Comments On War, Gangs And Western Values

Home | Columns | Media Watch | Reports | Links | About Us | Contact

MEXIDATA . INFO

Column 022607 Brewer

Monday, February 26, 2007 Comments on War, Gangs and Western Values By Jerry Brewer Death is a subject largely disregarded in our culture of the living. Of course, a personal tragic loss or the sensational media coverage of a murder or accident grasps our attention; at least until our own personal psyche finds a way to file it away in our own rationalized comfort zone. Throughout our lives death generally remains intensely private. Perhaps the reason for the need to compartmentalize the events is because everyone else’s mortality reminds us of the distinctive nature of our own. To those of us who have, and have had, the awesome responsibility of investigating death for cause and culpability, it takes on a very complex rationale. Too, death by violence and homicide, especially throughout the Americas, brings the morbid details closer to home on a daily basis. Gangs in Los Angeles, California alone are currently in excess of 400, with some 39,000 members. Approximately eleven are described as the most violent, but all are involved in bloodshed. Murders throughout Mexico, along with associated violence, continue to fuel the numbers of victims that become statistics for reporting purposes. The irony of such staggering numbers related to death by criminal acts, and the consistent reporting of far fewer U.S. war

deaths in Iraq, is worthy of contrast and comparison. One must wonder why so many are persuaded to staunchly oppose a war from a political standpoint, and yet fail to take at least an equal level of abhorrence at massive violent death on our streets, and question the strategies and policies that apparently are not winning at home. You could most certainly point to the potential of much greater violence at home when comparing gang numbers and their sophisticated weaponry. Is it because we are dissuaded by subterfuge in reporting to disassociate ourselves from the “common” criminal acts on our own soil, and show concern only for those in combat on foreign shores? A legitimate question could be posed in contrast. What if gang violence erupted on a much larger scale in just one city in the United States that had nearly 40,000 gang members? Sporadic explosions throughout the city, police and police recruiting stations, market places and other buildings under seize could in fact pose dire consequences. With inner city ethnicity and rival gang and turf confrontations — would it be said we were at civil war? Could we run from it and ignore it? Other major cities drawn into the battle against the police and government would place the escalation at epidemic proportions. Similar to U.S. battles in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, what would be the capabilities of the military in assistance to our own police under similar circumstances? The facts are, death and violence from a criminal standpoint are predominant themes throughout the Americas. Far more fatal statistics — but who’s counting those? The streets of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico alone over the past two years, as well as other U.S.-Mexican border towns, have shown the reality of the body count. The caliber of arms and weapons, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers, demonstrates the realities of this presumption. Recent violence in Sao Paulo, Brazil is indicative of the gang culture of violence that is spreading in the Western Hemisphere. Over 200 people were killed in 2006 by gang assaults on police, banks, businesses and public transportation. Much of this violence is blamed

on the “First Capital Command Gang.” In Rio de Janeiro, six persons were killed two weeks ago in violent confrontations between paramilitary groups and narcotics traffickers. Argentina recently recorded 12 arrests in Buenos Aires with the capture of an international narcotics ring operating between Argentina and Europe. Kidnapping for ransom throughout Latin America continues to flourish. Within our own borders the Ku Klux Klan is making a resurgence after recent years of decline in membership. The KKK is utilizing the Mexican immigration issue to spread its hate, and in attempts at recruiting new members and to bring back old ones. President George W. Bush’s budget request for our nation includes $1 billion for Homeland Security — fencing and virtual barriers, and $600 million for hiring around 3,000 Border Patrol Agents; with $26 million to local law enforcement. As well, the rate of suicides among law enforcement officers nationwide is alarming. The job is becoming increasingly more difficult, as well as ambiguous. Mixed messages in this nation’s security readiness, both domestically and internationally, are frightening, as is the level of public support. And if we can’t secure Baghdad, what can we secure? —————————— Jerry Brewer, the Vice President of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida, is a guest columnist with MexiData.info. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]. [email protected]