Mexico's cartels did not get AMLO's 'hugs, not bullets' memo

(My new American Thinker post) 

A couple of years ago, President Lopez-Obrador said something about promoting hugs rather than bullets as his plan for halting Mexico's notorious cartels.   

It went like this:

Prior to becoming president, AMLO promised “hugs, not bullets,” a demilitarization of security, an end to high value targeting and a focus on social spending and anti-corruption to reduce the root causes of violence. 

It was "woke mexicano" and did not work any better than "woke americano." Mexico recently surpassed the 100,000-deaths milestone in its war with cartels, Jorge Ramos of Univision wrote. Not even Ramos, a lefty, thinks the 'hugs not bullets' strategy, is working.

A couple of days ago, the Mexican cartels sent a message about Cancun.  This is from The New York Post:   

The hand-printed signs, in neat block letters, appeared in the Tulum marketplace the morning after two tourists were shot dead and three others wounded at a roadside eatery in the bohemian Mexican resort town.

“Attention merchants of Tulum … this was a warning,” said the sign, which went on to threaten “managers and owners” of bars and restaurants on the “Mini Quinta” tourist zone. That’s where the foreigners, visiting the Malquerida Bar last month, had the bad luck of getting caught in cartel crossfire.

The signs were photographed by a local citizens’ advocacy group, which posted them to social media. The message threatened death to merchants who refuse to fork over bribes to the drug trafficking gangs and was signed by Los Pelones — “the bald ones.”

It caught the Mexican government's attention because they sent the armed forces to secure the area.

What we are seeing, according to a friend in Mexico, is several very interesting developments:

First, the criminal elements in Mexico have been emboldened by President Biden's border policy.  They are doing lots of business bringing people to the border and charging them a nice fee.  Furthermore, who knows what deal they are making with these people once they get here.  In other words, what future payments, cash or "services," are due once they settle into the U.S.?  

Second, we are watching a battle for territory between the cartels.  This is a gang fight not too different than what we see in Chicago every weekend.

Last, but not least, the Mexican government knows that violence involving tourists is bad news for a country desperately needing cash after the pandemic.   So they will use whatever force is necessary to keep the gangs out of Cancun.   My fear is that the cartels have simply grown to a point where they can't be stopped by Mexican authorities.  

Should you go to Cancun?   Be very careful.

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Happy No. 76 to the Cub who saved a US flag

We say happy birthday to Rick Monday, a pretty good outfielder who played for the A’s, Cubs, and Dodgers.  

His best years were with the Cubs (1972-76), when he hit 106 home runs and was a very tough out.  Later he moved to the LA Dodgers and hit a 9th-inning HR to beat Montreal in the 1981 NLCS.   

However, his greatest baseball moment had nothing to do with hits or home runs.  It happened in 1976.  You may remember that it was the Bicentennial year, and Watergate and Vietnam were behind us.  The economy was a bit sluggish, but people were looking forward to July 4 and all of the patriotic parades and celebrations.

On an April afternoon at Wrigley Field, Monday took his position in center field and was playing catch with José Cardenal, his Cuban teammate.    

Rick saw a couple of guys trying to burn the U.S. flag; he ran and grabbed it before they could light the match.  The two idiots were arrested, and Monday gave the flag to one of the security guards.   

This is what he told The Washington Post on the 30th anniversary of the incident:

“I was angry when I saw them start to do something to the flag, and I’m glad that I happened to be geographically close enough to do something about it,” said Monday, now in his 13th season as a Dodgers broadcaster.

“What those people were doing, and their concept of what they were trying to do was wrong. That feeling was very strongly reinforced by six years in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. I still think it’s wrong to do that.”

It was before cable, although the game may have been on WGN Chicago.  There is a video of the incident.   Anyway, I remember reading about it the next day and catching a quick bit on the evening news.  (After watching the video, I was impressed with Tommy Lasorda dashing out to the flag, too!)

We salute Rick Monday for saving the flag and a good baseball career.

We need a patriotic post.  I hope that you agree.

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