Tag: "narcotraffick"

Crime reporter shot to death in Ciudad Juarez

Crime reporter shot to death in Ciudad Juarez

| November 14, 2008 | Comments (5)

Veteran Mexican crime reporter Armando Rodríguez was shot to death yesterday morning while in his car in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.

Read More

More than half of Mexicans surveyed suspect foul play in plane crash

More than half of Mexicans surveyed suspect foul play in plane crash

| November 10, 2008 | Comments (0)

Mexicans don’t have much faith in the word of their government. The natural reaction of many here in Mexico following a plane crash last week that killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mouriño has been suspicion.

Read More

Plane crash "an accident", says Mexico government

Plane crash "an accident", says Mexico government

| November 6, 2008 | Comments (3)

The Mexico Government maintains that there is no sign of foul play surrounding the plane crash on Tuesday night here in Mexico City that killed interior minister Juan Camilo Mouriño.

Read More

Arrests made in Mexico grenade attack raise questions

Arrests made in Mexico grenade attack raise questions

| September 28, 2008 | Comments (0)

The arrests pose as many questions as they provide answers.

Read More

Morelia: informality characterizes bombing investigation

Morelia: informality characterizes bombing investigation

| September 22, 2008 | Comments (2)

The most important thing that occurred to me as I’ve perused other media’s coverage, my own, and the scene itself, is how frighteningly informal the attitude of the authorities is to the crime scene itself.

Read More

Video: Mexico Bomb Victim Tells His Story

Video: Mexico Bomb Victim Tells His Story

| September 19, 2008 | Comments (0)

Rafael Bucio, a 30 year old car-parking attendant, was out with his wife and two small children in Morelia, Mexico on Monday night enjoying the Independence celebrations when two grenades went off.

Read More

Morelia bomb victim speaks, blood still on the streets

Morelia bomb victim speaks, blood still on the streets

| September 18, 2008 | Comments (1)

Rafael Bucio was waiting for his mother on the corner of the streets Madero and Quintana Roo in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico Monday night. Behind him, his wife Gloria Alvarez stood in the street with their three-month old child in her arms. They didn’t know that their lives were about to change forever.

“Lots of ambulances and patrol cars started to pass by going to the center – to the cathedral,” explained Bucio Wednesday afternoon from a hospital bed, broken bones in his arm and leg held together by pins. Blood seeped through the bandages onto the white cotton sheet covering the bed.

He was moving closer to his wife, away from the street corner, when he heard a thump.

Read More

Morelia: the aftermath.

Morelia: the aftermath.

| September 18, 2008 | Comments (0)

Yesterday, the public paid their respects at a shrine to the side of the city’s main plaza in Morelia, remembering the seven people killed in Monday night’s bomb attack.

Read More

Video: Mexico’s Military Marches as Citizens React to Yesterday’s Bombings

Video: Mexico’s Military Marches as Citizens React to Yesterday’s Bombings

| September 17, 2008 | Comments (0)

Two explosions during Mexican Independence Day celebrations in the western state of Michoacan killed eight people Monday night and injured dozens more, we reported yesterday.

Read More

Video: Mexico’s police reform – what do the public think?

Video: Mexico’s police reform – what do the public think?

| September 15, 2008 | Comments (1)

What do Mexicans think of their police force?

Read More

Mexico's drug violence is bad for business

Mexico's drug violence is bad for business

| September 5, 2008 | Comments (0)

The drug violence that continues to sweep across Mexico isn’t only damaging citizen confidence in the country’s government and public security. It also is taking a toll on Mexico’s economy, according to Treasury Secretary Agustin Carstens.

Read More

NYT: How the drug war impacts civilians

NYT: How the drug war impacts civilians

| September 2, 2008 | Comments (0)

The New York Times has a great piece online today about how just regular citizens are reacting to the drug war.

Read More

Video: Mexicans march for peace

Video: Mexicans march for peace

| August 31, 2008 | Comments (0)

Tens of thousands of people of all social classes and ages marched across Mexico Saturday (August 30th 2008) in protest against high crime levels and rising kidnappings.

Read More

Tijuana: Reflections on the Border

Tijuana: Reflections on the Border

| July 21, 2008 | Comments (1)

“TJ? Really?” was the response from most people last week when they learned I was heading down south of San Diego for a research trip.

They were right to be cautious. I live in Mexico City — one of the biggest, baddest towns around — but still gave Tijuana a second thought. The world’s most famous border city has been getting some bad press of late due to the drug-related violence playing out on its streets.

But what struck me more during my brief trip was the border itself and how it is littered with evidence of its own casualties and conflicts, past and present. The wall is at the center of the current national debate on immigration, and I wanted to see it for myself.

Read More

Mexico welcomes Merida, without human rights restrictions

Mexico welcomes Merida, without human rights restrictions

| June 29, 2008 | Comments (0)

President Calderon on Friday welcomed the U.S. Congress’ approval of the Merida Initiative a day earlier, an aid injection from the United States which is aimed at helping Mexico in its fight against powerful drug cartels.

The bill has dropped a controversial requirement that Mexico meet certain human rights standards in order to receive the aid. Mexicans had objected to the human rights provision, saying that it amounted to outside meddling by the United States in Mexican affairs. But dropping the human rights requirements seems certain to anger numerous opposition groups to the aid package – see this La Plaza post on the issue.

Read More

Calderon should accept Merida's human right conditions?

Calderon should accept Merida's human right conditions?

| June 23, 2008 | Comments (0)

In anticipation of the scheduled debate around the controversial Merida Initiative aid package in the US Senate this week, the Financial Times newspaper from the UK urges President Felipe Calderon to accept the human rights conditions attached to the US$400 billion injection aimed at helping Mexico fights its drugs barons. But should he?

Read More

Video: Illegal Border Crossing for tourists

Video: Illegal Border Crossing for tourists

| May 24, 2008 | Comments (1)

La Caminata Nocturna is a night-hike for tourists in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico that gives them a taste of the illegal immigrant experience. Watch the video here.

Read More

No. 2 police officer gunned down in Juarez: police death count rising

No. 2 police officer gunned down in Juarez: police death count rising

| May 11, 2008 | Comments (0)

The attacks on police officers, detailed here, continued over the weekend.

The No. 2 police officer in this border city across from El Paso was shot to death Saturday, the latest high-ranking official killed in an onslaught of attacks blamed on gangs resisting a crackdown on drug trafficking. Associated Press.

Read More

April update: Violence against journalists continues

April update: Violence against journalists continues

| April 14, 2008 | Comments (0)

April is shaping up to be a bad month for journalists in Mexico.

Read More

Ethical living? Stop taking cocaine

Ethical living? Stop taking cocaine

| March 9, 2008 | Comments (0)

There is a great Leader in this Sunday’s Observer which makes a point I’ve often debated – how cocaine takers in Britain and the US, which provide the demand for the illegal drug industries in Latin America, tend not to think too hard about the impact their weekend drug habits might be having on other people.

If they did, given the trend for ethical shopping that is sweeping the Western World, demand would surely drop.

Read More