Calderon

1 - CONTROVERSIAL NGO VIDEO GOES VIRAL
2 - CALDERON VISITS CUBA
3 - OBAMA AND CALDERON EXCHANGE BARBS
4 - PEMEX SUES US-BASED OIL COMPANIES
5 - MSN PROGRAMS:  Email us here or call (773) 583-7728   

A video featuring children in the roles of drug dealer, hit man, kidnapper, corrupt police officer, more corrupt politician, migrant smuggler, and crime victim drew the ire of Mexico's political class, while delighting civil society. The non-government organization Nuestro Mexico del Futuro posted the professionally produced video on their YouTube site, then pulled it after a day, apparently under pressure from the very politicians who were the brunt of the criticism. But not before over 3 million people viewed it. Mexico's business community financed at least part of the production. The four-minute clip ends a ten-year-old girl calling out all four of the presidential candidates, "If this is the future that is awaiting me, I don't want it. Enough working for your political parties and not for us. Enough fixing the country from the very top. Time has run out. Mexico has hit bottom. Are [the politicians] only interested in the throne or will they change the future of the country?" [see more at LA Times, Informador]

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
2 - PRESIDENT THREATENS ICC ACCUSERS
3 - HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS UNDER ATTACK
4 - DEA LAUNDERING MEXICAN DRUG MONEY
5 - PRI LEADER RESIGNS AMID GROWING SCANDAL
6 - CELAC FOUNDED, WITH LITTLE HELP FROM MEXICAN POLITICAL CLASS
7 - ECONOMY GROWS WHILE POVERTY INCREASES
8 - MARCELO EBRARD AND BRITNEY SPEARS?

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
Communal land owners in Bachajon denounced government displacement from their lands in northern Chiapas and declared their intention to recover the lands.

2 - PRESIDENT THREATENS ICC ACCUSERS

President Felipe Calderon threatened legal action against activists who accused him in the International Criminal Court (ICC) of allowing torture and murder as part of his "war on drugs."  

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
2 - PREDATOR DRONES USED IN BORDER SURVEILLANCE
3 - GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF WIDESPREAD HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
4 - INTERIOR SECRETARY DIES IN HELICOPTER CRASH
5 - PRESIDENT BECOMES LEAD SALESMAN
6 - CROSS BORDER TRUCKING LARGELY A FAILURE

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)

• Ejido San Sebastian Bachajon denounces violence in Chilon.

• The Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center denounces two years of violations against two human rights activists.

1 - MEXICO ABANDONS PLANS FOR NUCLEAR POWER
2 - TROOPS UNEXPECTEDLY SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
3 - IMMIGRANT REMITTANCES INCREASE AS PESO SHRINKS
4 - OPPOSITION TO AMBITIOUS PLAN TO CLEAN POLICE FORCES
5 - PAN TRADES CEMENT FOR VOTES
6 - PARTIES REJECT POPULAR CONSULTATIONS
7 - GRAIN PRODUCTION DECLINES
8 - ANONYMOUS DROPS PLANS TO OUT ZETA CARTEL
9 - MSN PROGRAMS: Contact msn [at] mexicosolidarity [dot] org or (773) 583 7728   

Mexico has abandoned plans to construct as many as ten nuclear power plants in light of recent discoveries of huge natural gas deposits, perhaps as much as 300 million cubic feet in Coahuila and more in the Gulf of Mexico. Energy Minister Jordy Herrera announced plans this week to focus on new natural gas-fired electricity plants, and to search for US$10 billion in private investment during the next five years, despite constitutional prohibitions against private ownership in the energy sector. The re-orientation may also be related to the March 11 nuclear disaster in Japan. Mexico is one of only three Latin American countries that currently uses nuclear power. Herrera rejected renewable energy sources for the foreseeable future: "Until we find a model to make renewable energy more profitable, gas is more convenient."

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN - HTTP://ENLACEZAPATISTA.EZLN.ORG.MX/
2 - SICILIA BREAKS OFF, THEN RESUMES GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATIONS
3 - TOP PROSECUTORS RESIGN EN MASSE
4 - FEDERAL SECURITY AID RETURNS TO CIUDAD JUAREZ
5 - DRUG DEALER CLAIMS TIES TO DEA
6 - SIXTEEN COUNTRIES OPPOSE ANTI-IMMIGRANT LAW IN ALABAMA
7 - US INCREASES ROLE IN MEXICO’S “WAR ON DRUGS”
8 - SENATE APPROVES NEW MEXICAN AMBASSADOR
9 - NRA CHALLENGES GUN REPORTING REGULATIONS
 
1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN - HTTP://ENLACEZAPATISTA.EZLN.ORG.MX/
•The Junta de Buen Gobierno in La Realidad denounces attempts by political parties and the ejido Monte Redondo to displace Zapatista support bases from their lands in the autonomous municipality Tierra y Libertad.
•Political prisoners from San Sebastian Bachajon who were recently released from prison are suffering harassment and threats.

1 - OBAMA PLAYS POLITICS WITH IMMIGRATION REFORM
2 - POVERTY INCREASES UNDER CALDERON
3 - GOVERNMENT REDUCES SECURITY AID TO CIUDAD JUAREZ

1 - OBAMA PLAYS POLITICS WITH IMMIGRATION REFORM
President Barack Obama addressed the National Council of La Raza on Monday, promising to keep fighting for immigration reform while blaming Republicans for lack of progress.  Apparently in search of votes for his 2012 campaign, Obama contradicted the political advice of his former Chief of Staff and current Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, who worked hard on enhanced border control issues but avoided pro-immigrant measures like the plague.  "We have a system that separates families and punishes innocent young people for their parents' actions by denying them the chance to earn an education," lamented Obama.  It's too bad the President hasn't done anything to rectify this deplorable situation.  Obama won 2/3 of the Latino vote in 2008, and hopes that this fast-growing sector of the electorate will help him to victory in 2012.