On Tuesday, dozens of armed men kidnapped farm workers in Mexico. Local news media reported that a drug gang may have kidnapped the men to force them to grow marijuana.
Erika de la Garza, the program director for the Latin American Initiative at Rice University, speaks with Martin Savidge about the effect of drug violence on foreign investment in Mexico, government stability and U.S. support of Mexican law enforcement.
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For more on drug violence in Mexico, see our previous report: Mexican drug violence connected to U.S.
11/13/2008 :: 01:19:00 AM
John Walters Says:
By focusing her attention on the the, “arms traffic”, from the US, (where citizens have a right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes), rather than the corruption endemic in the Mexican government, (where law abiding Mexican citizens are prohibited from owning weapons), Erika de la Garza seems to absolve the Mexican government of blame for the situation.
Mexican government officials are free to claim, “It’s not us, it’s that darn 2nd Amendment in the US Bill of Rights that’s the cause of our problems”.
Drug lords and other criminals no doubt favor Mexico’s “strict” gun control laws, since it ensures that their victims are unarmed.
Taking rights away from Americans won’t solve any problems in Mexico. If the Mexican government can’t or won’t protect their own people, maybe it should allow the people the means to defend themselves.