Just last night, I was enjoying my city’s downtown. We walked down the cobblestone streets of Puebla, Mexico towards the city square. The fountain at the center was alive, guarded by pigeons, and the park was full of balloon vendors and the usual crowds of people. On one side, the 16th century cathedral loomed peacefully over the lively scene.
One thing was different, though. The dozens of restaurants and shops that line the square were closed and the sidewalks littered with trash. I overheard a few bits of chatter.
“We just ran for it. We didn’t stay to watch.”
“Yeah, they all panicked. I’m not even sure where it started.”
We bumped into a friend who told us a grocery store nearby had been looted, and that a few of the downtown shops had been targeted as well, so everyone had closed their business to prevent trouble. There had been an initial panic, but since things had settled down, we decided to wander about some more.
One of the major shopping streets, just off the town square, was also littered and lined by closed shops. Even so, couples strolled hand in hand, families with children wandered about, street food vendors had their oil sizzling again.
It only took a few minutes for another frenzy to begin. People stampeded past us, screaming, shoving. We tucked ourselves behind a magazine stand with a few others as the rest rushed past us. My dad peered around the magazine stand to get a look. My mom held tightly to him, her eyes wild. I only waited, pressed in by the strangers who had hidden with us.
Mexico received a 20% increase on the price of gasoline on January 1st. The increase is part of a plan to maintain gas prices steady until February 3rd, when price controls are supposed to end to allow for private companies to import and sell gas at competitive prices. This is significant because until now, the government has held a monopoly on gasoline, and therefore charged as much as it likes.
It seems much of the population doesn’t understand this concept, or else refuses to wait until the plan bears positive results. Since January 1st, protests and riots have spread throughout the country. While there have been a few legitimate protests, the norm has been the looting of convenience and grocery stores, which has resulted in violence in certain states.
My city of Puebla has seen some of this chaos, and shows it by the scars it bears on many of its chain stores. Some of them are roped off, with windows punched in. Others are barricaded. Still others are cautiously open, letting a few people in at a time and keeping their electronics shelves empty.
Some of the reactions to the price increase have resulted in violence. One lady from our church was grocery shopping when the looters, along with a gang called Anonymous, charged the store and began ransacking it. A few cops arrived, firing bullets into the air and trying to snatch a few of the perpetrators. The doors of another grocery store, which had closed to discourage looters, was rammed with a bus. The stampede we witnessed downtown was incited by some 30 people with ski masks and sticks that were threatening the downtown chain businesses.
Regardless of the magnitude or insignificance of these episodes, accordingly, every one of them has resulted in a panicked frenzy. A handful of people with sticks set entire sections of the city to madness. It’s tragic that there are so many people foolish enough to take part in the looting and to have the audacity to make demands of the government through thievery and threats. Whether they are hired to do so by the government’s opposers or not, they are killing individuals’ employment, as well as limiting the privilege of grocery shopping for everyone. And they won’t get results regarding the gasoline issue.
These “protest” don’t reap anything but ridicule, imprisonments, and a handful of deaths. And yet, all around the world, people insist on violent actions to “protest” anything they don’t like. Which leads to panic. Which leads to more violence.
But the reaction of the innocents around these events is crazy too. One person sets a dozen more running, and a chain reaction eventually causes a stampede. If people could keep their wits, a hundred could easily stand up to the masked thirty and dissuade them.
We’re just like buffalo, or antelope, or cattle.
It’s crazy just how suddenly we stop thinking.
Oh, sure. We’re masters of the earth when things are calm. But add a touch of chaos, and we lose it.
The situation in Mexico is not critical yet. The lootings lasted only a few days, and the violence has been minimal. I still walk the streets on my own and feel safe. But the fact that it exists at all is tragic on a number of levels, and I pray it'll end soon.
