OPINION

By SILVIO CANTO, JR.

Down in Mexico, the word is “homicides.” Unfortunately, there are too many of them.

This is from Alfredo Corchado of the Dallas Morning News:

“As of Thursday, Aug. 18, 128,923 homicides had been registered under (President Andrés Manuel) López Obrador (AMLO), with more than two years left in his term, which ends in December 2024. This compares with 156,066 under the six-year term of (former Mexican President Enrique) Peña Nieto of the (centralist) Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico’s former ruling party, that for 71 years governed promising “paz y tranquilidad,” peace and tranquility.

“Homicides under López Obrador have also surpassed the number during the government of his detested foe, (former President Felipe) Calderón, whose government recorded an estimated 120,463 homicides from 2007 to 2012. The numbers were compiled by the Dallas Morning News, using data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), Mexico’s official census bureau.

“Calderón had declared war on drug cartels just after he won the 2006 election by a hair. Election observers approved the vote, but López Obrador called it illegitimate, leaving Calderón without a strong mandate. Critics maintain Calderón’s war was an effort to legitimize his weak presidency by rallying the country through what now seems like a never-ending war that’s cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”

Just as a point of reference — especially for those who say that someone in the United States should not be casting the first stone when it comes to murder statistics — here in the United States there were a total of 20,920 homicides in 2021, while in Mexico — a country with less than half the population of the United States — there were 36,625 homicides last year.

I’ll let the Mexico experts compare López Obrador to Calderón. I will simply add that this kind of killing is tearing up Mexico and will have an impact on everything, especially the economy.

It will also send a few more people up north seeking political and economic acylium, and that’s not something we in the United States can handle.

As for the economy, it’s hard to open your store if criminals are burning cars or transportation vehicles. Security is a must, and sections of Mexico are clearly not secure.

As for López Obrador, he needs to reconsider his approach. He started out by preaching “hugs, not bullets” or, an approach to cartel violence that focuses on so-called root causes, such as poverty and injustice.

Obviously, the hugging ain’t working because the criminal elements are not appreciating the embraces or exchanging their bullets for Valentine’s Day cards.

On the contrary, the criminal elements are getting stronger, as noted in another Dallas Morning News article.

“According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) dominates fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking and has already eclipsed the notorious Sinaloa Cartel. CJNG’s high-tech tactics include terrorizing local police forces with their drones,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial on Thursday, Aug. 18.

As the song goes, there is a “time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing.”

Down in Mexico, it’s time for AMLO to stop hugging and do a little punching.

Dear AMLO:  Turn, turn, turn or the Mexican people will turn on you.  And don’t forget to copy President Joe Biden and tell him to get serious about the border, too.

SILVIO CANTO, JR. is a Cuban-born U.S. citizen who teaches English at a north Texas college. He is the author of the book “Cubanos in Wisconsin” and has a daily online radio program and blog dealing with U.S. and Latin American politics, as well as sports and historic events, and is a regular contributor to American Thinker.