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Mexico Voters Fear Nation on Edge of Chaos
ABC News ^ | May 17, 2006 | JULIE WATSON

Posted on 05/18/2006 12:35:37 AM PDT by one more state

Police enraged by the kidnapping of six officers club unarmed detainees. A bloody battle between steelworkers and police leaves two miners dead. Drug lords post the heads of decapitated police on a fence to show who's in charge.

Less than two months before Mexicans elect their next president, many fear the country is teetering on the edge of chaos a perception that could hurt the ruling National Action Party's chances of keeping the presidency and benefit Mexico's once-powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party, whose candidate has been trailing badly.

Some blame President Vicente Fox for a weak government. Others say rivals are instigating the violence to create that impression, hoping to hurt National Action candidate Felipe Calderon, who has a slight lead in recent polls.

A poll published Friday in Excelsior newspaper found 50 percent of respondents feared the government was on the brink of losing control. The polling company Parametria conducted face-to-face interviews at 1,000 homes across Mexico. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

In April, suspected drug lords posted the heads of two police officers on a wall outside a government building where four drug traffickers died in a Jan. 27 shootout with officers in the Pacific resort of Acapulco.

A sign nearby read: "So that you learn to respect."

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: corruption; mexico; narcodemocracy
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To: philman_36
Your comments are funny, but really, marijauna is no laughing matter any more. I've heard that the THC levels in the pot of today have greatly increased from what they were in the 60's and 70's. THC levels so high, in fact, that schizophrenia may be a side effect. (Perhaps that explains some drug dealer's behavior").

That's one way to destroy a culture, whether intentionally or inadvertently.
61 posted on 05/18/2006 6:08:25 AM PDT by khnyny
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To: khnyny
I've heard that the...
Oh no, not the "everyone knows that "__________"...again!
You can't always go with what you've heard. People lie for a variety of reasons.
What do you know? What can you validate yourself?
62 posted on 05/18/2006 6:30:21 AM PDT by philman_36
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To: ClaireSolt
"The average remittance is about $1,000/yr, so you would not really expect that to buy much more than some tamales and beans."

$1,000.00/yr is a butt-load of cash for most of these folks. I seem to recall several years ago when I was down in Honduras building a road that folks would stand in line for several hours waiting to get day-labor at our base-camp. The daily rate was 15 Limpiras per day ($3.00)

Greenbacks still go a long way. Therein lies the danger - when complete national economies rely on remittances as a significant percentage of their GNP, if said remittances dry up due to these folks getting locked up, deported, etc. it has the potential to wreck these economies, further exacerbating an already bad situation.

I am in no way in favor of illegal immigration. What has to be done is document these folks in the States. get them to pay taxes and their fair share of the burden and THEN they can send their remittances.
63 posted on 05/18/2006 6:33:28 AM PDT by roaddog727 (eludium PU36 explosive space modulator)
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To: Ditter

Well, we went into Iraq to free the people there from tyranny. Why not Mexico? It would solve a heck of a lot of problems we've had re: 'refugees'. But then, we'd have to deal with the harsh criticism of the UN and other countries that might hate us....(oh wait).


"I think we should take Mexico over by military force and straighten it out before that happens."


64 posted on 05/18/2006 6:54:02 AM PDT by XenaLee
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To: roaddog727
30-40% of the following country's GDP is based on transfers from "immigrants" to the US:

Mexico
Honduras
Guatemala
El Salvador
Panama
Columbia.

Sorry, my fellow SoFla Freeper friend. Remittances from not just the U.S., but every other country abroad comprise only 4 percent of ColOmbia's GDP. (source) Don't know about the rest of your numbers.

65 posted on 05/18/2006 7:00:31 AM PDT by King of Florida (A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.)
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To: philman_36

with no lasers?
Damn, I forgot the lasers!
Ill tempered mutated sea bass, with "lasers".

With frickin' laser beams.


66 posted on 05/18/2006 7:09:39 AM PDT by ByDesign
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To: King of Florida

Scratch Columbia then.

My Error. Garbled transmission from my source.


67 posted on 05/18/2006 7:20:53 AM PDT by roaddog727 (eludium PU36 explosive space modulator)
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To: roaddog727

You are making an assumption that ambitious people in other countries are not making. Just because they are earning $3/day doesn't mean that they don't want and couldn't easily spend $300/day. That is where the discontent comes in. We have been exporting movies showing Hollywood mansions with swimming pools for 50 years, and that is what they have been wanting. I was reading about a mall on the border of Texas where Victoria's Secret does a big business with Mexicans. They know about and want the best.


68 posted on 05/18/2006 7:24:30 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
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To: ClaireSolt

That's not my problem.

Live within your means.

Pull yourself up by your boots straps and EARN it.


69 posted on 05/18/2006 7:33:15 AM PDT by roaddog727 (eludium PU36 explosive space modulator)
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To: Joe Boucher

Fox's tenure has certainly been a disappointment, but I find it hard to focus all the blame on him. So many forces in Mexico are allied against reform -- corrupt politicians, selfish oligarchs, Marxist "intellectuals," drug dealing cartels. Seems all of them would prefer chaos to progress.

Mexico needs to embrace capitalism and foreign investment. When you see the strides made by a country like India, which has all Mexico's problems and more, it becomes harder and harder to justify the excuses of the entrenched powers that be. While not the strong man many hoped for, Fox was at least a businessman. The alternative will only be worse.

The US needs to demand reciprocity. One way or another, we are going to continue to absorb poor people who can't make it in Mexico. So how can that country refuse to welcome investors who can create jobs within its own borders?


70 posted on 05/18/2006 7:43:45 AM PDT by joylyn
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To: BunnySlippers
The trouble with Mexico is,it is a modern day (medieval) fiefdom. From what I have read something like only 17 families own the entire country. So what you have is a small group of super rich who own just about everything a very small middle class and the rest who have basically nothing. We can thank the Spain for that! I bet some of those 17 families can trace their heritage all the way back 1500's Spain.

The poor in Mexico live no better off than peasants of the middle ages. That country is so ripe for a revolution. Unfortunately it would be a communist take over and the results would be worse.

71 posted on 05/18/2006 7:44:57 AM PDT by painter (We celebrate liberty which comes from God not from government.)
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To: BunnySlippers
While the people are wonderful and the culture charming, the infrastructure is awful. I have yet to go to a bathroom in a small or medium town that is acceptable. I have seen some bathrooms that defy description ... or at least in a public forum.

I've been in some of those. And my family and friends always yell at me when I tell the stories. Ay caramba!
72 posted on 05/18/2006 7:47:39 AM PDT by Antoninus (The Da Vinci Code is the religious equivalent Fahrenheit 911.)
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To: joylyn

Because each of those groups need poor uneducated to thrive.
There are rivh in Mexico. They care to stay rich and don't care if a majority are poor.
All the blame is not foxs, but he has failed to set any example.


73 posted on 05/18/2006 8:03:47 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (an enemy of islam)
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To: Neville72

Okay, so I'm confused. What makes you think they'd all be Democrats...they'd be "whatever" if we'd used Manifest Destiny 100 years ago.

Now they'd just be one huge suckling pig-type zone, trying to grab even more from the American trough. As far as recent times, make them a territory, not a state with voting rights.

Ignore me. I'm just thinking out loud and I shouldn't do that. ;) It messes with the ozone.


74 posted on 05/18/2006 8:07:38 AM PDT by madison10
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To: one more state

The border should remain open because liberals say it should. They have the answers for "solving" these problems. Don't you people understand that the drug lords have been poor and marginalized all their lives?!! Corruption is a way of life for Mexico and how dare anyone here judge the culture of this fine country! America would do well to better understand this way of life and that wide open borders would go a long way toward spreading...er, I mean ending, this type of lawlessness.


75 posted on 05/18/2006 8:18:44 AM PDT by subterfuge (Call me a Jingoist, I don't care...)
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To: Joe Boucher

I can't disagree. It's a lot easier to collect bribes and stipends than to get into a competitive business.


76 posted on 05/18/2006 8:52:41 AM PDT by joylyn
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To: roaddog727

How charming.


77 posted on 05/18/2006 11:03:39 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (.)
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Comment #78 Removed by Moderator

To: ClaireSolt

Nothing charming about reality.


79 posted on 05/18/2006 2:31:33 PM PDT by roaddog727 (eludium PU36 explosive space modulator)
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To: one more state

I agree, but our government I am sure has concerns of Mexican unrest/revolution/anarchy bringing the possibility of influence/communism/terrorism next door.
Particular worries would be influenced for China or Russia popping up below us taking advantage of Mexican unrest.


80 posted on 05/18/2006 3:36:44 PM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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