An article posted by BBC Mundo speculates that Chapo Guzman will fill bin Laden’s shoes as the world’s most wanted outlaw. Just as the United States has been prosecuting an ill-defined “war on terrorism,” the Mexican government has declared a “war on drugs”; bringing down kingpins like bin Laden and Guzman can reify the vagueness of the campaigns, and deliver huge political dividends.
President Obama was in El Paso, Texas, talking up the need for immigration reform in the United States, where he quipped about a border moat filled with alligators. Under Obama, the US has rounded up nearly one million immigrants and sent them back to Mexico and various Central American countries. Peeved Latino leaders in the United States are bandying the idea of a “Tequila Party”–akin to the Tea Party–to hold Democrats accountable to the constituency.
Carlos Slim is gaining more unwanted attention from Mexican lawmakers for the creeping reach of his oligopolies. Last month regulators slapped a $1 billion fine on Telcel, a division of Slim’s American Movil. Shares of America Movil duly dropped to their 52-week low. As the presidential election campaign of 2012 gains steam, Slim Shady seems likely to face prosecution by politicians of all stripes. Says Shannon O’Neil of the Council of Foreign Relations: “It seems taking on monopolies is a vote-getter.”