At Vatican, Obama's Immigration Hypocrisy Shines Through (La Jornada, Mexico)

La Jornada – Original Article (Spanish)

Translated By Acosta-Florizul Perez for WorldMeetUs

April 1, 2014

In the meeting last week at the Vatican between U.S. President Barack Obama and Pope Francis, the two heads of state addressed the issue of our northern neighbor's immigration policy, issuing a call to "eradicate the trafficking of human beings around the world," to work so that "international and humanitarian law is respected within conflict zones," and to seek "negotiated solutions."

Bearing in mind the upsurge in persecutions of undocumented immigrants and the consequent violations of human rights during Obama’s terms in office, such declarations constitute an act of hypocrisy on his part. It must be remembered that the current U.S. president has not only shown a reluctance to abandon his country's traditional policies of persecution and violations of human rights regarding immigration, but he has continuously intensified them. Proof of this is the fact that his government has deported more than two million undocumented immigrants, nearly 140,000 this year alone, the highest figure on record, behind which are so many untold stories of personal and family suffering.  Read more.

OAS proposes decriminalizing marijuana use in the region

La Jornada

September 28, 2013 

Original Americas Program Translation 

The secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, said yesterday in the Senate that the strategy to combat drug trafficking in the region has been wrong because it has focused solely on the repression of the supply of narcotics and not on attacking the economic power of the drug cartels, which has become increasingly violent.

He called for decriminalization of marijuana, and warned that focusing efforts only on the sale of drugs, without taking institutional actions aimed at tackling the financial structures and money laundering will lead to “a war without end”.

In the forum “From Prohibition to Regulation: New Approaches to Drug Policy” Insulza said that according to a report by experts from the OAS, the drug trade generates 154 billion dollars a year, of which 77 billion is laundered in the global financial system.

Also in the Senate but in another forum, Undersecretary of Prevention and Citizen Participation of the Ministry of the Interior, Roberto Campa said that despite the intense debate in the U.S. on the decriminalization of drugs like marijuana, the violence that the drug trade generates will not change radically in the region in the coming years.

Borderline Slavery

NMState, Frontera NorteSur: 

“Each year, thousands of people are trafficked within and across our borders to serve as sex slaves or un-free labor in U.S. homes, fields and factories. Many enter via our southern border with Mexico, after having been trafficked within or across Mexico from other parts of the Americas and beyond…enslaved migrant laborers are often seen simply as undocumented workers who are in the country illegally, while sex trafficking victims are merely prostitutes plying an illegal trade..”

The above passages were from a program backgrounder to a timely conference held this past week at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque: “Borderline Slavery:  Contemporary Issues in Border Security and the Human Trade.”

Sponsored by UNM’s Latin American and Iberian Institute and in cooperation with colleagues from New Mexico State, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and other academic institutions,  the event drew borderlands scholars, journalists, legal professionals and students.

In a series of presentations, panelists dug into the problem of human trafficking within the socio-economic contexts of massive immigration, globalization, drug prohibition, border militarization, and the War on Terror. And as conference participants learned, the parts can’t be neatly packaged into just a U.S.-Mexico box, but encompass long migrant threads from Central America, the Caribbean and elsewhere.  Read more. 

Mexican poet prepares U.S. peace march

An update to this story published on Friday is that the Caravan of Peace has already embarked on its cross-country journey through the United States, which began in San Diego, is currently in Los Angeles, and will continue on until completing in the nation's capital, Washington D.C. 

CNN: Ana Felker. Mexico City -- Telephones are ringing off the hook at this office in Mexico's capital, where a group of well-known activists are planning the final details of a protest on the other side of the Mexico-U.S. border.

In a month-long Caravan of Peace across the United States, organizers say they will denounce what they believe are the devastating consequences of the fight against drug trafficking.

San Diego, California, will be the first stop on Sunday for poet Javier Sicilia and 70 other members of Mexico's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity on their trek through more than 20 cities in the United States. Read more.

Central Americans flood north through Mexico to US

AP: TULTITLAN, Mexico -- Deported from the United States after years working construction in New Jersey, Hector Augusto Lopez decided to rebuild his life in his hometown in eastern Honduras.

He found a steady job in a shoe store in Catacamas. Then, in March, he watched horrified as robbers shot three customers to death before his eyes. Soon after, he decided to make the hard and dangerous journey north again.

"In Honduras there is a lot of violence, a lot of robberies and a lot of poverty," Lopez, 28, said as he waited to jump a cargo train just outside Mexico City on a recent afternoon. "There is no future there." Read more.

3 policemen shot to death at Mexico City airport

Officers on an anti-narcotics mission were killed by federal police officers suspected of working for drug traffickers. The airport has been said to have been used by traffickers to move drugs, money and illegal migrants with the assistance of officials from federal and local government agencies.  

Associated Press: MEXICO CITY -- Two federal police officers suspected of working for drug traffickers opened fire on fellow officers in a crowded food court at Mexico City's international airport on Monday, killing three policemen as panicked witnesses dove for cover.

The suspects were captured in airport surveillance video and have been fully identified but remain at large, the federal Public Safety Department said in a statement.

The officers killed were on an anti-narcotics mission and had gone to the airport to catch the two suspects in the act of drug trafficking, the statement said. Two officers died at the scene, and another died of his wounds at a local hospital. The department didn't offer any other details about the botched mission. Read more.

Human Rights: Human Trafficking Scourge Draws Attention of Mexico Government

Insightcrime: "A Mexican judge handed out lengthy prison sentences to a couple at the head of a human trafficking network that sexually exploited women and minors, signaling greater attention to a crime that is increasingly common in Mexico."

read more

Human Rights Group Highlights Mexico's Trafficking Centers

Human Rights Group Highlights Mexico's Trafficking Centers: "Mexico’s foremost human rights group has released a new report on human trafficking, naming close to half of the states and a handful of major cities as trouble spots for the criminal activity.

As El Universal reports, the National Commission on Human Rights identified 15 of 31 states -- 32 if you include the federal entity of Mexico City -- as centers of human smuggling.

The report defines “human smuggling” as the movement of victim who are trafficked against their will and under false pretenses, and does not refer to willing migrants who pursue migration through illegal channels.

The report also names 11 cities as primary zones of operation for human traffickers. While many of them are concentrated in the northern of the country, close to the border with the U.S., many tourist destinations and cities in the geographic center of the country are also included on the list. In addition to border towns like Juarez and Tijuana, beach cities Cancun, Acapulco, and Puerto Vallarta all appear, alongside major urban centers like Guadalajara.

What this demonstrates is that the problem goes well beyond simply vaulting people across the border -- it is a well developed and operationally sophisticated industry."