On Oct. 23 Mexico’s 128-member Senate voted almost unanimously to pass legislation that opponents say will open the way to the partial privatization of Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the giant state-owned oil monopoly. The 500-member Chamber of Deputies approved the Senate’s… Read moreMexico: Pemex “reform” rules
Mexican authorities say they have dealt a severe blow to the Tijuana Cartel with the arrest of Eduardo Arellano FĂ©lix, the last in a ruling clique of five brothers to be captured or killed by authorities in recent years. Arellano… Read moreMexico: Tijuana Cartel kingpin busted
The Mexican government has offered a $370,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers of Andres Dimitriadis, sub-prosecutor for organized crime with the Prosecutor General of Morelos. Dimitriadis was shot in his car with his two guards… Read moreMexico: hunt for killers of Morelos anti-drug prosecutor
Supposed Sinaloa Cartel kingpin JesĂşs “El Rey” Zambada was among 16 arrested Oct. 22 after a street battle with police in which a grenade destroyed a car. Prosecutor General Eduardo Medina said Zambada’s son and nephew, two federal police officers… Read moreMexico: Sinaloa kingpin busted as Rice schmoozes top cops
The main route for people trying to leave Cuba for the US is now through Mexico. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, 11,126 Cubans entered the US this way in 2007, while just 1,055 went directly to Florida…. Read moreMexico now main route for Cuban migrants
Twenty-one were killed and 12 injured Oct. 20 in a fight between inmates at a prison in Reynosa, Mexico, across the border from McAllen, Tex. Tamaulipas state and Mexican federal police, supported by army troops, took control of the state… Read moreMexico: 20 dead in Reynosa prison riot; more violence in Tijuana
On Oct. 16 Mexico’s federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) arrested activist Juan Manuel MartĂnez Moreno for the shooting death of New York-based independent journalist Brad Will during a protest in the southern state of Oaxaca on Oct. 27, 2006. Octavio… Read moreMexico: activists charged in reporter Brad Will’s death
Several large operations by federal and local Mexican police from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9 broke up protests by striking teachers and their supporters in Morelos state, south of Mexico City, leaving dozens of people detained or injured. Morelos teachers… Read moreMexico: police repress teachers’ strike in Morelos
Based on local medical examiner reports, the Tucson-based Human Rights Coalition recently reported that the number of unidentified bodies found in the Arizona-Sonora border region is on the upswing. According to the immigrant rights advocacy group, 183 people were found… Read moreToll of unknown victims on Mexico-Arizona border rises
Gunmen killed six young men the night of Oct. 11 at a family party in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez. Most of the victims were shot; one was beaten to death, and one body was found wrapped in… Read moreMexico: narco-killing spree in Ciudad Juárez —and throughout country
With bodies still emerging daily throughout the city, the toll of residents killed narco-violence in Tijuana over the past week is approaching 50. Five bodies turned up in an alley between two shopping centers and nine on a vacant lot… Read moreMexico: narco-killing spree shakes Tijuana
Ramiro GuillĂ©n Tapia, a campesino leader from Mexico’s Sierra de Soetapan, doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire Sept. 30 in front of the Veracruz state government headquarters in Xalapa, saying it was an act of protest against… Read moreMexico: campesino self-immolation in Veracruz
