Enrique Pena Nieto addresses Mexican street violence

Drug traffickers and criminal warlords may wreak the most gruesome organized crimes in the country, but Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto casts street violence as an underestimated social cancer.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: i.telegraph.co.uk

Throughout his campaigns, he was frequently heard condemning street crimes that beget more violence. Mexico, much like Colombia and Venezuela, has often been depicted for its desensitization to its own crime rates. Few know the sources of bloody impunity, always attributed to powerful clans who control the narcotics trade and carry out shady operations.

Little is often said in the press about the small guns of petty village crimes. In another vein, they are the clichéd results of rampant poverty and a stark cultural valorization of honor.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: 2.bp.blogspot.com

However, the vast network of organized crimes has blurred the distinction between petty and deep-seated. The logic of Enrique Pena Nieto’s campaign could work both ways. By curtailing the access of organized crimes to the small players and informal village armies, he is also showing an attempt to hack away at the biggest criminals.

The problem may be more complex than this solution, but so are motherhood statements about what Mexico needs to overcome its social malaises. Cutting poverty may not be enough to cut off the entrenched systems of organized crime, nor dissuade common folk from benefiting from the narcotics trade.

Enrique Pena Nieto Image Credit: gdb.voanews.eu

The plate is looking full for Enrique Pena Nieto, who officially turns president on December 1st. Follow more of his plans on this Facebook page.