Saturday, August 08, 2009

pirates of the seven DVDs


Most of us who live in Mexico have no direct experience with the drug war we hear about in the NOB press. Some Canadian newspapers give the impression that tourists are daily lured into the valley of death in Mexican resorts -- and that is only the time share salesmen.


Most of us see the occasional helicopter or Mexican Army truck. And that is about it.


That war is as remote to us as the war in Afghanistan.


But it can touch us in surprising ways.


I was having dinner the other day with an acquaintance in Melaque. We will call him Doug.


He is a good soul who actually lives out his principles: will not buy any product made in China (for a variety of reasons); will not eat shrimp because of the manner in which they are harvested; and refuses to be cowed into using politically correct language.


I would never think of accusing him of moral hypocricy. But we do not speak often of politics.


Instead, we talk a lot about old movies. He told me that he had recently purchased a copy of Apocalypse Now on the street in Manzanillo for about a dollar. He started to tell me about how much he admired Coppola's work when I interrupted him.


"You bought it where?"


"On the street. In Manzanillo."


"You bought a pirated copy of a DVD?"


"Calm down, Cotton. Who cares? So some corporation doesn't get an extra ten bucks. Who's the pirate?"


I told him I wasn't worried about the pirated aspect of the DVD (even though it is theft), but I was worried about the pirates who received his money. Being as well informed as he is, I thought he knew a large portion of the receipts from pirated DVDs end up in the hands of La Familia drug cartel.


He was shocked. I believe he had never heard about the DVD-drug connection.


Ironically, this week's Economist includes an article on President Calderón's war against the drug cartels. The article points out that drugs provide only about half of La Familia's revenue. The other half comes from selling pirated DVDs, smuggling people to the United States, and running a debt-collection service. Sounds a bit like the services rendered by crime families in Brooklyn.


Even though it is not universal, most expatriates avoid the purchase or use of illegal drugs. Using them is almost as insane as the laws that makes their use illegal. And I suspect that most of us will not be smuggling anyone north or asking La Familia to help us collect on that late rental installment.


But we may -- and do -- buy those pirated DVDs that gaudily decorate almost every street corner and tianguis. Putting money on the table risks putting pesos in the same hands that shoot policemen and innocent civilians.


Like Doug, I am tired of being a moral hypocrite. I have not bought any of the DVDs. And I am not going to.


Neither is Doug. They now go into his moral bag with China and shrimp.