'Thanks for asking'...three American tourists and an Uruguayan were arrested (while eating ice cream!) for asking Oaxacan governor Ulises Ruiz, another frozen confection fan seated at a nearby table, about the investigation into the murder of Brad Will. Turns out one wrong question can ruin your whole day, night and part of the following day. The four were accused of assaulting two police officers and damaging a $3 thousand dollar radio; they were terrorized, intimidated, interrogated, threatened, coerced, confused and jailed. During the night the charges against them had - mirabile dictu! - swollen (But not clarified). Around fourish, their attorney told them that they were to be freed without charges and without paying bail. The catch? A compulsory visit to the National Immigration Institute. Now, 'What has all this got to do with me?' you might wonder. Well, here's what: Mexico and America being virtually a single entity with strikingly similar arbitrary attitudes regarding law enforcement, It Could Happen To You...And in all probability if it hasn't, it will. Poverty does that. The picture of violence and injustice is clearer to the South, but as the American Empire continues its slide into bankruptcy, legal freefall is just a shot away.
- KBOO