To live or die in Mexico

[Mugu]

By Marion Lloyd - GlobalPost

MEXICO CITY — The street peddler's face darkened when asked how the Mexican government should deal with the rash of kidnappings and drug slayings terrorizing the nation.

"They should catch the perpetrators and kill them," said Luis Bote, 21, as he served steaming tacos from a basket on his bicycle. "Only if the criminals are afraid will these crimes ever stop." Bote isn't alone. Such calls to reinstate the death penalty are gaining ground in Mexico amid an unprecedented surge in violent crime. Most of the violence is tied to the warring narcotics gangs, who killed a record 5,500 people last year, including a growing number of kidnapping victims.

In December, the governor of northern Coahuila state sponsored a bill in the Mexican Congress that would bring back the death penalty for kidnappers who murder their victims. Legislators are expected to debate the proposal when they resume sessions in February. "These are people who won't be rehabilitated in jail," said Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira, whose cattle ranching state borders Texas. "Let's get real and let's start executing the kidnappers."

The Green Party, a minority party in Congress, has gone further, advocating capital punishment in all homicide cases. "Because we worry about your life, we're going to end the life of murderers," declare the party's billboards, which are plastered across the capital.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/mexico/090113/live-or-die-mexico">Complete article

[anonymous171]

1. Eh tough call. nt

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Likely...

The criminals don't fear jail because they run the jails through corruption and intimidation. Before the Mexican Government starts killing folks, perhaps they need to take a close look at the "SuperMax" concept.

[MADem]

3. The Green Party advocating the death penalty? Who knew? nt