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Eye on the World: Mexican drug war
Mexican president Felipe Calderon has made stopping drug traffic and related violence one of his administration’s highest priorities — but large portions of the country still suffer from violence as drug gangs compete for control.
This week, Mexican authorities announced they’ve struck a blow against the country’s most notorious cartel, Los Zetas. The Mexican Navy says Heriberto Lazcano, the gang’s leader, may have been killed in a shootout; and Salvador Martinez Escobedo, a regional Zetas leader wanted for more than 300 murders, was captured along the US-Mexican border. Mexico says these developments would be a big victory in the fight against cartels, although arrests of key leaders in the past have led to increased violence as lieutenants fight for control. Analysts say Mexico still needs to work on creating a trustworthy judiciary and police system to curb violence.
No matter where we live, we can prayerfully contribute to the lessening of violence in Mexico and around the world. We can insist that dark motives like revenge, addiction, and lust for power can’t find lodging in anyone’s thinking, and that corruption, fear, or dishonesty don’t need to play a role in official responses to these clashes. “Prayer about drug trafficking and violence in Mexico” is a perfect place to start our prayers. This audio chat features two guests, one a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science, the other a Christian Science practitioner based in Sinaloa, a state that has experienced much of the drug-trafficking violence. The guests explore how we can hold to the spiritual fact that each individual is receptive to God’s direction, which includes neither a desire for drugs or power, nor the capacity to commit violence.
“A scientific response to Mexican drug cartels” discusses how we can prayerfully “refuse to consent” to the legitimacy of violent, chaotic rule in Mexico. The author writes, “In complex situations, there is often the argument that prayer is ineffective or impractical because there are so many individual minds and personalities … [But] effective prayer turns away from this environment of many warring minds, each struggling for supremacy. It recognizes instead that there is only one power, and only one Mind—namely, God.”
It’s right for each of us to prayerfully support peace in Mexico, and to help open the door to stability, nonviolence, honesty, and justice in the world.