a while it was one of the most violent
cities in the world and anyone who has
grown up in a violent city knows that it
doesn’t matter how smart you are how
safe you are how careful you are the
best way to avoid danger is to be
looking eight years ago on a Sunday like
this I was very lucky my mom had sent me
out to buy tortillas but right before I
left she had found some in the fridge so
I didn’t had to go ten minutes later we
heard gunshots turns out that right in
front of the store that was supposed to
be going there was a cross fire I was
very lucky because had my mom not found
that the tears in the fridge I had walk
right in the crossfire the problem is
that not everyone is looking unlock
should never be the thing that decides
who lives and who dies not if we can do
something about it
my name is Connor Antonio Houston
I’m Mexican and proud and by the end of
this talk I want to have convinced you
of those seemingly mutually exclusive
things that you should never buy illegal
drugs and we should push for the
legalization of them drugs have been a
part of life for as long as I can
remember because I have seen the effects
that they had had in my country and I
have seen the violence that brought
today Mexico is the vehicle sport of
drugs war while consensual enough the
u.s. is the bigger market for drugs low
volume so the pathway of illicit drugs
from Mexico to the US are multi-billion
dollar businesses and in Mexico the
criminal organization that control these
pathways are called Carlos cartels are
not only involved in drug trafficking
they’re involved in other illegal
enterprises
as extortion human trafficking they’re
involved in things such as illegal
timber wood and even avvocato drugs
cartels are famous around the world
because of their violent modus operandi
they’re famous for the beheadings
they’re famous for their mass killings
they’re famous for literally melting
corpse in acid cartels believe that fear
and violence is the best way to assert
dominance both in their eyes of
influence and between themselves in mm
the levels of violence in Mexico got to
a point that in 2006 the then President
Felipe Calderon declared the word
against drug trafficking deploying the
army effectively immediately across the
nation so they could go and fight
narcos in problematic areas the areas
where narcos were fighting both between
themselves and with the army became the
most dangerous areas in mexico and i was
happened to be living in one of them I
was born in Mexico City
born in 1999 my family moved to Monterey
because I thought it was a safer place
to raise a family
by 2007 Monterey became one of the
deadliest place in earth I was eight at
that time so I don’t really remember the
times before the war because for me the
war against drug trafficking has been
happening for as long as I can remember
my first memories were the news we used
to watch the news every day before we
went to school but even I who never paid
much attention to the news could see
that every day more and more
murders and cross fires and shoot pies
were being reported it came to the point
that my mom said no more
she said the morning isn’t awfully early
time to hear about so much death and she
was right she was right in trying to
protecting us and that they start it was
only that news report because at the
start of the problem the problem was
between the narcos and the people who
lived nearby them but it escalated it
escalated to the point that my serum a
city of 5 million people have to live
with the problem at first they started
kidnapping us it was only the reach
because I could pay big ransoms they pay
them and ever return but more and more
people who literally had nothing and
respected to pay anything they also
stopped returning them and those people
were now called they disappeared because
death are alive we didn’t know where
they were two kids got cleaned up in my
neighborhood and suddenly I couldn’t go
outside to play anymore
or go to the street cross fires were
happening more and more often and the
authorities were unable to respond
because in a way they were too corrupt
or too afraid to do something officials
high-ranking officials of both the
government and the police were being
kidnapped and executed because the
narcos wanted to set an example that
anyone who wanted to do something
against them will be facing death to
them and their families we felt at the
mercy of the cartels around this time is
when the military arrived
at first we feel more safe I have one of
these convoys is patient it right in a
corner of my street but after the
military came he thought that cross
fires were a common thing before after
they came it become an everyday affair
murder became a common thing innocents
were losing their lives due to loose
bullets and their only crime was to be
in the wrong place at the wrong time
kidnapping was so common that people
would call Youm and pretend to have a
person of your family I don’t know how
many calls I have received of someone
from the other side who claims to have
my little sister and then if I don’t
deliver the money by tonight she will
fortunately for me every time I have
received one of these calls my sister
has been there with me but this is not
the case to everyone we change the
society people start living our fear or
under death threat
justice 2016 21,000 people had to leave
their homes because of violence people
didn’t want to go outside anymore
we had a curfew at 10:00 a self-imposed
curfew because we were in fear that
something will happen to us people
didn’t want to help anyone anymore
because they had feared that they this
will get them involved it got to the
point that people were not calling
anyone in traffic because they were in
fear that the person would come out and
shoot them through the window the narcos
were controlling every aspect of our
lives and they knew this car does work
by imposing fear and violence a turning
point for me personally it was when we
started seeing narcho messages
an alchemist is a public execution that
is left behind for all the ones to see
and attach to the bodies there is a
message as a kid I didn’t understood
what the message was for or to or to who
he was for but now I understand that the
message was for us it was for us to see
and fear because these were hanged man
left in the science of the most
important avenues left at dawn so
everyone was going for the jobs we’ll
we changes the scientific which is
normalized sphere and we normalized
violence we did it as a necessity
because we still had to go on with our
lives so we made it a part of our
routine I think that’s the funniest part
that even when this you life is as Kotik
as this sounds you still have to go out
I never missed a day in school my father
never missed a day in his job because
life goes on I think that that was the
worst thing that the Carters did to us
they made themselves part of our lives
I’ve heard that illegal drugs are a
victimless crime that buying them is the
self-inflicted choice and when the
smoking wheel has never killed anyone
that is a lie there are victims to
illegal drug trafficking but the wire of
the net never gets to see them we were
the victims of illegal drug trafficking
we who now have to live in the middle of
a war and the life of many Mexicans is
being defined by fear and violence I’m
not saying that buying weed is the same
thing as killing a man I don’t think so
but at least we owe it to those who have
suffer and those who still are not to
participate in funding an enterprise
that has brought so much pain still
Carter’s are a big part of the issue but
just a part of it
the other part is how we have deal with
them as I said in 2016 the war against
drug trafficking started and the army
was deployed in 12 years 200 on 1225
persons having murder I want you to
remember this number because this is not
a number this is a two hundred one
thousand two hundred twenty five persons
have lost their lives and that is
without mentioned Ettore 250 thousand
who are now disappeared it has been
repeatedly pointed out that the measure
is taken in a government are directly
responsible of the levels of violence
that we’re seeing today and now with a
lot of legs the looks to formalize the
militarization of Mexico we’re now in
the need of trying to change the way we
choose to fight so far we have
concentrated in targeting a specific
drug lords this is called the kingpin
strategy and this is a self defeating
exercise because entire thing specific
drug lords you’re only creating a power
vacuum when a drug dealer is arrested or
killed the cartel tends to fracture or
suffers a rootless takeover by another
fractured cartels are not weaker they’re
more violent when the worst are in 2016
there were four active cartels in Mexico
as of 2017 they’re nine both all of them
fighting for their own control zones
fighting each other and affecting the
people and meanwhile the military is
employing Australia this that remember
the resemble country insurgencies the
picture you see above the lights on the
top there a helicopter a Marine
helicopter and the red lights you see
this ending to the to the land this is a
50 caliber bullets who are being shot
from the helicopter in
residential area the objective of this
operative was to kill the leader of the
cartel van tranh Leyva
he died in this operative as well as
porting others who were allegedly
criminals we don’t trust institutions in
Mexico and we have reasons for the
military has been repeatedly accused of
violating human rights they have been
accused of four disappearances of
torture of rape of unlawful executions
in trying to create peace we have
created more violence and now we have to
change the way we choose to fight we
have to understand cartels as they are
there are for-profit organizations and
once you have done this you understand
that you cannot kill the business by
killing the people who run it you must
kill the business itself we must look to
alternatives the target to specific
things the way characters make profit
and the recruitment we need to push for
the legalization or the
decriminalization of drugs because this
rule is specifically target in the wake
artists are making profits when I’m
standing here and asking for the
legalization of drugs I’m not standing
here and asking for my right to smoke
feeling I’m asking for my right to live
a peaceful life the other thing that we
need to remember when talking about
cartels is that and I believe so in my
heart no one really wants to go out and
kill for a living but the people who are
now participate in illegal drug
trafficking are people who are often
cast aside by society and have been
marginalized by a system that offers
nothing to leave them out of circle of
poverty there are 8 million students
aged Mexicans right now who are neither
studying nor working these are the type
of
people that have been targeted by the
carcass and there are the type of people
we should be targeting as well we have
to make education accessible and
attractive because education is the
large-scale mechanism to bring
opportunity and change when fighting
characters we must remember that we’re
not only fighting criminals we’re also
fighting a necessity itself a necessity
cannot be killed it can only be
addressed the last thing that I want you
to remember is that the traffic of
illegal drugs is a problem of two
nations any solution that it can be
bring real solutions taury issues are
bilateral ones we must open pathways of
communication between both nations
Mexico and the US and they must be
willing to go beyond just funding a war
building a wall does nothing to address
the crisis in Mexico because building a
wall will not decrease the demand of
drugs from the US we have to remember
that the problem is for both nations I
know that what I’m asking here are
changes that go beyond my comprehension
I know that it’s easy for me to ask for
the legalization of drugs Without Really
comprehending the macro effects that
they will have in a whole nation and
know that I’m not the only one who has
asked for bilateral solutions I’m not
the first one who has asked for better
education and more opportunities quite
frankly there’s nothing that has been
said today that hasn’t been said before
where I see a great value in urging to
change the way we choose to fight 12
years and 200 and 1225 souls
I’ll Testament enough that we have
committed a mistake
now we’re faced with a task of making
sure that the next 12 years are spent
fixing it thank you [Applause]