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TERROR—MEXICAN STYLE

The American press has been remiss in documenting for the U.S. public the insidious horror that has been progressively underway below our southern border, for about fifteen years. It has now crossed the border and spreads its poison in cities of the United States such as Los Angeles and Chicago, where there are large Mexican immigrant populations. This reign of terror is as disastrous to individual Mexican families, and the populous in general, as that other terror we hear about on a daily basis.

During the 1990s, kidnapping gangs began preying on Mexico’s wealthiest families, mainly in the Mexico City area. In order to convince the families of their serious intentions, when they submitted their demands for ransom, they would deliver a part of a victim’s body, such as an ear or a finger. As this continued, the wealthy community began to take defensive measures such as hiring body guards, ordering armor-plated vehicles and altering the routes taken to and from their daily activities.

As the kidnappers’ pickings became slimmer with the introduction of these stymieing measures, they turned to less affluent families, who had considered themselves immune to the high-stakes hijinks. As the victimized on the descending economic scale began to devise defensive measures of their own, the kidnappers continued to slide down that scale, to the point now where no one is safe. In some cases, people in neighborhoods have family members kidnapped just for the content of their ATM deposits. Now, reports are beginning to reveal the continuation of this practice in the U.S.

Considering the assumed immigration status of the U.S.-resident victims, obviously, there is little or no police involvement in these matters. In Mexico, even when these things are reported, law enforcement is equally ineffective. An additional problem in Mexico is the fact that often the perpetrators are woefully underpaid police officers. In instances, where they are not directly involved, they may be otherwise complicit with the kidnappers.

This kidnapping phenomenon has the complete Mexican population terrorized. It is the number one topic of discussion. Government and police sources constantly issue pro forma statements, but the populous is aware of their ineptness. As a consequence, all sorts of community energizing is underway, in an attempt at auto-protection. When I was in Mexico City about three years ago, there was a discussion on television about the real possibility of surgically implanting digital monitors in people, as a means of locating kidnap victims.

Apart from the physical kidnapping, an innovation has been introduced that is called, “virtual” kidnapping. That is when ransom money is demanded of a family, by telephone, for the release of a person who actually has not been kidnapped. The family is made to believe that an individual who is in school, at work or otherwise occupied, actually is in the hands of the kidnappers. The “virtual” kidnappings are timed so as to have the ransom paid before the ruse if discovered.

Physical kidnappings can be perpetrated anywhere. Carjacking is a common means of getting both the vehicle and using the person(s) to secure the ransom. In Mexico City, in particular, where huge traffic jams make carjacking a fairly easy sport, motorists are extremely nervous and constantly on the alert. I remember driving from the airport in a taxi, when the driver perceived a slight glance from another vehicle. Almost automatically, he immediately activated the door-locking device. Since people also are often are robbed and kidnapped by taxi drivers and their accomplices, the only safe taxis are like the one for which I prepaid at the airport. No sensible person ever hails a taxi cab on the street, anywhere in Mexico City. The only safe way to use a cab is to ask for a “carro de sitio,” which can be dispatched by a hotel, restaurant or other business.

We often hear about the drug cartels and their corresponding police corruption. Surprise, surprise! Those same individuals are involved in the kidnapping racket. The criminal element in Mexico is so well heeled that it easily controls law enforcement. When police—or government—officials fail to yield to this greater power, heads roll—literally! We have heard less about the beheadings, where recalcitrant heads are rolled out on crowded dance floors, on one hand, and strewn about certain fields in the border area, on the other, for the purpose of effectively punctuating the fact of, “who is in charge.”

Terror? Yes--right in our backyard—and now on our front lawn! With Bush still around, Mexico should be as lucky as Iraq!