Mexican Politics and Whack-a-mole: Calderon replaces Mexico attorney general - latimes.com

Mexico's mole-whacker-in-chief whacks one of his chief mole whackers for not whacking enough moles. 

Mexico attorney general: Calderon replaces Mexico attorney general - latimes.com: "Locked in a grueling and bloody war with drug cartels, Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday replaced the nation's top legal official, whose lackluster stint had failed to improve paltry narcotics conviction rates or stem human rights abuses.

Atty. Gen. Arturo Chavez Chavez stepped down after 18 months on the job. Calderon nominated Marisela Morales, head of the high-profile organized crime unit of the prosecutor's office, to replace Chavez. The Mexican Senate must ratify the appointment. ...

Chavez became attorney general under a cloud of controversy. He was seen by many Mexicans as a bland technocrat whose main qualification seemed to be his loyalty to Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN. Human rights activists were especially incensed because of Chavez's perceived failure to adequately investigate a rash of killings of women when he was top state prosecutor in Chihuahua in the 1990s.

In a secret 2009 diplomatic cable disclosed this year by WikiLeaks, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual described Calderon's decision to name Chavez attorney general as "totally unexpected and politically inexplicable."...

Morales, if confirmed, would be the first woman to serve in the post. She wins high marks from U.S. officials, and last month received the 2011 International Women of Courage Award in a ceremony in Washington headed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama. But Morales too was tainted in the botched Michoacan case, and some of the senators who must approve her appointment may hold that against her."

Whack-a-mole: Mexico’s drug lords fall, but war goes on

Mexico’s drug lords fall, but war goes on - The Washington Post: "Aided by technology and intelligence from the United States, including overflights by drone aircraft and sophisticated software to eavesdrop on cellphone calls, Mexican forces have hit the La Familia drug cartel harder than any other criminal organization in Mexico.

Now, for the first time, Mexican officials are declaring that a major cartel is on the brink of collapse.

But if the government sees victory at hand, the reality in the hot farmlands and mountain hamlets in the western state of Michoacan feels very different.

Wary locals say little has changed. Their state continues to resemble an occupied zone. Three municipal police chiefs have been executed in Michoacan this year, the most recent three weeks ago. "

U.S.- Mexico Relations: Mexican governor says new H1N1 outbreak came from US

AFP: Mexican governor says new H1N1 outbreak came from US: "A new outbreak of H1N1 in northern Mexico, which left four dead in the past week, originated in the southern United States, the Chihuahua state governor said Monday.

'It has been confirmed that the woman who died in Chihuahua was on a trip from the (US) state of Texas. Also, those infected in Ciudad Juarez were all linked to trips to the United States or contact with US citizens,' Cesar Duarte told journalists Monday.

Duarte said that 18 deaths of people suffering from H1N1 flu had been recorded this year in the US border states of Texas and New Mexico, according to information his office received from US authorities.
Mexican authorities have started a vaccination campaign in northern Chihuahua and ruled out the risk of an emergency on a similar scale to 2009, when Mexico raised the first H1N1 alert."

Collateral Damage: Mexican mayor survives attack by 40 gunmen

Mexican mayor survives attack by 40 gunmen - Fox News Latino: "About 40 gunmen attacked the mayor of Garcia, a city in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, killing a bodyguard, wounding four others but failing to kill the municipal official.

Mayor Jaime Rodriguez survived the attack, which was the second attempt to kill him in just over a month.

Rodriguez described the attack in an interview with a television station in Nuevo Leon, a crime-ridden state located on the border with the United States."

Weapons Traffic: To keep guns out of Mexico, Texas lawmakers propose checkpoint

Texas Rangers to the rescue! Can Tonto be far behind?

To keep guns out of Mexico, Texas lawmakers propose checkpoint - Politics Wires - MiamiHerald.com: "Some Texas lawmakers, tired of cash and guns illegally making their way into Mexico and fueling violence in the northern part of the country, say they think they know how to help.

They are proposing southbound checkpoints where Texas law enforcers can stop vehicles about to cross the border and look for guns, cash and drugs.

'We need to be engaged in this issue,' said Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, who has filed a bill to create southbound checkpoints, as has Sen. Juan 'Chuy' Hinojosa, D-McAllen."

Whack-a-mole: Authorities in Awe of Drug Runners' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs

Not only are there drug moles, there are very busy beavers!

Authorities in Awe of Drug Runners' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs | Magazine: "... several years ago, intelligence agencies began hearing that the cartels had made a technological breakthrough: They were constructing some kind of supersub in the jungle. According to the persistent rumors, the phantom vessel was an honest-to-goodness, fully functioning submarine with vastly improved range—nothing like the disposable water coffins the Colombians had been using since the ’90s. US law enforcement officials began to think of it as a sort of Loch Ness Monster, says one agent: “Never seen one before, never seized one before. But we knew it was out there.”"

Whack-a-mole Politics: Texas Rep. Michael McCaul seeks to designate cartels as terrorists

Rep. Michael McCaul seeks to designate cartels as terrorists | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "In a potentially sweeping and politically charged escalation of the U.S. offensive against Mexican drug cartels, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, introduced legislation in Congress Wednesday to designate six murderous Mexican drug cartels 'foreign terrorist organizations.' Such a designation by the State Department could expose Mexican drug traffickers and U.S. gunrunners to charges of supporting terrorism. ...

McCaul, the former federal prosecutor and ex-deputy attorney general of Texas, unveiled the legislation as he raises his profile in Washington for a possible bid for statewide office. The next opening? The seat being vacated at the end of 2012 by U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas.

He's holding a hearing today in his subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee that's designed to elicit support from four high-level officials in the Obama administration for the legislation, which targets the Arellano Feliz, Beltran Leyva, La Familia Michoacana, Los Zetas and Sinaloa and Gulf cartels."

Weapons Traffic: Mexican Cartels Get Heavy Weapons from Central America, U.S. Cables Say

Latin American Herald Tribune - Mexican Cartels Get Heavy Weapons from Central America, U.S. Cables Say: "The most fearsome weapons wielded by Mexico’s drug cartels enter the country from Central America, not the United States, according to U.S. diplomatic cables disseminated by WikiLeaks and published on Tuesday by La Jornada newspaper.

Items such as grenades and rocket-launchers are stolen from Central American armies and smuggled into Mexico via neighboring Guatemala, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City reported to Washington."

Whack-a-mole: Why It's Obvious We Are Losing The War On Drugs

An economist anaylzes why waging a prohibition war on drugs is counter to basic economic dynamics.

Why It's Obvious We Are Losing The War On Drugs: "... drug cartels are like normal business in some ways, but not in all ways. If cocaine and heroin were legal products like tobacco and alcohol, their producers' revenue would still respond to changes in price as predicted by elasticity, and increases in revenue would still be devoted, in part, to innovation and capital investment aimed at expanding supply.

But those businesses would not share the extreme badness of the drug cartels. It is not the nature of their products that makes drug gangsters so readily engage in murder, kidnapping, and other forms of mayhem. Rather, the conditions in which skill and enthusiasm in committing acts of violence become a path to promotion and power are created by the very fact that cocaine and heroin are prohibited substances, and those conditions are only intensified the more vigorously the prohibition is pursued."

Whack-a-mole vs. Legalizaton: Dan Rather: Mexican Standoff

Dan Rather: Mexican Standoff: "I traveled to Mexico to try to make sense of (the war on drugs). For our special report 'Mexican Standoff,' we discussed this topic at length with several experts. We heard one proposal you wouldn't expect to come from a prominent former Mexican government official.

Jorge Castañeda, who served as foreign minister under Calderon's predecessor and now teaches at New York University, thinks the answer is to legalize drugs in Mexico and the United States -- starting with marijuana.

'Legalization of drugs doesn't seem to me to be a terribly radical proposal,' he said, pointing out that more than a dozen states already allow the use of medical marijuana, and that California voters came close to legalizing the drug for recreational use."

Immigration Politics - Kentucky: The death of Kentucky's illegal immigration bill

Commentary: The death of Kentucky's illegal immigration bill - KansasCity.com: "As the General Assembly burned up taxpayer dollars wrangling over a difficult budget, we can be thankful one measure that would have been both expensive and damaging to the state didn't get much traction in this year's session.

Senate Bill 6 died under the weight of its own meanness and irrationality, after citizens protested loud and long to make that clear to lawmakers.

The bill, a copycat of legislation passed in Arizona last year, called for illegal aliens to be found guilty of trespassing simply for being in Kentucky.

Thousands of Kentuckians pointed out that such a law, if enforced, would pack the state's prisons at great cost with people who would ordinarily be working, supporting their families, paying taxes and generally contributing to the economy."

Immigration Crackdown: NY girl in middle of immigration row returns to US

The Associated Press: NY girl in middle of immigration row returns to US: "Emily Ruiz, a 4-year-old American citizen at the center of an immigration dispute, returned to the United States from Guatemala on Wednesday, according to her family's attorney, who accompanied her.

Emily arrived just after midnight Tuesday in New York, where she had a tearful reunion with her brother and parents, who hadn't seen her in more than five months, David Sperling, the family's attorney, said."

Immigration Politics - Mississippi: Arizona-Style Immigration Bill Dies In Mississippi

Arizona-Style Immigration Bill Dies In Mississippi - Jackson News Story - WAPT Jackson: "The push for a comprehensive anti-immigration bill in Mississippi began with a series of hearings and a rally in opposition, but the measure has quietly died under a legislative deadline."

Whack-a-mole: American Teens Recruited by Mexican Drug Cartels

America's Third War: American Teens Recruited by Mexican Drug Cartels - FoxNews.com: "American teenagers are being recruited by Mexican drug cartels to carry drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Over the past 10 years, 476 juveniles have been caught with drugs at a port of entry in El Paso County and 302 of them were U.S. citizens, according to the El Paso County attorney's office.

It’s a scary trend authorities are trying to stop. “They’re being presented with this in the high schools now as a viable option for making money, ” said Border Patrol Agent David Zapp.

Authorities say cartel members, who are blamed for thousands of deaths in Mexico, will pay American teens several hundred dollars to carry a backpack full of marijuana across the border."

Whack-a-mole & Immigration Crackdown: Border agent shot man in the back 3 times while he climbed border wall

The Canadian Press: APNewsBreak: Border agent shot man in the back 3 times while he climbed border wall: "A Mexican man was climbing a ladder at an Arizona-Mexico border wall when a Border Patrol agent fatally shot him three times in the back, a sheriff's spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Monday.
Cochise County sheriff's investigators have no indication that Carlos La Madrid, 19, assaulted or tried to assault the agent when he was shot March 21, said agency spokeswoman Carol Capas.

La Madrid had fled police in the Arizona border city of Douglas in a truck and drove to the border with Mexico. He was climbing a ladder and trying to cross the border, and another man atop the wall began throwing rocks at the pursuing agent, Capas said.

La Madrid was shot three times in the back and grazed on the left shoulder; he died later that day at a local hospital. The man on the wall got away.

Capas said investigators found 48 pounds (21.7 kilograms) of marijuana in the back of the truck La Madrid was driving, indicating that he was a drug smuggler. A 17-year-old illegal immigrant identified as Jesus Manuel Chino Lino ran from the truck was arrested on charges of drug possession and transportation charges."

Immigration Crackdown & Politics: Analysis: US still lacks border strategy

Of course, all of this politicking about "border security" is a diversion from the real issues of the economics of migration and of the illegal drug market created by prohibition. 

The Associated Press: Analysis: US still lacks border strategy: "The federal government hasn't come up with a comprehensive strategy to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, even as an all-out war between Mexico and its violent drug gangs has claimed 35,000 lives and pushed hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the United States.

The U.S. government has spent nearly $4 billion on various approaches, including a $2.4 billion border fence effort, two deployments of National Guard troops to temporarily bolster the Border Patrol, and a now-defunct $1 billion 'virtual fence' that covered 53 miles of the 2,100-mile U.S.-Mexico border until the Obama administration scrapped it earlier this year.

'In spite of an effort to do more, there does not appear to be a plan in place that actually accomplishes the objectives of a secure border,' Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said earlier this month in a speech to the U.S.- Mexico Congressional Border Issues Conference."

Whack-a-mole Poll: Mexicans think cartels are winning drug war

Poll: Mexicans think cartels are winning drug war - World Wires - MiamiHerald.com: "Mexicans are in a funk over their president, and a majority of them think that he's losing control of the country, an opinion poll released Tuesday found.

Six out of 10 Mexicans think that organized crime gangs are getting the upper hand in the war that President Felipe Calderon launched against drug trafficking when he came to office in late 2006, the poll by Demotecnia found. ...

In another question, respondents were asked whether Calderon had a firm grip on the reins of the country or matters were falling out of his control. Sixty-seven percent picked the latter option.

Collateral Damage: Mexico's drug war claims young photographer

Mexico's drug war claims young photographer - Committee to Protect Journalists: "The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the shooting death of Mexican photographer Luis Emanuel Ruiz Carrillo on Friday and calls on Mexican authorities to launch a thorough investigation into his killing.

Ruiz, 21, a photographer with Monclova-based news daily La Prensa, was found fatally shot in Monterrey, Nueva León state, early Friday morning, according to CPJ interviews and press reports. He had been abducted the previous night along with José Luis Cerda Meléndez, a Televisa-Monterrey entertainment show host, as the two were leaving the station's studios in a vehicle driven by Cerda's cousin, Juan Gómez Meléndez. According to news reports, unidentified armed men forced the three out of the vehicle and into a van.

Ruiz, Cerda, and Gómez were found dead in southern Monterrey with gunshots to the head, the local press reported. Press reports said a graffiti message referencing a major drug cartel was found on a wall near Cerda's body. "Stop cooperating with the Zetas," it said. (In a strange twist, an armed individual seized Cerda's body in the midst of the police crime scene investigation, moving it to another location, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.)




Ruiz had traveled to Monterrey for a piece on Cerda, a onetime drug addict and street thug who had become a popular TV personality, La Prensa's editorial director, Jesús Medina, told CPJ. "Luis was an incidental victim," Medina said."

¡Viva Mexico!: Mexican population grows more than expected

Mexican population grows more than expected - Fox News Latino: "President Felipe Calderon said Monday that Mexico's total population in the latest census was larger than expected due to the decline in immigration to the United States and the better economic performance the country had experienced.

During an event at which the results of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing were presented, although they have been partially known since November, the president said that although the country's population was expected to total 108.3 million, the final count was actually 112.3 million.

That increased total 'was impacted notably by the immigration expectations,' Calderon said.

'Part can be due to greater restrictions on the immigration flow, probably in the United States, but also on the generation of better opportunities ... within the national territory,' he said.

The census revealed that between 2005 and 2010 Mexico lost 145,000 residents annually through immigration, while between 2001 and 2005 that figure was more than 450,000 per year.

Calderon emphasized that 'Mexico is a young country,' given that half the population is under 26 and the average age is 29."

Globalization: Monsanto Uses Latest Food Crisis to Push Transgenic Corn in Mexico

Monsanto Uses Latest Food Crisis to Push Transgenic Corn in Mexico – CIP Americas: "Monsanto has turned the drop in international corn reserves and the havoc wreaked on Mexican corn production by an unexpected cold snap into an argument for speeding up commercial planting of its genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico. The transnational is claiming that its modified seeds are the only solution to scarcity and rising grain prices."

Laura's Blog: Why Mexico’s War on Drugs is Unwinnable

Whether measured by increased public safety, reduced supply of illegal drugs on the U.S. market, or the dismantling of drug trafficking organizations, the war on drugs is failing. It has been four years since President Felipe Calderon announced the offensive and sent tens of thousands of soldiers into the streets. The results are a record 37,000 drug-war related homicides so far and thousands of complaints of human rights abuses by police and armed forces. Arrests of drug kingpins and lesser figures have set off violent turf wars, with no discernible effect on illicit flows. The murder of politicians, threats to civilians and disruption of daily life have furthered the downward spiral.

None of this should come as a surprise. Although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has held up Plan Colombia as a model for Mexico, the drug war didn’t work there either. A full decade and $7 billion dollars after Plan Colombia began, regional drug production remains stable and smaller paramilitary groups have replaced the large cartels as traffickers. Some violent crimes, such as kidnappings, have gone down but corruption has deepened with scores of Congressional representatives under investigation, prosecution or sentencing for ties to paramilitaries.

Militarization with the combined rationale of the war on drugs and counterinsurgency has left Colombia with one of the worst human rights record in the hemisphere. Diplomatic relations have been affected as many neighboring nations view U.S. military presence and involvement in Colombia’s drug war as a threat to regional self-determination.

Despite these results, the Obama administration has announced plans to extend indefinitely the Merida Initiative, designed by the Bush administration to last three years and cost $1.3 billion dollars. The administration has asked requested $282 million for Mexico under the initiative in the 2012 budget.

The problem is, the drug war is not underfunded; it’s unwinnable. As long as a lucrative market exists, the cartels will find a way to serve it. Eliminating operatives, even high-level leaders, merely diversifies and redistributes the business. Cartels have years of experience building flexible structures, with new leaders or rival gangs replacing displaced or weakened ones. At the lower levels, they draw from an inexhaustible pool of young men with few prospects in life, who have adopted the slogan, “Better to die young and rich than old and poor.”

If the war on drugs is unwinnable, does that mean we have to resign ourselves to the unbridled power of the drug cartels?

No. The other tragedy of the war on drugs is that it precludes potentially more effective strategies by posing as the only option. As the U.S. government spends millions of taxpayer dollars to pay U.S. private security and defense firms to “fix” Mexico, it has done little to nothing to address the parts of transnational organized crime that exist within its borders—demand, transport and distribution, corrupt officials, gun-running and money laundering.

Rethinking the drug war is not tantamount to surrender. Here are a few key elements of an alternative strategy:

Follow the money. Instead of shoot-outs in the streets, far more could be done in both countries to attack the financial structures of criminal organizations. Billions of dollars are laundered in mainstream financial institutions and businesses. If we’re serious about weakening organized crime, it’s time to be serious about cracking down on illicit financial flows—even when it affects powerful interests.

Increase funding for drug abuse prevention and treatment. Approaching illegal drug use as a health issue is a win-win strategy. Education teaches young people the costs of addiction and abuse, and treatment and harm reduction programs can improve lives and reduce costs to society, as well as cutting demand for illicit substances.

End prohibition, beginning with marijuana. Without the billions of dollars in revenue that pot provides, drug cartels have fewer resources to recruit youth, buy arms and corrupt politicians.

Give communities a role besides “victim”. As Mexican funds and U.S. aid have been diverted to the drug war, social programs in Mexico have been severely cut back. This is exactly backward. Strong communities—ones with jobs, ample educational opportunities and coverage of basic needs and services–are better able to resist the infiltration of organized crime.

The war on drugs strategy lacks benchmarks or any real analysis of the root causes of the violence. Each day it digs itself deeper into a hole. That hole has become a mass grave for thousands of Mexicans, mostly youth.

The Obama administration has announced plans to intensify the drug war in Mexico and extend the model to Central American and Caribbean nations. Congress appears willing to follow suit. This would usher in a new era of military-led relations with our Latin American neighbors and unleash violent conflict in those countries as it has in Mexico.

If that happens, horror stories like the ones from Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros will sadly become the norm rather than the exception.

Laura Carlsen, director, Americas Program

Immigration Reality vs. Crackdown: New York girl, 4, caught in immigration quagmire to return from Guatemala this week

The Canadian Press: Lawyer: New York girl, 4, caught in immigration quagmire to return from Guatemala this week: "A 4-year-old U.S. citizen who was deported to Guatemala will return to be reunited with her family in New York this week, a family attorney said Monday.

The family says Emily Samantha Ruiz was deported after her grandfather was detained when their flight was diverted to Washington on March 11 following a visit to Guatemala. Emily's a U.S. citizen; her parents are illegal immigrants living in Brentwood, New York.

David Sperling, the family's lawyer, who went to Guatemala to pick the girl up, said they will fly home Tuesday and have been assured she will have no problem entering the United States. Her parents risked being detained if they went to go get her in Guatemala.

"We have received information that there will be no problem, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that that will be the case," Sperling said. "We will arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) in New York and we hope she will be reunited with her parents and that they will have a happy ending to this story.""

Immigration Politics - Minnesota: Duluth City Council opposes using police to enforce immigration laws

Duluth City Council opposes using police to enforce immigration laws | Duluth News Tribune | Duluth, Minnesota: "By a 5-3 vote, the Duluth City Council passed a resolution calling for national immigration reform and opposing Minnesota House File 3830, a bill that would require local police to play a more active role in running background checks and enforcing federal immigration laws."

Immigration Politics: Oklahoma Catholic Church leaders speak out on immigration | NewsOK.com

Yes, Jesus did say (Matthew 25:31-46) that "the least of these" humans is sacred and calls for our care. See our Oct. 2010 editorial: Mexican Migrants - Neighbors or Aliens?

Oklahoma Catholic Church leaders speak out on immigration | NewsOK.com: "Immigration is the responsibility of the federal government, and laws passed should treat the undocumented with dignity, respecting the disadvantaged, families and children, Oklahoma Catholic Church leaders said Monday.

A joint statement released by the Most Rev. Paul Coakley, archbishop of Oklahoma City, and the Most Rev. Edward Slattery, bishop of Tulsa, said immigration laws are necessary, but new laws should focus on the country’s dependence on undocumented workers, fair wages and working conditions and a path to legal status that “will bring these undocumented persons out of the shadows, where they are so easily preyed upon by human traffickers and unscrupulous profiteers.”

Citing biblical tenets, Coakley and Slattery state Catholic social teachings stress treating neighbors as “brothers,” particularly when it comes to those who are underprivileged.

Whack-a-mole vs. Human Rights: Mexico Defends Drug War Before OAS Panel

Latin American Herald Tribune - Mexico Defends Drug War Before OAS Panel: "A Mexican government delegation on Monday defended “the necessity and the efficacy” of the war on drug trafficking during a hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a body of the Organization of American States.

The under-secretary for Juridical Affairs and Human Rights within Mexico’s interior ministry, Felipe de Jesus Zamora, said that the national strategy against organized crime had been applied “with strict respect for human rights.”

Representatives of 18 NGOs who also appeared before the OAS panel on Monday offered a much different appraisal.

The war on drug cartels launched by newly inaugurated President Felipe Calderon in December 2006 has been counterproductive, given that “violence, the murder rate and citizen insecurity have skyrocketed,” said Carlos Karin Zazueta, with the Citizens in Support of Human Rights organization.

The complaints, along with the well-documented reports of arbitrary arrests, torture and harassment committed by the security forces, were rejected by Zamora, who said that the fight for security is, in itself, “a fight for human rights.”

The Mexican delegation focused its efforts on claiming that the war on drug trafficking was “necessary” to halt the advance of organized crime, and it defended that battle’s effectiveness without discussing specific figures."

The Americas Program is hitting the road! Join Laura Carlsen and the Chiapas Media Project on their upcoming US speaking tour.

Laura will be screening the latest Chiapas Media Project film 'LIVING JUAREZ: Collateral Damage in Mexico’s Drug War" and discussing various aspects of the War on Drugs in Mexico and US drug policy.

LIVING JUAREZ looks at the Ciudad Juárez neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar where in January 2010, of a group of youth attending a birthday party were brutally murdered and in the massacre's immediate aftermath, Felipe Calderón characterized the youth as gang members. The outraged families personally confronted the president at public forums in Juárez during his visits to the city after the massacre.

The film tells the story of the real victims in Calderón’s Drug War: regular people just trying to survive in a city over run by senseless violence, and corruption. The neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar is organized and speaking out against the arbitrary and frequent abuses that are committed by the armed forces against civilians and particularly the youth in Juárez.

Laura Carlsen, a graduate of the Stanford Center for Latin Americas Studies, is the director of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy. Laura has been a political analyst and writer in Mexico for over twenty years and has written extensively on trade, security, immigration and gender issues and appears frequently as an expert on these issues in US and Latin American media. She is the author of "A Primer on Plan Mexico" and has been closely tracking the drug war and the Merida Initiative over the years, working with U.S. and Mexican groups to develop facts-based assessments and explore alternatives.

Here's the tour's schedule:

March 29th: Edinburg, Texas: University of Texas Pan American Student Union Theater, 7PM,12010 West University Dr.

March 30th: Galveston, Texas: University of Texas Medical Branch, Administration Building, Caduceus Room, 6-9 PM

March 31st: Nacogdoches, Texas: Stephen F. Austin University, Baker Pattillo Student Center Movie Theater, 7-9 PM

April 3rd: Chicago, Illinois: Calles y Suenos, 1901 S. Carpenter St., 7 PM

April 4th: Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Harper Memorial Library, Room 103, 116 East 59th St., 6:30-8 PM

April 5th: Chicago, Illinois: Depaul University, Student Center, Room 325, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave., 6 PM

April 8th: Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina, GEC Building (aka FedEx Building), Room 2008, 12-2 PM

April 10th: Washington, DC: American University, 11:30-1 PM

Laura's presentation in Washington is on the last day of the three-day Latin America Solidarity Conference against militarism and militarization of relations with Latin America. The event is sponsored by the Latin American Solidarity Coalition and is being held in conjunction with School of the Americas Watch Days of Action.

Immigration Reality & U.S. Politics: Hispanic Clout Trails Population Growth, For Now : NPR

Hispanic Clout Trails Population Growth, For Now : NPR: "Demographers and other analysts see the Hispanic growth, which has made the group 16 percent of the U.S. population, as no surprise given population trends that date back to the 1990s. The greater significance, they say, on communities experiencing the influx will set in gradually as Latinos, both foreign- and native-born, continue to assimilate — a process likely to take another decade or so.

For now, one big impact of the new data is showing up in politics, as strong Latino growth has guaranteed eight states additional seats in Congress for the upcoming reapportionment process.

'They have got blinders on in the political class in understanding how important the Latino population can be,' said demographer William Frey, a senior fellow in the metropolitan policy program of the Brookings Institution.

'At this point in time, a lot of the Latinos are not registered voters and many are undocumented. But what's important is that the young Latinos are going to be voting in five to 10 years and they are very interested in what's going on. They are going to be key constituencies,' he said."

U.S. - Mexico Relations: How the US let Calderón save face

How the US let Calderón save face | Rodrigo Camarena | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "WikiLeaks was a handy excuse, but the US sacrificed its envoy to rescue Mexico's president – a vital ally in the 'war on drugs'"

Rodrigo Camarena is an analyst and consultant on Latin American business, politics and public policy, and is the Foreign Policy Association's blogger on Brazil. He is based in Mexico City

Whack-a-mole: Mexico's Largest Media Corporation Behind Plan to Censor Drug War Coverage

From Narco News

Narco News: Mexico's Largest Media Corporation Behind Plan to Censor Drug War Coverage: "Last week, Mexican media companies cooked up an agreement to regulate the way journalists report on the drug war, proposing methods to restrict both images and speech in news broadcasts. Behind the accord is the Mexico Initiative, a massive public relations campaign that has been accused of using the media to try and stamp out public dissatisfaction and rebellion."

Weapons Traffic: Border Agents Unwittingly Freed Suspects Found with Weapons from Federal Sting

A detailed report on the weaknesses of U.S. efforts to stop the weapons traffiking to Mexico.

The Cutting Edge News: "On Jan. 14, 2010, federal border patrol agents stopped two men driving a car through the border-crossing town of Columbus, New Mexico. Inside the vehicle was a cache of assault weapons, including AK-47s, Ruger .45-caliber handguns and pistols called “cop killers” because their ammunition can penetrate armor.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers ran the guns’ serial numbers in a nationwide database and waited. None of the eight came back flagged as stolen or suspect, so the agents let the men go — just a few short miles from the Mexican border, where gun trafficking is fueling a violent and deadly drug war.

At the time, the border guards were unaware that six of the weapons had been purchased by alleged straw buyers in a federal sting and were supposed to be monitored by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents trying to bust a major Mexican gun running ring.

The ATF had not yet flagged the weapons in a law enforcement database, and CBP wouldn’t alert its sister law enforcement agency to the traffic stop for five months, delays that would prove fateful for both agencies.

The two men in the car turned out to be Blas Gutierrez and Miguel Carrillo, who earlier this month were indicted as part of a Mexican cartel gun trafficking operation that also involved Columbus’s mayor and police chief, court records show."

Whack-a-mole drug war vs. ¡Viva México!: Anglo Expats unfazed by Mexico's encroaching drug war

A look at how U.S. and Canadian expats living in Mexico view the drug war. The journalist talks to some of the 20,000 in Lake Chapala in Jalisco state. This expat editor lives near Lake Pátzcuaro, in Michoacán state, a  few hours drive southeast of Chapala. In the Pátzcuaro area there are maybe 200 or so expats spread around the countrysides. Conversations with our acquaintances indicate that they hold pretty much the same range of opinions reflected in this article. 

Anglos unfazed by Mexico's encroaching drug war - USATODAY.com: Ajijic (pronounced Ah-hee_HEEK), Jalisco, Mexico"John McWilliams traded a Victorian home in Galveston, Texas, 13 years ago for a bed-and-breakfast in this village of cobblestone streets and later a three-bedroom abode overlooking Lake Chapala, where an estimated 20,000 U.S. and Canadian expatriates — split roughly equally between the two nationalities — reside during the winter months.

He also traded insecurity for tranquility, having suffered three robberies back in Texas. Even with Mexico's organized-crime violence now encroaching on the region, McWilliams and his partner of 40 years, Earl French, maintain, 'We feel safer here than there.'

McWilliams and French formed part of a foreign relocation wave in which retirees began moving to Mexico, taking advantage of the cheaper prices, idyllic climate and welcoming local culture."

Globalization: Mexican economy boosts El Paso businesses

A factory floor level look at the increasing integration of the U.S. and Mexican economies.

Mexican economy boosts El Paso businesses - El Paso Times: "The Eagle Brass metals plant on Rojas Drive is small but growing in leaps and bounds.

Two years ago, the Pennsylvania-based company opened the plant to be closer to automotive, appliance and electronic assembly plants in Mexico and their suppliers north of the border. It started with a payroll of two. A year later, it added two more and doubled its real estate to 10,000 square feet. Now the company is thinking of adding a second shift with two more people.

The success of Eagle Brass, which sells about 10,000 pounds of red metals -- copper, brass and stainless steel -- a month, comes in direct proportion to the rise in the Mexican economy. The economy of the El Paso region is highly dependent on Mexico. Right now, Mexico is doing all right.

'The Mexican economy is improving, and that's a big reason we are improving,' plant manager Jerry Shapiro said. 'We are seeing a lot more (requests for) quotes, and the bulk of that is generated by assembly plans in Juárez. Everything we do goes into plants that are in Juárez assembling finished goods that go all over the world.'"

Globalization: Group encourages Americans to live in Mexico

This is a public relations oriented interview by the Houston Chronicle with a U.S. promoter of real estate in Mexico.

Q&A: Group encourages Americans to live in Mexico | Business | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Selling Americans retirement and vacation homes in Mexico has become a challenge. The slowdown in the global economy, Mexico's highly publicized drug violence and the swine flu outbreak, among other problems, have kept many Americans from buying property south of the border.

Those promoting the market recently launched the Mexico Real Estate Coalition to reassure investors that it's safe to buy houses in Mexico. Houstonian Chris Hill, a founder of the coalition and CEO of Houston-based Stewart Title Latin America, discussed the Mexican market in an interview with Chronicle reporter Jenalia Moreno."

Immigration Madness: Iowa officials cite threat in canceling shooting drill involving teen angry about immigration - The Washington Post

The insanity here appears to be on several sides.

Iowa officials cite threat in canceling shooting drill involving teen angry about immigration - The Washington Post: "An Iowa training drill involving a mock school shooting by a teen venting anger over illegal immigration was canceled Friday after authorities said a real shooting was threatened at the high school where the drill was to take place.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker said his office was notified about the threat that came to the school Friday morning from an out-of-state phone caller who threatened a shooting at Treynor High School, the site of the four-hour drill scheduled Saturday for police, firefighters and other first responders.

The caller stated something along the lines of, “’Your school shooting drill may be a reality today,’” Danker said. He said three deputies went to the school Friday morning as a precaution. It was not immediately clear when or if the exercise would be rescheduled. County emergency management officials did not immediately return messages Friday.

The drill has gained attention amid concerns raised by groups opposed to illegal immigration that say the fictitious scenario had a political agenda in featuring a teen with ties to a white supremacist group and gun enthusiasts who was angry about immigration issues."

Immigration Politics - Kansas: Thousands call for Kansas Rep.'s resignation due to immigration remarks

Thousands call for Kansas Rep.'s resignation due to immigration remarks | KTKA.com: "'It looks like to me if shooting the immigrating hogs works, maybe we have found a (solution) to our illegal immigration problem.'

This comment was heard around the nation, leading to more than 54,000 petitions from across the country being turned into the Governor's office asking for Representative Virgil Peck's resignation.

'Shooting undocumented immigrants from a helicopter like pigs is not a solution to the problem of immigration. In fact, it is part of the problem,' says Lalo Munoz of the Latino Informational Network of Kansas.

Several organizations met on the Capitol's steps to turn in the thousands of signatures and they say politicians should use this as a lesson."

Collateral Damage: Monterrey TV personality is abducted, slain

Monterrey TV personality is abducted, slain - San Antonio Express-News: "Gunmen abducted and killed a comic sidekick on a popular Monterrey television show ...

The body of Jose Luis Cerda, 33, was identified just after sunrise Friday in a Monterrey suburb. He was shot in the head. Two men kidnapped along with Cerda, identified in the Monterrey media as his cousin and a freelance videographer, were found dead on a nearby highway.

Cerda, widely known by his nickname “La Gata,” had a secondary role on “The Club,” an afternoon variety show that provides dancing, singing and comedy skits. Dressed as a kid from a poor neighborhood, or a gang member, he served as a comic foil for the show's bigger stars."

¡Viva México!: Adultery soon not to be illegal in Mexico. Who knew it was?

Adultery soon not to be illegal in Mexico. Who knew it was? | La Plaza | Los Angeles Times: "The most surprising thing about Mexico's decision this week to decriminalize adultery was that the practice actually was a crime.

The culture of 'la casa chica' has a long history in Mexico. Literally 'the little house,' the phrase refers to a man's mistress and the children he has with her, set up in a second household. According to the penal code ... that could earn the man a two-year jail term. The law was rarely enforced."

Weapons Traffic: More N. Texans Linked to Cartel Guns

More N. Texans Linked to Cartel Guns | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth: "Four Tarrant County (Texas) men bought more than $100,000 in assault rifles over the past six months, including one that was used in a shootout in Mexico in which eight people were killed, according to a federal criminal complaint.

It is the third case in the past month in which guns purchased in North Texas have been linked to the drug war in Mexico.

The men, Reynaldo Bazan, Saul Bazan, Carlos Bazan and Obed Martinez, were arrested on Thursday by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. It was not immediately clear if the Bazans are related.

The men face charges of conspiracy to deal in firearms without a license. The complaint alleges they have bought 129 assault rifles since October, usually two at a time.

One of the weapons, purchased by Reynaldo Bazan, was used in an 'altercation' with the Mexican Navy in which eight people were killed, the ATF said."

U.S. - Mexico Relations: No Timeline to Replace U.S. Ambassador to Mexico

No Timeline to Replace U.S. Ambassador to Mexico — U.S. Congress | The Texas Tribune: "The U.S. Department of State on Tuesday said U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual has agreed to stay in Mexico City to help the two governments organize a transition. Officials said they could not speculate about when President Barack Obama plans to name a replacement for Pascual, who resigned on Saturday.

“Ambassador Pascual is still there until a new ambassador is appointed,” said Tanya Powell, a department spokeswoman.

In a story Tuesday, Mexican media outlet El Universal cited analysts who said it could be months before a replacement is named. In the meantime, Deputy Chief of Mission John D. Feeley will lead the embassy."

Whack-a-mole vs. Legalization: End the War on Drugs Now

American Thinker: End the War on Drugs Now: "Despite federal and state expenditures of billions of dollars per year, severe punishments, and frequent unconstitutional raids on private homes, the War On Drugs is a failure. Since this futile war began, the number of drug users in the US has grown rather than shrink, and the rate of drug usage has grown along with the profits of drug cartels. America's Southern border has become very dangerous as a result of the War, and Mexico is a failing state because wealthy, well-armed drug cartels can afford to fight a regular war in that country and bribe (or assassinate) its officials.

By any objective measure, the War On Drugs is a disastrous failure. It's time to end this madness now."

Whack-a-mole vs. Legalization: Editorial: Drug cancer spreading

A voice of reason from Pensacola, Florida

Editorial: Drug cancer spreading | Pensacola News Journal | pnj.com: "With the growing cancer of drug violence metastasizing south of the U.S. border, it's time to shift the debate about drug policy out of the DEA and law enforcement and into the hands of government officials with a broader view.

The drug-fighting bureaucracy in the U.S. is hard-pressed to see anything beyond its own mission, which is to enforce anti-drug laws. Seeing the value of changing those laws in any way seems too much of a stretch for it.

Meanwhile, we're losing the drug war, and paying a high price — and not just in dollars — for the privilege. ...

When do government officials admit the obvious — prohibition isn't working — and start over on U.S. drug policy?"

Collateral Damage: Internal Displacement in the Americas

A report by the international Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

While news articles have been published on people fleeing the drug violence of northern Mexico, this is the first systematic analysis we have seen of the rise of displaced persons resulting from the drug war.

According to its website, the IDMC is "the leading international body monitoring conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide. Through its work, the Centre contributes to improving national and international capacities to protect and assist the millions of people around the globe who have been displaced within their own country as a result of conflicts or human rights violations."

IDMC | Internal Displacement in the Americas: "By the end of 2010, as many as 5.4 million people were internally displaced due to armed conflict, violence, and human rights violations in the Americas. This figure was roughly 400,000 higher than a year earlier, confirming a pattern of internal displacement steadily increasing over the last decade. In 2001, there were 2.5 million IDPs in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.

This increase in the number of IDPs in 2010 reflected the continued new displacement in Colombia and new displace- ment in Mexico...

In Mexico, the government has not made efforts to establish the number of people still displaced by the 1990s Zapatista uprising, by inter- communal violence or more recently by drug-cartel violence in northern states.

Causes of displacement:

In 2010, new displacement in the Americas was principally caused by growing violence between groups associated with the drugs trade....

Drug-cartel and gang violence caused displacement in Mexico and Guatemala. In Mexico, violence grew sharply in areas close to the border with the United States, particularly in Chihuahua and Tamaulipas States, as drug cartels fought to control trafficking routes. The violence killed roughly 15,000 people there in 2010, including gang members, police, and civilians not related to the drug trade.

The government did not compile figures of people displaced by the violence, but independent surveys put their number at around 230,000. An estimated half of those displaced crossed the border into the United States, which would leave about 115,000 people internally displaced, most likely in the States of Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila and Veracruz."

U.S. - Mexico Relations: United States and Mexico Divided on Ambassador’s Role

A more in-depth look at the issues between and around President Calderon and U.S. Ambassador Pascual that led to the former forcing the resignation of the latter.

United States and Mexico Divided on Ambassador’s Role - NYTimes.com: "Carlos Pascual, the American ambassador here who resigned last week, had hoped to withstand the fierce storm caused by the release of diplomatic cables revealing his private criticism of Mexico’s fight against organized crime.

By all accounts, he has been engaged and proactive in his two years here — promoting institutional reforms, meeting with mayors in violent cities and sidestepping what he saw as bureaucratic delays.

But it is exactly that activist approach that so irked President Felipe Calderón, say Mexican and American officials, who note that the dispute signals a divide between the two countries over the role of an American ambassador.

More broadly, Mr. Pascual’s resignation raises a vital question about the increased cooperation between the two countries in the war against drug trafficking organizations. Is it creating a “new era of respect,” as President Obama said this month after meeting with President Calderón, or a resurgence of distrust?

The answer, experts say, may be a little bit of each."

Weapons Traffic: U.S. indicts three over gun tied to Mexico shooting

U.S. indicts three over gun tied to Mexico shooting | Reuters: "A grand jury has indicted three Texas men for illegally buying guns for others, including one used in the shooting death of a U.S. immigration agent in Mexico, the Justice Department said on Thursday."

Whack-a-mole vs. Legalization: War on drugs has failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS and BBC - Telegraph

The Brits know how to do things - literally - with class. We very much hope they succeed. Hopefully, their classiness will have the clout needed to get world governments to rethink the U.S. driven, U.N. enforced whack-a-mole "war on drugs."

War on drugs has failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS and BBC - Telegraph: "Leading peers – including prominent Tories – say that despite governments worldwide drawing up tough laws against dealers and users over the past 50 years, illegal drugs have become more accessible.

Vast amounts of money have been wasted on unsuccessful crackdowns, while criminals have made fortunes importing drugs into this country.

The increasing use of the most harmful drugs such as heroin has also led to “enormous health problems”, according to the group.

The MPs and members of the House of Lords, who have formed a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform, are calling for new policies to be drawn up on the basis of scientific evidence.
It could lead to calls for the British government to decriminalise drugs, or at least for the police and Crown Prosecution Service not to jail people for possession of small amounts of banned substances. ...

The chairman of the new group, Baroness Meacher – who is also chairman of an NHS trust – told The Daily Telegraph: “Criminalising drug users has been an expensive catastrophe for individuals and communities. ...

Lord Lawson, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1983 and 1989, said: “I have no doubt that the present policy is a disaster. This is an important issue, which I have thought about for many years. But I still don't know what the right answer is – I have joined the APPG in the hope that it may help us to find the right answer.”

Other high-profile figures in the group include Baroness Manningham-Buller, who served as Director General of MI5, the security service, between 2002 and 2007; Lord Birt, the former Director-General of the BBC who went on to become a “blue-sky thinker” for Tony Blair; Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, until recently the Director of Public Prosecutions; and Lord Walton of Detchant, a former president of the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council."

Whack-a-mole vs. Legalization: Top UK Officials Announce UN-inspired War on Drugs Failed

Three cheers for the Brits - an Baroness Molly Meacher!!!

Top UK Officials: UN-inspired War on Drugs Failed: "On the 50th anniversary of the United Nations treaty that led to the global “War on Drugs,” a group of prominent officials and legislators from the United Kingdom declared the battle a failure and formed a commission calling for new policies to deal with problems associated with drugs.

Among the heavyweights promoting changes in national drug laws are the former heads of the U.K. internal security agency MI5, the Crown Prosecution Service, the government news service BBC, the British Medical Association and even the General Medical Council. Top British legislators from various parties in Parliament and the House of Lords are involved too.

The newly created “All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform” is calling for policies “based on scientific evidence.” Members said that despite governments pouring enormous sums of money into prohibition, availability and abuse of drugs have only increased. On top of that, the war has served to enrich terrorists and crime bosses while destabilizing entire countries like Mexico.

The chairwoman of the group, Baroness Molly Meacher, has already come out with strong statements against the current prohibition model. “Criminalizing drug users has been an expensive catastrophe for individuals and communities,” Meacher told The Daily Telegraph in an interview. “In the U.K. the time has come for a review of our 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, [the law that criminalized drugs to comply with the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs treaty].”

Meacher, who is also in charge of a National Health Service trust, called on the British government to heed the advice of current international experts at the UN itself in recognizing drug addiction as a health problem, not something to be punished. She also cited the model pursued by other European nations that have successfully experimented with different approaches."

Human Rights: Forced Disappearances on the Rise in Mexico

RIGHTS: Forced Disappearances on the Rise in Mexico - IPS ipsnews.net: "Malena Reyes, her brother Elías and his wife Luisa Ornelas were kidnapped Feb. 7 in the municipality of Guadalupe in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Their bodies were found two weeks later, in a case that is among those drawing international scrutiny.

The U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances is gathering and analysing information about some 30 activists who have been forcibly disappeared, to include the cases in their 2012 report.

Malena and Elías are the sister and brother, respectively, of human rights activist Josefina Reyes, who was murdered in January 2010 in Ciudad Juárez, also in Chihuahua, a state on the border with the United States.

The family tragedy does not stop there. In 2009 Josefina's son, Julio César Reyes, was murdered, and in August 2010 another of her brothers, Rubén Reyes, was killed.

The three people in Guadalupe were the first documented case of forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution in Mexico this year.

As a result, the Mexican state can expect a sharp rebuke for its virtual inaction on what is considered a crime against humanity by the U.N., which has a mission of experts from the Working Group on an official visit to the country Mar. 18-31."

Collateral Damage: Many Mexican media outlets set guidelines for coverage of drug war

The Canadian Press: Many Mexican media outlets set guidelines for coverage of drug war: "The heads of most of Mexico's largest media outlets have issued a set of drug-war reporting guidelines, agreeing not to glorify drug traffickers, publish cartel propaganda messages or reveal information that could endanger police operations. The voluntary guidelines are the first of their kind in Mexico..."

Immigration Reality: The Unauthorized Population Today

The Unauthorized Population Today | Immigration Policy Center: "Recent estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicate that the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States has remained unchanged at roughly 11 million since 2009. This comes after a two-year decline of approximately one million that corresponded closely to the most recent recession, which ran from December 2007 to June 2009.

Despite that decline, the new data make clear that the current population of unauthorized immigrants is very much part of the social and economic fabric of the country. Three-fifths of unauthorized immigrants have been in the United States for more than a decade. Unauthorized immigrants comprise more than one-quarter of the foreign-born population and roughly 1-in-20 workers. Approximately 4.5 million native-born U.S.-citizen children have at least one unauthorized parent.

While the largest numbers of unauthorized immigrants are concentrated in California and Texas, there also are sizable unauthorized populations in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, and Maryland. In short, unauthorized immigrants who are already in the country have become integral to U.S. businesses, communities, and families."

Immigration Reality: Hispanics now majority in Texas public schools - The Daily Sentinel: Texas

Hispanics now majority in Texas public schools - The Daily Sentinel: Texas: "Hispanic students for the first time make up the majority of students enrolled in Texas public schools.
The Texas Education Agency reports Hispanic students this school year account for 50.2 percent of the state's 4.9 million children enrolled in public schools, including pre-kindergarten and early childhood education. Hispanics last year made up nearly 49 percent of the students."

Immigration Crackdown: Deportation of U.S.-Born Child Sparks Media War

Latin American Herald Tribune - Peña: Deportation of U.S.-Born Child Sparks Media War: "The recent deportation to Guatemala of a 4-year-old U.S. citizen has set off a media war between immigration authorities and the child’s parents, and poses numerous questions about the future of children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants.

Emily Samantha Ruiz was deported de facto together with her grandfather on March 11, and her case has sparked a barrage of criticism against the government of President Barack Obama."

Immigration Reality: New milestone: 1 in 6 US residents is Hispanic

New milestone: 1 in 6 US residents is Hispanic - US news - Life - msnbc.com: "In a surprising show of growth, Hispanics accounted for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the last decade, exceeding estimates in many states as they crossed a new census milestone: 50 million, or 1 in 6 Americans.

The final count: 196.8 million whites, 37.7 million blacks, 50.5 million Hispanics and 14.5 million Asians."

Whack-a-mole: Mexico, Ecuador nab 18 members of powerful drug cartel

The more we whack those moles, the more they spread!

Mexico, Ecuador nab 18 members of powerful drug cartel - Fox News Latino: "Mexican and Ecuadorian authorities detained 18 suspected members of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel in a joint operation, including a confidant of fugitive mob boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' (Shorty) Guzman, Mexico said Wednesday.

The head of the Mexican federal police counter-narcotics division, Ramon Pequeño, told a press conference that nine of the suspects were detained in Mexico, including Victor Manuel Felix Felix, and the rest in Ecuador."

Whack-a-mole: Drug Wars Push Deeper into Central America

Drug Wars Push Deeper into Central America - NYTimes.com: "Traffickers have used Central America as a stopover point since at least the 1970s. But the aggressive crackdowns on criminal organizations in Mexico and Colombia, coupled with strides in limiting smuggling across the Caribbean, has increasingly brought the powerful syndicates here, pushing the drug scourge deeper into small Central American countries incapable of combating it.

Most of the known cocaine shipments moving north, 84 percent of them, crossed through Central America last year, according to radar tracking data from American authorities — a sharp increase from 44 percent in 2008 and only 23 percent in 2006, the year President Felipe Calderón of Mexico took office and began his assault against the drug gangs in his country."

Globalization: 'Multilatinas' in a Globalised World

ECONOMY-LATIN AMERICA: 'Multilatinas' in a Globalised World - IPS ipsnews.net: "Brazilian firms like mining giant Vale or the Petrobrás state oil company and Mexican firms like Cementos Mexicanos (Cemex) or the Bimbo bread maker are no longer only playing a dominant role in Latin America, but have begun to make headway in the U.S. market and other regions and have become drivers of economic globalisation. ...

The emergence of Global Latinas, it cannot be doubted, has been facilitated by a general context in Latin America of surging economic growth driven by high commodity prices," writes Lourdes Casanova in the book 'From Multilatinas to Global Latinas; The New Latin American Multinationals'. ...

In her book, she makes an in-depth case study of 11 Latin American firms, including Mexican corporations like Bimbo, which has 100,000 employees in 17 countries; Cemex, with 57,000 workers in 33 countries; and telecom giant América Móvil, with more than 200 million customers in 18 countries."

Mexican Politics: Seeking Unity Among Deep Divisions: The PRD Candidacy

An analysis of the dynamics within Mexico's PRD (Revolutionary Democratic Party) and a look at its possible candidates for president in 2012.

Seeking Unity Among Deep Divisions: The PRD Candidacy | Center for Strategic and International Studies

Collateral Damage: Mexican gangs go after new target: high priced corn

Mexican gangs go after new target: high priced corn | Energy & Oil | Reuters: "Organized crime gangs equipped with automatic weapons and tractor trailers are branching out into raids on huge grain silos, in a sign of growing lawlessness in parts of Mexico's north.

Attacks on warehouses and cargo trucks have multiplied into a near-weekly affair in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, where one of the worst cold snaps in decades wiped out corn and vegetable plots last month, pushing up prices of the remaining harvest and making it more attractive to thieves."

Immigration Politics: Obama Calls for an Economic Cure for Illegal Immigration

Obama Calls for an Economic Cure for Illegal Immigration: "President Obama ended his three-nation Latin American tour on Tuesday with a visit to El Salvador, a source of one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, and agreed with its president that 'the best strategy' for curbing illegal immigration was to create economic growth in the region.

Mr. Obama, in a private meeting and a subsequent news conference with El Salvador's president, Mauricio Funes, said he remained committed to seeking a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law that both enhances American border security and provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have lived for years in the United States and have jobs and families." NY Times

Immigration Crackdown: Girl, 4, a U.S. Citizen, Is Deported to Guatemala - NYTimes.com

Girl, 4, a U.S. Citizen, Is Deported to Guatemala - NYTimes.com: "Leonel Ruiz, a landscaper in Brentwood, N.Y., was waiting at Kennedy International Airport on the early morning of March 11 for his 4-year-old daughter, Emily, to arrive home from a trip to Guatemala. The plane arrived hours late, but Emily was not on it, and neither was her grandfather, who was supposed to be escorting her back.

It took several hours for Mr. Ruiz to learn what had happened. Emily, a United States citizen, and her grandfather, a Guatemalan traveling with a valid work visa, had been detained by immigration authorities at Dulles International Airport near Washington, where the plane had been diverted because of bad weather. The officials had told Emily’s grandfather that because of an immigration infraction two decades ago, he would not be allowed to stay in the country.

That has left Emily, a pigtailed native of Long Island, in an unusual limbo. As a citizen, she has the right to re-enter her country. But her parents are illegal immigrants, which has complicated the prospect of a reunion.

Today, Emily is in Guatemala, her parents are struggling to bring her home, and lawyers and federal officials are arguing over parental responsibility and citizenship rights. The Ruizes find themselves on the front lines of a heated immigration debate: how to treat families in which the parents are here illegally, while their children, born in the United States, are citizens."

Immigration Madness: Teacher Says Hispanic Students Disrespect Flag - Pledge Of Allegiance - Fox Nation

Well, yes, we did take more than half of Mexico, by war.

Teacher Says Hispanic Students Disrespect Flag - Pledge Of Allegiance - Fox Nation: "A substitute teacher in Glendale, Ariz., said Hispanic students refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance and allege that Americans “stole their land,” according to a letter that was read during a state committee meeting on illegal immigration. ...

The letter was signed by Tony Hill – and according to the Arizona Department of Education, he is a certified substitute teacher.

But there is a cloud of controversy over the letter – and its authenticity. Some lawmakers said they were stunned that it was read – calling the contents racist."

Whack-a-mole vs. Legalization: Vicente Fox: Mexico at 'War,' Obama's Approach a Failure

Vicente Fox: Mexico at 'War,' Obama's Approach a Failure: "'The United States has to think very profoundly how it is going to solve this problem of excess in the consumption of drugs, excess in building a market that is very profitable to the criminals,' he said.

He continued: “I think the best move is to take away the business from criminals and put it in the hands of businessmen and producers, farmers, distributors.”

He compared the situation with illegal drugs to Prohibition in the United States, which enriched mobsters who provided alcohol just as the drug trade is now enriching the cartels.

“We are never going to eradicate drugs,” he added. “They will always be there. It is a free choice” to consume them."

Collateral Damage: Book of kids' drawings chronicles Mexico drug war

Book of kids' drawings chronicles Mexico drug war: "Children in a western Mexico state besieged by drug violence have helped produce a book that is full of images of shootouts, kidnappings, robberies and grenade attacks that kids are increasingly being exposed to.

The book, 'The Mexico I Live,' was released Tuesday by the Michoacan state Human Rights Commission and a local university. It contains 45 drawings, most of them of bloody scenes and shootouts taking place outside supermarkets or parks. ...

The drawings were selected from a 2010 competition that had called on children between the ages of 7 and 12 to draw pictures alluding to Mexico's 200 years since the start of its battle for independence from Spain. Instead, children drew about their experiences with drug violence.

The pictures "show explicit images of a society devoted to drug trafficking, violence and of abuses against minors," said university professor Araceli Colin, who was part of the selection committee. ..

The nonprofit group Network for the Rights of Children in Mexico estimates 994 children and youths under 18 were killed in drug violence between late 2006 and late 2010 across the country, and says the number has risen since then."

Globalization: More Free Trade Agreements? When NAFTA Failed?

Ian Fletcher: More Free Trade Agreements? When NAFTA Failed?: "With the Republicans and the Obama administration attempting to rush headlong into a new trade agreement with Korea, and possibly also with Panama and Colombia as well, it is incumbent on Americans to apply a bit of empiricism. How have our past trade agreements worked out? Above all, how's the grand-daddy of them all, NAFTA, doing?

Unfortunately, NAFTA is a veritable case study in failure." Huffington Post

Immigration Politics - Rhode Island: Businesses would check immigration status - Boston.com

RI bill: Businesses would check immigration status - Boston.com: "Rhode Island businesses would stand on the front lines of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration under a legislative proposal to require employers to check the immigration status of every job applicant.

The measure is one of several proposals dealing with illegal immigration scheduled to go to a state Senate hearing Tuesday. The bill would require businesses with at least three employees to verify the legal residency status of all new hires through the federal E-Verify system. The online database allows employers to check whether an applicant is a citizen or otherwise allowed to work in the U.S."

Immigration Politics - Colorado: Secure Communities bill passes House committee

Perhaps we should be posting this under our heading, "Immigration Madness." This bill makes no sense, as the Department of Homeland Security has made it clear that once a state signs an agreement to participate in Secure Communities - as Colorado has - local communities cannot opt out of it.

Secure Communities bill passes House committee | Colorado Independent: "A bill compelling local governments in Colorado to comply with the controversial federal Secure Communities program passed its first hurdle today on a 7-4 committee vote, with Rep. John Soper, D-Thornton, being the lone Democrat voting in favor of the bill.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, would take away state local government grants from those governments choosing not to comply with the ICE program.

Former Gov. Bill Ritter signed the memorandum of agreement in January with Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office to bring Secure Communities to Colorado. The federal program will run fingerprints of all individuals arrested against ICE records and will automatically inform the law enforcement agency and ICE of the individual’s immigration status if it is known by the agency."

Immigration Politics: Arizona Flinches on Immigration

Arizona Flinches on Immigration - NYTimes.com: "Arizona, the nation’s leader in over-the-top immigration laws, has pulled back. Its Republican-controlled Senate rejected five anti-immigration bills in one day last week. It was a startling rebuke to the Senate president, the architect of the state’s go-it-alone approach to enforcement. Other states weighing similar crackdowns should take note.

The reversal has to do with money, of course. The bills were dead once the state’s business lobby weighed in against them. Sixty chief executives signed a letter to the Legislature saying the harsh immigration measures were having “unintended consequences” — boycotts, lost jobs, canceled contracts, publicity so bad that businesses with Arizona in their names were suffering — even one based in Brooklyn. The chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Glenn Hamer, said the reaction to Arizona’s extremism had already cost the state $15 million to $150 million in lost tourism revenue. ...

... it’s important to note that none of the objections by Arizona’s businesses had anything to do with the strong moral arguments against xenophobic anti-immigration bills."

Whack-a-mole Drug War and U.S. - Mexico Relations: Kill the Messenger

Mexican political analyst Denise Dresser comments on President Calderon's success in getting rid of U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual. (Unfortunately, La Reforma only allows subscribers to access to the full article)

Kill the Messenger

Column by Denise Dresser,

La Reforma, Mar. 21, 2011

Felipe Calderón finally got what he wanted. Kill the messenger. Exile the ambassador. Behead the diplomat. Get the resignation of Carlos Pascual and embarrass the President of the U.S. because the ambassador noted the negative consequences of the war. By disturbing the Army and showing that - sometimes - it does not act with efficiency or speed. For pointing out the internal fissures of the Mexican state security agencies. For commenting on the blandness of the PAN candidates for the presidency and how Calderón does not always know what to do to strengthen his own position and that of his party. To tell the truth even if it hurts to admit it. Truth that the president does not want to face, the Army did not want to hear, the Public Security Secretariat prefers to makeup, the National Action Party would prefer not be true.

Truth is recalcitrant. It shows up day after day despite the number of bosses arrested, the number of weapons recorded, the amount of cocaine seized. Mexico is not winning the war against drug trafficking and organized crime. The truth is neither more nor less. The forced resignation of U.S. ambassador cannot hide the 36 thousand dead, the rise in drug abuse, escalating foreclosures, the increase in abductions, increased murders, the intransigence of impunity. And we repeat that violence is an inevitable consequence when, as noted by Eduardo Guerrero’s splendid articles in the magazine Nexos, it should not have been. It reminds us that it is not only capos who are butchering each other, when in fact there are executions beyond the world of drug trafficking. And we are urged to denounce the bad guys, when 98.5 percent of crimes in the country are never resolved.

Whack-a-mole: Wars on the U.S.-Mexico Border Divide and Conquer

Wars on the U.S.-Mexico Border Divide and Conquer - COLORLINES: "On his tour of Latin America this week, President Obama will stress opportunities for economic and political partnership. But the bruised lower lip of America’s border exposes a hard truth about the hemispheric balance of power: important partners don’t always make good neighbors. The Obama administration continues to fixate on militarizing law enforcement to stem transnational flows of narcotics and labor. The collateral damage of that choice has come in the form of economic turmoil, the slaughter of civilians and constant fear.

The war on drugs is just one of the gears driving a massive humanitarian crisis stretching over the U.S.-Mexico border. News reports give us only fractured images of Mexico—a land of warring drug cartels, with grisly and escalating violence. Behind the headlines, though, Washington’s policies have steered Mexico’s tragic narrative of displacement, poverty and violence."

Whack-a-mole: Colombia is no model for drug war

Colombia is no model for drug war | The Baxter Bulletin | baxterbulletin.com: "When Washington ramped up its anti-drug efforts through Plan Colombia, more than 90 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States came through Colombia. A decade later, we get about 97 percent of our cocaine via Colombia.

Amazingly, officials are hailing the program's 'success' and want Mexico to learn from Colombia's experience. While Plan Colombia may have helped make that country safer from guerrilla attacks, it has failed as a drug control strategy. Adapting that program in Mexico won't staunch that country's bloodbath and isn't likely to produce better results.

Washington's response to Mexico's increasingly violent drug trafficking problem has emphasized disrupting criminal organizations by breaking them up into smaller fragments. Yet there's no evidence that this strategy of 'fracturing' the traffickers ever worked in Colombia, where we've already tried it for two decades."

Whack-a-mole: US law enforcement role in Mexico drug war surges

US law enforcement role in Mexico drug war surges - chicagotribune.com: "Samuel Gonzalez, Mexico's former top anti-drug prosecutor, said U.S. agents, who typically require judicial authority to eavesdrop in the U.S., are not restricted by those laws in Mexico, provided they are not on U.S. territory and those they are bugging are not American.

'Simply put, they can hear all the conversations they want without respecting the privacy of individuals, as long as they are not (listening to) Americans,' Gonzalez said.

The U.S. has also sent eight helicopters and 78 drug sniffing dogs, as well as 318 polygraph units to screen Mexico's law enforcement applicants for corruption. U.S. agents taught their counterparts to use the machinery.

U.S. experts also have taught hundreds of attorneys to argue in open courtrooms, judges to hear cases, and more than 6,700 soldiers and police to use proper interrogation techniques and technology.

At the same time, more Mexican agents work with the FBI, DEA and other agencies in the U.S. And in an unusual move, the ATF recently invited Mexican investigators to attend a U.S. interrogation of suspected gun traffickers."

U.S. - Mexico Relations: Envoy to Mexico WikiLeaks casualty

Envoy to Mexico WikiLeaks casualty - Washington Times: "WikiLeaks claimed its first diplomatic casualty over the weekend: U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual resigned amid the furor about the release of cables that harshly criticized Mexico’s drug-war efforts under President Felipe Calderon.

He had described Mexico's army as “insular,” its federal system as “weak” and its bureaucracy as “risk averse” in confidential cables published by the anti-secrecy website.

In a statement Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Mr. Pascual’s decision to step down was “based upon his personal desire to ensure the strong relationship between our two countries and to avert issues raised by President Calderon that could distract from the important business of advancing our bilateral interests.”"

Whack-a-mole: PRI Leader Calls for More Troops to Fight Mexico’s Drug War

Oh, no!

Latin American Herald Tribune - PRI Leader Calls for More Troops to Fight Mexico’s Drug War: "The new leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has called for the deployment of more army troops and Federal Police officers to bolster security along Mexico’s southern border and fight drug cartels.

Humberto Moreira, who took over as president of the PRI earlier this month, said President Felipe Calderon’s strategy for fighting drug traffickers has failed because it was badly planned and lacked sufficient resources, especially adequate numbers of troops, to succeed."

Immigration Crackdown - the Cost: Tough talk on immigration comes with huge credit card bill - The Hill's Congress Blog

An anaylsis of the huge inflation in government spending on "border security" and the immigration crackdown. An OpEd by Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan immigrant advocacy organization based in Washington, DC.

Tough talk on immigration comes with huge credit card bill - The Hill's Congress Blog: "In just the last four years, spending on border security has ballooned to more than $50 billion—an unprecedented amount billed to the American taxpayers that is neither justified nor properly accounted for. Annual spending by Customs and Border Protection has more than doubled since 2005, from $5.4 billion to more than $11 billion this year. The Border Patrol’s budget alone is now more than $3.5 billion—nearly ten times what it was in the mid-1990s—even though illegal crossings have dipped below 1972 levels due, in large part, to a faltering economy."

Immigration Crackdown: Rights group faults U.S. for treatment of detained immigrants

Rights group faults U.S. for treatment of detained immigrants – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs: "Immigration enforcement in the United States is plagued by inhumane treatment of detainees, inadequate legal representation and the increasing use of detention as a necessity rather than an alternative, an international human rights group said in a report released Thursday.

The 155-page report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is the most comprehensive review by an international organization of American immigration policy since the Department of Homeland Security took over enforcement responsibilities from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2002, leading to the creation of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The IACHR is convinced that detention is a disproportionate measure in many if not most cases, and that programs that provide for alternatives to detention would be a more balanced means to serve the State's legitimate interest in ensuring compliance with immigration laws," the report says.

In cases where detention is necessary, the commission found a lack of conditions "commensurate with human dignity and humane treatment." The report also noted that detainees face obstacles to due process, mainly the right to an attorney, especially in cases involving unaccompanied children, immigrants with mental disabilities and others unable to represent themselves.

The report, which focuses on ICE's civil immigrations operations, also criticizes the multiple partnerships between local and state entities to enforce civil immigration laws. "The Inter-American Commission finds that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to develop an oversight and accountability system to ensure that these local partners do not enforce immigration law in a discriminatory manner by resorting to racial profiling, and that their practices do not use the supposed investigation of crimes as a pretext to prosecute and detain undocumented migrants."

The commission, a division of the Organization of American States, based its conclusions on evidence gathered from six immigration detention centers in Arizona and Texas and interviews with detainees and their families, immigration experts and attorneys that began in 2008."

Immigration Politics: Utah's New Immigration Law: A Model For America?

Utah's New Immigration Law: A Model For America? : NPR: "Utah Conservatives Learn From Arizona:

If you were to choose a state that would allow illegal immigrants to work and drive without fear of deportation, you probably wouldn't pick Utah.

"We have to understand, Utah is one of the most conservative states in the country," says Alfonso Aguilar, who runs the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. He says that Utah's new law shows that Republicans can find a middle course.

"The governor's Republican; the House and Senate are dominated by Republicans," Aguilar says. "And they saw what happened in Arizona. They passed an enforcement-only law. It has driven away investment, business, workers that the Arizona economy needs."

In Utah, Aguilar says, "they wanted to deal with enforcement — but balance it with measures that are more business-friendly. And that's exactly what they did."Last Wednesday, Utah's Gov. Gary R. Herbert signed a package of immigration bills. One is an enforcement law, milder than Arizona's, but still opposed by liberal immigration advocates. Another is a guest-worker bill, which is opposed by some conservatives as amnesty."

Immigration Politics - Georgia: Only a handful of proposed Georgia immigration bills still viable

Only a handful of proposed Georgia immigration bills still viable :: The Republic: "Big immigration bills have cleared each chamber of the Georgia Legislature. But a number of smaller measures have failed to advance and may be stalled for this session.

Of nearly a dozen immigration-related bills, only three cleared either the House or Senate by crossover day, the deadline by which legislation is supposed to pass at least one chamber.

The Senate and House passed separate bills that require many employers to use a federal database to check the immigration status of new hires. They would also authorize law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of criminal suspects who can't produce an accepted form of identification.

A bill that makes driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol a felony on the first conviction only for illegal immigrants cleared the Senate.

"

Mexican Politics: Three candidates for head of PRD, left-wing Mexican party

"This weekend, the PRD decides on Jesús Ortega's successor, with the possibilities being Ortega ally Jesús Zambrano and Dolores Padierna, who is more friendly to AMLO. Another candidate, Armando Ríos, was pushed by Marcelo Ebrard as a compromise candidate, but El Universal says he is probably going to drop out. Predictably, the election is coming amid worries about a rupture splitting the party, which has been a steady drumbeat in any PRD debate since 2007 or so. More concretely, the winner will go a long way to determine whether or not there will be alliances with the PAN in the years to come, with Padierna representing the anti-alliance faction, and Zambrano the pros." from the Gancho Blog

Spanish original Tres van por la dirigencia del PRD - El Universal - México

Immigration Politics: Arizona Senate Rejects 5 Bills On Immigration

In the Arizona heartland of anti-immigrant politics the bottom line of business once again trumps demagoguery. 

Arizona Senate Rejects 5 Bills On Immigration - NYTimes.com: "The Arizona Senate soundly defeated five bills aimed at illegal immigration on Thursday in a marked departure from last year, when enactment of a tough local enforcement measure put the state at the heart of a fierce national debate over the issue.

Majority Republicans were split over the bills, which included two measures intended to force a United States Supreme Court ruling against automatic citizenship for American-born children of illegal immigrants.

Business leaders had been urging lawmakers to put the issue aside to avoid damaging the ailing economy.

“It’s time for us to take a timeout,” said Senator John McComish, a Phoenix Republican. “It’s something that the people don’t want us to be focusing on.”"

Whack-a-mole: Mexico’s ‘King of Heroin’ pleads guilty

Is anyone bothering to count the number of "moles whacked" or "drug kings" dethroned anymore? Probably the DEA in the Department of Justice, since they can't think of any other strategy.

Mexico’s ‘King of Heroin’ pleads guilty - The Boston Globe: "The man dubbed Mexico’s “King of Heroin,’’ who was pocketing up to $260,000 a week in California drug sales, pleaded guilty yesterday in a Ventura County courtroom to conspiring to sell narcotics.

Jose Antonio Medina Arreguin, also known as Don Pepe, faces up to 24 years in prison when he’s sentenced April 13, prosecutor David Russell said. When Arreguin was arrested last year, investigators said the 36-year-old resident of Apatzingan, Mexico, was the leader of an elaborate, multimillion-dollar smuggling operation that once moved an estimated 440 pounds of heroin a month into Oxnard, Downey, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Jose.

The news media in Mexico dubbed him King of Heroin."

U.S.- Mexico Relations & the Whack-a-mole Drug War: Mexico's top diplomat defends US drone flights, but acknowledges 'tensions' with Washington

The Canadian Press: Mexico's top diplomat defends US drone flights, but acknowledges 'tensions' with Washington: "Mexico's top diplomat on Thursday defended allowing U.S. drones to fly over Mexican territory to hunt drug traffickers, while acknowledging the government has disagreements and "moments of tension" with Washington.

Foreign Relations Secretary Patricia Espinosa said the drone flights do not violate Mexico's sovereignty because they are "controlled" by Mexico and are unarmed.

After the flights were reported Wednesday, Mexico's National Security Council said U.S. unmanned aircraft have been sent over Mexico on surveillance missions when requested by the Mexican government. A U.S. official told The Associated Press that for each mission a Mexican official is present at the U.S. command centre where a drone is remotely piloted.

Drone flights "do not violate (our) sovereignty because they are controlled by the government of Mexico and contribute to its capacity to fight organized crime," Espinosa said in a meeting with senators."