I was born and (partially) raised in Morelia, Michoacán. Michoacán is the Mexican state with the more dollars of remittances per capita, one of the largest per capita emigration ratios. One out of every 5 Mexicans live abroad. And I estimate that one out of every 4 Michoacanos live abroad.
The economic disaster that devastated my state worsened in the 1980s and 1990s. Its seeds were sown in the 1960s and 1970s, with the crisis of rural Mexico. Since the late 1970s, the area where I was born (Tierra Caliente) evolved into a big exporter of drugs to the U.S. And then the "war on drugs" happened. This stupid "war on drugs" has been a disaster for Michoacán like nothing else I can think of. A huge percentage of the male adults from many towns in Tierra Caliente are either in the U.S., dead, or in jail. A vast criminal industry (and its accompanying culture) has emerged in the state with its own law of the jungle. So, call me Friedmanian, but I'd rather see drug use and production in the U.S. decriminalized. In Uruapan, not long ago, drug lords dumped a bunch of human heads in a disco to let their enemies know how ruthless they are. A friend of mine (who is a labor litigant and activist in Morelia), lucky enough to have the same name as one of the suspected killers, was recently detained until they cleared the confusion. Judges, cops, journalists, innocent bystanders, etc. have been killed. A couple of days ago, four inmates with long sentences took a group of public defenders and visitors as hostages and demanded an SUV and other thingies to escape. There were negotiations and some of the hostages were released. Then yesterday, the federal investigation agency (AFI), i.e. the Mexican version of the FBI, staged a ride that failed spectacularly. Five people were killed. The government looks utterly incompetent to manage these crises, and the crises keep getting bigger and bigger. http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/11/19/index.php
