Mexican reporter Marcela Turati calls on U.S. journalists to investigate trafficking networks north of the border

Note: Kudos to friend and colleague Marcela Turati for taking on the big taboo in the United States: corruption north of the border. 

We've been arguing for years that "shared responsibility" means looking at how transnational crime makes nearly all its money within U.S. borders, crosses U.S. customs and launders its earnings in U.S. banks. It's time to take the concept of a real shared responsibility into journalism as well. Too many U.S. journalists come down here looking for lurid stories of gore or Mexican corruption, with clear racist overturns, perpetuating the myth of the pure US vs. degenerate Mexico. Congratulations to Marcela for the award, for her brave work and for her dedication to the truth. LEC

Knight Center: Why did acclaimed Mexican journalist Marcela Turati tell the story of death and threats against her colleagues during a ceremony recognizing the very best of investigative journalism in the U.S.?

Because the problem of corruption and drug trafficking in Mexico does not stop at the border, she said, and U.S. journalists must own the story as well. 

Turati said U.S. reporters often ask her how they can help. More than anything, she said, American journalists should investigate corrupt government officials, local drug dealers and money launderers here.  Read More...

The U.S. immigration reform is a setback, say migrant families

La Jornada 

By Ciro Pérez Silva 

June 27, 2013

Americas Program Original Translation 

It lacks a focus on regional integration and freedom of transit, while exploiting undocumented migrants hope.

Mexico, DF. Immigration reform without a regional integration approach and freedom of movement is a setback for citizens throughout Central America and the Caribbean, warned   a diverse group of migrant family members from Oaxaca, Guerrero and New York, among others.

"While the rest of the world is finding mechanisms to ensure human mobility in a framework of rights, the governments of Mexico and the United States are engaged in agreements that criminalize and only promote discrimination and fear of the other, represented in the migrant ".

In a statement, the families of migrants in Mexico expressed support for legalization and for the rights of more than 6 million undocumented Mexicans living in the United States.

Immigration Reform at a Dangerous Juncture

 NALACC (National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communites):

By Oscar Chacón, Executive Director, NALACC

Since late last year, immigrant communities in the US have watched carefully, as first the Senate and now the House of Representatives takes up the issue of immigration reform. As anyone familiar with the system can attest, the country is in urgent need of public policies that can start to repair the many years of neglect that have pushed our immigration laws far out of sync with the realities of modern global migration.

As immigrant communities from Mexico, Central America and the rest of Latin America, we have listened to elected officials tout the growing importance of Latino voters.  In this context, we had high hopes that the US Congress would put an end once and for all to the toxic rhetoric about immigration, and recognize the multiple ways in which immigrant communities, particularly those who reside in the US without authorization, have generously contributed to economic growth and fiscal revenues at all levels of government. Read More...

Mexico Faces Challenges in Tackling Corruption

ABC News 
By E. Eduardo Castillo
Associated Press
June 26, 2013

It's a scandal a day in Mexico: an ex-governor sent to jail, another under investigation, mysterious money popping up in senators' bank accounts, politicians passing stacks of bills on YouTube.

Scandals are nothing new to Mexican politics, but the pace of revelations is accelerating as a more robust democracy and social media have emboldened Mexico's watchdogs, who are increasingly trying to bring the officials to justice or at least publicly shame them. And much of the new attention focuses on scandals in states, where the powerful grip of governors often had masked wrongdoing in the past.  Read more. 

How Mexico Became So Corrupt

The Atlantic
Lawrence Weiner
June 25 2013

Grupo Televisa, the world's largest Spanish-language media company, is famous for its logo, a gold-colored eye gazing at the world through a television screen. According to The Guardian, this logo "captures the company's success at controlling and dominating what Mexicans watch".

In a country where newspaper readership is tiny and the reach of the Internet and cable is still largely limited to the middle classes, Televisa -- and its rival TV Azteca -- exert a powerful influence over national politics. Through its scores of stations and repeater towers, the former accounts for roughly two-thirds of the nation's free-to-air television; most of the rest belong to Azteca.  Read more. 

Mexico's main leftist party proposes path to oil reform

Reuters
By Dave Graham
June 25, 2013

From the moment he took office in December, Pena Nieto has had to deny accusations he plans to privatize the company, repeatedly forcing him on the defensive over a reform his government plans to present by September at the latest.

Leading leftist politicians, such as Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the runner-up in the last two Mexican presidential elections, have pledged to oppose the reform vigorously.

Street protests are likely to be launched against the liberalization of Pemex in the coming weeks. Read more. 

Mexico rescues 52 migrants kidnapped near U.S. border

Reuters
Jun 25, 2013

 Mexican security forces on Tuesday rescued 52 kidnapped migrants, mostly Guatemalans, who were being held in a house in the violent state of Tamaulipas near the U.S. border.

The migrants had been held for several days in a house in the city of Reynosa, where they were found by a group of federal and state police, officials said.

The group was made up of 48 men from Guatemala, two from El Salvador and two more from Mexico, a press release from the state government said.  Read more.