Dear Mexican: A co-worker recently turned me on to a website that features many videos of unspeakable atrocities that the drug cartels are committing in Mexico—including many graphic displays of murders and beheadings. I recently saw one of a woman getting her head cut off with a knife! I wish I had never seen this, but it can’t be unseen.

Now, most Mexicans I have met are very nice, generous people. Mexico is also such a strong Catholic country, where the church preaches to be good and helpful to your fellow man. How can it be possible that these types of evil people really exist there? Is it because they still have Aztec blood running in them? As we know from history, the Aztecs were notorious butchers and cannibals.

Puzzled by Narco Violence

Dear Gabacho: As we also know from history, the English used to draw and quarter people, then place their body parts in different parts of the country—so what’s your point? Do we blame the English for the atrocities that some American soldiers have committed in Iraq and Afghanistan? Do we blame them for Ed Gein? Or for the lynchings of African Americans that gabachos committed through the mid-20th century? Of course not—such talk of sanguinary determinism is as stupid as racists freaking out that a Mexican-American boy from San Antonio sang the national anthem before an NBA Finals game dressed in a mariachi suit. (Would Know Nothings had freaked out if a gabacho in a kilt had done the same?)

Refry this: Drug cartels commit atrocious crimes because drug cartels are criminal enterprises—and the last time I saw The Godfather, it seemed like criminal enterprises tried to strike fear in each other by being more brutal toward their enemies (and even innocents) than the other guys. But if you want to play your game: Why didn’t you include the Spanish side of the mestizo equation in your pregunta? After all, they plundered their way through the Americas in ways that would make the Aztecs seem as peaceful as Quakers.

Dear Mexican: I’ve been playing pickup basketball at a gym in Alhambra near El Sereno (in the Los Angeles ares). Some of the guys who play are covered head to toe in tattoos and have their heads shaved. Are they cholos or La Eme, or is this the current fashion? They seem like nice-enough guys, but they have tattoos all over their necks and heads. Do fellows get those outside of prison? If so, why do they do that?

Afraid to Call a Foul

Dear Gabacho: What does it matter to you? All you should care about during a basketball game is kicking the other team’s ass, and humiliating whoever is guarding you.

Why do the guys you play with have so many tattoos and shave their heads? Why don’t you ask them? If they’re willing to rub their sweaty bodies against you, I’m sure they’re more than happy to explain why they look the way they do. But you probably won’t, because that’ll ruin your hipster fantasy of being so down with la raza that you can post up on a Mexican Mafia member in the barrio without getting killed.

Are they cholos? Maybe, but you didn’t describe their tattoos, so I won’t assume like you do. For all you know, the opposing center who most likely schools your ass three times a week could be a Cal Tech cabrón.

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2 replies on “Ask a Mexican: Why Are Mexican Drug Cartels So Hideously Violent?”

  1. Wow this Mexican friend here has such a way of evading the real subject. The Godfather ? Atrocities from centuries ago ??? Are you shitting me man? Mexican narcos are MUCH more violent and ruhtless than most gangs around the world and no need to live there to know that.
    These cavemen (sicarios) use extreme violence as a scare tactic and have absolutely no honor whatsoever. What drug gang beheads women, what drug gang massacres innocent busloads of migrants (San Fernando: TWICE).

    Sorry my Mexican friend, but you need to get your head out of your ass and get back to reality. Mexico has become a shithole since at least 2001 and I know that there are other places on earth where atrocities exist, not denying that. But don’t shovel your shit on other countries when asked for a simple question and just answer it. We all have shit in our backyards but Mexico has an INSANE amount of psychoes whether you like it or not. Holla at me my friend, you have my email.

  2. 2nd generation Mexican American here. I agree completely with Mister C. I believe a simple question should be answered accordingly. Without any of the unnecessary bs added in with the response. The lack of knowledgeable information in this ask a mexican character’s responses leads me to question that this guy really is a Mexican. Keep it real mr. Ask. If you are going to open up a blog with this title, make sure you are prepared to represent Mexicans with a bit more class to say the least. Put down the beer. Better yet hand ne one you have had enough.

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