Absurd decisions

Mexico City historically has a strange way of solving its problems. On one side of the Perisur shopping center, on Zacatepetl avenue, in the lower peripheral bridge, one lane has historically been occupied by informal commerce. Vendors displaying all sorts of merchandise on their cars, from slippers to puppies, is the common scene. The problem was “solved” in the strangest way, noting that, basically, it was not really solved. Where the vehicles stood, they put a kind of concrete triangles that no longer allow vehicles to park on the street next to the sidewalk, but they also do not allow vehicles to circulate, they removed a piece of street. Informal merchants continue to have, although now in a smaller space, their alternate Perisur. The concrete triangles laugh out loud as they senselessly occupy an entire lane of the vehicular stream.

That reminds me of the also brilliant solution to blatant corruption in licensing offices. Licenses were no longer considered official identification, and so that people would not pay to skip the driving test, they removed the test. As a result, motorists whose only requirement to go behind the wheel is to have paid the procedure. It seems even convenient that they do not know the traffic regulations, they will be more easily deceived by cheating policemen.

And as the one who not only does not solve the problems of origin, directs them elsewhere, it is the absurd dry law. The authority, in addition to the mayor’s office, which does not fix potholes, but does define whether or not citizens can drink alcohol in their demarcation. We are so used to these decisions that we have stopped seeing how absurd they are, in addition to having an authoritarian spirit about activities that concern only people. If the SCJN has already determined that the prohibition of marijuana undermines the free development of the personality, where is the prohibition to be able or not to buy alcohol on the days that a local authority decides?

The reason that justifies the prohibition law is to avoid accidents and reduce the number of conflicts related to alcohol consumption. However, it shows the inability of the authorities to control the underlying problem, the problem is not alcohol, but behaviors related to its consumption, but they are not generalized, and should be avoided in an environment of respect for the law. Furthermore, basically, like any prohibition, it is discriminatory. Those with more resources have alcohol stored to consume whenever they want, regardless of what the mayor in turn comes up with. Its “effectiveness” ends up having an effect, only on those who have the least, if they could not move to the next mayor’s office to do their shopping.

Mexican journalist, host, broadcaster, writer and communicator

Guest column

Mexican journalist, host, broadcaster, writer and communicator. He hosts the program “A Todo Terreno” on MVS Radio. He has written for various publications and worked in different spaces on radio and television.