then we’ll try and figure out what to do with the blood lusting loonies that have been unearthed, we’ll go back to trying to understand why a country that has been living on booming oil revenues for over forty years has such a deep “underclass (read that as low dinero and no social services that matter), that when the narco-biz boys started the shooting, the poor kids from the outlying colonias went, whoopee, let’s get in on the killing.” Surely, the murdering is an addiction. How do we detox that? The situation is now beyond fear. It’s pure depression. All the worse for a people who are traditionally and deeply committed to putting a smile up against any situation. Depressed about being depressed.I ask friends, how’s it going? Can I do anything? I watch Juarez from my window and all I can do is write feeble emails.
Distorted view of Juarez from my window, Nov. 2008
My friends reply in shorter and shorter sentences:
“It’s a difficult time to be in Juarez,” writes one.
“Difficult,” writes another.
“It’s hard…we’ll be all right.”
“Twenty five dead, last night…heard the shooting.”
And on and on and on…
Today the news from Mumbai. 125 dead.
Big deal, CNN (well, yeah, it is a big deal. but this is a huge deal)!
Get your eyes to Juarez! 1500 hundred in a war for drug distribution turf, all to be sent to the good ole USA.
There’s a sword hanging over this city and it’s used every day.
And, especially, every long night.
