#narco war

[ohemablog]

For Your Entertainment: Chicago Goodman Theater's Song for the Disappeared, A Play About the Mexican Border & its War on Drugs

There is nothing like Chicago theater. The midwestern city has a theater scene that is diverse, thriving, and robust, and I miss it. Thankfully, I am headed to Chicago for the holidays and my first "to-do" is going to see some shows.

The first play that is on my list is "Song for the Disappeared" written by Tanya Saracho.

According to the play synopsis, this story "...tells the story of a fractured family that comes together when the youngest son mysteriously disappears—presumably at the hands of the narcos that dominate the US/Mexico border. Patriarch Leo Cantú is a successful businessman with a new trophy wife and two adult daughters who haven’t recovered from their mother’s recent death: one, a strong-willed writer who fled to Chicago, the other a fragile shut-away who spends her time playing video games and nursing injured animals back to health. When their carefree (and sometimes careless) younger brother, Javi, disappears the family is forced into their first reunion since their mother’s funeral in search of the baby brother that no one—not the headstrong older daughter nor the larger-than-life father—knows how to find."

I am personally excited considering I am living on the U.S. Mexican border and I read so much about disapperances and the drug violence that has plagued certain areas of the border.

Best of all the show is free, however a donation is suggested. Get your tickets here.

picture via the Goodman theater. Alejandra Escalante (Nene Cantú) in Goodman Theatre’s New Stages workshop production of Song for the Disappeared by Tanya Saracho, directed by Laurie Woolery

[protoslacker]

Is it in the interest of the American people to encourage both the drug cartels and the banks in this way? Is it in the interest of the Mexican people? It's simple: if you don't see the correlation between the money laundering by banks and the 30,000 people killed in Mexico, you're missing the point.

Guardian

[protoslacker]

At the height of the 2008 banking crisis, Antonio Maria Costa, then head of the United Nations office on drugs and crime, said he had evidence to suggest the proceeds from drugs and crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to banks on the brink of collapse. "Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade," he said. "There were signs that some banks were rescued that way.

Guardian

[chacal-la-chaise]

(Armando) Velez said new rules have emerged for journalists covering the daily maelstrom of violence in Juarez, a city that is the most violent in the hemisphere. Most of the stories about the most grisly incidents are bylined “staff” rather than the reporter’s name to prevent reprisals.

McClatchy blog: Mexico Unmasked by Tim Johnson

I’m attending a conference in El Paso, Texas, on the dangers faced by Mexican journalists, particularly along the U.S.-Mexican border.  It is quite sobering.