by Zoë Pollock
Mexico plans to commemorate the victims of drug violence with a design by Ricardo Lopez. But who will be honored?
Innocent civilians, police officers on duty and soldiers fighting drug cartels are among the more than 50,000 dead in the government's crackdown on the cartels. But there are also huge numbers of bad guys: traffickers, their thuggish gunmen, their corrupt politician accomplices. Does the memorial speak for all of them? And if not, how do you winnow the memorialized?
And is it too soon?
Of even greater concern [than where to build it] is the fact that Calderón approved funding for the war-victims memorial while vetoing a law that would provide economic, medical, and legal aid to thousands of surviving victims of the war. The mixed gesture suggests, to some, that Mexico is not ready to commemorate the losses of a war that has yet to even end.
The Dish 