Having just spent a week in Cancun highlights all the differences in politics between countries. From an American perspective there are hardly any laws in Mexico. Apparently Mexicans hardly think about the difference, but there are signs of change. I certainly don’t understand Mexican politics, but I have visited the country in the past, see things as they are from television and newspapers, and notice some changes.
Decades ago there were no government services in Mexico to speak of. The country did not trust the government, did not care. And that was fine with the government as well. Police made almost no money from their salary and made their living levying fines on those they deemed offenders of the laws. The process worked that way all the way up the food chain, it was just the system. Taxes were levied whenever money changed hands, 5% of the gross. The government levied the tax wherever and whenever it could, and the people avoided paying it the same way.
There was no industry to speak of except in the big cities, but the weather was always good and people did not starve due to their own agriculture and micro economics in the villages. The federal government was hated and avoided whenever possible. This made the country ripe for growing and exporting drugs to the United States. The people in general, however, did not use or approve of drugs. But grassroots organizations in isolated areas began to export and spread the wealth around. The people hated the government but began improving their lot in life through exports.
In many cases drug cartels were indistinguishable from aid organizations and other agricultural enterprises. They were employers, but they avoided the government with more vitality than other employers. Security was necessary but the money was good, and the government was resisted by paying it off and/ or direct rebellion. Many popular uprisings were characterized by media and governmental institutions as drug wars.
The money came from the United States, and politics on this side of the border put the burden on Mexico to stop the export instead of trying to stop import. The US sent money and people since the beginning of the DEA to Mexico to stop the cultivation and export of drugs when the only reason for its cultivation was because of the large market for those drugs in the US. That money was often the impetus for squashing popular uprisings in isolated villages with great forces. The Mexican government was blamed and the people hated the government more and more for the misery it was bringing them.
This trip, however, I see ads on TV, billboards and newspaper articles telling people what the Federal government is doing for them. Mainly it is in public access to the beaches (federal property in Mexico) and high speed roadways but it is a start. Just look at all the Federal services we get in the US. Transportation, education, health, labor… The number of people who get a monthly federal check is enormous. And we are paying the consequences, which brings us back to the beginning of this article. There are too many laws in the US for us to support with taxes.
I hope Mexico does a few things with federal dollars to help itself to develop. No country should scrimp on spending for the education of its youth. And any country that can stop or slow corruption of its government will see immediate benefits to its people. I have suggestions there, but no good advice. Scape-goating many officials seems the only way to start such an enormous endeavor, but it must be coupled with fair pay for government employees.
