The Authentic Labor Front (FAT), an independent Mexican labor group, announced on May 13 that one of its affiliates is set to declare a strike at the Central de Abasto, Mexico City’s huge wholesale food market, on May 30. For… Read moreMexico: union attacked in capital
Ciudad Juárez Public Safety Director Guillermo Prieto submitted his resignation following a string of killings that included some of his top officers. AP May 18 cites a city spokesman saying Prieto would be replaced by a military officer on leave… Read moreMexican military to take over Juárez police?
President Bush’s $163 billion Iraq war funding request collapsed in the House May 15. Republicans expected to provide the winning margin instead sat out the vote in protest of Democratic efforts to add money for the unemployed and an expansion… Read more“Plan Mexico” dies with Iraq funding bill —for now
Juan Antonio Román García, second highest ranking police commander in Ciudad Juárez, was killed May 10 when his car was sprayed with bullets outside his home. The attack came months after his name appeared at the top of a hit… Read moreMexico: open season on police commanders
Federal agents raided a Phoenix gun store May 6 in the biggest weapons bust in years. Authorities said the store was a source for at least 650 high-powered weapons, including 250 AK-47 automatic weapons, smuggled to Mexican drug cartels. The… Read moreArizona gun bust linked to Mexican cartels
On April 28 Mexico’s Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board (JFCA) ruled in favor of a nine-month old strike at Grupo Mexico’s giant copper mine at Cananea, in the northwestern state of Sonora. The ruling, which is final, makes the job… Read moreMexico: Cananea strike now legal
Nine are dead—five agents of the Federal Preventative Police, two municipal police, and two civilians—following three shoot-outs May 2 and 3 in the Mexican city of Culiacán, Sinaloa. Four police agents were also wounded. The confrontations began when police patrols… Read moreMexico: deadly attacks on police in Sinaloa
Some 60 men riding in luxury vehicles and wearing uniforms of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) and armed with AK-47s shot nine people dead at the ranch of Rogaciano Alba Álvarez in Petatlán May 4. Two of Alba’s sons were… Read moreMexico: deadly attacks on Guerrero cattle barons
An AP report portrays President Felipe Calderón’s decision to open talks with Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) as part of his push to open the oil industry to private partnerships—given the guerillas’ attacks on pipelines last year. “The government wanting to… Read moreMexico: dialogue with EPR guerillas?
On a visit to Mexico City April 29, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress to approve the pending $500 million anti-drug program for Mexico, telling reporters, “Failure to do so would be a real slap at Mexico and would… Read moreGates presses Congress on Plan Mexico
On April 25, Mexican federal legislators of the three political parties that make up the Broad Progressive Front (FAP) ended their 16-day occupation of the congressional chambers after a deal was worked out with representatives of the ruling National Action… Read moreOccupation of Mexico’s Congress chambers ends —for now
A series of early-morning gun battles between presumed narco-gangsters in the busy streets of Tijuana—including one outside a hospital—left 15 dead and seven wounded April 26. Authorities are not releasing any of the names of the dead, but the local… Read moreMexican media speculate on Tijuana bloodbath
