Punishing El Chapo and Preserving US Hegemony
Sunday, 17 January 2016 00:00 By William C. Anderson, Truthout | News
Analysis
Mexican military personnel carry out an operation to recapture Joaquin
Guzman Loera, the drug kingpin known as "El Chapo" in Los Mochis, Mexico,
January 11, 2016. (Photo: Mexican Secretariat of the Navy via The New York
Times)
In institutions, states and nations there is often a mechanical need for a
villain. Like almost nothing else, the scapegoated villain or alleged threat
can be used to mobilize people around a common cause. Over time, the
denigration of such apparitions - who are usually too distant, foreign or
alienated to defend themselves - becomes the repetitive waltz of an empire
on the edge. This repeatedly staged fiasco has played out in an array of
policy debacles both foreign and domestic. The "war on terror" and the "war
on drugs" are two examples of this phenomenon. Most recently, the arrest of
Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as "El Chapo," illustrated
how the early stages of this cycle unfold and foreshadow what will happen
next.
From the time President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971 up
to now, the effects of drug-related laws, policies and law enforcement
practices across the United States have been utterly devastating. This
regressive era elevated punishment as the primary solution to an ongoing
problem. By the time Ronald Reagan took office through the 1980s and into
the 1990s prison populations soared. Thanks to nonviolent drug offenses and
racially coded conservative crackdowns, the communities most affected by
drugs were also the most devastated by the so-called efforts to alleviate
the problem.
The parallels here to the war on terror are almost uncanny. President George
W. Bush would declare the war on terror shortly after the 9/11 attacks on
the World Trade Center in New York City. Like the war on drugs, this war
continues. It's newer, fresher and yet somehow just as stale. Since the
declaration of this campaign, the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq and other
areas of the world have been catastrophic. Again, the people who were
supposed to be liberated have quite regularly been the most devastated by
this war. Physicians for Social Responsibility's 2015 report, "Body Count:
Casualty Figures After 10 Years of the 'War on Terror,'" concluded that at
least 1.3 million lives were lost in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan alone
since September 11, 2001. It went even further to call this a "conservative
estimate," stating that "a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely."
SLIPPERY VILLAINS ARE ENTERTAINING AND ALLURING, NOT TO MENTION POLITICALLY
USEFUL.
Bodies don't pile up on their own. Public sentiments, funding and the desire
to increase capital all drive the ventures of oligarchs and the politicians
they carry in their pockets like pens. Here they write new histories and
sign off on new futures with the help of a more than willing mainstream
media. And for much of the public, there's often something thrilling about
the chase. Slippery villains are entertaining and alluring, not to mention
politically useful. US military and political leaders used Saddam Hussein to
justify the war in Iraq and Osama bin Laden to justify the war in
Afghanistan, just as they are now seeking to use the recent capture of El
Chapo and the similar hunt for his villainous predecessor, Medellín cartel
boss Pablo Escobar, to justify their regressive foreign policy in South and
Central America. The world these villains benefit from is one that the
regularity of dangerous Western state policies creates, consumes and yearns
for.
Actor Sean Penn's interview with El Chapo, which some officials have said
helped lead to his capture, took the nation by storm recently when it was
published by Rolling Stone. Yet again, people were fascinated with this
mysterious cartel icon who had escaped from prison for a second time only
months earlier. Ironically, this is also the second time El Chapo has been
detained when he has come into close proximity or contact with journalists.
A documentary was released in 2014 showing how two filmmakers set out to
interview him and he was detained before they could fully secure their
interview. But the show goes on. Charlie Rose wants an interview with Sean
Penn and the shirt El Chapo was wearing in the images from his interview is
now in high demand.
It should be distressing to the enthralled populations watching this
worldwide that the US Drug Enforcement Administration had knowledge of El
Chapo's escape plots prior to his escape. But such stories like that are not
as entertaining. El Chapo is a product of US necessity in many ways. The US
- the country that consumes the majority of the toxic products he peddles -
is addicted to blaming the victims who are fleeing the effects of its own
population's habits.
In the midst of the raging war on drugs that has taken place across the
nation, many people have fled South and Central America. Upon their arrival
here they have been met with vitriolic rejection and chastisement, regularly
for seeking asylum from this very drug war. The hateful trend is rooted in
the language of illegality and resurfaces in the mouths of politicians like
Donald Trump who infamously said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not
sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you.
They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing
those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime.
They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
Trump's approval in the polls rose significantly after his racist comment.
After all, if Washington had any problem with his words, it was only the
bluntness they carry, not with the underlying sentiment behind them. This
Democratic administration's record number of deportations and the raids that
are currently taking place have been laced with a rhetoric about combating
crime. President Obama had previously stated that his administration would
reduce its deportation of nonviolent offenders and go after "criminals, gang
bangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after
folks who are here just because they're trying to figure out how to feed
their families." Now, here we are in early 2016 hearing that immigration
authorities are raiding refugee families. The inconsistency is harrowing and
blatant.
The very people fleeing the violence created by US foreign policy throughout
South and Central America and the Caribbean are the same people who are
labeled as unworthy of asylum. We can see an almost identical hypocrisy in
the way that the very people who are fleeing terror around the world are
blatantly rejected by most Western countries as potential terrorists
themselves. The war on drugs and the war on terror share a similar line of
thinking, which holds that the problems that the Western world creates
throughout the global South are not the West's problem, and the people
fleeing those problems will receive no solace from them.
The West has destroyed the economies and vibrant communities of many
countries and regions throughout the world with its foreign policy. In the
midst of this destruction, thousands have lost their lives. Mexico is a
prime example of this phenomenon. According to PBS's "Frontline," "Between
2007 and 2014 - a period that accounts for some of the bloodiest years of
[Mexico's] war against the drug cartels - more than 164,000 people were
victims of homicide." These deaths are directly linked to the ever-growing
market for drugs in the United States, but there is no accountability. There
is only punishment and blame.
It should be apparent that any trial of El Chapo will be nothing more than a
spectacle. It will be a circus just like the trial of Saddam Hussein. It
will be filled with mythology and rumor just like the murders of Osama bin
Laden and Pablo Escobar. There will be no real introspection on behalf of
the state. The war on terror and the war on drugs are intricately conjoined
by the impetuousness and carelessness of those who orchestrate them, and by
the disaster they leave in their wake. The villains who have risen to the
forefront of our imaginations are only fractions of a problem much larger
than the shadows cast by these bit players. As a result, the Western world's
use of high-profile scapegoats - whether they are drug lords like El Chapo
or terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden - is almost always a detour on the
road to the truth.
Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
WILLIAM C. ANDERSON
William C. Anderson is a freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter
@Williamcson.
RELATED STORIES
What Will It Take to End the War on Drugs?
By Laura Flanders, GRITtv | Video Interview
The War on Terror Is a War on Youth: Paris and the Impoverishment of the
Future
By Brad Evans, Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-Ed
El Chapo Is Caught, but Corruption, US Consumption and Failed Drug War Keep
the Cartels in Business
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Interview
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Punishing El Chapo and Preserving US Hegemony
Sunday, 17 January 2016 00:00 By William C. Anderson, Truthout | News
Analysis
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reference not valid.
Mexican military personnel carry out an operation to recapture
Joaquin Guzman Loera, the drug kingpin known as "El Chapo" in Los Mochis,
Mexico, January 11, 2016. (Photo: Mexican Secretariat of the Navy via The
New York Times)
In institutions, states and nations there is often a mechanical need
for a villain. Like almost nothing else, the scapegoated villain or alleged
threat can be used to mobilize people around a common cause. Over time, the
denigration of such apparitions - who are usually too distant, foreign or
alienated to defend themselves - becomes the repetitive waltz of an empire
on the edge. This repeatedly staged fiasco has played out in an array of
policy debacles both foreign and domestic. The "war on terror" and the "war
on drugs" are two examples of this phenomenon. Most recently, the arrest of
Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as "El Chapo," illustrated
how the early stages of this cycle unfold and foreshadow what will happen
next.
From the time President Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971 up
to now, the effects of drug-related laws, policies and law enforcement
practices across the United States have been utterly devastating. This
regressive era elevated punishment as the primary solution to an ongoing
problem. By the time Ronald Reagan took office through the 1980s and into
the 1990s prison populations soared. Thanks to nonviolent drug offenses and
racially coded conservative crackdowns, the communities most affected by
drugs were also the most devastated by the so-called efforts to alleviate
the problem.
The parallels here to the war on terror are almost uncanny. President George
W. Bush would declare the war on terror shortly after the 9/11 attacks on
the World Trade Center in New York City. Like the war on drugs, this war
continues. It's newer, fresher and yet somehow just as stale. Since the
declaration of this campaign, the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq and other
areas of the world have been catastrophic. Again, the people who were
supposed to be liberated have quite regularly been the most devastated by
this war. Physicians for Social Responsibility's 2015 report, "Body Count:
Casualty Figures After 10 Years of the 'War on Terror,'" concluded that at
least 1.3 million lives were lost in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan alone
since September 11, 2001. It went even further to call this a "conservative
estimate," stating that "a figure below 1 million is extremely unlikely."
Slippery villains are entertaining and alluring, not to mention politically
useful.
Bodies don't pile up on their own. Public sentiments, funding and the desire
to increase capital all drive the ventures of oligarchs and the politicians
they carry in their pockets like pens. Here they write new histories and
sign off on new futures with the help of a more than willing mainstream
media. And for much of the public, there's often something thrilling about
the chase. Slippery villains are entertaining and alluring, not to mention
politically useful. US military and political leaders used Saddam Hussein to
justify the war in Iraq and Osama bin Laden to justify the war in
Afghanistan, just as they are now seeking to use the recent capture of El
Chapo and the similar hunt for his villainous predecessor, Medellín cartel
boss Pablo Escobar, to justify their regressive foreign policy in South and
Central America. The world these villains benefit from is one that the
regularity of dangerous Western state policies creates, consumes and yearns
for.
Actor Sean Penn's interview with El Chapo, which some officials have said
helped lead to his capture, took the nation by storm recently when it was
published by Rolling Stone. Yet again, people were fascinated with this
mysterious cartel icon who had escaped from prison for a second time only
months earlier. Ironically, this is also the second time El Chapo has been
detained when he has come into close proximity or contact with journalists.
A documentary was released in 2014 showing how two filmmakers set out to
interview him and he was detained before they could fully secure their
interview. But the show goes on. Charlie Rose wants an interview with Sean
Penn and the shirt El Chapo was wearing in the images from his interview is
now in high demand.
It should be distressing to the enthralled populations watching this
worldwide that the US Drug Enforcement Administration had knowledge of El
Chapo's escape plots prior to his escape. But such stories like that are not
as entertaining. El Chapo is a product of US necessity in many ways. The US
- the country that consumes the majority of the toxic products he peddles -
is addicted to blaming the victims who are fleeing the effects of its own
population's habits.
In the midst of the raging war on drugs that has taken place across the
nation, many people have fled South and Central America. Upon their arrival
here they have been met with vitriolic rejection and chastisement, regularly
for seeking asylum from this very drug war. The hateful trend is rooted in
the language of illegality and resurfaces in the mouths of politicians like
Donald Trump who infamously said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not
sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you.
They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing
those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime.
They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
Trump's approval in the polls rose significantly after his racist comment.
After all, if Washington had any problem with his words, it was only the
bluntness they carry, not with the underlying sentiment behind them. This
Democratic administration's record number of deportations and the raids that
are currently taking place have been laced with a rhetoric about combating
crime. President Obama had previously stated that his administration would
reduce its deportation of nonviolent offenders and go after "criminals, gang
bangers, people who are hurting the community, not after students, not after
folks who are here just because they're trying to figure out how to feed
their families." Now, here we are in early 2016 hearing that immigration
authorities are raiding refugee families. The inconsistency is harrowing and
blatant.
The very people fleeing the violence created by US foreign policy throughout
South and Central America and the Caribbean are the same people who are
labeled as unworthy of asylum. We can see an almost identical hypocrisy in
the way that the very people who are fleeing terror around the world are
blatantly rejected by most Western countries as potential terrorists
themselves. The war on drugs and the war on terror share a similar line of
thinking, which holds that the problems that the Western world creates
throughout the global South are not the West's problem, and the people
fleeing those problems will receive no solace from them.
The West has destroyed the economies and vibrant communities of many
countries and regions throughout the world with its foreign policy. In the
midst of this destruction, thousands have lost their lives. Mexico is a
prime example of this phenomenon. According to PBS's "Frontline," "Between
2007 and 2014 - a period that accounts for some of the bloodiest years of
[Mexico's] war against the drug cartels - more than 164,000 people were
victims of homicide." These deaths are directly linked to the ever-growing
market for drugs in the United States, but there is no accountability. There
is only punishment and blame.
It should be apparent that any trial of El Chapo will be nothing more than a
spectacle. It will be a circus just like the trial of Saddam Hussein. It
will be filled with mythology and rumor just like the murders of Osama bin
Laden and Pablo Escobar. There will be no real introspection on behalf of
the state. The war on terror and the war on drugs are intricately conjoined
by the impetuousness and carelessness of those who orchestrate them, and by
the disaster they leave in their wake. The villains who have risen to the
forefront of our imaginations are only fractions of a problem much larger
than the shadows cast by these bit players. As a result, the Western world's
use of high-profile scapegoats - whether they are drug lords like El Chapo
or terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden - is almost always a detour on the
road to the truth.
Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
William C. Anderson
William C. Anderson is a freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter
@Williamcson.
Related Stories
What Will It Take to End the War on Drugs?
By Laura Flanders, GRITtv | Video InterviewThe War on Terror Is a War on
Youth: Paris and the Impoverishment of the Future
By Brad Evans, Henry A. Giroux, Truthout | Op-EdEl Chapo Is Caught, but
Corruption, US Consumption and Failed Drug War Keep the Cartels in Business
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Interview
Show Comments
