Death penalty advertisements in Mexico

You see some strong stuff on the streets of Mexico City. Women begging with babies in their arms, young kids, high on glue, washing car windshields and children no older than 5 trying to sell chewing gum and lollipops to people eating at sidewalk restaurant tables.

This month, there was a surprising new addition: an advertising campaign from Mexico’s Green Party, Partido Verde in Spanish, demanding the return of the death penalty to the country.

"Because we care about your life -- the death penalty for murderers and kidnappers," read the billboards.

It feels rather strange to be accosted by such a proposal while walking down the street, waiting for the bus or driving on the freeway. But perhaps stranger is that the demand comes from a political party that aligns itself with environmentalism and, generally, with left-of-center values.

As Tracy Wilkinson reported last week, there is a discussion underway in Mexico about bringing back the death penalty.

It is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that the death penalty could be re-introduced because of legal obstacles, according to experts. But the current wave of crime and drug-related violence rocking the country has upped the public’s demand for stronger measures against criminals.  A survey published by El Universal on Monday reported that 70% of respondents supported bringing back the death penalty.

Despite that, lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies rejected proposals by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Green Party on Tuesday to create a forum that would have analyzed the reinstatement of the death penalty.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photos:  Mexico's Green Party is running an advertising campaign supporting the death penalty for murderers and kidnappers in the nation. Credit: Deborah Bonello / Los Angeles Times

 

Comments

[Antonio Vargas]

"That is because the death penalty is not swiftly enforced. Swiftly enforce it and watch what happens."

Yes, more dead kidnap victims as dead folkis tell no tales.

[John Ortiz]

The Partido Verde de Mexico has its own agenda, its similarity to the Green Party of Europe or the United States being in name only. Not that the Green Party of Europe is anything to boast about, remembering that they voted for war credits for Germany to participate in "Operation Desert Storm."

The Partido Verde de Mexico would, indeed, take up any position that might get its candidates inserted into the food chain that comes with being elected to political office. They teamed-up with the PRI on this issue, by the way. Isn't it ironic that the ostensibly conservative PAN comes out to the left of both the Partido Verde and the PRI on capital punishment?

[tara]

Desperate times lead to desperate measures. mexico is imploding. thanks to the border wall and stronger enforcement on the U.S. side (expect even more with Napolitano as head of Homeland Security), fewer people can escape the the u.s. furthermore, our economy is unfriendly to illegal immigrants during this prolonged recession. the bottom line is: if mexico doesn't take actions as radical as those taken by the cartel enforcers and kidnappers, it will become a failed state. and then only a deployment of armed national guard along the border will mitigate the damage to our society.

[Julia Willebrand]

US Greens are deeply saddened by PVEM comrades position calling for re-establishing the death penallty in Mexico. Repesentatives from Green Parties from 13 countries met in Quebec last month for the annual meeting of the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas. At the meeting the Green Party of Mexico was urged to reconsider this position and to join again in unity with the Global Green position of opposition to the death penalty.

[Peter]

That's because the Partido Verde de Mexico is a zebra with different stripes. Over the years they have allied themselves with any party who could get them in the door, the PAN, the Communists, whoever. One gets a sense of opportunism taking precedent over principles in many cases. Not to mention the starring role of many of their leaders in the video scandals.

Still, I concede it is jarring to see any country's green party siding with the reinstatement of the death penalty. Just know that this Green Party is not like others found in Europe or the US.

[Dina]

That is because the death penalty is not swiftly enforced. Swiftly enforce it and watch what happens.

[Green Ferret]

Bizarre. The death penalty not only fails to deter crime, but violent crime rates are higher in places with capital punishment, at least in the USA. Every other Green Party I know of is strongly opposed to the death penalty.