And now with the Avocados.
As if smuggling, theft, extortion and kidnapping weren’t enough, the Mexican cartels are now grabbing the avocado trade, too? Well shit.
I’m not a huge avocado fan. Guacamole is, at best, a sidekick to salsa. But let’s hope this serves as a wake up call to Americans obsessed with that ugly green fruit:
America, there is widespread violence ravaging our neighbor to the south. The Mexican Drug war is fucking shit up! This is a national security threat, and not the kind you can build a wall to solve. This is the direct result of a horrifically conceived War on Drugs, the outcomes of which have seen stupendous amounts of U.S. incarceration and done little to curb our enthusiasm for a solid buzz. As drug-hungry Americans, we’re filthy with culpability. But, if 130,000 dead and over 30,000 missing isn’t shocking enough, maybe the threat of losing avocado toast will make a few gringos sit the fuck up and listen.
Guess what folks? Huge portions of Mexico are being fought over by warring cartels! This shit is getting to Mad Max levels! Wherever these ‘warlords’ take control, they take it over virtually everything, from smuggling routes to sales of gasoline! There is no Federal or local authority they fear. There is a power vacuum in Mexico and these guys are killing to fill it. If you’re picturing a lawless, failed state… you’re on the right track. The U.S. State Department rates many northern states in Mexico as having a level 4 Security Risk. That’s the same score they give to Syria and Afghanistan! The northern (border) states are enduring such lawlessness that even the “law” has occasionally been given orders to stay off the streets! In southern Mexico, even Acapulco, that granddaddy of obnoxious tourism, has become even more dangerous, but in a, ‘you might get caught in crossfire or kidnapped’ way rather than just a ‘you’ll get sunburned, drunk and embarrass yourself’ kind of way.
I’ve got my own motivations for seeing this madness end. If all this senseless slaughter were taking place in Mongolia I’d cringe and move on. I’m only human. But shit y’all, I’ve got a love affair with Mexico and I am hot for a visit. It’s been a damn long time since I’ve seen downtown Zacatecas, or gone to sleep listening to the endless roll of waves in Zihuatanejo. I’d love hang out with some farmers in Oaxaca while we kill a goat for dinner and blast the Ranchera music. My family and I currently live in a converted school bus and want to go south, but… carjackings, rape, extortion and murder? That shit is a real buzzkill.
Furthermore, Mexicans are some of the kindest and most welcoming people I’ve even met. I want to go hang out with them and let them know that I do not support the Orange Terror. I want to brush up on my Spanish and get my kids started by throwing them into the deep end of the piscina. (I guess I could rub elbows with a few of the immigrants who’ve tried to escape the war-zone. You know, those humans that our government keeps in cages down in El Paso and Tucson, but I bet they’re kept under pretty tight wraps). Only once in my life was I invited to share a bottle of tequila with perfect strangers in the back of a bus, and that was in Mexico. Yeah, cool folks down there. (I guess it also happened once in Honduras, but the bottle contained rum and, what the hell? Hondurans are suffering too.)
Everyone has their tipping point. Some people swore off “blood diamonds” when the social cost of those little fuckers got too high. Other people decided that Nike shoes made in sweatshops were the end of society. I guess not enough Americans enjoy the tropical coast of Guerrero or the Pyramids of Teotihuacan to really worry about the nightmarish bloodshed just below our fat and bloated ass. But we should sit up and have a look. What happens south of our border not only has our fingerprints all over it, but it will also keep spreading until it’s in our lap. Sooner or later we’re going to see that our policies and greed are funding the death of Mexico. Is it worth cheap marijuana, opioids or even… blood avocados, for our neighbors to die?
Pay attention, America.
