Friday, April 11, 2008

Drug cartel charity giving secures goodwill among Mexican public

Reports like this one from Mexico me think the drug traffickers understand better how to win support from local communities than the corrupt Mexican government. From the San Diego Tribune ("Bishop: Drug gangs building churches," April 6):
Violent drug gangs in Mexico, which kill thousands of people a year, fund the building of churches in impoverished villages to try to win over locals, a senior Catholic bishop said.

“They are very generous,” Bishop Carlos Aguiar told a press conference, Reforma newspaper reported Saturday.

Aguiar, who heads Mexico's Catholic bishops' conference, said drug traffickers pour money into poverty-stricken towns where the government lacks funds to build roads or provide electricity.

“The drug smugglers build things that mean a lot for these communities,” he said. “Many times they will build a church or a chapel.”

Aguiar said the Church does not condone drug trafficking and tries to use its influence to get gangsters to leave the trade.

“I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying how it is,” he said.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the same thing Hamas does. We bomb them, Hamas builds schools and provides food.

And we wonder why we're hated.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

I almost mentioned Hamas myself, rage, but didn't feel like bothering to split the hairs you must split to credibly do so. The strategy is sure the same, though.

W W Woodward said...

During the middle '90s when the jail I work for was holding paper ready inmates for the Harris County Jail I heard the same story about a couple of the major drug dealers we were holding.

It seems they contributed to the church, helped support widows and the poor, sponsored baseball teams, and made improvements in neighborhood parks. And, were well thought of in the communities where they lived. Reminded me of the Godfather movies.

Anonymous said...

Pablo Escobar did the same thing in Colombia. And there are people there to this day who think he was a saint, despite all the murders he ordered. As Rage pointed out, we are busy enabling their oppression, courtesy of supporting governments that toe our 'anti-drugs' line, while the narcos build roads, hospitals and churches. The locals see which side the of the bread the butter's on, and side with the narcos.

When are we going to finally get smart on this, and cut the narcos off at the knees by removing their profit base via regulation and control of re-legalized drugs?

Probably when we've run out of money to run the Gub'mint, and therefore the DrugWar. And the way we're going, that won't be too far off in the future...

Anonymous said...

HEY! I'm credible!

Anonymous said...

Who doesn't start the day with grits? I like to and I will have you to know that grits have become food that is served in fine restaurants now. Shrimp and Grits are on most menus everywhere and not just in the south.
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mimmy
California Dui

Sifar said...

So what we cannot support people who is taking care of the communities inorder to kill them slowly.The people has to wake up and do something against the government.

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Erik

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