##1949: Re: #1919: Tourist shot dead. Laleau replies to Charles

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:NLaleau@aol.com

Dear Carolle,

Yes -- it is precisely like the Old West, and has been that way for some 
time, depending on how you look at it.  But in the last 5 or so years, in 
much of the country the only law is what the people make for themselves.  
Local people often said (in 1995) "Pas gen l'etat."  ("There is no state") 
meaning, there is no state power controlling the population.  So public 
safety is completely variable depending on region, time of day, and whims or 
plans of the zenglendos, and the ability of local people to run, or hide, or 
block the roads to their neighborhoods.  These stories are not exaggerations 
-- in fact, if you think they are bad, you haven't heard anything yet.  What 
is going on deep inside the countryside is far, far worse.  Grown men weep 
when they recount what has happened to them and their families... at least 
the two people in Delatour's story had guns to defend themselves.  It is a 
horror.  And it is normal.  That doesn't mean it is healthy -- just the norm.

Sincerely,
Nancy