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Mexico News and Analysis: January 16-29, 2012
posted January 31 2012 by stuart

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN - http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/
2 - PRI AND GORDILLO SPLIT
3 - BORDER PATROL INCREASING PENALTIES FOR UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS
4 - NAFTA TRIBUNAL TO HEAR SME CASE
5 - HACKERS SHUT DOWN GOVERNMENT WEB SITES
6 - NAZAR HARO DEAD

-The Union of Campesinos in Defense of the Land, Water and Ejido Coahuila denounce forced dislocations from their lands and waters.
-The Digna Ochoa Human Rights Center denounces government repression directed against the National Network against High Electricity Tariffs in Veracruz.
-The Fray Bartolome Human Rights Center denounces repression against Zapatista support bases by groups affiliated with the PRI in Tenejapa, Chiapas.

Mexico News and Analysis: January 2-12, 2012
posted January 17 2012 by stuart

1 - ZEDILLO CLAIMS IMMUNITY
2 - MEXICO CITY ELITE BEATS PARKING ATTENDANT
3 - HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION DOCUMENTS OFFICIAL VIOLATIONS
4 - MEXICO CITY BOONDOGGLE WASTES MILLIONS
5 - CALDERON VETOES EMERGENCY AGRICULTURE FUNDS
6 - PRIVATE DONATIONS FOR A LOST CAUSE, BUT BLACK BEARS HAPPY

Ernesto Zedillo claimed immunity from prosecution for the 1997 murder of 45 people in Acteal, Chiapas, in court documents filed Friday. A lawsuit filed last year in Connecticut accuses the former Mexican president of crimes against humanity for allowing paramilitary groups to carry out the massacre, then cover up the killings. Zedillo currently lives in New Haven, CT, where he teaches at Yale University, his alma mater. Ten mysterious, unnamed plaintiffs claiming to be from Acteal are demanding US$50 million in damages. The Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center in Chiapas, which represents the Acteal families, has no knowledge of the suit or of the corporate Miami law firm that is bringing the case.

Commemorate MLK and Canvass to resist foreclosure and eviction- 1/15, 10am
posted January 13 2012 by stuart

62 In 1966, Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. moved to Chicago's West Side to help fight for an end to slums and racial discrimination in housing. Forty-six years later, Chicago has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, devastating Black and Latino communities most severely. Banks and their wealthy stockholders ruined our economy, and after we bailed them out with our tax dollars those same banks want to take our homes and evict us.

Join Communities United against Foreclosure and Eviction and the Albany Park Autonomous Center for support and collective action.

On Sunday, January 15th meet at the Albany Park Autonomous Center (3460 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60625) at 10am. There will be a one-hour canvassing training, followed by three hours of knocking on the doors of homes in foreclosure to invite people to regular foreclosure and eviction reisitance meetings.

Mexico News and Analysis: Dec 26 - Jan 1, 2012
posted January 2 2012 by stuart

1 - POVERTY INCREASING
2 - ENRIQUE KRAUZE ON THE REAL MEXICO
3 - POPE TO VISIT MEXICO
4 - MICHOACAN ELECTION ANULLED

More than half of Mexico's population now lives below the official poverty line, in large part because the economy is so tightly linked to the United States. About one-third of Mexico's production is exported, with 90% headed to the US. Mexico boasts the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, worth about US$74 billion, or about 7% of the annual GNP, while 58 million Mexicans live on less than US$150 per month. Economic growth under Felipe Calderon has averaged 2.2% annually, about half the overall rate for the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite the dismal figures, Calderon continues to bank on his expensive and largely ineffective "war on drugs" as the foundation of his political program.

NEWS AND ANALYSIS: DECEMBER 19-25, 2011
posted December 29 2011 by tony

1 - OBAMA CUTS NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ALONG BORDER
2 - VERACRUZ POLICE FORCE FIRED

1 - OBAMA CUTS NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ALONG BORDER

The Obama administration will cut most of the National Guard troops working along the US-Mexico border, following an article criticizing the deployment published two weeks earlier by the Washington Post. The Post found the Guard troops to be largely a publicity effort that wasted taxpayer money and pandered to Republican Party demands for more border security in the midst of a presidential campaign. Obama will reduce the National Guard deployment in January from the current 1,200 troops to 300, saving about US$60 million annually. The remaining troops will focus on aerial surveillance missions. Military border deployments began under the Bush administration in 2006 and were extended by Obama, with a total cost of US$1.35 billion.

2 - VERACRUZ POLICE FORCE FIRED

The entire police force in Veracruz, Mexico's busiest harbor, was fired on Wednesday and replaced temporarily by 2,400 Navy troops. More than 800 officers and 300 administrators, many either willingly or forcibly aligned with the powerful Zeta cartel, lost their jobs. Governor Javier Duarte and recently appointed Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire made the announcement. New police officers will have to pass federally mandated exams, including drug testing, a lie detector test, and financial reviews. The testing program is relatively new, and it is unclear if it has been successful in cleaning up police departments where it has been implemented.

Mexico News and Analysis: Dec 12-18, 2011
posted December 19 2011 by tony

1 - POLICE KILL TWO STUDENTS IN GUERRERO
2 - RACIST ARIZONA SHERIFF UNDER INVESTIGATION
3 - FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR RAPE BY ARMY TROOPS
4 - US SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON STATE IMMIGRATION LAWS
5 - US SECURITY AGENCIES HIRE FORMER MEXICAN OFFICIALS
6 - MSN PROGRAMS: Contact msn [at] mexicosolidarity [dot] org or (773) 583 7728

1 - POLICE KILL TWO STUDENTS IN GUERRERO

Police killed two students from a teacher's college in Guerrero on Monday, part of a group of 500 students protesting efforts by the federal government to close the normal school system. Unarmed students blocked a major highway near Chilpancingo demanding a meeting with Governor Angel Aguirre and the re-opening of the Raul Isidro Burgo normal school in Ayotzinga, a town about 90 miles from Chilpancingo. Protestors complained the governor had canceled four previously scheduled meetings. Blocking highways is a common protest tactic in Mexico. Federal, state and ministerial police working with army troops and armed paramilitaries used tear gas and live ammunition to clear the highway, killing Gabriel Echeverria and Jorge Herrera.

Feb 10-12: Interpreting for Social Justice (2½-day workshop)
posted December 16 2011 by tony

[Esto está en español abajo] CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FORM

What: Interpreting for Social Justice, 2½-day workshop (download flyer here)
Who: Roberto Tijerino* and the Mexico Solidarity Network*
When: February 10th-12th, 2012
Where: Albany Park Autonomous Center (3460 W. Lawrence Chicago, IL 60625)

We at the Albany Park Autonomous Center would like to invite you to join us for a collaborative 2½-day workshop with Roberto Tijerina. This workshop is designed for activists, workers, and youth who negotiate languages in community and political spaces in their daily lives. Participants will be trained on how to use interpretation and translation as a tool of multilingual social justice.

This multiday workshop, beginning Friday, Feb 10th, 3–8pm and continuing Saturday, Feb 11th, 9am–5pm and Sunday, Feb 12th, 9am–5pm, will educate participants in the practice and theory of interpreting through building both technical skills and a greater framework of the power of language.

Mexico News and Analysis: December 5-11, 2011
posted December 13 2011 by stuart

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
2 - MARCOS RELEASES FOURTH LETTER TO LUIS VILLORO
3 - MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES BY 21 CENTS A DAY
4 - IMPUNITY AND FAILURE IN CALDERON'S "WAR ON DRUGS"
5 - U.S. BATTERY EXPORTS DAMAGE MEXICAN ENVIRONMENT
6 - PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER EXHIBITS "BRAIN FREEZE"

Residents of Santa Maria Ostula, an autonomous community that established its own police force in the midst of threats from drug traffickers and the army, denounced the kidnapping of J. Trinidad de la Cruz. (De la Cruz was murdered shortly after the community released their denouncement.)

The ejido San Sebastian Bachejon denounced the Chiapas state government for intervening in community affairs on the side of corrupt local officials. Members of the ejido re-assumed control last week of a toll booth leading to an eco-tourism facility and established by the community several years ago.

News and Analysis: NOV 28 - DEC 4, 2011
posted December 5 2011 by tony

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."

Noticias de Juárez- 13 aniversario del triunfo binacional contra los desechos nucleares
posted December 1 2011 by stuart

51 A 13 años del triunfo binacional contra el cementerio nuclear de Sierra Blanca (Texas), hecho histórico que fue recordado el domingo 16 de octubre, con la inauguración de una exposición fotográfica y hemerográfica en la biblioteca Arturo Tolentino.

En un evento muy sencillo varios activistas decidieron recordar una de las luchas mas importantes binacionales que se han dado en esta frontera, como lo fue el movimiento en contra de un tiradero nuclear, en el que participaron ciudadanos de México y Estados Unidos, con marchas, plantones, huelgas de hambre, tomas de puentes y toda clase de manifestaciones pacíficas contra la decisión de la administración Bush en el Estado de Texas.