Arrested Development - Ex-Pats Mexico

Am not a fan of yellow journalism anywhere.

And get a little crazy about Canadian writers, don't even want to use the word, journalist, who use these kinds of stories to grab bylines and headlines etc.

Like some of the Mexican residents on these fora. However, the Canadian cases generally share one aspect in common. Unsolved. With little or no chance of ever, being solved...for too many reasons to mention in this simple post.

Some years back, was 'close' to both a murder and an unrelated brutal assault
during a five month stay in a small Mexican village, touted, as paradise.

What I learned, from both those experiences, was enough to convince, that generally speaking, if it's 'justice' you crave, should you be severely victimized in this lifetime, you're in for a rude shock in Mexico.

Not that everything/body in Mexico is crap. Mexico is a beautiful country, with people of the highest quality, anywhere. However, there is also a dark side. As with every place.

Better revealed. Discussed. Than hidden under the 'paradise' label.

Well, justice means different things to different people. Accountability? Maybe, maybe not. In this case, the perpetrator was arrested immediately, identified by his buddies and still with the bloody knife. There are also allegations in the press here that the police stole the victims laptop and ipod, I don't doubt it.

What kind of justice do we expect for this crime? An eye for an eye is out, no capitol punishment and even if the Green party had its way and such a fate existed here it would hardly be applied to the killer of a gringa with less than upright morals. Will he stay in jail for awhile? yes, but I doubt his sentence will equal 10 years. Is that justice? There's the rub, for some it is and for others it is not.

In some of the other published cases of Canadiancide, no one is arrested, false accusations are made, confusion reigns and evidence is cleaned up by the maids. Do the police know who did it? Probably. But, for whatever reasons it was not advisable to make the arrest. In some cases, it is not only not advisable but it would be dangerous to the health and jobs of the investigators. Is that justice? Most would say no, but in some of these cases the suspect lost their job and home and had to flee back to their impoverished village with a forever label. Is that worse than 10 years? or 5 years? or 6 months in jail? Probably it depends on what exactly happens in these cases but whether it is justice or not is still debatable.

In some of the cases the reason no arrests were made was that the hotels where it happened wanted it covered up. So the suspect had nothing to do with getting a free get out of jail card but he got the card. The hotels thought they would avoid bad publicity or that they could deflect it from Mexico and their place. It didn't work, and in fact it backfired on them. So, is that justice? They didn't do the killing but they did the cover up and they paid heavily. The killer, probably back at his village without the job, also a loss... maybe.

I would agree that in most of these cases there is no justice. However, in my years in SF law enforcement I also thought there was rarely any true justice. Murderers and rapists and violent attackers get off all the time, I might even say most of the time, with a plea bargain, tainted evidence, lack of will by the prosecutor, etc. etc. etc. We had a joke at the stone mausoleum where I worked that was inappropriately called the Hall of Justice, we said that Justice died many years ago and we were all gainfully employed in massaging her corpse and fluffing the body. I doubt that it is much different in Canada. Justice is relative and rarely applied to relatives.

Jonna.
Kinda hoped you'd weigh in on this thread.

Your comment, 'Justice is relative and rarely applied to relatives' seems especially appropriate to this discussion.

Many(dare say I say most?) Canadians believe in a somewhat, shall we perhaps, say, antiquated, sense of justice?

And after they work some 48 or more weeks a year, for a week, or two of 'fun in the sun', they have the perhaps, naive perception, that such a vacation, will not result in their murder. Even if they behave 'badly' in some regard or another, depending on the value system of the perceiver.

Or even, (heaven forbid) they are murdered, the family has the naive perception that the 'wheels'(perhaps another naive concept) of justice will somehow 'pursue' the perp. With. Again naively speaking. Jail time/punishment.

In my opinion, most of the above vacationers have NO idea.

Absolutely in my impression, zilch, nada. Of most other countries especially those offering vacations in paradise(not just Mexico)

Ignoring the quite different culture, economy, justice system etc. from their own. So. Should naive tourist cancel or boycott said country because of this knowledge or or carry-on blissfully, ignorant?

Is it their fault, if something terrific happens, because the risks, statistically speaking are small?

Or is the tourism industry, irresponsible by 'never' mentioning, risk factors when they take bookings?

Or is it a mix of culpability on both sides?

Or is it, just life? So suck it up?

True. It's all relative. Unless it involves YOUR relatives.

What do you expect when Canadian "Biker" politicians like "Don Pedro" tell Canadians they will have more civil and human rights in Mexico than foreigners have in Canada.

Eh shill, put up or shut up.