The Washington Post
By Nick Miroff
July 25, 2013
Mexico City - Last week, Mexican authorities were celebrating the capture of one of the country’s most notorious drug lords.
This week, they are facing a stunning escalation of cartel-related violence in an entirely different region — a sobering reminder that the grinding battle here against organized crime is being fought on multiple fronts.
In the past three days, gunmen in the convulsive western state of Michoacan have staged eight guerrilla-style ambushes on Mexican federal police convoys, killing four officers and wounding at least 15.
Open combat involving government security forces, criminal gangs and the local militias that have emerged to fight them have left at least 42 people dead in the past week in Michoacan, according to tallies by Mexico’s Reforma newspaper. Mexican officials said they are sending an additional 2,000 soldiers and police officers to prevent the violence from spiraling further out of control. 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.
Jul 30, 2013
Mexico, where off-the-books work is the rule, not the exception
Global Post
July 30, 2013
Mexico City - Meet Luis Troncoso, enemy of the dynamic modern economy envisioned by Mexico's leaders.
Troncoso, 70, and many of the 150 other street vendors who work with him rise before dawn five days a week, heading first to buy provisions at Mexico City's huge produce distribution center and then to one of the neighborhood streets where they hawk their goods.
"This is the opportunity that we have,” said Troncoso, whose own stall selling an array of candy is flanked by others displaying used clothes, fresh meats, fruits and flowers. “There aren't any other jobs. This work is passed down from generation to generation.” Read more.
July 30, 2013
Mexico City - Meet Luis Troncoso, enemy of the dynamic modern economy envisioned by Mexico's leaders.
Troncoso, 70, and many of the 150 other street vendors who work with him rise before dawn five days a week, heading first to buy provisions at Mexico City's huge produce distribution center and then to one of the neighborhood streets where they hawk their goods.
"This is the opportunity that we have,” said Troncoso, whose own stall selling an array of candy is flanked by others displaying used clothes, fresh meats, fruits and flowers. “There aren't any other jobs. This work is passed down from generation to generation.” Read more.
The State of Mexico, the other Ciudad Juarez
El País - Vanguardia
July 21, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico – You don’t always learn from your mistakes. A decade ago, Mexico was terrorized with the almost daily appearance of female corpses in Ciudad Juarez.
At that time, the Mexican state was not able to guarantee a woman's right to life, stated the American Court of Human Rights in 2009.
And now, 20 years after the beginning of femicide that has left more than 800 dead in the border city began, Mexico faces a new crisis and it is not Ciudad Juarez in the 90s, but the State of Mexico in 2013.
Civil associations argue that in 2011 and 2012, 563 women were killed in the State of Mexico for the sole reason of being a woman.
This last week is a clear example of the tragedy: the bodies of five young women, all with signs of brutal violence, have appeared in the Valle de Chalco, a town of about 350,000 inhabitants located precisely in the State of Mexico.
A gender violence alert mechanism that was created five years ago has now become a dumb bell. Neither these five dead nor the 563 from the last two years have convinced the National System to Prevent, Treat, Punish and Eradicate Violence to activate it.
This Friday they again refused to implement an alert, which so far remains unused even though the number of deaths in the country increased by 68% between 2007 and 2009, according to UN Women. The figure, for example, tripled in the State of Baja California.
July 21, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico – You don’t always learn from your mistakes. A decade ago, Mexico was terrorized with the almost daily appearance of female corpses in Ciudad Juarez.
At that time, the Mexican state was not able to guarantee a woman's right to life, stated the American Court of Human Rights in 2009.
And now, 20 years after the beginning of femicide that has left more than 800 dead in the border city began, Mexico faces a new crisis and it is not Ciudad Juarez in the 90s, but the State of Mexico in 2013.
Civil associations argue that in 2011 and 2012, 563 women were killed in the State of Mexico for the sole reason of being a woman.
This last week is a clear example of the tragedy: the bodies of five young women, all with signs of brutal violence, have appeared in the Valle de Chalco, a town of about 350,000 inhabitants located precisely in the State of Mexico.
A gender violence alert mechanism that was created five years ago has now become a dumb bell. Neither these five dead nor the 563 from the last two years have convinced the National System to Prevent, Treat, Punish and Eradicate Violence to activate it.
This Friday they again refused to implement an alert, which so far remains unused even though the number of deaths in the country increased by 68% between 2007 and 2009, according to UN Women. The figure, for example, tripled in the State of Baja California.
Jul 24, 2013
SANTA MARIA ZACATEPEC STATEMENT
Original Americas Program Translation
Reunited on July 21st and 22nd at the base of the volcanoes - the guardians of our people - men and women from over a hundred organizations, networks, communities and groups from 14 states came together offer our voice to tell you that our country faces a serious danger. The ruling government seeks to serve large multinational corporations and give our country to foreign interests and thus canceling our rights won by our peoples through long and heroic struggles.
More than a third of Mexican territory has been given to foreign mining companies. The federal government currently imposes a series of measures that aim to exploit natural resources and the structural reforms imposed on labor, taxation, energy, agriculture and education, violate the rights of our people, of the workers and our national sovereignty. We protest strongly against the privatization of the energy sector.
We have agreed that, confronted by this serious situation, our priority is to build a unified movement to strengthen the struggles of our peoples because the isolation of resistance movements allows those in power to defeat us. It is essential to move forward in the coordination of the different struggles that take place across the country and therefore we make a call to the different movements to set aside differences and move forward in building a national platform that allows us to confront the serious dangers facing our people and our nation.
Jul 23, 2013
Femicide increases in the State of Mexico and other states; Amnesty calls for gender alert but the PRI resists
By Sin Embargo
Published July 17, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico City, July 17 (Sin Embargo). - Just earlier this month, deputies and senators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) prevented the First Permanent Commission from issuing an appeal to the Government of the State of Mexico to stop resisting and implement a "gender alert" in the state.
Yesterday, Amnesty International drew attention to this request and asked to include other states like Oaxaca, Guanajuato, and Nuevo Leon. According to the organization, the Federal Government has ignored multiple requests that have been made to make the warning statement, due to the "alarming levels of violence against women."
Daniel Zapico, AI representative in Mexico, said that the refusal of the authorities seemed like an "attempt to minimize a situation that has claimed epidemic dimension."
According to the results of the National Study on Sources, Origins and Factors that produce and reproduce the Violence Against Women, the nine states that show an increasing trend of female homicides are Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Published July 17, 2013
Original Americas Program Translation
Mexico City, July 17 (Sin Embargo). - Just earlier this month, deputies and senators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) prevented the First Permanent Commission from issuing an appeal to the Government of the State of Mexico to stop resisting and implement a "gender alert" in the state.
Yesterday, Amnesty International drew attention to this request and asked to include other states like Oaxaca, Guanajuato, and Nuevo Leon. According to the organization, the Federal Government has ignored multiple requests that have been made to make the warning statement, due to the "alarming levels of violence against women."
Daniel Zapico, AI representative in Mexico, said that the refusal of the authorities seemed like an "attempt to minimize a situation that has claimed epidemic dimension."
According to the results of the National Study on Sources, Origins and Factors that produce and reproduce the Violence Against Women, the nine states that show an increasing trend of female homicides are Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guerrero, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Jul 20, 2013
NYC implements program that teaches how to avoid deportation
HuffPost Voces
By Claudia Torrens
Original Americas Program Translation
New York (AP) - New York will spend municipal funds to enable young immigrants without permission to live in the U.S. to petition the government for suspension of deportation orders and obtain a work permit.
New York officials announced on Wednesday that it would spend $ 18 million in adult education programs and legal assistance to help "dreamers" secure local entitlement to deferred action that President Barack Obama signed last year. The "dreamers" are young people who were brought illegally to the United States, usually by their parents as children.
New York is the first city in the country implementing the initiative, officials said.
An estimated 79,000 undocumented youth in New York City can still qualify for the Obama plan but 16,000 of them must register in a school or adult education program, as stipulated in the federal requirements. Because adult education programs in the city are full and private education is expensive, the city will use the money announced Wednesday to create 10,370 new opportunities for students in adult education programs.
By Claudia Torrens
Original Americas Program Translation
New York (AP) - New York will spend municipal funds to enable young immigrants without permission to live in the U.S. to petition the government for suspension of deportation orders and obtain a work permit.
New York officials announced on Wednesday that it would spend $ 18 million in adult education programs and legal assistance to help "dreamers" secure local entitlement to deferred action that President Barack Obama signed last year. The "dreamers" are young people who were brought illegally to the United States, usually by their parents as children.
New York is the first city in the country implementing the initiative, officials said.
An estimated 79,000 undocumented youth in New York City can still qualify for the Obama plan but 16,000 of them must register in a school or adult education program, as stipulated in the federal requirements. Because adult education programs in the city are full and private education is expensive, the city will use the money announced Wednesday to create 10,370 new opportunities for students in adult education programs.
Immigration Reform Should Address Why People Leave
Huffington Post
By Andrew Wainer
July 18, 2013
In June, the Senate approved the most far-reaching reforms to U.S. immigration policy in 50 years. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act passed on a vote of 68-32. It now faces a more daunting challenge in the House of Representatives. The 1,000+ page bill includes an earned legalization process for 11 million unauthorized immigrants, increased enforcement both at the border and at home, and a revamped guest worker program for both high- and low-skilled jobs.
But even as policymakers attempt to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system, the proposed legislative solutions overlook one of the system's most important moving parts -- the economic hardship in immigrants' home countries that drives them to seek work in the United States. Thus, the U.S. development community can play a new and important role in helping to integrate economic development and poverty reduction into U.S. immigration policy. Read more.
By Andrew Wainer
July 18, 2013
In June, the Senate approved the most far-reaching reforms to U.S. immigration policy in 50 years. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act passed on a vote of 68-32. It now faces a more daunting challenge in the House of Representatives. The 1,000+ page bill includes an earned legalization process for 11 million unauthorized immigrants, increased enforcement both at the border and at home, and a revamped guest worker program for both high- and low-skilled jobs.
But even as policymakers attempt to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system, the proposed legislative solutions overlook one of the system's most important moving parts -- the economic hardship in immigrants' home countries that drives them to seek work in the United States. Thus, the U.S. development community can play a new and important role in helping to integrate economic development and poverty reduction into U.S. immigration policy. Read more.
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