Graffiti and Guns

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to visit a religious building with dozens of 18 to 21 year old males walking around with automatic rifles? Wonder no longer and visit the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City!

Nothing is as uncomfortable as seeing a teenager with an assault rifle in his hands with his finger right above the trigger. He was ready to shoot at any second. We asked a person that worked there at the Basilica why it is necessary to have people with assault rifles on the Basilica grounds. He said that because there are a lot of people with cameras and money and the Federal Police are there to protect those people.

Now, I am not a big supporter of robbing someone or stealing their stuff, but I do not think that a theif should receive a clip of ammo in his back. I had images of a person stealing my camera and a Federalie mowing down that person with their rifle and calming picking up my camera from the dead person's hand and handing it back..."Via con Dios."

This is not uncommon here. The armored truck services here have people that walk around with shotguns in their hands. They are ready to blow your head off if you even think about taking their money. I have never seen so many weapons ready to use in my life. It is no wonder every country American's "visit" in the name of liberation hates our guts. We arm our young men with automatic rifles and tell them to be ready to use them at any time. I would be pissed off to see these people on my street corner.

I guess if your goal is intimidate people into not trying anything, they are doing a great job. I was afraid to sneeze around these guys. I have heard too many stories about how poorly the police are trained here. Just last week 12 people died in a police raid. The cause was trampling. The cops raided a club here because it was serving alcohol to minors. The cops show up and cause a stir and people flee killing other people. It was poorly handled to say the least.

As for graffiti...it is everywhere. I think spray paint is given away at the grocery store because it is hard to look anywhere in the city and not see some wall covered in what some idiot thought was a clever thing to do. Anyway, I hate it and I wanted to have a cool title for my blog, so there you go.

- Drew