ollows fiction in

- TEACAPAN, SINALOA,
Mexico — The hopeless, the
costly, the doomed, damned
. and damaging attempt to
“enforce prohibition of drugs
‘goes on in Mexico as

_ elsewhere,

Police and politicians get cor-
rupted, criminal empires grow
stronger and little people die.

You can count the cost even in
this small, insignificant seashore
village.

Next to the new microwave
tower, the most significant public
works in Teacapan was our air- |
port. It was wide, paved, well
marked and capable of accommo-
dating jet airliners.

When built, a decade ago, it
was suggested as an alternative to
the Mazatlan field, which is occa-
sionally closed by fogs.

‘ Pnever saw Teacapan field used
by any planes except frisky little
crop-dusters and an occasional
visiting government aircraft or
gringo tourist plane, |

There were persistent rumors
that it was used for illicit narcotics
~ shipments of locally grown opium
‘and marijuana and trans-ship-
‘ments from Colombia of cocaine,

The stories always seemed im-
probable to me. The only occasion
on which local people warned us
.to'keep away from the field I.,

“ discovered, ! thought, that the

". hard-eyed men on our main street
‘in the big black cars were
policemen, sent to guard a visiting
’ state cabinet minister. 1 am less
“ skeptical today, having learned
that some Mexican police work
“for both’sides. i

One facior did favor peace and
quiet at Teacapan airport. We

had, as a neighbor, Manuel
Salceta Uzeta, the man they called
The Crazy Pig.

Crazy Pig was reputed to be
one of the major drug lords of
Mexico, and it is the custom of
such men to ensure that the
avighborhood of their own homes
is peaceful and free of crime.

Free of crime is what we were,
and if Crazy Pig was responsible
(, for one, am grateful to him.

However, Crazy Pig went into
hiding when the drug crusade in-
tensified, and last year he was
assassinated in Guadelajara,
bombed and machine-gunned on
a suburban street by men never
caught nor identified.

After Crazy Pig, a new element
seems to have taken over, ap-
parently pediars of fess placid
nature and in early September this
year death and fury came to our
airport.

A Canadair twin Otter, which
must have been almost falling out
of the sky with its load, came in
with 2,300 kilos of Colombian co-
caine.

A truck that was to carry the
drugs to Tijuana was parked =;

waiting beside the neat little air-
port office and control tower. ;
Also parked in the area were
soldiers and policemzn.

The use of the’army in narcotics

control is not unusual, but the
choice of police was curious. They

! were not the Federales called the

Narcs, who are normally charged
with drug trade.suppression.

They were Mexican federal
highway cops. Why? Who knows?
There was some play with the

AK ‘47 machine guns. Mexicans
all them Goathorn guns because
of the shape of the protruding
magazine. - ;

Final score: four men were ar-
rested and four others died while
‘attempting (o escape in an out- |
board motorboat at the nearby,
1agoon.

(Local people speak: of gunships
cireling overhead and eight dead.

_ They also say it. was loval mari-
Juana, not Colombian cocaine be-:-
.ing shipped, But let us leave
tumor aside and accept published
reports.) 0:

The autopsy report says the -

four died of asphyxiation due to
. submergence in water, although it’
noted that the bodies had been ai-
‘tacked by marine creatures which
made examination difficult.

- If the-tradition of the Ley
“Fuega (Law of Escape) holds, the
marine creatures were probably
picking shot out of their teeth
while they fed.

_ Direct democracy hearing set

THE , “SELECT Standing
‘Committee on. Parliamen-

- tary Reform, Ethical Con-

“duct, Standing’ Orders and

‘Private Bills ‘has scheduled a’:

.. public hearing in. ‘North
Vancouver on Friday, © ‘Jan.

22,. to ‘discuss the issues of

voters firing or ‘‘recalling”’.
‘elected officials
“publically generated

endum initiatives: —_'

refer-

The meeting is scheduled to run

from: 10 .a.m, to 5; p.m. in the: .

“Marine. banquet, room of
‘Avalon “Hotel, . 1025 Marine Dr.,
North Vancouver.

The North Vancouver hearing i is

“one /of 20 public hearings being |
conducted by. the
' throughout the province.

*The* hearings .are..intended to
generate debate about: recall. and

referendum initiatives and -solicit |

the ;

committee.'

"these mechanisms
democracy i in B.C.
The ‘committee , has been
authorized ‘ -by. the legislature to:
examine. and inquire into all mat-
ters concerning two . referendum
questions placed before the voters
in’ the 1991. provincial election.
‘The committee. includes _repre-

of | direct

: sentatives from all three provincial ;
independent ;

parties -and ‘an

‘and ‘member.

The committee members’ have
been gathering’ information. and
educating’ themselves about the
use of recall and initiative in other
jurisdictions, and the. effect these
‘devices have had on the political
process...”

North® Vancouver- Lonsdate
MLA: David Schreck and West
Vancouver-Garibaldi MLA David
Mitchell | are' members of . the

‘committee.
: ;

othe ‘Public's: views ‘on: “the use of :

it J
ete for the Olympics by

~~ the Canadian Sailing ‘Team .
* Tilley Hats and Tilley Shorts Z

= BS

1 tia marine fie at seat"

All this was reported in exten-
sive detail in Mazathan’s Pacifico
de} Sol over a period of three
days, complete with pictures of
bloated bodies floating in the
lagoon. However, the stories never
appeared on front pages.

The news was carried once on
the police reparts page and twice
on the political page.

The airpart is now permanently
closed. Deep trenches have been
scoured across the blacktop run-
way every 100 metres and nothing
except 2 helicopter could land

Were leaving house +o
So We're offering ©

SCARVES | WATS, GLOVES,
WOT Sov AND Ist WEAR.

here. The microwave tower is the
only symbol of the modern age
feft to us.

For me, it was extraordinary
coineidence. Six months before, f
had written such events into a
novel, set ina community like this
one. As so often happens, fact
followed fiction, However, that’s
a minor mutter,

There nay be lessons here for
Canadians who never heard of
Teacapan and will never read my
book.

If they check they will probably .

By

find that the interdiction of two
tonnes of narcotics didn’t make a
blip in street prices in the North.
What’s one barrel of water out of
the Mississippi River?

Canadians might spare a
thought for little men dead who
might be alive and for an airport
closed which might be open,

They might reflect that nobody
important was arrested. They
might wonder exactly what was
accomplished by one morz bloody
battle in an unwinnable war.

get ready for spring

— MAS
MERCHANDISE

SUSAN
SE SoICA

BRISTOL,
| MCCLINTOCK

PART TWO WINTER:

“ FASHION,
PARTY WEAR
. LEATHER ‘TACRET! $,

IN WEAR