Aren't We Glad We Don't Live in a Lawless Place Like Mexico?
This news, from Mexico, from today's Los Angeles Times:
The shame! They were rich and powerful. They were sent to prison and then have apparently squirmed out from under their convictions.
How wonderful that we live in the world's greatest bastion of justice, the United States of America, where a rich person is free to destroy the lives of thousands or even millions, without the slightest worry about being held responsible for his behavior! Here, our government, ever mindful of demands that it not waste the taxpayer's money, would not even think of prosecuting rich criminals. No sense wasting money on a lost cause, and besides, the American people seem to be just fine with criminal behavior by the rich, so what's the point?
But, hooray for the Los Angeles Times for pointing out how terrible it is when a rich person violates the law somewhere else.
"In Mexico, are some above the law?
MEXICO CITY — They were two of Mexico's most flamboyant bad boys, symbols for many here of all that was wrong with this country in the 1980s and '90s.
Rafael Caro Quintero was a high-rolling drug lord sent to prison for the 1985 kidnapping, torture and slaying of an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Raul Salinas, the brother of a former Mexican president, was a free-spending playboy. He was convicted, and then acquitted, of the 1994 killing of a top politician. He was also suspected of stealing millions of dollars from the government.
But in recent days, the old criminal cases against these two characters have fallen apart, leaving many dismayed by what they perceive as the enduring dysfunction of the Mexican justice system.
Even though Mexican officials, with U.S. advisors and millions of dollars of U.S. aid, have focused in recent years on reforming the system, these two cases are likely to bolster the suspicion that the law still does not apply to the well-connected and the powerful — either because of their enduring influence, or the incompetence of those who pursue them."
The shame! They were rich and powerful. They were sent to prison and then have apparently squirmed out from under their convictions.
How wonderful that we live in the world's greatest bastion of justice, the United States of America, where a rich person is free to destroy the lives of thousands or even millions, without the slightest worry about being held responsible for his behavior! Here, our government, ever mindful of demands that it not waste the taxpayer's money, would not even think of prosecuting rich criminals. No sense wasting money on a lost cause, and besides, the American people seem to be just fine with criminal behavior by the rich, so what's the point?
But, hooray for the Los Angeles Times for pointing out how terrible it is when a rich person violates the law somewhere else.
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