13-07-2009, 09:37 PM
Associated Press July 13,09
THE BORDER REPORT
The government of Chihuahua seems to find it appropriate to turn its Anglo residents into weapon-toting vigilantes and let them deal with any future kidnappings or murders that come down on the Mormon communities in the state.
The attorney general stepped up to offer training in the polygamist community of LeBaron after a brutal execution earlier this week. Benjamin LeBaron was kidnapped along with a relative, taken from his home under threat of a grenade attack. He was beaten of his family, some reports say the killers attempted to rape his wife; the two bodies were found on a dirt trail outside of town on Monday. In response, his brother Julian says the community’s cut a deal with the state.
“The governor is telling us that he can make it happen if we give him people that know how to use weapons. … that if they already have a knowledge of how to use weapons that he could train them and give us at least a couple of guys in 30 days,” LeBaron told The Associated Press.
Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez says: “We are taking the necessary steps to make them community police.”
It’s a deadly crucible and one, I predict, that’s going to turn sloppy fast. The Mormon community is spoiling for a fight, the problem is the whack-jobs who are giving them one are feral and violent, backed by a corrupt police force and an apathetic government that’s done little to stem the flow of violence anywhere else in Mexico’s biggest state. As some of you astutely noted, those being blamed for the murder job are members of La Linea. The obvious question needs to be raised, why aren’t Mexicans who deal with the same type of situations every day, in Palomas, in Nicolas Bravo, in Ciudád Juárez, having the same courtesies extended to them? Mexico has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the world, it’s illegal to carry more than a .32 caliber pistol or a hunting rifle and even for those, you need stringent Army permissions. The Anglos receive blessings from the government to arm themselves and mobilize. Mexicans are simply cursed.
The message I’m getting is loud and clear: Mexicans caught up in violence, kidnapping and murder probably deserved it. It’s the same rationalization we hear every day: the cartel violence only affects those who are involved, wealthy and powerful Anglos with dual citizenship cannot possibly be involved.
I’ve often wondered at Mexico’s relationships with the Mormon communities in Chihuahua and Sonora. Colonia LeBaron was founded nearly a century ago by Latter Day Saints churchmembers who wanted to continue practicing polygamy. In 2002, the state of Arizona raided the small northern state community of Colorado City, searching for Mormon leaders wanted on child polygamy charges. Some of those fled to Chihuahua where, we’ve always been told, they weren’t accepted because polygamy is one thing and child exploitation an entirely different matter. Some 15 percent of Colonia LeBaron’s married folk are in polygamous relationships, a status that is as illegal in Mexico as it is in the U.S. Yet the communities are mostly left alone, untouched and unmonitored, its populace working as farmers, businessowners and ranchers.
Two months ago, a 17-year-old from the community was abducted for ransom. That led to some 25 arrests in nearby Nicolas Bravo. Then Meredith Romney, a powerful maquila owner and LDS leader, was kidnapped about two weeks ago. That little piece of news was kept out of the media until BorderReporter.com readers dragged it out of the shadows. The Mormon community, perhaps not realizing the level of corruption and ineptitude they were dealing with (??!), staged protests, demanding better security measures from the Mexican government. That’s something Mexicans have screamed ad nauseum from Baja California to Nuevo León to D.F. – and mostly ignored. Here’s a story out of Culiacán from today’s protest of an unsolved massacre of nine people a year ago. Benjamin LeBaron led many of those protests; his murder was the result.
What we’re left with is an enraged community of Mormons with powerful allies north of the border and the backing of the state government preparing to defend itself against armed gangs. And if that’s not the beginning of a new chapter in this desmadre of a drug war, I’m not a border reporter.
THE BORDER REPORT
The government of Chihuahua seems to find it appropriate to turn its Anglo residents into weapon-toting vigilantes and let them deal with any future kidnappings or murders that come down on the Mormon communities in the state.
The attorney general stepped up to offer training in the polygamist community of LeBaron after a brutal execution earlier this week. Benjamin LeBaron was kidnapped along with a relative, taken from his home under threat of a grenade attack. He was beaten of his family, some reports say the killers attempted to rape his wife; the two bodies were found on a dirt trail outside of town on Monday. In response, his brother Julian says the community’s cut a deal with the state.
“The governor is telling us that he can make it happen if we give him people that know how to use weapons. … that if they already have a knowledge of how to use weapons that he could train them and give us at least a couple of guys in 30 days,” LeBaron told The Associated Press.
Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez says: “We are taking the necessary steps to make them community police.”
It’s a deadly crucible and one, I predict, that’s going to turn sloppy fast. The Mormon community is spoiling for a fight, the problem is the whack-jobs who are giving them one are feral and violent, backed by a corrupt police force and an apathetic government that’s done little to stem the flow of violence anywhere else in Mexico’s biggest state. As some of you astutely noted, those being blamed for the murder job are members of La Linea. The obvious question needs to be raised, why aren’t Mexicans who deal with the same type of situations every day, in Palomas, in Nicolas Bravo, in Ciudád Juárez, having the same courtesies extended to them? Mexico has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the world, it’s illegal to carry more than a .32 caliber pistol or a hunting rifle and even for those, you need stringent Army permissions. The Anglos receive blessings from the government to arm themselves and mobilize. Mexicans are simply cursed.
The message I’m getting is loud and clear: Mexicans caught up in violence, kidnapping and murder probably deserved it. It’s the same rationalization we hear every day: the cartel violence only affects those who are involved, wealthy and powerful Anglos with dual citizenship cannot possibly be involved.
I’ve often wondered at Mexico’s relationships with the Mormon communities in Chihuahua and Sonora. Colonia LeBaron was founded nearly a century ago by Latter Day Saints churchmembers who wanted to continue practicing polygamy. In 2002, the state of Arizona raided the small northern state community of Colorado City, searching for Mormon leaders wanted on child polygamy charges. Some of those fled to Chihuahua where, we’ve always been told, they weren’t accepted because polygamy is one thing and child exploitation an entirely different matter. Some 15 percent of Colonia LeBaron’s married folk are in polygamous relationships, a status that is as illegal in Mexico as it is in the U.S. Yet the communities are mostly left alone, untouched and unmonitored, its populace working as farmers, businessowners and ranchers.
Two months ago, a 17-year-old from the community was abducted for ransom. That led to some 25 arrests in nearby Nicolas Bravo. Then Meredith Romney, a powerful maquila owner and LDS leader, was kidnapped about two weeks ago. That little piece of news was kept out of the media until BorderReporter.com readers dragged it out of the shadows. The Mormon community, perhaps not realizing the level of corruption and ineptitude they were dealing with (??!), staged protests, demanding better security measures from the Mexican government. That’s something Mexicans have screamed ad nauseum from Baja California to Nuevo León to D.F. – and mostly ignored. Here’s a story out of Culiacán from today’s protest of an unsolved massacre of nine people a year ago. Benjamin LeBaron led many of those protests; his murder was the result.
What we’re left with is an enraged community of Mormons with powerful allies north of the border and the backing of the state government preparing to defend itself against armed gangs. And if that’s not the beginning of a new chapter in this desmadre of a drug war, I’m not a border reporter.