The United States and its energy industry are making a killing selling crude oil and its derivatives to the rest of the world. The world’s largest economy is filling part of the gap left by supply cuts from Gulf countries due to the war in Iran, and from Russia due to Ukrainian attacks on its refineries. But everything has its limits, and the breaking point was reached on Tuesday, September 22, when diesel surpassed $6.50 a gallon at U.S. pumps.

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On the way back home, Jonathan Meléndez began to feel nervous. He called home and nobody answered. Uneasy, he called the security booth at the housing complex where he lived, and asked them to buzz the apartment through the intercom to see if anyone picked up. On his phone he opened the app that gave access to his Alexa, a smart-home device that allowed him to view the camera feed, speak through his phone and have his voice play on the device’s speaker… But there was nothing. It was after 7 pm. The friend riding with Meléndez in the car says he became concerned by then. Something happened in the following minutes, something Jonathan saw on the Alexa footage, or perhaps someone finally answered the phone, because at 7.20 pm he called the building security supervisor and asked him to call the police: “He told me his business partner was armed.”

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Drugs have always been around. They were here in the 80’s when cocaine arrived in Mexico City and hooked my father’s generation. They were also here in my grandfather’s alcoholism, and in my aunt’s addiction to [anxiety medication] Tafil.

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