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WHY IS MEXICO ABSENT FROM US ELECTION DEBATE?
This coming week, about half the eligible voters in the United States will participate in a quadrennial exercise in limited democracy by electing 435 Representatives, one-third of the Senate, and a President - all wealthy, mostly white and male, and inevitably beholden to one sector of the capitalist class or another. Political commentators recently noticed that, aside from a few brief mentions of migration and Latino voters, Mexico has not been part of the electoral debate. Why ignore our neighbor to the south?

Well, from the perspective of the US capitalist class, Mexican affairs are very much in order, thanks largely to sitting President Felipe Calderon and his National Action Party (PAN). For the past six years, Calderon has been a loyal minion, defending free trade agreements, maintaining a neoliberal economic agenda by cutting social spending and sustaining a relatively balanced budget, waging an increasingly violent “war on drugs,” and acting as US surrogate in Latin American political circles. Occasionally the US will step over a line that even the PAN can’t overlook, generating a few carefully measured words from Calderon, almost always delivered to the Spanish-speaking media - for example, when the Border Patrol murders Mexican citizens, not an uncommon occurrence. But for the most part, US authorities say jump, and Calderon responds with “how high.” Mexico’s political wagon is hitched securely to the US capitalist class, and as a result, Mexico boasts some of the wealthiest capitalists in the world, while more than half the country lives in poverty.

1 - ZAPATISTAS AGAIN UNDER ATTACK
2 - SEVEN FEDERAL OFFICERS ARRESTED
3 - GORDILLO RENEWS POWER BASE
4 - POLICE RAID TEACHERS COLLEGES

The Zapatista Junta of Good Government in Oventic denounced escalating provocations against Zapatista bases in the community of Jechvo in the highland region north of San Cristobal de las Casas. The complaint revolves around PRI and PRD leaders in the area prohibiting Zapatista support bases from accessing water. See enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx to read the denouncement.

2 - SEVEN FEDERAL OFFICERS ARRESTED
Seven security officials, including three members of an elite federal organized crime unit, were charged this week with providing the powerful Sinaloa cartel with information on the timing of raids and the progress of investigations, according to Cuitlahuac Salinas, head of the organized crime unit. One of the accused worked previously at the Supreme Court and another was reportedly close to Attorney General Marisela Morales. Cartels may spend as much as US$12 billion a year buying politicians and security officials. Corruption among high ranking officials is nothing new. In 2008, the head of the organized crime unit, a former General vetted by the US before he was appointed, was accused of taking $450,000 a month from the Sinaloa Cartel.

1 - ZAPATISTAS CONDEMN ATTACKS BY PAN AND PRD MILITANTS (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
2 - CARTEL LEADER KILLED – MAYBE
3 - BORDER PATROL KILLS TEENAGER IN MEXICAN TERRITORY
4 - POLICE AND MILITARY TORTURE INCREASING IN MEXICO
5 - SENATE PASSES MONEY LAUNDERING BILL
6 - LABOR REFORM RUNS INTO OBSTACLES

The Junta of Good Government in La Realidad, located in the southern canyon region of Chiapas, issued a public condemnation of PAN and PRD militants affiliated with CIOAC Historico, a group of coffee-growers, for attacks against Zapatista support bases in ejido Guadalupe, municipality of Las Margaritas. The public denunciation follows a series of escalating incidents in Zapatista communities in different parts of Chiapas that include armed attacks, land displacements, and imprisonment of Zapatista supporters. Increasing public condemnations by Zapatista authorities in recent months coincide with official indifference or support for the attackers at the federal, state and local levels, leading to a potentially explosive situation. The Mexico Solidarity Network calls on the political class in Mexico to end its war of attrition against Zapatista communities.

2 - CARTEL LEADER KILLED – MAYBE
The Mexican Navy killed the leader of the notoriously violent Zeta cartel last Sunday night, then lost the body when armed men stole it from a local funeral home early Monday morning. The blunder left many Mexicans wondering exactly who was killed. Navy officials claimed they didn’t know Heriberto Lazcano, aka Lazca, was the victim until checking fingerprint databases. However, US officials knew the identity before the body disappeared, leaving Mexican officials looking incompetent at best.

1 - HUMAN RIGHTS CARAVAN PUBLISHES VIDEO TESTIMONY
2 - US ELECTION MAY PRECIPITATE NEW TRADE WAR
3 - LOWER HOUSE APPROVES LABOR BILL
4 - MSN PROGRAMS

1 - HUMAN RIGHTS CARAVAN PUBLISHES VIDEO TESTIMONY

A human rights caravan organized by the Network against Repression and for Solidarity published video testimony this week from residents of the community Comandante Abel, which is under attack by paramilitary groups in Chiapas.

2 - US ELECTION MAY PRECIPITATE NEW TRADE WAR

Florida’s 29 Electoral College votes may precipitate a trade war between the US and Mexico as the Obama administration seeks to end a 16-year agreement controlling tomato imports. About half the tomatoes consumed in the US are produced in Mexico, while many of the rest are produced by a handful of powerful families in Florida. The complex trade agreement, in place since 1996, sets a minimum price for imported Mexican tomatoes, allowing corporate growers south of the border to control at least US$1.8 billion of the US market, particularly the rapidly expanding vine-ripened market. US growers want the Commerce Department to end the agreement, which would open the door for formal charges against Mexican growers for unfair trade practices, including dumping tomatoes at below the cost of production. The Obama administration may agree, in a play for Florida’s critical Electoral College votes. Mexican growers are willing to establish a higher floor price for imports, arguing that abolishing the agreement would threaten 350,000 jobs in Mexico, but US growers are unlikely to bend since they wield substantial political clout on the eve of the presidential election. Mexican authorities threatened retaliation through tariffs on US produced goods.