Sarah Cortez - Our Lost Border: Essays on Life Amid the Narco-Violence

ESSAYS ON LIFE AMID THE NARCO-VIOLENCE

Edited by
Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso

Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence is funded in part by grants from the city of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.

Recovering the past, creating the future

Arte Pblico Press
University of Houston
4902 Gulf Fwy, Bldg 19, Rm 100
Houston, Texas 77204-2004

Cover design by Mora Des!gn

Our Lost Border : Essays on Life amid the Narco-violence / edited by Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso.

p. cm.

English and Spanish.

ISBN 978-1-55885-752-0 (alk. paper)

1. Mexican-American Border RegionCivilization. 2. Drug trafficMexican-American Border Region. 3. Violent crimesMexican-American Border Region. I. Cortez, Sarah. II. Troncoso, Sergio, 1961

F787.O96 2013

972.1dc23

2012043780
CIP

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

2013 by Arte Pblico Press
Imprinted in the United States of America

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| Rolando Hinojosa-Smith

| Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso

Liliana V. Blum

Lolita Bosch

Diego Osorno

Mara Socorro Tabuenca Crdoba

Maria Cristina Cigarroa

Sarah Cortez

Celestino Fernndez and Jessie K. Finch

Richard Mora

Paul Pedroza

Jos Antonio Rodrguez

Jos Skinner

Sergio Troncoso

Its time for the United States to wake up. This work compiled by Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso is on target, it is also timely, and, if one reads carefully, its a clarion call for the United States and for us, as Americans, to consider the danger, the economic drain and, consequently, our future as an effective nation.

Its axiomatic that the United States is blamed for producing the firearms and, thus, accepts the responsibility for the casualties south of the border. What the reader will see is the other side of the coin: Mexico too is a drug-addicted country, and for years, the previous state and national governments, up until the presidency of Felipe Caldern, have been a party to the current problems.

How? Through bribery. Where? In the highest places of state and federal governments and down to local municipalities. A shameful record of the PRI, (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) whose politicians, in the main, tended to line their pockets and to turn their eyes away from the crookedness that surrounded them, and in which, too often, they participated actively.

Is it any wonder, then, that the general populace held the PRI in contempt? And how did the PRI maintain its hold on the political offices? First, second and always, through bribery. In this case, then, we can also place the general populace and particularly, the middle class.

The contributors to this valuable and eye-opening anthology are serious scholars, and, in the case of the Mexican nationals who have contributed to this work, they have placed their lives and the lives of their families in danger. This statement is not a frivolous one. The number of newspaper reporters who have been murdered and mutilated is in the hundreds and the carnage continues.

The Mexican press, with very, very few exceptions, does not publish the recurring incidents of violence among the cartels themselves as well as the fate of the unlucky bystanders who are shot, maimed and murdered.

No, it isnt a pleasant book to read, but it is an enlightening one.

How can a country put up with, tolerate and, at times directly and at others indirectly, contribute to crooked behavior? Take the following: one needs something, a visa to cross into the United States, the petitioner knows he will be required and expected to pay a mordida, a bite, to whomever is in charge. This has been going on for years, and it has become part of the culture; so endemic is it, that jokes about the mordida produce laughter and a nod from the listener who then contributes his encounter with a civil servant or some local, regional or federal civil servant in this or that matter.

A small thing, perhaps, but it is so pervasive that it becomes an acceptable part of the culture. When one political party ruled the nation for over 70 years and established, changed and also circumvented federal laws, it did what it darned well pleased. In this case, the crookedness worked from the top down and, as it continued, from the down up, as well.

And how can this be, how can this take place? Easily: through bribery, and, if this doesnt work effectively, through violence and this is where Mexico now stands.

Freedom of the press has a nice ring to it. But what if you, as a reporter, and your family, are threatened, or, as has happened too often, murdered because of what was written and printed? You quit your profession, or, say youre the editor, you are threatened, perhaps kidnapped for a sizeable fortune. The family pays the ransom, but there is no guarantee that the victim will be released; in too many cases when the ransom has been paid, the victim may have been murdered during the negotiation.

No, it isnt a happy book. It is, however, an important one.

The contributors speak and write with authority and are taking their lives in their own hands. How can this be? The answer, again: easily.

One will also read of abandoned houses, neighborhoods and, in some cases, of abandoned towns close to the border of the United States. Ones home isnt a safeguard either. Why? Because, in too many instances, the local police has fled or, also in too many instances, the police has joined the cartels or, at the least, is in their pay.

That the above is happening within the proximity of millions of U.S. citizens is a sobering thought.

The writing is on target; its personal, and this brings an immediacy to the reader. Its the type of book that the buyer will read more than once; its a keeper, and, thus, worth many readings.

To repeat, this isnt a jeremiad, its a clarion call to this country, to its citizens and to the state and federal governments as well.

Rolando Hinojosa-Smith

What lies in between can so easily be forgotten or misunderstood, and so it has been with the U.S.-Mexico border. Yet the unique experience of living on the border between two languages, cultures and countries has been a life of possibilities, surprises and adaptations. What the recent drug violence has underminedand even destroyedis this constant dialogue between people, as well as their creation of a borderland easily navigable by those creative and intrepid enough to live in this in-between. Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence was born of a vision to bear witness to how this violence has shattered life on the border, to remember the past, but also to point to the possibilities of a better future.

From Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, to El Paso and Ciudad Jurez, to San Diego and Tijuana, the 2000 miles of the borderlands are dotted by twin cities and towns, one on the north and another on the south. What these dots on a map do not reveal, however, are the close familial, cultural, economic and even political ties that have existed between