TROUBLES IN LATIN AMERICA
Travelling to Southern California...
...for a book signing at Barnes & Noble in Encinitas, the car radio was alive with the story from the U.S.-Mexico border: snipers have shot at American agents seven times in the past eight weeks; drug dealers or smugglers of illegal immigrants are the leading suspects. This was more than enough to get my foreign correspondent's instincts twitching. The gunplay is clearly an important fragment -- but just a fragment -- of one of the great international news stories of the next decade. Namely how the privileged societies of the U.S. and Canada will cope with the seemingly unstoppable growth of population, and instability, in Mexico and much of Latin America.Our concerns here in El Norte should go well beyond the safety of border patrol agents (although the officers will certainly have to receive additional protection if U.S. authorities clamp down tighter on northward migration in coming years). Our governments and media should be much more active far beyond the border, right inside Mexico and the countries of Central America. The story of ordinary people and their struggle with rampant corruption, pollution and economic distress should be told and better understood. How else can we, in the wealthy north, find more effective ways of helping to counter the crises of crime and uncontrolled migration at the source ? If we simply hide behind higher and longer walls, the pressures that fuel the trade in drugs and illegal aliens will only increase.
But only this week we've had a glaring example of northern indifference to a tale of real heroism and sacrifice -- how one young man gave his life to the fight against drug smuggling and corruption in his home town. Benjamin Flores Gonzales, a 29-year-old editor who has waged a war of words against drug lords in San Luis Rio Colorado, just across the border from Yuma, Arizona, was shot and killed in an ambush outside the offices of La Prensa. Benjamin had founded the newspaper five years ago because he felt the competition was too timid in the face of gangsterism and official corruption in Sonora state, a major transshipment point for cocaine destined for the U.S. and Canada. (One of La Prensa's recent scoops revealed the theft of a half ton of drugs from the state attorney's office; several law enforcement officers were subsequently charged for the crime.)
"We need help from journalists in the north," Benjamin's successor, Jesus Barriza Zavala told me on the phone. "Please, tell our story. The work we do is for the benefit of the people of the north, too." Because we were speaking as Jesus was heading off to his boss's funeral, I spared telling him that I have seen not a single minute of airtime on American television given over to reporting Benjamin's life and death.
How can we let this happen, when so much time is devoted to airing our own anxieties over the spread of drugs and corruption into our own northern communities ? Benjamin Flores Gonzalez is a name that all American and Canadian journalists and lawmakers should know by heart -- and conscience. He went the distance. Even though going the distance on a small Mexican newspaper didn't hold out the prospect of much glory or cash, or scoring a hit on some ratings sheet. It's something we well-paid northern hacks should spare a moment to think about...
Canadians and Americans are partners with Latinos in shaping the continent's future. Reporters everywhere could benefit from a pilgrimage to Benjamin's grave -- even if the journey is only a mental one, by way of a few moments of quiet reflection at your keyboard.