Note: Imagine if this had happened not so long ago, when DNA tests were not an option. The power of a US strongarming and the malinchismo of a Mexican court would have meant that a young girl was stripped of her family, a mother suddenly robbed of the child she raised for 14 years.
AP: Alondra Luna Nunez was a young girl when she had a mishap with a remote-control car, leaving a scar between her eyebrows. Last week, that scar resulted in the teenager being misidentified as a missing girl from Texas, and then spirited north to live with a woman who claimed to be her mother.
After a weeklong saga in which Alondra was videotaped as she was dragged screaming from a Mexican courtroom, the 14-year-old is back at home with the family that a DNA test proved is hers. Read more.
The MexicoBlog of the Americas Program, a fiscally sponsored program of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), is written by Laura Carlsen. I monitor and analyze international press on Mexico, with a focus on security, immigration, human rights and social movements for peace and justice, from a feminist perspective. And sometimes I simply muse.
Showing posts with label Guanajuato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guanajuato. Show all posts
Aug 19, 2012
Drug cartel violence drives Mexico's troops to once tranquil towns
Christian Science Monitor: The Mexican government has dispatched 15,000 troops, and some are headed to places that used to be considered a refuge from the drug-related violence wracking much of the country.
By Lauren Villagran. MEXICO CITY - It’s hard to imagine military convoys rolling over the cobblestone colonial streets of Guanajuato, a tranquil town in the Bajío region best known as a destination for university studies and tourism.
But this week, reacting to a spate of violence that has apparently spilled over from neighboring Michoacán state, Mexico’s federal government dispatched troops and federal police to Guanajuato – part of a dispatch of some 15,000 federal forces to seven states. That includes troops to Mexico's long volatile north, apparently due to infighting in the brutal Zetas organization. Read more.
By Lauren Villagran. MEXICO CITY - It’s hard to imagine military convoys rolling over the cobblestone colonial streets of Guanajuato, a tranquil town in the Bajío region best known as a destination for university studies and tourism.
But this week, reacting to a spate of violence that has apparently spilled over from neighboring Michoacán state, Mexico’s federal government dispatched troops and federal police to Guanajuato – part of a dispatch of some 15,000 federal forces to seven states. That includes troops to Mexico's long volatile north, apparently due to infighting in the brutal Zetas organization. Read more.
Mar 22, 2012
Pope Benedict's Visit: Pope's visit to Mexico refocuses attention on narco-church relations
The Guardian: "Father Erasmo Dorantes doesn't like talking about the new modernist church with a 20-metre high metal cross within his parish in a working-class barrio of the central Mexican city of Pachuca.
"All I do is say mass there every Sunday," he says. "What's done is done and I don't have relations with those people."
Those people are the Zetas drug cartel, or more specifically the group's leader, Heriberto Lazcano. Photographs of a plaque thanking the kingpin for building the church caused a scandal when they were published in a national newspaper in October 2010.
The scandal has faded but the plaque remains – an uncomfortable reminder of the influence of the drugs culture in the Mexican Catholic church that Pope Benedict XVI called on the country's bishops to eradicate shortly after he was elected in 2005. As they prepare for his first visit to Mexico, beginning on Friday, the bishops are keen to play down the issue." read more
"All I do is say mass there every Sunday," he says. "What's done is done and I don't have relations with those people."
Those people are the Zetas drug cartel, or more specifically the group's leader, Heriberto Lazcano. Photographs of a plaque thanking the kingpin for building the church caused a scandal when they were published in a national newspaper in October 2010.
The scandal has faded but the plaque remains – an uncomfortable reminder of the influence of the drugs culture in the Mexican Catholic church that Pope Benedict XVI called on the country's bishops to eradicate shortly after he was elected in 2005. As they prepare for his first visit to Mexico, beginning on Friday, the bishops are keen to play down the issue." read more
Pope Benedict's Visit: Guanajuato Streets Decorated to Welcome the Pope in Mexico
Prensa Latina News Agency: "Mexico, Mar 22 (Prensa Latina) The main streets of the city of Guanajuato have been decorated with flags of the Vatican, blankets, posters and images to welcome Pope Benedict XVI, on the eve of his arrival in Mexico.
Signs read Welcome His Holiness, together in hope, Benedict XVI with us, among others.
Also, in many shops, hotels, restaurants and other public places, there are maps of the Pope's route and information on the activities of Benedict XVI during his stay in that city." read more
Signs read Welcome His Holiness, together in hope, Benedict XVI with us, among others.
Also, in many shops, hotels, restaurants and other public places, there are maps of the Pope's route and information on the activities of Benedict XVI during his stay in that city." read more
Feb 7, 2012
Mexico Drug War: Narcos accept "papal truce" according to banners hung in Guanajuato
Excelsior: "Yesterday, an alleged organized crime group hung 11 banners in seven municipalities of the state of Guanajuato, accepting the request made by Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago on January 22, when he called upon the criminals to reduce violence during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico, which will be held from March 23 to 26.
However, sources with the State Attorney General said that the criminal group conditioned the truce upon its also being accepted by a rival cartel operating in Guanajuato. On January 22, Martin Rabago made his request to members of organized crime: "That they may at least cooperate, allowing all these people to come to a totally respectable event. They won't benefit by doing something that might lead to an experience of grief and death," he said." Spanish original
However, sources with the State Attorney General said that the criminal group conditioned the truce upon its also being accepted by a rival cartel operating in Guanajuato. On January 22, Martin Rabago made his request to members of organized crime: "That they may at least cooperate, allowing all these people to come to a totally respectable event. They won't benefit by doing something that might lead to an experience of grief and death," he said." Spanish original
Jul 12, 2011
Whack-a-mole Drug War: Criminal Groups Threaten Calm of Leon, Central Mexico
'InSight Crime' picks up on an expansion of the drug war into a new city, Leon, in the state of Guanajuato
Criminal Groups Threaten Calm of Leon, Central Mexico: "Milenio newspaper reports on the criminal threats to Leon, a relatively peaceful city in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
The city is surrounded on most sides by criminal groups, specifically the Zetas, the Familia Michoacana, the Resistencia, the Oficina, and the Milenio Cartel. Milenio has produced a map to illustrate the positions of these organizations (see below).
The newspaper pointed out that Leon is close to the crime-ridden states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Michoacan and San Luis Potosi, making it a prime target for expanding criminal groups.
Since 2008 the Zetas have disputed the Leon 'plaza' with the Familia, which took control of the city after expanding to Guanajuato from its home state of Michoacan."
Criminal Groups Threaten Calm of Leon, Central Mexico: "Milenio newspaper reports on the criminal threats to Leon, a relatively peaceful city in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
The city is surrounded on most sides by criminal groups, specifically the Zetas, the Familia Michoacana, the Resistencia, the Oficina, and the Milenio Cartel. Milenio has produced a map to illustrate the positions of these organizations (see below).
The newspaper pointed out that Leon is close to the crime-ridden states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Michoacan and San Luis Potosi, making it a prime target for expanding criminal groups.
Since 2008 the Zetas have disputed the Leon 'plaza' with the Familia, which took control of the city after expanding to Guanajuato from its home state of Michoacan."
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