Immigration

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN (http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/)
2 - U.S. ASSAULT RIFLES INCREASINGLY AVAILABLE IN MEXICO
3 - FORMER CHIAPAS GOVERNOR ARRESTED FOR MISUSE OF FUNDS
4 - PRISON HUNGER STRIKE IN CHIAPAS ENDS
5 - CARAVAN FOR PEACE ARRIVES IN CIUDAD JUAREZ
6 - ALABAMA INITIATES ANTI-IMMIGRANT LAW

1 - LATINOS, ELECTIONS AND IMMIGRATION REFORM
2 - MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION CALLS "DRUG WAR" INTO QUESTION

1 - LATINOS, ELECTIONS, AND IMMIGRATION REFORM

Some Republicans are worried. Only 27% of Latino voters supported Mitt Romney's presidential candidacy, and that number includes all the wealthy and historically Republican Cuban-Americans in southern Florida and New Jersey. Latinos accounted for 10% of presidential ballots and are the fastest growing segment of the electorate, leaving Republicans scratching their heads over their newly recognized "demographic problem." Suddenly, the party of "self-deportation," increased border security, and overt racism is trying to "reposition." Even right wing acolyte Sean Hannity of Fox News has "evolved" on immigration reform - only two days after the stinging national defeat. Republicans and Democrats alike are rushing to see who can roll out the welcome mat for 12 million undocumented workers living in the shadows, though always with their own political fortunes in mind.

1 - INCREASED MIGRATION SIGNALS IMPROVING JOB MARKET
2 - LABOR REFORM STAGNATES IN CONGRESS

An increase this year in migration from Mexico to the US, reported by a bi-national study led by El Colegio del Norte and the University of Southern California, indicates an improving US employment market, at least in low wage jobs. For the past several years, the political class boasted of migration at a standstill after decades of increases, attributing the decreases to beefed up border patrols. Migration declined from 2008 until the end of 2011, then reversed trend in the first two quarters of 2012. Data is collected by the Border Survey of Mexican Migration, which relies on interviews with undocumented migrants, both those heading north and those returning to Mexico. Migration dynamics often prove to be a leading economic indicator, in that migrant workers begin to respond to economic changes before they are fully realized in the economy. In this case, the indication is that US employers are looking for cheap labor, perhaps below minimum wage in some sectors, as an anemic recovery slowly begins to take root.

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN
2 - WALMART SCANDAL REVERBERATES
3 - U.S. WEAPONS FLOOD MEXICO
4 - UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION DECLINES

On April 24, the Junta of Good Government in the Zapatista caracol La Garrucha published an open letter criticizing attacks on the Zapatista community Nueva Paraiso by neighboring communities affiliated with local politicians. The attacks began last October and include land invasions, armed attacks, destruction of forests and cropland, and stealing crops. Damages are estimated at nearly US$40,000, a small fortune for a campesino community struggling for existence. The Junta accuses local, state and federal authorities of organizing the attacks. These kinds of attacks against autonomous communities have been increasing in recent years.

2 - WALMART SCANDAL REVERBERATES
WalMart and its allies in the business press and ruling class did their best this week to rescue the transnational corporation from an embarrassing, illegal, and potentially costly scandal. Mexico’s ruling party first tried to ignore the US$24 million bribery scandal that made WalMart the country’s largest private employer. On Monday, President Felipe Calderon claimed that if the accusations are true, it would be a local matter since bribes for construction permits would have been paid to municipal and state officials.

1 - NEWS FROM THE OTHER CAMPAIGN
2 - PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SEASON
3 - OBAMA’S CONFLICTING IMMIGRATION POLICIES
4 - CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM EXPANDS ROLE OF CATHOLIC CHURCH
5 - HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDEMNS STUDENT MURDERS

On March 22, Francisco Santiz Lopez reached the front gate of the Chiapas prison where he had spent the past three months, charged with a murder he couldn’t have possibly committed. Just as he was about to walk out the door a free man, prison officials pulled him back, fabricating a new set of charges. According to the Junta of Good Government in Oventic, “The fabrication of charges against our companero comes directly from Los Pinos [Mexico’s equivalent of the White House], in an effort to destroy the resistance of the Zapatista communities. They are trying to impede at all costs the construction of autonomy among the indigenous population. It is part of a plan of low intensity warfare against our communities in resistance.”

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.

1 - PRI WINS MICHOACAN GOVERNORSHIP
2 - IMMIGRATION NEAR ZERO
3 - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DYNAMICS
4 - CALDERON NAMES FIFTH INTERIOR SECRETARY
5 - GOVERNMENT ADMITS DIRTY WAR DISAPPEARANCE
6 - WTO RULES AGAINST U.S.
7 - INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CASE NAMES PRESIDENT CALDERON
8 - HISTORIC DROUGHT AND EARLY FREEZES DEVASTATE AGRICULTURE

The PRI candidate won the gubernatorial election last Sunday in Michoacan, Felipe Calderon's home state, defeating the President's sister, Luisa "Cocoa" Calderon, in a close race. The PRI took 35% of the vote, apparently winning many former PRD votes, against 33% for the PAN and 29% for the PRD. The election was marred by illegal use of federal resources by the PAN and probable PRI and PRD links to organized crime. The vote may be a harbinger of 2012 presidential elections in which PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto leads all candidates by substantial margins. Michoacan is a major producer of marijuana, opium and methamphetamines, and home to the Knights Templar, a cartel with strong roots in popular barrios.

1 - DECREASE IN CENTRAL AMERICANS ENTERING MEXICO
2 - INTERNATIONAL CHARGES PENDING AGAINST PRESIDENT CALDERON
3 - ECONOMY STAGNANT
4 - U.S. MAY IMPORT WATER FROM MEXICO
5 - REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES OFFER BORDER “SOLUTIONS”
6 - CARTEL LEADER ON PRISON HUNGER STRIKE, SORT OF

Mexican immigration authorities report a drop of 70% over the past five years in the number of Central Americans crossing Mexico to reach the US. The estimate is based on dramatic declines in the number of Central Americans detained in Mexico without documentation, from 433,000 in 2005 to 140,000 last year. The downward trend continued this year, probably due to a combination of poor job prospects in the US and dramatic increases in cartel violence, including kidnapping, rape, forced labor and murder, directed against Central Americans as they cross Mexico. More than 60% of Central American migrants pay human smugglers, with costs ranging as high as US$10,000.

1 - MARCOS AND SICILIA EXCHANGE THOUGHTS
2 - UNDOCUMENTED BORDER CROSSINGS DECLINE
3 - CASINO DEATHS REVEAL CORRUPTION SCANDAL
4 - FEMICIDES INCREASE IN CHIHUAHUA STATE
5 - RADIO HOSTS CALLS FOR “FLATTENING” BIKE RIDERS
6 - OBAMA OFFICIALS RESIGN OVER “FAST AND FURIOUS”
7 - PRI LEADER CAUGHT IN SCANDAL

Subcomandante Marcos wrote a letter last week addressed to Mexican sociologist Luis Villoro, with significant comments directed to Javier Sicilia and his national peace movement. Marcos begins with a powerful critique of Mexico’s entire political class, a group of criminals that “don’t understand - their time is up.” Politicians simulate governing through media representations while the nation falls apart. Marcos singles out President Felipe Calderon for, among other things, his “war on drugs” waged from the “cartel of Los Pinos” (a reference to Mexico’s White House), and his tendency to “blame the victim,” whether blaming the poor for economic failure, women’s clothing for rapes, or the victims of violence for being “criminals.”

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.