“The stark, black-and-white sign was erected in 2012 by the government of former (Mexican) President Felipe Calderon on the side of a bridge linking (Ciudad Juarez) to El Paso, Texas. The letters were formed by crushed, confiscated pistols and rifles, and the billboard was spelled out in English as a visible protest of the illegal trade in weapons from the United States.” But now our neighbors seem to have had a change of heart. “Mayor Enrique Serrano said Wednesday that the billboard was being taken down because Juarez wants to project a more tourist-friendly image.” These days, now that US-grown weed has changed the game for Mexico’s exporters and Juarez’s murder rate . . .
has declined significantly, they figure they stand half a chance of luring a few dólares over from El Paso if they comb their hair nicely and put out the welcome mat.
But if the goal of the sign was to really intended to protest the supposed “iron river” of guns that purportedly flowed into Mexico thanks to los gringos, it was located in the wrong spot from the get-go. Given that the real source of the vast majority guns that were shipped south of the border (as part of brainstorms like Operations Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver) was our friends at the ATF, shouldn’t the sign have been placed somewhere near their HQ building on New York Avenue where it might have done some good?
Then again, that’s some pretty expensive real estate in our nation’s capital. Still, you’d think that with all the graft flowing from the cartels to ex-prez Calderon and his cronies, they could have found a way to git ‘er done.