Mexican kidnapping

I was recently scrolling through my Facebook page to find an odd picture of people in woods on my news feed, so naturally I clicked it.  Within a few seconds a video of a graphic execution of 3 poor Mexican women by a Mexican drug cartel began playing.  I was really disturbed by the few seconds I saw and it made me wonder why these women were executed in such a brutal manor and how often does it happen?

  Surprisingly after searching through a news site for a few seconds, hundreds of search results came up.  Recently a drug gang assassinated a Mexican mayor who had a hard stance on gangs in broad daylight.  And another story that kept coming up was the public execution of a young woman who was associated with another drugs gang. 

  One would think a democratic country with an economy and standing like Mexico would take a hard stance on such crimes.  But the drugs trade to and from Mexico is so strong that it reaches to the deepest of the country’s politics.  Corruption is rife throughout the country’s political system with numerous politicians receiving payments from the cartels for their silence.  And those politicians and police who do take a stance against the crime repeatedly receive death threats. 

  The USA is currently funding and investing into programs that will stop the flow of currency in and out of the two countries, which ultimately gives the cartels such power.  But with the current power of the big drug cartels, is it possible for them to be eradicated?  I personally don’t believe that they can suddenly disappear.  There needs to be a generation long government backed awareness program that deters public support from these vicious gangs.  And most importantly there also needs to be a major crackdown on the widespread corruption currently going on.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11016902

NSA and Spain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24699733

 

A few months back Edward Snowden; the famous whistleblower hit the headlines for leaking thousands of classified documents to the press.  His escape became the center of many national news groups and his situation was monitored closely.  We were told that he had leaked information that would jeopardize relations but I was skeptical with these claims.

   In the last few weeks some Spanish media groups got a hold of some of the classified documents.  In these reports it accuses the NSA (The US intelligence service) of tapping and recording more than 60 million Spanish calls in just one month.  These allegations have caused outcry in Spain with many asking why would a supposed ally spy on them.  The American ambassador to Spain was called to the Spanish missionary to answer some of these questions. 

  Many believe that the Spanish-American relationship has been blown apart, but was Spain really in the unknown on the situation?  Other countries secret intelligence organizations like the British M16 routinely surrender information to the CIA and cooperate on sensitive issues.  So for a country like Spain, that has a very sophisticated intelligence department really be in the unknown with something as big as this? 

  Personally I believe that this known by both parties from the start with a few backdoor agreements.   There’s a lot that the general public, common diplomats and sometimes even head of states don’t know about security issues, and I’m sure many more revelations will show up.

The Spanish recession

The effects of the recent recession are still felt by the most of us.  First time buyers are struggling, jobs are hard to find and inflation is still rising.  While living in the UK you could definitely feel the recession in day-to-day life but it wasn’t life changing.  I thought the most of the EU was in the same situation with the many bailouts given out.  It wasn’t until I saw a motoring show called “top gear” that I appreciated how hard the recession had hit Spain.  In the worst affected areas buildings were being abandoned, motorways were empty and even some airports such as the ciudad airport were being left as “ghost buildings”.  But of course, this isn’t happening through all of Spain.  The economy is still afloat and quickly recovering, but why has the recession hit Spain so hard? 

  As of most of the other countries in recession, Spain had a property bubble leading up to it from 1996-2007 seeing a staggering 200% rise in house prices.   The Spanish banks attempted to take advantage of this and began offering high risk unregulated mortgages for up to 50 years.  Of course, when the property bubble ended and property prices contracted, vast amounts of money disappeared overnight as of most of Europe. 

  So lending almost halted, investors were terrified and confidence in the market began to drop sharply.  Many jobs were lost and more families began claiming unemployment benefit.  The Spanish jobs market has been struggling to get back on its feet with 37% being unemployed in 2009.  This has had a huge toll on the Spanish treasury.

  Another big problem Spain faced was its tourism industry slowing down.  With families now saving money rather than travelling abroad, Spain’s number of visitors dipped sharply.  With almost 13% of its national GDP coming from tourism, many found themselves in a dire situation.

  With the recession hitting so hard, many found it too much and emigrated out of the country.  A high percentage of graduates from Spanish universities began emigrating out to find more jobs in other countries.  This again hit the Spanish work force and reduced the stimulation of the economy. 

  In 2010 like Ireland and Portugal Spain accepted a bail out from the EU, which put its economy back on track.  The Spanish economy is gradually growing now with confidence coming back to the markets.  I think a lesson that we can all take out of the recession is not to take anything for granted even if it seems bulletproof.  And 

Major crime in Peru

Peru is an amazing country to visit, it is rich in culture and has some iconic tourist destinations such as the Machu Pichu.  I was lucky enough to travel there last May for a month while competing in a weightlifting competition.  When I arrived at the airport an immigration officers took my group and a large numbers of foreign tourists aside just after we had finished at passport control.  He gave us a lecture on the consequences of committing a major crime in Peru.  He talked about smuggling drugs out and purchasing children for sexual activities.  This came as a huge surprise to me, and it disgusted me that he would stereotype my group about the crimes.  But it must be going on to cause such a response from the government, so how much major crime goes on in Peru?

  Peru is the largest coca(the base product of cocaine) producer is the world surpassing Columbia in 2011. So the drugs trade is booming with thousands involved in the industry.  In 2012 over 600 foreign nationals were arrested while attempting to smuggle cocaine out of Peru.  The financial rewards if successful when smuggling the drugs are huge, a Kg of cocaine is Peru can be purchased for around $6,000 dollars while in Europe the drug fetches up to an eye watering $90,000 a kg.

  So drugs are a big part of Peruvian crime, which didn’t come as much of a surprise to me.  But a less apparent problem the country is facing is the exploitation of children.  Whilst the big cities in Peru benefit from a booming tourist industry and money laundered from crime, the more rural parts of the country suffers from mass poverty.  So unfortunately it’s not unheard of poor parents selling their children or even renting them out to traffickers.  The official statistics are unknown due to a poor effort by the government to crack down on the crime, and when tourists do get caught it’s common for them to pay off the police offers for their silence.  But charity groups have seen a recent rise in cases.

  It does sadden me that these severe crimes are growing in Peru.  Hopefully as the country matures the government will crack down on it completely.  But it’s a beautiful country and would definitely be an experience of a lifetime to visit.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24236882

Issues between the UK and Spain on Gibraltar

Issues between the UK and Spain on Gibraltar

 

 

A few months ago when I was back in the UK the news was being dominated by the current tensions between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar.  To my surprise when I recently searched how to issue has developed, I found that it was no better.  So it got me thinking to myself, why are two European superpowers disputing in today’s current age? (It may be a sensitive issue to a native Spaniard, and with me being British I have my views but no offence is meant!)

  

 

  The recent tensions have been caused over a simple fishing dispute.  The Gibraltan government laid down concrete blockades in the waters between Gibraltar and Spain.  The Gibraltans say that it was to promote marine life in the area by creating an artificial reef.  But with the blockades in the water, local Spanish fishermen are no longer able to fish in the disputed waters.  In response to the fishing argument Spain held lines between the borders for up to 24 hours for extra security checks.  The UK government immediately condemned the action and the British prime minister called his Spanish counterpart for discussions. 

  There have always been underlying problems between the two countries but it has been getting worse over the last few decades.  In 2002 the Spanish government requested that there should be a referendum in Gibraltar about joint sovereignty.  The result ended in an overwhelming majority of 97% voting against it,  the result never went down well in Spain. 

  The Gibraltan land has always been of value to do its location in the Mediterranean Sea so over the years it has been owned by many states including Spain, but over the last century it has part of the British Commonwealth.  I can understand Spanish attitudes being negative towards Gibraltar due to it being a geographic part of Spain.  But the world is a melting pot today and many parts have been colonialized, and with the majority of the population being British I think it needs to be accepted that it’s a British island until the local people vote otherwise.

 

Darius Jokarzadeh

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23898581

Bullfighting and modern Spain

For my first blog about Spanish culture I’m going to discuss about one of the most recognized and questioned Spanish sports, Bullfighting.  After traveling to Spain on a few occasions now, I can appreciate how the Spanish bull has been imbedded into the culture.  From gifts at the departure gate home to the monuments on the street, as a tourist I found myself surrounded by the iconic bull. 

So if the bull is such a Spanish icon, why are many tortured and butchered for the entertainment of large crowds? 

To answer this I’ll look into the history of the bullfighting phenomena.  Initially bullfighting began as a sacrifice and worship ritual by the romans that idolized it for it’s power and size.  Then in 1726 a Spanish matador named Francisco Romero butchered a bull on foot in front of a large audience, this is the point where it’s believed bull fighting became a sport.  Over the last few centuries the sport has grown significantly until recently.

 

So one could say that Spanish bullfighting is now part of Spanish culture.  But over the last few years the sport has been in decline and even banned in certain provinces in Spain.  

So why is there opposition to a cultural sport that has been around for hundreds of years?

In todays day and age the slaughter of a bull over a few hours isn’t a family friendly event.  As Spanish culture has gradually become more and more westernized, the sport is becoming frowned upon in cities.  This with the backing of big international animal rights group pushing for change the sport has taken a toll.  But not yet to the point of being outlawed.

Is there a future for Spanish bullfighting?

Personally, I don’t think that Spanish bullfighting will ever be cut.  It has been threaded into Spanish life and still has a lobby of backers, especially in the more southern provinces of Spain.  I do think that bullfighting could be regulated and controlled more rigorously though.  Currently in Portugal, bullfighting is legal and a matador can torment a bull in a stadium, but he cannot deliver the final blow and kill the bull.

I’m sure I haven’t even scratched the surface of the bull fighting tradition in this blog, but it has been really interesting looking into how the world and cultures have changed, and still are changing constantly.