Why less violence here than Mexico?
Editor:
I have some thoughts about the crime and violence in Matamoros and Mexico.
What really keeps the violence from “spilling over” to our side? Here, just like Matamoros, we have drug dealers, smugglers and other assorted criminals.
Could it simply be a narrow, shallow river or that ridiculous wall?
Maybe it’s that criminals fear our omnipresent and powerful federal government. I’m sure that’s a big part of it. But wait — Mexico has federal soldiers in tanks, with machine guns and grenade launchers, patrolling the streets of Matamoros.
I remember it was a lot more peaceful over there before the soldiers arrived. Maybe that’s not the answer after all.
Maybe it’s that in Texas the average citizens have the right to bear arms and use deadly force to defend themselves, their families and their neighbors from violent criminals, whereas in Mexico the average citizen does not have that right.
Maybe someday Mexico will trust and believe in her people enough to allow them at least a chance to defend themselves. Maybe even honor carry permits from the Unites States so tourists aren’t singled out as easy prey because criminals know for sure that they are unarmed.
And maybe someday pigs will fly!
Gus Martin
Brownsville
Collateral deaths in War on Drugs
Editor:
Could the FM 281 Massacre on Feb. 12 have been prevented? The lives of three young Katy, Texas, family members are gone.
They were coming to visit relatives.
The grandfather and father are now forced to care for the surviving victims with multiple injuries and years of surgery ahead.
If only the police had not chosen to pursue the common burglar in a chase the family would be reuniting with Grandfather and Dad coming in from Iraq.
Warning to all Spring Breakers, Winter Texans and visiting relatives: Police are fighting the war on drugs on our highways and neighborhood streets. Make sure you are not on the receiving end of one of these police chases. The cost will far exceed insurance coverage, emotional pain or medical bills that will never stop coming in.
Micaela Balli Moncivaiz
Brownsville
Via the Internet
