The Earth's Chimney Rages

FNS News: Don't let the East Coast Snow Slammer fool you. If record heat was registered in 2014 and 2015, expect even hotter temperatures in 2016 and succeeding years. That's the prognosis of a climate research scientist who spoke this week in a Mexico City presentation organized by the Research Institute for Development, a French government-sponsored agency with a focus on the global south.

"If global warming continues at the same pace as now, temperature records will continue getting broken every year, said Dr. Myriam Khodri, who works with Frances's Pierre Simon Laplace Institute.

Khodri projected drier weather for regions of the Americas, warning of the ramifications of less rain on different economic activities. She also touched on the effects of this year's large El Niño.

The Philippines and Mexico: Emerging Markets? Think Again.

Foreign Policy in Focus, May 16, 2014.  

The Philippines and Mexico: Emerging Markets? Think Again.

Fellow columnist at FPIF Walden Bello, a prominent expert and critic of globalization, has written a fascinating article on Mexico and the Philippines as the new darlings of the international finance world. In the article he brilliantly summarizes the three phases of the global crisis and how these two countries have risen to stardom in the current phase of the crisis.

What we see is a the latest effort to create a self-fulfilling prophesy: by using Wall Street and Madison Avenue echo chambers, speculators hope to generate a climate that attracts investment so their fantastic predictions for these two "emerging economies" will come true.

Of course, as Walden points out, this requires hiding some pretty ugly facts about these nations' economies. Like massive poverty, inequality, crime and corruption. I talked about some of these myths regarding the enthusiasm for Mexico in a BBC article (in Portuguese) earlier this year. 

He concludes:

The aura that surrounds them [Mexico and the Philippines] at present reflects less the realities of their economies than the desperate fantasies of international finance capital and the partisans of a failed globalization.

Well worth a read.   Read the article here.

NAFTA vs. Indigenous Mexicans: Hundreds of Mexico’s Huichol Indians trek to their sacred ground seeking to stop silver mine

AP/The Washington Post: "Huichol Indians believe the sun was born in a spot high in the arid Sierra de Catorce mountain range of northern Mexico. For them, that spot — the Cerro del Quemado, or the Burned Mountain — is the center of the universe, a sacred ground. It’s also part of a mining concession Mexico’s government granted to Canada-based First Majestic Silver Corp., and Huichols are fighting to block the project.

More than 600 Huichols wearing colorful clothes with cross-stitch patterns and hats decorated with feathers and beadwork recently made a pilgrimage to the Cerro del Quemado to ask their gods to guide them in keeping the $100 million mining project from starting this year." read more

Week's Top Articles on Mexico: Feb. 10-16, 2012

Drug War news this week brought the issue of drug legalization to the fore in two arenas. First, the new president of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, announced that he would propose discussion of legalization at the next meeting of the heads of Central American governments. The president of El Salvador, Mauricio Funes, after meeting with Perez, said he agreed, but then retracted, evidently after pressure from the U.S.

Meanwhile, in Mexico City an international forum, "Drugs: an Assessment of a Century of Prohibition," was convened to discussed whether or not legalization is a viable alternative to prohibition. It brought together the wife of President Calderon, the Mexican Secretary of the Interior, and leading Mexican and U.S. experts and political analysts. It made for a lively debate.

Human Rights and Rule of Law news centered on a speech by the Mexican Secretary of Defense, General Guillermo Galvan Galvan, in which he acknowledged two things: in parts of Mexico "public security ... is completely overrun," and that the Army has committed "mistakes" that violated human rights.

A Mexican Catholic bishop sharply criticized the militarization of the country as a strategy to intimidate the citizenry. Meanwhile, Mexico was reporting to a U.N. committee regarding the systematic violation of the rights of indigenous people.  The U.N. said it was happy with Mexico's improvements.

As for the Mexican government's efforts to build the rule of law, it announced the training--by U.S. experts--of 8,000 justice system personnel in how to collect evidence and conduct oral trials.

Articles

Drug War

Guatemala president to propose legalizing drugs
The Associated Press: "Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said Saturday he will propose legalizing drugs in Central America in an upcoming meeting with the region's leaders. Perez Molina said that his proposal would include decriminalizing the transportation of drugs through the area. "I want to bring this discussion to the table," he said. "It wouldn't be a crime to transport, to move drugs. It would all have to be regulated."" read more

El Salvador’s Funes Retreats on Drug Legalization Debate
The Pan-American Post: "Hours after expressing support for the Guatemalan president’s call for a debate on drug legalization, Salvadoran leader Mauricio Funes has beat a hasty retreat, declaring himself opposed to any such initative. ... He said, "I am not in agreement with the depenalization of drugs; neither the production, nor the transport, nor the consumption." This hasty clarification seems likely to have been made under pressure from Washington." read more

Drug prohibition follows the logic of the past
La Jornada: "To close one's self inflexibly to changing the strategy of total prohibition of drugs and to exclusively use force against the violence generated by organized crime make it impossible to have a healthier and safer society and reduce the use of illicit substances, warned specialists at the international forum, "Drugs: An Assessment of a Century of Prohibition". read more

War on drugs goes beyond legalization says Mexico's Secretary of the Interior
Milenio: "Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire defended the federal government's strategy to combat organized crime, noting that this problem goes beyond the legalization of a product and attention to drug trafficking. Participating in the International Forum "Drugs: an Assessment of a Century of Prohibition," ... Poire said that Mexico does not criminalize drug use. read more

Wife of Mexican president and Secretary of Interior deem drug legalization useless
Excelsior: "Legalizing drugs in Mexico would not solve the problem of violence and addiction, said Margarita Zavala, wife of President Felipe Calderon. ... Ms. Zavala also asserted that legalizing drugs would increase their consumption, and that would generate an increase in violence within families. She said that just as it has been shown that alcohol consumption aggravates situations of domestic violence, exacerbated drug use would produce an even more serious effect. read more

Pay attention to the clamor to legalize drugs, Drug Policy Allliance head suggests to presidential candidates
La Jornada: The New York political scientist, Ethan Nadelmann, who moved from academia (Princeton) to activism against prohibitionist policies in the past two decades, says he does not rule out that the three leading candidates in the upcoming presidential elections in Mexico may pay attention to the voices of civil society, which are gradually beginning to demand the legalization of marijuana. read more

Human Right and Rule of Law Mexico

Defense Minister says Public Security 'Overrun'
InSight Crime: "Mexican Defense Minister Guillermo Galvan Galvan addressed the national security situation in the country, pessimistically describing it in stark terms. “Clearly, in some sectors of the country the public security situation is completely overrun,” said Galvan, adding that “it should be recognized that national security is seriously threatened.” He went on to say that organized crime in the country has managed to penetrate not only society, but also the country’s state institutions." read more

What exactly are the “mistakes” of the Army?
Mexico Institute: "Last Thursday,.. general Guillermo Galván, secretary of National Defense, admitted that the Army has committed "mistakes" in the fight against organized crime.... However, he did not give any details on those "mistakes." They are, concretely: 33 civilians murdered, 225 tortured civilians, 20 victims of rape (17 women and three men), and three forced disappearances between December of 2006 and December of 2011. This information is contained in 82 archives from the National Commission on Human Rights." read more

Mexican Bishop says: militarization of the nation is intended to intimidate
La Jornada: "The terror implanted in the population, as well as the intimidation of human rights defenders, form part of the strategies applied to civil society thanks to the nation's militarization, said the bishop of Saltillo, Raúl Vera López. read more

Mexico will respond to the UN on violation of the rights of indigenous
Milenio: "The Mexican government will have to respond Tuesday, to the UN regarding the systematic violation of the rights of indigenous people, despite their legal status. It will also have to respond as to why it does not respect the rights of migrant workers who cross its territory. ... "The UN Program for Development (UNDP) said, in its 2010 report ... that, despite government measures, indigenous Mexicans suffer greater inequalities than any other group, and that their access to health, education, social security, housing and other services is very limited." read more

UN recognizes scope of “judicial revolution” in Mexico
Milenio: “The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) meeting today in Geneva, recognized the impact of the “judicial revolution” which has been carried out in Mexico and which promotes human rights and the fight against discrimination. “The qualitative leap that has been made by the Mexican state in the past decade is a very important fact which marks a substantive advance in the fight against racism and all types of discrimination,”said the CERD rapporteur for Mexico, Pastor Murillo." read more

US Trains Mexico Officials to Carry Out Oral Trials
InSight Crime: "The US Justice Department will train thousands of Mexican public servants to carry out oral trials, as Mexico rushes to implement a series of sweeping judicial reforms in time for a 2016 deadline. Up to 8,000 agents from Mexico's Ministry of Public Security, the Federal Police and the Attorney General's Office will be trained to hold oral, public trials. The initiative will be funded under the terms of the US's primary security program for Mexico, the Merida Initiative. read more

Globalization

Mexico at the Helm of the G20
MexicoBlog: "In a few days Hillary Clinton will be coming to Los Cabos, in Baja California, to take part in an unusual meeting of foreign ministers. Los Cabos is hosting the ministers of G20 countries ... as part of the run-up to the G20 summit to be held in the same resort in June. Mexico took over the presidency of the G20 last December. ... Foreign minister meetings don't normally form part of the Group of 20 process. But the Mexican government seems to have decided on a strategy of multiple and frequent preparatory meetings as the best guarantee for a successful summit...." read more

Laura's Blog: Mexico at the Helm of the G20

In a few days Hillary Clinton will land on the sunny shores of the Mexican Pacific Ocean to take part in an unusual meeting of foreign ministers. Los Cabos is hosting the ministers of G20 countries, plus a few selected guests, as part of the run-up to the G20 summit to be held in the same peninsular beach resort in June. Mexico took over the presidency of the G20 last December.

The meeting is unusual because foreign minister meetings don't normally form part of the Group of 20 process. But the Mexican government seems to have decided on a strategy of multiple and frequent preparatory meetings as the best guarantee for a successful summit--at a time when the odds against that happening are particularly high.

The G20, with 19 countries and the European Union, claims to represent 90% of global GDP, 80% of international global trade and 64% of the world’s population. It started as a meeting of finance ministers talking about global financial governance and economic policy. Then it morphed into an informal organization with presidential participation that grapples with the world's most pressing issues in a 'members-only club' setting.

The foreign ministers are meeting in part because the G20 is experiencing mission creep at precisely the time when it finds it most difficult to deal with the issues it already has. Because of the hermetic nature of the organization, it's hard to say what Clinton will be talking about, and we likely won't have a clear idea even after the joint declarations and photo ops come out. Mexico has promised more civil society participation and public information, but as hundreds of people work on the elaboration of documents and proposals, getting details from the outside has been like pulling teeth.

The Mexican government may be regretting its decision to take over the 2012 presidency. In the past few meetings the G20 has been virtually paralyzed by the European economic crisis--without reaching effective solutions and without being able to deal with other issues. Mexico hoped to have the European crisis, and particularly the Greek situation, resolved before it held the summit. Not only has the crisis continued, but it threatens to flare up again in a big way despite the Grecian parliament's acceptance of a deal.

The road to Los Cabos has been strewn with obstacles for the beleaguered powerhouses of the world. Besides the crisis, the division between developed countries and developing countries, which Mexico claims to represent, has been growing. Before going into the obstacles, it's important to ask: Why is Mexico doing this? What does the Calderon government hope to obtain?

Mexico has laid out five priorities:

1. Economic stabilization and structural reforms as foundations for growth and employment.
2. Strengthening the financial system and fostering financial inclusion to promote economic growth.
3. Improving the International Financial Architecture in an interconnected world.
4. Enhancing food security and addressing the issue of commodity price volatility.
5. Promoting sustainable development, green growth and the fight against climate change.

Since the first priority is practically the sin qua non for the rest, the whole agenda depends on a miracle to a large degree. Calderon stated that the crisis should be resolved before June to make progress on the G20 agenda. His goal is to "resolve the euro crisis, to isolate the effects of the crisis on viable economies, like Italy or Spain and avoid systemic contamination and, of course, to discount the part of the Greek debt that is simply unpayable." Although he offered some specific measures to reach this goal, it is looking more and more impossible, especially given the current strategy of brutal austerity measures. Instead of an end to the economic crisis, at this rate we can expect it to spread into a broader political crisis.

The proposals for reaching the other goals support the current economic system that got us into this mess in the first place. In trade, the Mexican government recommends free trade, no to all forms of protectionism and a blind faith that fixing macroeconomic factors will eventually improve the lives of the population.

Strengthening the financial system and fostering inclusion appears to be understood as instituting vigilance and monitoring mechanisms, with structural reforms and regulation off the table. Inclusion does not mean a fairer distribution of wealth generated, but access to the banking system for the poor.

The core proposal for improving the international financial architecture put forth to date is to increase funds in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Mexican government officials have stated that this will be a fundamental goal at the meeting. However, to date it has received few echoes as nations struggle to find funds for rescue programs in their own countries. In member nations, such as Brazil and Argentina, enthusiasm is low, to say the least, for running funds through a non-representative and orthodox IMF that continues to heavily condition its loans.

In food security, Mexico will promote an agenda aimed at reducing volatility but without curtailing speculative markets. Calderon has publicly recognized the link between food prices, poverty and hunger, and the role of speculation but so far has not supported calls for ending speculation in basic foods.

Finally, "green development" and climate change should be the hallmarks of the Mexican G20 presidency but here, especially, the chances of success and the approval of energetic measures in these critical areas appears distant.  Mexico calls for attacking climate change through market mechanisms including promoting carbon markets, REDD+ and payment for environmental services, without a universally binding system of emissions controls--a necessary idea that was already proven politically dead in the water at the Climate Change Conference that Mexico hosted in December of last year.

Mexican civil society has organized in almost as many groups and sub-groups as the G20, to monitor, influence, critique or protest the official events--depending on who you talk to and what tack they're taking. Getting detailed information on the procedures and content of materials and proposals poses difficulties but the idea is to use the meeting to raise issues that affect real people. The question of the basic legitimacy or lack of legitimacy of the G20 as a forum for making global decisions--due to its lack of clear rules and exclusive membership--as well as its orientation toward the interests of the world's wealthiest and most powerful nations--remains central to strategies.

See also G20 Update

Globalization-Trade: 13 billion pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables cross the US-Mexican border each year

Another measure of the extent of Mexico-U.S. trade--and factoid of the week.

freshplaza.com: "Over 13 billion pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables cross the US-Mexican border each year." (If you want to know how the Dept. of Agriculture keeps track of this: read more)

The Border: Texas Border Battle Over Mexican Company's Coal Mine

The Texas Tribune: "The Dos Republicas Coal Partnership, which is owned by Mexican mining companies, has applied to renew a permit that would let its American partners mine about 6,300 acres of land in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, across the border from the Mexican city of Piedras Negras . A current permit already allows for mining, but officials said that work has not started because of several attempts to modify the permit to meet specifications, as well as supply-and-demand issues affecting potential customers.

Residents worry that the mining will harm the environment and they will lose land due to property damage. They are also concerned about having a Mexican company that is held to lower standards operate in Texas. Adding salt to their wounds is the fact that the coal, considered too low quality to burn in the U.S., will be shipped to Mexico." read more

Globalization--NAFTA: From Veracruz to North Carolina

CIP Americas: "Less than half a mile from Fausto Limon’s house is one of the many pig farms built by Granjas Carroll de Mexico (GCM) in the Perote Valley, a high, arid, volcano-rimmed basin straddling the Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla. “Before the pig farms came, they said they would bring jobs,” Limon remembers. “But then we found out the reality. Yes, there were jobs, but they also brought a lot of contamination.”

David Torres, a Perote native who spent eight years in the operation’s maternity section, estimates that GCM has 80 complexes, each with as many as 20,000 hogs. The sheds look clean and modern. “When I went to work there, I could see the company was completely mechanized,” Torres says.

But in back of each complex is a large oxidation pond for the hogs’ urine and excrement. On a recent drive through the valley, only one of several dozen was covered. “Granjas Carroll doesn’t use concrete or membranes under their ponds,” Torres charges, “so the water table is getting contaminated. People here get their water from wells, which are surrounded by pig farms and oxidation ponds.”" read more

Migration: A Product of Free Market Reforms

CIP Americas: "Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a three-part series on migrant rights by journalist and immigration activist David Bacon. This article is taken from the report “Displaced, Unequal and Criminalized – Fighting for the Rights of Migrants in the United States” that examines the origins of the current migratory labor phenomenon, the mechanisms that maintain it, and proposals for a more equitable system. The Americas Program is proud to publish this series in collaboration with the author.



A political alliance is developing between countries with a labor export policy and the corporations who use that labor in the global north. Many countries sending migrants to the developed world depend on remittances to finance social services and keep the lid on social discontent over poverty and joblessness, while continuing to make huge debt payments. Corporations using that displaced labor share a growing interest with those countries’ governments in regulating the system that supplies it." read more

Globalization: US Aerospace and Defense Companies Set Up Shop in Mexico

Public Radio International: "In the past five to 10 years, more than 50 aerospace and defense companies have started operations in Baja California, according to Mexico’s trade ministry. Most of them are American, and they produce everything from electronic components to steel bolts for commercial and military aircraft." read more

NAFTA: How US Policies Fueled Mexico's Great Migration

The Nation: "The experience of Veracruz migrants reveals a close connection between US investment and trade deals in Mexico and the displacement and migration of its people. For nearly two decades, Smithfield (a U.S. company) has used NAFTA and the forces it unleashed to become the world’s largest packer and processor of hogs and pork. But the conditions in Veracruz that helped Smithfield make high profits plunged thousands of rural residents into poverty. Tens of thousands left Mexico, many eventually helping Smithfield’s bottom line once again by working for low wages on its US meatpacking lines." read more

NAFTA: Booming Mexico-U.S. Trade Buoys Kansas City Southern Railroad

This story points to the continued growth in Mexico's trade with the U.S.--and in U.S. corporate profits from that growth--by focusing on the role of a U.S. railroad's Mexican subsidiary in that trade.

Bloomberg: "Cross-border merchandise trade totaled $341 billion by the end of September, about 18 percent higher than it was at the same point in 2010, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in Washington. The increase will help Kansas City Southern, the only U.S. railroad with a wholly owned Mexican subsidiary, ...as the 125-year-old company seeks to take business away from trucks traversing the border." read more

NAFTA: American Christmas trees take over Mexico

GlobalPost: "US and Canadian Christmas trees have flooded into Mexico in recent years .... This holiday season alone, more than a million trees have been imported over the Rio Grande to decorate homes celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, Mexico’s Environment Department reported. The imports now outnumber the 700,000 trees provided by Mexican growers this year.

But not everyone sees the southward flow of pines as a welcome present. Some Mexican farmers and politicians complain they are fighting unfair competition from the wealthy subsidized US plantations." read more

Mexico-U.S. relations: beyond 'looniness, stupidity and flatulence'

MinnPost: ""As in all good families, there will be looniness and stupidity and flatulence on both sides of the border." The speaker, Mexico's Ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan, shared that colorful observation with an appreciative luncheon audience of the Economic Club of Minnesota last week as he warned about political rhetoric during both nations' 2012 presidential elections.

Sarukhan said both countries "will have to Teflon-coat our bilateral relationship so some of the stupidity that gets said on the campaign trail on either side of the border does not stick." Both countries also will need to "lock in the fundamental sea change that has occurred" in the U.S.-Mexico relationship." read more

Drug War: In the shadows of globalisation: drug violence in Mexico and Central America

An analytic look at the drug war in Mexico and Centeral America from faraway Norway, via a Guatemala news site.

Guatemala News: "Although Mexico and Central America are far away from Norway, we are involved both as consumers of illegal goods and as participants in a global economy that for many does not leave other options for economic well-being than a life of criminality and extreme violence.

We ... have a responsibility primarily to ensure that the drama that is taking place in Mexico and Central America is not understood merely as yet another manifestation of the violent inclinations of drug lords. The situation is a tragic manifestation of the interplay among local political dynamics, socioeconomic and cultural processes, and the dark side of a global economy that we are also a part of. " read more

Globalization and trade: Mexico sees life beyond U.S. export market

Reuters: "For years after the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force, the main road to riches for many Mexican entrepreneurs was across the border. Now they are increasingly likely to cross an ocean instead.

... having ... become dependent on U.S. demand for 88 percent of exports, Mexican firms were heavily exposed to economic shocks across the frontier, and the economy was battered by the financial crash that hit Wall Street in 2008. Since the crisis, Mexico has stepped up efforts to limit its reliance on the world's biggest economy, ratcheting up trade with Latin America, Asia and Europe...  Mexico managed to cut its share of exports bound for the United States late last year to less than 80 percent for the first time since NAFTA, and the figure is expected to dip to around 78 percent in 2011." read more

Globalization and the Environment: Unique Mexican Oasis in Danger of Vanishing

IPS ipsnews.net: "A rare wetlands ecosystem in the Chihuahuan desert in northern Mexico that may hold key information about the origins of life on earth – and even about possible life on Mars – is in serious danger of disappearing if water continues to be extracted by agribusiness concerns, local scientists warn.

The 200-km-long Valle de Cuatrociénegas – "valley of four marshes" – located 1,000 km north of Mexico City is a complex ancient wetlands system of mineral-rich springs, streams, lakes, marshes and turquoise pools of water known as "pozas" fed by natural underground channels and surrounded by a mountain chain with peaks over 3,000 metres high. " read more

Mexico Politics and Economy: Pena Nieto Pledges Mexican Oil Opening Calderon Found Elusive

BusinessWeek: "The leading contender to win Mexico's presidency next year said he'll stake his administration's success on attracting private investment to the country's oil industry and eventually pave the way for selling shares in Petroleos Mexicanos to the public. Enrique Pena Nieto said during an interview at Bloomberg's headquarters in New York that changing rules to open Mexico's state oil company, known as Pemex, to more private investment “would be my signature issue.” " read more

Mexican View: John M. Ackerman: "The G20´s Choice of Calderón is a grave error"

While John Ackerman is a U.S. citizen and academic, he has lived in Mexico for many years where he is a university professor of political science and editor of the Mexican Law Journal. He has thoroughly immersed himself in understanding Mexican politics and writes with a very Mexican voice. 

The Guardian,: "The G20 committed a big mistake by naming as its chair for 2012 a possible war criminal who is in the midst of an intense electoral battle in his home country. Mexico's President Felipe Calderón will not push the G20 mandate of "promoting open and constructive discussion … on key issues related to global economic stability". His only interest will be to use this international forum for political purposes. In the context of widespread protest against global financial management, with Calderón at the helm, the G20 exposes itself to even greater popular anger.

Calderón has already convinced the G20 to move up its 2012 meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico, so that it takes place only a few weeks before the 1 July presidential elections. The Mexican president hopes to use the presence of the international leaders to boost his failing credibility and overcome his party's weakness in the polls. But precisely the opposite could be the case, since the highly-charged political environment in Mexico might lead to new social protests against the world leaders." read more

Globalization: The U.S. Canada Mexico Trilateral Summit: North American Integration and the Ties That Bind

Global Research.ca: "After a two year hiatus, the leaders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico are set to meet for a trilateral summit. While the push for further North American integration continues incrementally, at this time, it is unlikely that discussions will yield any grand new initiatives that involve the participation of all three NAFTA partners. Instead, the meeting could be used to build off of bilateral discussions already underway. This includes negotiations between the U.S. and Canada on a North American Security perimeter deal designed to accelerate the flow of people and goods across the border.

... President Barack Obama will host the North American Leaders Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii on November 13, 2011 which will include the participation of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The meeting is expected to focus on economic, energy, environmental and security issues." read more