Web Letters: The Border Violence Myth

What is really sad is that the national media has bled into local media markets, like our little rural market media owned by Fox, and has begun to feed international sensationalism rather than local news events. A local murder barely gets coverage. NPR is possibly the only trusted media source available, and that is only via the BBC at five o:clock in the morning.

James L. Pinette

Caribou, ME

I understand Mr. Arana's concern regarding the militarization of our borders, but to state that border violence is a myth is simply irresponsible. Last week in Tijuana, four kidnappers were caught, two of them were Americans; one from La Mesa, California, the other from Los Angeles. They openly admitted being a cell group who work for "El Teo"--ever heard of him? At their safe house were various weapons including AK-47s, AR-15s, police equipment and hundreds of cartridges:

The week before, a "coyote" was caught in Tijuana, with weapons and dope and eleven people he was planning to smuggle across the border. He too, openly admitted working for El Teo, and threatened the Federal Preventative Police who had captured him. Obviously, El Teo is in the human smuggling business and has operatives from the United States working for him:

That same week, a little boy who had been kidnapped from his home in San Bernadino was found in Mexicali by the Mexican Municipal Police.

The FBI reported in 2008 that twenty-six people had been kidnapped from San Diego in the previous year:

Just recently, another San Diegan from Mira Mesa was kidnapped, found badly beaten, handcuffed, wandering the streets of Playas de Tijuana.

It is no secret that leading members of the Arellano cartel have washed their dirty money and bought gorgeous home in East San Diego county, putting these homes in various relatives names. The point is, they are already "here."

Surely you cannot deny that Phoenix is now the kidnapping capital of the United States, and that these kidnappings are run by Mexican organized crime. Although the victims are either illegal immigrants or somehow related to the drug business, does that make this any less violent? Are illegal immigrants to be considered subhuman, not an indicator of a violent spillover from the drug wars?

Even the attorney general of California, Jerry Brown (whom I deeply admire) has stated that our own government is overlooking the dangers to Americans from drug war spillover and that comparing extremist groups, the danger is more eminent from the cartel criminals: "Those [criminals] for the average Californian or the average American, may be a more immediate threat to their well-being."

A recent intelligence report from Stratfor has indicated that the cartel influence is resulting in an increased amount of corruption to our agencies, surely you cannot deny that this in itself is spillover violence. We must not risk the illusion of a Neville Chamberlanesque outlook, for by doing so, we risk the great opportunity to rethink ending prohibition of some drugs and creating a more healthy society by providing treatment and education programs.

Marjorie Ann Drake

Rosarito Beach, Baja California Norte

When the head of the Green Party in Mexico calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty because of the drug violence, there would seem to be a serious problem with the drug cartels. If anything, the American mainstream media didn't report on it for a long time because, it might interfere with trade between the US and Mexico. I believe it would be in Mexico's national interest to put the Mexican army along the border to prevent the smuggling of weapons to the drug cartels. This is not about Mexico as a nation, or Mexicans as a people. It is about the suffering of the Mexican people because of drug violence.

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA