The Guardian
by Amanda Holpuch in Guadalajara
February 4, 2013
For millions of undocumented migrants who have spent years in the US legal shadows, the rupture of the political deadlock on immigration was the realisation of what once seemed a forlorn hope.
But even if the moves to fix America's broken immigration system result in a deal that once seemed so elusive, for many others it will come too late. Those are the people for whom the pressure of living without proper legal status bore down too hard, and they returned home.
Most of them will never be allowed back: anyone who has lived illegally in the US for more than a year is permanently barred from ever re-entering the country, unless they can argue for an exemption on the grounds of "extreme or unusual hardship". And there are no plans to change that particularly harsh provision in America's notoriously tough immigration regime.
Many former undocumented migrants return to Guadalajara in Mexico. It's been dubbed "Mexico's Silicon Valley" and those who return from the US with bilingual skills can easily find a high-paying job at call centers in multinational corporations. Here, there is a ready-made support system for people trying to find their footing in the country they were raised, but barely know. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the CIP Americas Program monitors and analyzes international press on Mexico with a focus on the US-backed War on Drugs in Mexico and the struggle in Mexico to strengthen the rule of law, justice and protection of human rights. Relevant political developments in both countries are also covered.
Feb 5, 2013
Feb 4, 2013
Call for Solidarity: For Kuy, in Coma Following Mexican Presidential Inauguration Protest
My word is my weapon by Kristin Bricker
February 1, 2013
In a recent communique, the Zapatista National Liberation Army called upon their supporters to donate money to help with the medical expenses of Juan Francisco "Kuy" Kuykendall, who was injured by a police projectile during the protests against Enrique Peña Nieto's presidential inauguration on December 1, 2012. Kuy is in a coma and has undergone multiple surgeries. He's lost portions of his brain due to the attack and subsequent surgeries, including a recent one where surgeons had to cut out infected brain tissue. Read more.
February 1, 2013
In a recent communique, the Zapatista National Liberation Army called upon their supporters to donate money to help with the medical expenses of Juan Francisco "Kuy" Kuykendall, who was injured by a police projectile during the protests against Enrique Peña Nieto's presidential inauguration on December 1, 2012. Kuy is in a coma and has undergone multiple surgeries. He's lost portions of his brain due to the attack and subsequent surgeries, including a recent one where surgeons had to cut out infected brain tissue. Read more.
Influence-Flush U.S. Latinos Must 'Exploit Unprecedented Moment' (El Universal, Mexico)
"The 2012 Latino vote is a juncture of unprecedented importance that could lose its novelty on the public agenda. ... Another unexpected event may occur that quickly causes U.S. people to close off the possibility of an 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants. The best course would be to exploit the current situation. ... With these new favorable winds, it's time for Hispanic civic organizations and nationals in general, to come out of the shadows."
Mexico - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish)
Translated By Miguel Gutierrez for worldmeet.us
January 22, 2013
When President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama won re-election this past November 6, he said in his victory speech: "Tonight you voted for action ... to meet the challenges we can only solve together - reducing our deficit, reforming out tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do."
Two months have passed and the Congress of the United States is embroiled in talks over the budget, taxes, and more recently gun control, but there's no sign yet of the migration issue. It is too early to predict another four years of inaction on the subject. Still, Mexico and its citizens living in the United States cannot afford to let the issue pass for another time. The 2012 Latino vote is a juncture of unprecedented importance that could lose its novelty on the public agenda. Read more.
Mexico - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish)
Translated By Miguel Gutierrez for worldmeet.us
January 22, 2013
When President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama won re-election this past November 6, he said in his victory speech: "Tonight you voted for action ... to meet the challenges we can only solve together - reducing our deficit, reforming out tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do."
Two months have passed and the Congress of the United States is embroiled in talks over the budget, taxes, and more recently gun control, but there's no sign yet of the migration issue. It is too early to predict another four years of inaction on the subject. Still, Mexico and its citizens living in the United States cannot afford to let the issue pass for another time. The 2012 Latino vote is a juncture of unprecedented importance that could lose its novelty on the public agenda. Read more.
Mexico Fatalism in the Face of U.S. Gun Trafficking Must End
By Sergio Aguayo Quezada
Mexico Voices
The debate over guns in America is a good indicator of the status of Mexican fatalism.
A part of Mexico continues to be trapped in the mind set described by Octavio Paz in The Labyrinth of Solitude. According to the poet, we Mexicans drag along with us an "inferiority complex", from which follows our resignation and silence before unjust reality. I argue that behind these attitudes lie the consequences of being the neighbor of an expansionist and aggressive country. Mexico's military defeat in 1847 [in what the U.S. calls the Mexican-American War, Mexicans call the U.S. War of Intervention] and the loss of half our territory deepened Mexican depression and dragged us into isolation from the world. We stopped systematically studying our northern neighbor from that year until the early seventies of the twentieth century. Read more.
Mexico Voices
The debate over guns in America is a good indicator of the status of Mexican fatalism.
A part of Mexico continues to be trapped in the mind set described by Octavio Paz in The Labyrinth of Solitude. According to the poet, we Mexicans drag along with us an "inferiority complex", from which follows our resignation and silence before unjust reality. I argue that behind these attitudes lie the consequences of being the neighbor of an expansionist and aggressive country. Mexico's military defeat in 1847 [in what the U.S. calls the Mexican-American War, Mexicans call the U.S. War of Intervention] and the loss of half our territory deepened Mexican depression and dragged us into isolation from the world. We stopped systematically studying our northern neighbor from that year until the early seventies of the twentieth century. Read more.
U.S. Conservatives See Writing On the Wall: Immigration Reform is Coming (El Universal, Mexico)
"This time conditions are ripe for change. In 2012, the Hispanic community demonstrated its power at the polls. It was thanks to the 70 percent of Latinos who voted for Obama that the president was reelected. The interpretation of analysts and politicians is clear: their opposition to Republican Mitt Romney was in retaliation for his party's anti-immigrant position. It has never been more costly than it is today for a U.S. politician to oppose reform in this area."
Mexico - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish)
Translated By Miguel Gutierrez for worldsmeet.us
January 31, 2013
For the first time in years, perhaps since the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001, there exists a real chance for a reform of immigration that will benefit the millions of Mexicans living without papers in the United States. This is the inevitable result of the growing economic and political influence of Mexican nationals in that country.
This week, a group of Republican and Democratic senators launched an initiative to regularize 11 million illegal immigrants - a proposal that was well received yesterday by President Barack Obama. The president's priority in this area is such, that he has already announced that if lawmakers fail to rapidly come to terms on their project, he will send one to Congress himself. Read more.
Mexico - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish)
Translated By Miguel Gutierrez for worldsmeet.us
January 31, 2013
For the first time in years, perhaps since the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001, there exists a real chance for a reform of immigration that will benefit the millions of Mexicans living without papers in the United States. This is the inevitable result of the growing economic and political influence of Mexican nationals in that country.
This week, a group of Republican and Democratic senators launched an initiative to regularize 11 million illegal immigrants - a proposal that was well received yesterday by President Barack Obama. The president's priority in this area is such, that he has already announced that if lawmakers fail to rapidly come to terms on their project, he will send one to Congress himself. Read more.
Feb 3, 2013
United States and Mexico Reach Deal on Tomato Imports
The New York Times
Stephanie Storm
February 3, 2013
The United States and Mexico have reached a tentative agreement on cross-border trade in tomatoes, narrowly averting a trade war that threatened to engulf a broad swath of American businesses.
The agreement, reached late Saturday, raises the minimum price at which Mexican tomatoes can be sold in the United States, aims to strengthen compliance and enforcement and increases the types of tomatoes governed by the bilateral pact to four from one.
“The draft agreement raises reference prices substantially, in some cases more than double the current reference price for certain products, and accounts for changes that have occurred in the tomato market since the signing of the original agreement,” Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, said in a statement.
The agreement will be open for public comment until Feb. 11. The Commerce Department estimated it would go into effect March 4. Read more.
Stephanie Storm
February 3, 2013
The United States and Mexico have reached a tentative agreement on cross-border trade in tomatoes, narrowly averting a trade war that threatened to engulf a broad swath of American businesses.
The agreement, reached late Saturday, raises the minimum price at which Mexican tomatoes can be sold in the United States, aims to strengthen compliance and enforcement and increases the types of tomatoes governed by the bilateral pact to four from one.
“The draft agreement raises reference prices substantially, in some cases more than double the current reference price for certain products, and accounts for changes that have occurred in the tomato market since the signing of the original agreement,” Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, said in a statement.
The agreement will be open for public comment until Feb. 11. The Commerce Department estimated it would go into effect March 4. Read more.
Feb 2, 2013
A quieter drug war in Mexico, but no less deadly
The Washington Post
By Nick Miroff, Published: February 1
MEXICO CITY — As a tactical matter, the gangsters and government security forces fighting Mexico’s drug war have typically opted for the spectacular over the subtle.
Massacres, beheadings and other unspeakable cruelties became cartels’ preferred form of violence. In response, the government sent masked troops with machine guns to patrol Mexico’s streets and paraded its captured drug suspects on television like hunting trophies.
But in the past few months, that has changed. Mexico’s drug war has gone quiet.
Not less lethal. Just less loud.
The country’s drug-related homicide numbers remain essentially undiminished. More than 12,000 people were murdered last year in gangland violence, according to the latest Mexican media tallies, roughly the same number that were slain in 2010 and 2011. Read more.
By Nick Miroff, Published: February 1
MEXICO CITY — As a tactical matter, the gangsters and government security forces fighting Mexico’s drug war have typically opted for the spectacular over the subtle.
Massacres, beheadings and other unspeakable cruelties became cartels’ preferred form of violence. In response, the government sent masked troops with machine guns to patrol Mexico’s streets and paraded its captured drug suspects on television like hunting trophies.
But in the past few months, that has changed. Mexico’s drug war has gone quiet.
Not less lethal. Just less loud.
The country’s drug-related homicide numbers remain essentially undiminished. More than 12,000 people were murdered last year in gangland violence, according to the latest Mexican media tallies, roughly the same number that were slain in 2010 and 2011. Read more.
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