Mexican Government Providing Comics and Songbooks to Schools Promoting Drug Trafficking and Illegal Immigration

infowars.com | February 22, 2005 From illegal immigration to drug trafficking, the Mexican government wants to make sure the Mexican people feel encouraged to break the law. Here you see them starting young, providing schools with drug songs glorifying drug trafficking. This song book, although privately published, was bought in bulk by the government. This is slightly different from the "The Guide for the Mexican Migrant," a 32-page booklet published by Mexico's Foreign Ministry. Still, the comic-book format on the guide remind you that they are aiming at the youngest and simplest common denominator.

Mexican schools provide drug songs
Library book glorifying traffickers draws criticism

CNN | February 21, 2005

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's school libraries are stocking a book that includes the lyrics of "narcocorridos" -- folk songs that glorify drug traffickers -- causing a storm of criticism in a country where the drug market and its violence have become part of life in thousands of communities.

Opposition activists are livid that the administration of President Vicente Fox, which has declared a "war on all fronts" against drug gangs, allowed tens of thousands of copies of the book "100 Corridos: The Heart of Mexican Song" to slip into grade-school libraries.

The book, printed by a private publishing company but bought in bulk by the government, contains lyrics for songs like "The Red Car Gang," which describes Mexican cocaine smugglers shooting it out with Texas Rangers:

"They say they came from the south/In a red car/Carrying 100 kilos of cocaine/bound for Chicago ... "

Another song describes female drug traffickers who poisoned police with opium to protect a drug shipment, then praises "The Lord of the Skies," the nickname for the deceased drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes:

"They caught him alive/but they couldn't pin anything on him/now they can display him dead/on trumped-up charges ... "

Experts say the corrido is Mexico's national song form. Born along with the country's independence in the 1820s, it reached its peak during the 1910-1917 Revolution. Narcocorridos didn't start becoming popular until the 1970s and 80s.

Legislators who say the books have no place in Mexican schools have scheduled hearings.

"It's very bad to put books like this into the hands of children because they portray drug lords as heroes," said Salvador Martinez, who heads the education committee of the lower house of Congress.

"That's bad, because we have a problem in this country where drug traffickers sometimes pave a town's road, build its school or hospital, and thus have a much better reputation among some people than the police. We have to work against that."

The U.S.-driven drug market has woven its way into the life of thousands of Mexican communities, where narcotics have been a source of otherwise scarce money and of power. Ambitious and amoral young men are drawn by the vast profits in shipping Colombian cocaine to the United States. Poor farmers often see cultivation of marijuana or opium as a step away from starvation.

In addition, Mexico has a growing domestic consumption problem -- possibly aggravated by the increasing difficulty of smuggling drugs over the U.S. border -- and concern about drug sales have led officials to routinely search students at some schools.

The sheer bulk of candidate books for libraries -- and the fact that narcocorridos account for only a few of the corridos in the book -- apparently allowed the narcotics issue to be overlooked.

Education Department officials say the volume is merely secondary reading material, purchased as part of an effort to put as many as 30 million books in school libraries across the country, while supporting Mexican publishers.

More than 13,000 titles were submitted by local book distributors as candidates for the plan. The books were vetted by three non-governmental civic groups at the national level and then were evaluated by committees of parents, teachers and local officials in Mexico's 31 states and the capital.

All but one of those states -- whose committees had access to the full text -- picked "100 Corridos" as a top choice for local libraries. The other state listed it as a second choice. None rejected it.

About 80,000 copies of the book were printed, though it is not clear how many made it into schools. Officials say they have no immediate plans to withdraw it.

Some education officials tried to depict the scandal as an example of overly zealous censorship of a song genre that for centuries has celebrated outlaws and the common man. They noted one of the best-known and oldest corridos, "La Cucaracha," also contains references to drugs.

One verse runs: "La Cucaracha/ La Cucaracha/can no longer walk/Because he hasn't got/because he ran out of/marijuana to smoke."

Many other corridos, like the 1930s song "The Smuggler," glorify thieves, rebels, or smugglers.

Border towns in northern Mexico -- where drug vendettas have cost thousands of lives in recent years -- have tried to ban local radio stations from playing narcocorridos, saying too many lives have been lost to the drug culture.

In 2002, Baja California state radio stations agreed to ban narcocorridos and decided to play only songs that promote positive messages.

"I certainly recognize that corridos are part of our cultural values," said federal Sen. Jesus Ortega. "But they should be corridos, not these songs that glorify crime.

How to be an illegal
Mexico government publishes guide to assist border crossers

WND | January 2, 2005

The government of Mexico is raising eyebrows with a new comic book offering advice on how to cross the border into the U.S. illegally.

Called "The Guide for the Mexican Migrant," the 32-page book published by Mexico's Foreign Ministry uses simple language to offer information on safety, legal rights and living unobtrusively in America.

"This guide is intended to give you some practical advice that could be of use if you have made the difficult decision to seek new work opportunities outside your country," the book says, according to the Arizona Republic.

Illustrations depict illegals wading into a river, trying to evade U.S. Border Patrol and crouching near a hole in a border fence. Immigrants are also shown hiking through the desert with rock formations similar to those in Arizona and being caught by an American agent.

Among the tips offered:

• It also says if migrants get lost, they should follow train tracks or power lines. It warns of walking for days to reach towns or roads in the desert.

  If caught by Border Patrol, the book says, "Don't throw stones or objects at the officer or patrol vehicles because this is considered a provocation. Raise your hands slowly so they see you are unarmed."

  It also recommends not running away from agents in pursuit.

  "It's better to be detained a few hours and repatriated to Mexico than to get lost in the desert," the guide states.

  The book includes a disclaimer stating it doesn't promote crossing the border illegally, but it doesn't give information about legal steps to seek a U.S. visa.

  Immigration-control groups are not thrilled about the guide.

  "This is more than just a wink and a nod," Rick Oltman, Western field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told the Republic. "This is so transparent, this is the Mexican government trying to protect its most valuable export, which is illegal migrants."

  John Vincent, with Virginia-based Americans for Immigration Control, said, "It really looks like the Mexican government is encouraging illegal immigration. It shows the contempt that the Mexican government has for our laws."

  The Mexican consul general of Phoenix, Carlos Flores Vizcarra, said the reality is many migrants will try to cross the border illegally, and the book appears to be a means of protection.

  "This is nothing new. It's a way to put it in very simple terms so people will understand the risks," he told the paper. "The intention is out of concern for human rights. People are doing it anyway. We cannot ignore that there is a very big migration between our two countries, and people who are coming to work need to understand the risks."

  Humberto Morales, 22, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico now working as a day laborer in Phoenix, and says the guide seems to have a mixed message.

  "On the one hand they seem to be saying, 'Don't cross,' but on the other hand they are saying, 'Cross.'"