| No one much cares to confront the reality of the drug | | | | narcos, the cops, the narco-cops. The Cartel Bosses, |
| war. This reality gets very uncomfortable to most very | | | | the underlings, the people, the undercover cops, their |
| quickly. Reactions in Mexico range from fatalistic | | | | world. |
| acceptance and acquiescence to despair to "How can | | | | There are few heroes. Bowden himself might be one. |
| I make a buck off this thing?" Where are my pesos? | | | | He might dispute that. Perhaps some of the journalists |
| To I had just better shut up and not think too hard | | | | and the people that survive along with some of their |
| about it, it's much safer that way. Explanations here in | | | | humanity are as close to heroes here as we will find. |
| the United States start on the Left with. "Citizens need | | | | As Bowden says in the end the drug war destroys all. |
| caring compassionate control from the government. | | | | There are no winners. |
| We can't just let them run wild.", to the ravings of the | | | | Thread number three is the documentary. Like bursts |
| right wing that has always been for repression of | | | | from an AR-15 he documents incident after incident of |
| whatever sort at whatever time, fir whatever reason. | | | | cases that only went so high. Of the complicity of |
| After 40 years of abject failure for the drug war the | | | | every Mexican President in the narcotic business of |
| explanations and justifications grow increasingly more | | | | Mexico and the U.S. Of case after case that was |
| prosaic, tired, and ridiculous and I could go on. On the | | | | quashed by American Attorney Generals and Justice |
| Right the authorities and the authoritarians insist that | | | | Department higher-ups when it became too politically |
| any war waged by an American Government can | | | | sensitive. Then would come "new and incorruptible |
| never be lost or abandoned. You have to keep drugs | | | | agencies and leaders" in Mexico to gain more |
| out of the hands, lungs, noses and brains of the people. | | | | American support and money. The whole dog and |
| Of course ignoring the fact that all the illegal drugs are | | | | pony show was always political. Always about more |
| widely available. And that prices keep going down. And | | | | laws and more prisons and more money. |
| ignoring the wars around the world that we are in the | | | | All built on a culture of snitches and betrayal and lies. |
| process of losing. Or have already essentially lost | | | | Leading to torture, death, imprisonment, ruination of |
| already. On the left if something isn't working we can | | | | many lives, and now eight years later, the perhaps |
| fix it with some government program. Sometimes it | | | | irrecoverable descent of Mexico into a failed Narco |
| does take a little tinkering and more billions and a new | | | | -Police State forever at war with itself. And the beat |
| agency to get it right! So it goes on. | | | | goes on and on. |
| Charles Bowden weaves a narrative of three strands | | | | There of course is the now familiar tale of a DEA bust |
| through his book Down By The River. | | | | of a drug courier, the call from the CIA, and the |
| One is a very personal story of a family in El Paso | | | | release of said courier and his product, because it is a |
| that lost their son, the "good one, the golden boy". | | | | "national security situation". The DEA agents try not to |
| Bruno. The one in a large family that everyone loves. | | | | reach obvious conclusions, but whatever you say |
| He was shot in El Paso, an innocent victim of | | | | about them, they aren't dumb. |
| trans-national border crime, a car-jacking...very rare at | | | | From Down By The River |
| that time in the 1990's. Hundreds of cars were stolen | | | | Bowden writes: |
| and driven into Juarez. But car-jacking wasn't | | | | I'm drinking in my yard with a retired DEA agent, he |
| necessary. Alarm systems were primitive or | | | | spent years in Mexico, survived gun battles, then spent |
| non-existent. A late model car or truck could be hot | | | | more years tracking the huge flows of money, night |
| wired in less than a minute. Or more likely something | | | | has fallen and he sits in the shadow sipping a Pacifico, |
| more sinister and pre-meditated occurred. The | | | | the beer of Sinaoloa. He likes to talk at these moments |
| government of Mexico is famous for among other | | | | but he never wants these conversations to go on |
| things it's almost total indifference to the plight of its | | | | record, because he explains to me repeatedly, |
| citizens in legal trouble in foreign countries. The | | | | because "they" can not be beaten. And this "they" he |
| accused carjacker and killer was a penniless Mexican | | | | refers to is the CIA. |
| teenager. For whatever reason, this time Mexico leaps | | | | Bowden himself has said he held back on his |
| to the defense. The money pours in. While Bruno | | | | conclusions out of respect to the Jordan family. The |
| Jordan was unconnected to crime or narcotics there | | | | book is an eye-opener. Of course it's somewhat |
| was a connection. His brother Phil. A high official in the | | | | outdated because as horrible a situation as he paints |
| DEA. He was involved in hundreds of cases. In the end | | | | only a decade ago, it is many times worse today. |
| the family's agony and search for justice comes to | | | | These kind of books can be rated on a train wreck |
| nothing.. This mirrors the experience of the people of | | | | system...It becomes impossible to look away despite |
| Juarez and Mexico entire. A country where Justice is | | | | and because of the carnage that goes on and on and |
| a joke and there is no hope of ever finding it. But | | | | on. |
| revenge is another thing. Sometimes that can be | | | | I give it 6 locomotives and a thousand cars careening |
| found. Until the revenged come to take it back. | | | | off the track falling down the mountainside upon the |
| The other thread is the story of the Mexicans: The | | | | not so innocent village people of two countries. |