Drug songs upset educators

2005-02-22 15:24

Mexico City - Mexico's school libraries are stocking a book that includes the lyrics of "narcocorridos" - folk songs that glorify drug traffickers - causing a storm of criticism in a country where the drug market and its violence have become part of life in thousands of communities.

Opposition activists are livid that the administration of President Vicente Fox, which has declared a "war on all fronts" against drug gangs, ordered tens of thousands of copies of the book Cien Corridos: Alma de la Cancion Mexicana (100 Corridos: The Soul of Mexican Song) for grade-school libraries.

The book, printed by a private publishing company but bought in bulk by the government, contains lyrics for songs like The Red Car Gang, which describes Mexican cocaine smugglers shooting it out with Texas Rangers.

Another song describes female drug traffickers who poisoned police with opium to protect a drug shipment, then praises The Lord of the Skies, the nickname for the deceased drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

National song form

Experts say the corrido is Mexico's national song form. Born along with the country's independence in the 1820s, it reached its peak during the 1910-1917 Revolution. Narcocorridos didn't start becoming popular until the 1970s and 80s.

Legislators say the books have no place in Mexican schools and have scheduled hearings.

"It's very bad to put books like this into the hands of children because they portray drug lords as heroes," said Salvador Martinez, who heads the education committee of the lower house of Congress.

"That's bad, because we have a problem in this country where drug traffickers sometimes pave a town's road, build its school or hospital, and thus have a much better reputation among some people than the police. We have to work against that."

The United States-driven drug market has woven its way into the life of thousands of Mexican communities, where narcotics have been a source of otherwise scarce money and of power.

Ambitious and amoral young men are drawn by the vast profits in shipping Colombian cocaine to the United States. Poor farmers often see cultivation of marijuana or opium as a step away from starvation.

In addition, Mexico has a growing domestic consumption problem - possibly aggravated by the increasing difficulty of smuggling drugs over the US border - and concern about drug sales have led officials to routinely search students at some schools.

Education Department officials say the volume is merely secondary reading material, purchased as part of an effort to put as many as 30 million books in school libraries across the country, while supporting Mexican publishers.

About 80&nbps;000 copies of the book were printed, though it is not clear how many made it into schools. Officials say they have no immediate plans to withdraw it.

In 2002, Baja California state radio stations agreed to ban narcocorridos.

- AP