The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Friday, November 28, 2014

Sounds good on paper, but....

From the LAHT
Peña Nieto committed himself to doing everything necessary to free the country “from criminality, (and) combat corruption and impunity,” calling on Mexicans not to become pessimistic and not to resort to violence or vandalism to demand justice.

Peña Nieto also announced that on Monday he will present to Congress three constitutional reforms, one to create single police forces in the country’s 32 states, another to combat the infiltration of organized crime in the municipalities and the third to define the responsibilities and jurisdictions of all authorities in the fight against crime.

The first reform is aimed at “going from more than 1,800 weak municipal police forces, which easily can be corrupted by crime, to 32 solid state security bodies that will be more trustworthy, more professional and more efficient,” he said, adding that the focus will be in the four states in question.

The second reform will result in “dissolving” a city hall “when sufficient indications exist that the local authorities are involved with organized crime,” as happened with Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca, who is under arrest as the intellectual author of the attacks on the teaching students.

Regarding the third initiative, Peña Nieto explained that it will redefine the responsibilities of the authorities in the anti-crime fight, “taking into account the institutional strengths of the different levels of government,” federal, state and municipal.

“When everybody has responsibility, in reality nobody has it,” said the president, complaining that the “complex system of penal responsibilities” in Mexico “creates dispersed responsibilities, confusion in enforcing the law and, the most serious thing, impunity.”

The president also revealed the creation of three special economic zones including Guerrero, Michoacan, Chiapas and Oaxaca, the country’s poorest states, via a legal initiative to spur development, trade and infrastructure that will be sent to Congress in February 2015.

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