Blog

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.

Con el propósito de unirse a las luchas de distintas organizaciones en el mundo, este 15 de octubre organizaciones y ciudadanos se reunieron frente al consulado de Estados Unidos para protestar por la forma de llevar la política económica mundial que sólo beneficia a unos cuantos.

A través de las redes sociales y medios de comunicación, se convocó a la primera aparición como “Jornada de los Indignados” a todos aquellos que estén en desacuerdo con la situación económica y política que se vive globalmente.

Con un equipo de sonido y algunas mantas, los protestantes le dijeron a la ciudadanía se unieran a los “indignados” algunas de mantas hacían referencia a la pirámide del neoliberalismo donde la primera posición pertenece al capital económico de unos cuantos, seguida por el gobierno, la iglesia, los burócratas y al final los obreros.

1 - POLITICAL PARTIES SPAR AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
2 - NEARLY 1,000 POLICE FIRED IN VERACRUZ
3 - ALABAMA IMMIGRATION LAW WREAKS HAVOC IN SCHOOLS AND FARMING
4 - CALDERON COMPLAINS ABOUT DUMPING CRIMINALS AT BORDER
5 - FORMER PRESIDENT FOX CALLS FOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH CARTELS
6 - CALDERON SUGGESTS ADVENTURE TOURISM FOR INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) filed a largely ritual complaint this week with the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), accusing President Felipe Calderon of interfering with the 2012 presidential elections. In an October 15 New York Times interview, Calderon suggested the PRI may cut deals with drug cartels, similar to agreements reached by party members when they ruled Mexico for seven decades. Mexican law technically prevents sitting presidents from influencing elections, but complaints of this type are typical in election seasons.

Meanwhile, Enrique Pena Nieto, the likely PRI presidential candidate, called for privatization of Pemex, Mexico’s national petroleum monopoly. The PRI nationalized petroleum in 1938 under President Cardenas, perhaps Mexico’s most beloved political figure. Now 70 years later, Pena Nieto appears to have contracted the neoliberal bug, claiming the country would benefit from foreign investment – and ownership – in the oil sector. Historically this has not been a popular position, either within the PRI or in the broader society. This may be part of Pena Nieto’s campaign strategy to distance himself from the historic PRI while benefiting from the political clout and national structure of the party.

1 - ANOTHER US GUN “WALKING” PROGRAM REVEALED
2 - CITY POLICE FORCES ARRESTED
3 - SANTA MARIA OSTULA SUFFERS ANOTHER MURDER
4 - ALABAMA LAW WREAKS HAVOC IN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
5 - FIGHT OVER I.F.E. CONTINUES

The Bush administration allowed illegal exports of military style weapons to Mexico from 2006 to 2007 in an undercover program dubbed “Wide Receiver,” similar to the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious. Both programs were intended to track weapons bought in the US until they reached cartel leaders in Mexico, but agents quickly lost track of most of the “walked” firearms. Watch for Republicans, who mounted a Congressional investigation of Fast and Furious in hopes of political gains, to quietly bury their efforts. The Calderon administration, anxious to maintain cozy relations with the US, complained briefly about threats to national sovereignty, but appears anxious for the issue to simply disappear.

2 - CITY POLICE FORCES ARRESTED
Last Sunday, Mexican soldiers, federal police, and state investigators arrested the entire police force in the towns of Linares and Villadama, about 75 miles from Monterrey. The detention of 145 local officers comes after a rise in kidnapping and extortion, with reports that local officials in Juarez, a suburb of Monterrey, allowed cartel members to hold kidnapped victims in the local jail.