New Yorker June 29, 2012: Letter from Mexico

Photo Credit: Mexican photographer Eunice Adorno.

I cannot help but write about the article I recently read by William Finnegan "The Kingpins: The fight for Guadalajara." I have always had an extremely keen interest in learning about the true nature of international events behind which corruption, powerful illegal structures and the never-ending fight for money hides.

This article presents the grim facts that surround the production and distribution of illegal drugs in Mexico. And how that affects everyday people.

This is the world we live in. The world is one. Many of the ordinary Mexican citizens mentioned in the article have relatives or know someone who lives here in the USA too. Maybe here, in New York City. Many of the drugs mentioned are meant for the American market.

As a mother, I am affected by what happens to all children in the world. There are children whose parents are drug-makers, traffickers, dealers. There are children whose parents cross into the USA "wet" or illegal in order to look for work and for a more secure life. There are so many children in the world and so many dangers.

The world is an unfair place, and it is my duty to understand it better in order to be able to explain it to my daughter in the best terms I can.

To contemplate the fate of some children who grow up amidst drug wars is shattering. They grow up to see it as a given. Some respect it, get involved, see it as a way to survive, as a way out of poverty. How can one judge that if very few alternatives exist? And then again, how can one simply stand by and watch? I can only hope that the way out is not as out of reach as this articles seems to present and that there is a path toward education and opportunities for these little ones as well.