Reporting from Culiacan, Mexico - With a gilded, 4-foot statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe tucked under his arm, Jose Espinoza clambers up the Italian-marble staircase, past the Jacuzzis and gigantic Corinthian columns, to a domed chapel inside the ornate mansion of a particularly successful Sinaloa "farmer." Espinoza installs the Virgin in her niche on an elaborate cedar altarpiece that he carved by hand, a la early Baroque. Around her dance rosy-cheeked, feather-winged angels that Espinoza has painted on the walls and ceilings, an enveloping palette of pale blue skies and cottony clouds. Jesus Christ and God the Father are there too. The multimillion-dollar mansion is one of many in this strangely wealthy city that Espinoza has been hired to adorn in recent years. Given Sinaloa's well-earned reputation as the cradle of Mexican narcotics trafficking, it is little wonder who is footing the bills. "I don't probe," says Espinoza, 51, a broad-shouldered man with a helmet of silver hair, bushy black eyebrows and a hearty laugh. .... The architectural excesses, in the fast-growing cemeteries and in the mansions that have popped up on the slopes of this hilly city, might not be surprising in Bel-Air or the Hamptons. But Sinaloa is -- judged by its official economy -- one of the poorest states in a poor country. Most of the real money in Sinaloa, of course, is in the vast illegal network that has been producing and shipping marijuana and heroin to the U.S., and taking in billions of dollars in profit, for generations.
The multimillion-dollar mansion is one of many in this strangely wealthy city that Espinoza has been hired to adorn in recent years. Given Sinaloa's well-earned reputation as the cradle of Mexican narcotics trafficking, it is little wonder who is footing the bills. "I don't probe," says Espinoza, 51, a broad-shouldered man with a helmet of silver hair, bushy black eyebrows and a hearty laugh.
....
The architectural excesses, in the fast-growing cemeteries and in the mansions that have popped up on the slopes of this hilly city, might not be surprising in Bel-Air or the Hamptons. But Sinaloa is -- judged by its official economy -- one of the poorest states in a poor country. Most of the real money in Sinaloa, of course, is in the vast illegal network that has been producing and shipping marijuana and heroin to the U.S., and taking in billions of dollars in profit, for generations.
Meanwhile, with pot and heroin farming switched to local facilities, Mexico and Afghanistan criminal economies dry up.
That we don't do this obvious thing points out who is running our government: the military industrial complex that fattens on the conflicts, and the drug industry, both legal and illegal, that fattens on the restriction of drug use in this day of internet self-prescription. Align culture with our nature.
hilarious... the chains binding law'n'order, drug companies' lobbying, and black op history are becoming obvious to any ten year old with ten functioning brain cells.
note... nnnno 9-11 comment ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Gary Webb lost his job, his data, and eventually his life covering the CIA drug-running elements behind Iran Contra.
That we don't do this obvious thing points out who is running our government: the military industrial complex...
That we don't do this obvious thing points out raises the question of who is running our government: perhaps the military industrial complex...(etc.)?
