News & Analysis

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 - WALMART HIDES FRAUD IN MEXICO
2 - RACIST SHERIFF LOSING FRIENDS, MAY FACE TRIAL
3 - CALDERON CRITICIZES ARGENTINE ENERGY POLICY
4 - GENERAL ACOSTA CHAPARRO KILLED
5 - RUIZ ORTIZ CHARGED IN FINLAND
6 - EIGHT MURDERED IN CHERAN

A former WalMart de Mexico executive, Sergio Cicero Zapata, in charge of WalMart’s real estate department for ten years until 2004, sent emails to a senior WalMart lawyer in September of 2005 documenting a US$24 million bribery campaign that helped WalMart become the largest retailer in Mexico.  Many of the bribes involved construction permits, reductions in environmental impact fees, avoidance of fines, access to confidential information, and payments to neighborhood leaders in exchange for political support.  Within days, WalMart investigators, sent from the US, discovered a paper trail documenting the bribes along with extensive participation by WalMart de Mexico executives.  The lead investigator- a former FBI agent -reported, “There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws have been violated.”  But instead of following the investigation to its conclusion, WalMart turned it over to their Mexican general consul, the same person who authorized many of the bribes. 

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 - BIDEN VISITS MEXICO
3 - CARLOS SLIM RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD
4 - RATZINGER VISITS MEXICO
5 - FRENCH CONVICT MAY WIN NEW TRIAL
6 - POLITICAL PARTIES IGNORE GENDER JUSTICE LAW

The Junta of Good Government in Oventic demands the immediate release of Francisco Santiz Lopez, a Zapatista support base, and Lorenzo Lopez Giron, both held in prison since last December.

2 - BIDEN VISITS MEXICO

Vice President Joe Biden, on a hurried two-day visit to Mexico and Central America, tried to tamp down growing calls for decriminalization of drugs in the US. Biden’s message? That won’t be happening, despite the growing impact of drug-trafficking in the region and the inability of southern neighbors to deal with cartels via military force. Biden tried to send a mixed message, intended for both Latin American and US audiences: “It’s worth discussing, but there is no possibility the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy.”