The violence in Mexico: we’ve seen this before

Americans have many opinions about the country of Mexico, and typically they think of it as a great vacation spot, or a place with a lot of culture. Tragically their opinions are changing daily due to the incredible surge in terrorist violence committed by Mexican drug cartels against their own people.

To many looking from the outside in, this is shocking and never-before-seen, but to people who know a little bit from the past, this is only an example of history repeating itself. Colombians like me, who have escaped a country of drug violence, only see our past and grief coming back to life in the new faces of innocent Mexican men, women, and children. Colombian people went through the very same things that we see on the news today back in the 80s and 90s, when Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Drug Cartel terrorized our people with random acts of violence to remind the government to stay out of its business. Virtually the same exact events are taking place in Mexico today; the bombings at the casino in Monterrey are a perfect example.The violence isn’t the only thing we can relate to, and as hard as it may be to understand, it’s not Mexico’s biggest problem.

Political corruption might be the worst issue that the Mexican people will have to deal with, and sadly it’s only beginning.  The difficult thing about corruption is how to end it. You can’t use the police, because most of the cops are on the cartels’ payroll. You can’t depend on the politicians to do something about it, because most of the time they will either be too afraid to do anything or they will also be on a payroll.

My country and my people suffered through 20 years of political violence due to the drug trade. We lost hundreds of thousands of lives and our international image was tarnished and humiliated by movies like Scarface. It’s sad to think that this is exactly the same place Mexico is heading.

I watch the news every once in a while, and I can’t help but recall the same events that I heard my parents cry about on the news, the same events I grew up hearing stories about in my childhood. While most people look at Mexico and wonder how they will ever make it through this, I see that country with hope. In time, this too shall pass for them.