News (Media Awareness Project) - Mexico: Editorial: Revolution: Anniversary Brings Stark Comparisons |
| Title: | Mexico: Editorial: Revolution: Anniversary Brings Stark Comparisons |
| Published On: | 2010-01-25 |
| Source: | El Paso Times (TX) |
| Fetched On: | 2010-01-28 00:12:27 |
REVOLUTION: ANNIVERSARY BRINGS STARK COMPARISONS
El Paso native Oscar Martinez, a history professor at the University of
Arizona, recently raised a thought-provoking comparison of the Mexican
Revolution and the violence that is currently wracking Juarez.
On Thursday, Martinez was at the El Paso Museum of History to deliver the
first in a series of lectures commemorating the 100th anniversary of the
Mexican Revolution.
If you ask most people about the revolution, they'll probably think about
Pancho Villa's bloody cross-border raid into Columbus, N.M.
But, of course, the revolution was so much more far-reaching than that, in
many areas, and included fighting in Juarez. Martinez said that the
conservative estimate of battle-related deaths in Juarez during the 1910
revolution is 300.
It's been estimated that since 2008, about 4,000 people have been killed
in drug-related violence in Juarez.
Martinez said, "Ciudad Juarez was always on center stage in that decade.
Ciudad Juarez was the prize city on the border."
Now, a century after the revolution, Juarez is still the "prize city," but
this time in a conflict between drug cartels battling for control of the
drug business and smuggling routes into the United States.
Martinez also noted that the revolution caused considerable changes to
Mexican society, culture and politics. The current violence also is
causing political turmoil and affecting society.
And for all the similarities between the revolution and the current drug
violence, Martinez made an important distinction. Of the current violence
he said, "It's a catastrophe. And that is no revolution going on. It is a
civil war between cartels." It's a civil war that appears to be out of
control and that has no end in sight. Nothing seems to be working. The
government is impotent and/or unwilling. Innocent people are frightened.
Businesses are being shuttered, homes are being abandoned.
The Mexican Revolution is over and it is history. But today's drug-driven
"civil war" continues at a brutal rate, and is far from being history.
El Paso native Oscar Martinez, a history professor at the University of
Arizona, recently raised a thought-provoking comparison of the Mexican
Revolution and the violence that is currently wracking Juarez.
On Thursday, Martinez was at the El Paso Museum of History to deliver the
first in a series of lectures commemorating the 100th anniversary of the
Mexican Revolution.
If you ask most people about the revolution, they'll probably think about
Pancho Villa's bloody cross-border raid into Columbus, N.M.
But, of course, the revolution was so much more far-reaching than that, in
many areas, and included fighting in Juarez. Martinez said that the
conservative estimate of battle-related deaths in Juarez during the 1910
revolution is 300.
It's been estimated that since 2008, about 4,000 people have been killed
in drug-related violence in Juarez.
Martinez said, "Ciudad Juarez was always on center stage in that decade.
Ciudad Juarez was the prize city on the border."
Now, a century after the revolution, Juarez is still the "prize city," but
this time in a conflict between drug cartels battling for control of the
drug business and smuggling routes into the United States.
Martinez also noted that the revolution caused considerable changes to
Mexican society, culture and politics. The current violence also is
causing political turmoil and affecting society.
And for all the similarities between the revolution and the current drug
violence, Martinez made an important distinction. Of the current violence
he said, "It's a catastrophe. And that is no revolution going on. It is a
civil war between cartels." It's a civil war that appears to be out of
control and that has no end in sight. Nothing seems to be working. The
government is impotent and/or unwilling. Innocent people are frightened.
Businesses are being shuttered, homes are being abandoned.
The Mexican Revolution is over and it is history. But today's drug-driven
"civil war" continues at a brutal rate, and is far from being history.
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