Women, Clergy, and "Para-Democrats" Assume New Roles in Mexico's Drug War

A series of stories this morning follow the impact Mexico’s drug war has had on various sectors of Mexican society, among them women and clergy members. In the LA Times, Tracy Wilkinson writes that “as drug violence seeps deeper into Mexican society, women are taking a more hands-on role.” Increasingly, females are being recruited as traffickers and dealers, and accordingly, the number of women who have been jailed or killed because of such work also is on the rise. The paper says this is a marked shift from just a few years ago when women’s connection to the drug trade was largely peripheral—often as “trophies,” in Wilkinson’s words, for wealthy and powerful drug barons. Now, given the economic crisis and the ability of females to move more easily through military checkpoints, they are on the front-lines. The consequences of this could shake the foundations of Mexican society say some analysts. “When we are so vulnerable, how do we educate and bring up our children? When insecurity overwhelms us, how do we inject values into our homes? How can we remain immune?” asks Margarita Urias, head of the Sinaloa Institute for Women.

The AP, meanwhile, says so too do Mexican priests now find themselves in the middle of drug trade, most frequently as victims. This week clergy from around the country plan to draft a strategy for coping with the violence and are looking for advice from colleagues who faced similar threats in Colombia and Italy. Mexico is second to Colombia as the most dangerous place for priests to live in Latin America. Two out of every 10 priests face “serious risks,” according to an August study by the Mexican Council of Bishops. Many fear for their safety because of information they receive during confessionals from parishioners involved in the drug trade. Others have reported extortion attempts by drug gangs, says the AP.

And finally, Sabino Bastides Colinas writes in Spain’s El País about the troubling presence of paramilitary groups and private militias, along with a new brand of “parademocratic” politicians, in Mexico. “Parademocrats” assume a democratic discourse but in reality seek to erode democracy and its foundations, says the paper. Citing the recent case of Mauricio Fernandez, the well-known newly elected mayor of San Pedro Garza García who recently said he was setting up private forces to root out drug gangs, Colinas says this trend is all the more troubling because so many other Mexican politicians are remaining silent in rejecting such strategies.

Around the region this morning:

· The Wall Street Journal also writes that the number of individuals illegally entering the U.S. has dropped by 23% over the last year while drug seizures have risen. Analysts say a poor economy in the U.S. is one factor in explaining the change while counternarcotics officials believe tighter enforcement mechanisms can be credited for the increase in drug seizures. The Obama administration will use the new numbers as evidence that it has implemented a tougher border enforcement program—an attempt to win support for a congressional overhaul of the U.S. immigration system next year, writes the paper. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will also deliver a speech an important speech on immigration reform this Friday at the Center for American Progress.

· On Honduras, Tyler Bridges reports for McClatchy on calls by Zelaya backers for a boycott of Nov. 29 elections. As reported yesterday, left-leaning candidate Carlos Reyes pulled his name from the ballot Monday, saying he would only participate if President Zelaya were to be restored to office prior. In the Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, coup regime lobbyist, Lanny Davis, is back at it, arguing that 1. It was Mr. Zelaya who “moved to destroy [the Tegucigalpa-San José] accord” and 2. It is time for the U.S. to unequivocally endorse the results of the upcoming elections. “Once that happens, Mr. Zelaya will be irrelevant, a footnote as a president who thought he was above the constitution,” says Davis. “And then, on Jan. 27, a new president will be sworn into office in Honduras. That will restore to normalcy the proud little constitutional republic that has always been a loyal and reliable friend of the United States.” Also, CEPR has a new report out looking at Honduras’s economic woes over the last four months.

· More this morning on Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez in the Miami Herald. Sanchez was briefly detained and roughed up over the weekend while on her way to an anti-violence march in Havana, and the paper says she is among a group of bloggrs who have “carefully, but with daring determination,” move toward more “sharp-edged commentaries and activities.” According to one prominent Cuban blogger, Reynaldo Escobar, some have now decided that “their purpose is not just to be on the Web but to express their individual will to come together in a place, on an issue.” For its part, the U.S. State Dept. released a statement Monday deploring the arrest of Sanchez and her colleagues. In an unrelated Cuba story, the Guardian’s Rory Carroll reports on a retired Fidel Castro, now the entertainer of grandchildren, visitors from abroad, and good books. “The lifestyle could be that of a retired professor,” says the Inter-American Dialogue’s Dan Erikson. “If it were anyone but Fidel this would be an unremarkable retirement. But for one of the most controversial and confrontational personalities of the cold war era it marks an unexpectedly serene final chapter.”

· Finally, the MH also reports that Haiti (along with Guyana) will be the only Caribbean countries to register positive economic growth this year. The news comes as a welcome surprise to a country that has experienced political and environmental turmoil over the last year. On Latin America overall, Andres Oppenheimer says Latin America will do relatively well economically this year, according to recent predictions, but must focus on revamping educational systems to become more “competitive.”