I Been Out in the Desert, Just Doin' My Time

Congratulations to my Dad for correctly naming "Up on Cripple Creek" by The Band (quite an audacious name if you think about it) as the Wednesday Song of the Day.

Last month, I linked to a story from the Wall Street Journal regarding the U.S. military's belief that Mexico is dangerously close to becoming a "failed state", and Tuesday's decision by Governor Rick Perry to ask the Texas Legislature for $135 million and 1,000 troops to fight trans-national gangs specializing in drug trafficking only adds to the growing number of voices that recognize the perilous plight of our neighbors to the south.

My Dad is going to get a double mention in today's post because he recently returned from a mission trip to Monterrey, Mexico and said that two events in particular confirmed that the war between the leaders of the drug trade and law enforcement officials may be reaching a critical tipping point. First, he said as they returned from working at a church on the outskirts of Monterrey one afternoon, the traffic on the expressway ground to an absolute stand-still.

That's a common occurrence in any large urban area, but the root cause of the traffic jam was one that you're not likely to see in Dallas, Austin, or Houston. He said that they began to see a large number of people, including children, running down the freeway, weaving in and out of the stopped cars. A news report that evening revealed that the pedestrians were in the employ of the local drug lords and were sent out to cause mayhem in the freeways as a signal to the law enforcement officials of Monterrey that the drug lords could put a choke-hold on the infrastructure of the city whenever and however they desired.

The second event may not be an especially remarkable one, but the fact that is unremarkable may be a scene of how chaotic life has become in Mexico. While my Dad was in Monterrey, one of the leading local police officials was gunned down while on the job. The murder did not occur at night on a raid, or while the officer was engaged in a particularly dangerous portion of his job, unless the simple fact of being a law enforcement officer in Mexico these days with the audacity to oppose the drug trade is considered a "dangerous portion of the job".

Sadly, these types of "in broad daylight" killings occur far too frequently in Mexico these days, but to hear the story from someone who was in the city when it occurred grants the events a level of immediacy that cannot be generated by simple text on a screen.