In the hard, cold land of the Sierra Tarahumara, narco traffickers wage open war against the poorest of the poor

"We can only commend ourselves to God, and ask that He protect us all"

Guadalupe y Calvo, Chihuahua -
President Enrique Peña Nieto and the new PRI administration which took office on Dec. 1 say they'll focus mainly on crime prevention. Someone should explain the plan to narcotics traffickers, who continue operating as virtually autonomous armies in the countryside.

Two days ago Peña Nieto announced what he promised would be a significant strategy shift away from the drug war policies of former president Felipe Calderón (EPN presents long awaited security plan: Mexico will "move from punishing crime to preventing it"). He campaigned heavily on the issue last spring, and he may well have won on it. Whether it really is a new policy, and more, whether it will have the slightest impact on the 72 month old conflict, remain to be seen. There are plenty of reasons to doubt so.

The Second Amendment, NRA leave their mark in Mexico

MGRR Opinion -
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" - U.S. Constitution, Amendment II

National Rifle Association executive vice-president and CEO Wayne LaPierre, the very public face of NRA, is often in the cross-hairs. An armed principal in every school, he urged Americans on Dec. 21.

Enrique Peña Nieto presents long awaited security plan: Mexico will "move from punishing crime to preventing it"

But is it really "new and improved"?

Guadalajara -
Even before he was elected president of Mexico on July 1, Enrique Peña Nieto and his top campaign consultants spoke of a new drug war strategy which the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) would implement if it captured the nation's highest office.

Last week Peña Nieto confirmed plans to create a new 40,000 strong national gendarmerie and increase Mexico's Federal Police by 35,000 agents, both of which he promised during the spring campaign (Dec. 8 - Peña Nieto proceeds with plans for national gendarmerie, asks for $116 million). Today the new president convened the country's national security council and added some details.

El País asks, "¿Quién desarma a EE UU?" - Who will disarm the United States?

A view from the other side of the Atlantic

Guadalajara -
The text is from today's editorial page of El País, one of Spain's - and the European continent's - most widely read and respected newspapers. The Madrid based daily is covering the Sandy Hook massacre closely for its readers. MGR's translation:

Former president Vicente Fox quits National Action Party

MGRR News Analysis - Good riddance, Vicente

Guadalajara -
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox, who led a coalition of center right groups to victory in the 2000 presidential election and snatched away the nation's highest political office from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for the first time in 71 years, has officially parted company with PAN.

Officials of the "Blue and White," Mexico's National Action Party, confirmed that Fox failed to re-enlist as a PANista. The time for doing so has expired.

The news won't come as a surprise to most observers. Fox became an outspoken critic of his PAN successor - former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa - and particularly of the National Security Strategy implemented by Calderón six years ago this month. Not only did Fox condemn the drug war and the use of the armed forces to go after narcotics traffickers and organized crime bosses, he vigorously advocated the complete legalization of all drugs on a worldwide basis.

Happy Birthday, First Amendment - December 15, 1791

Almost half a century later, New York Times v. Sullivan is still a powerful precedent for press freedom

"Let all with something to say be free to express themselves. The true and sound will survive. The false and unsound will be vanquished. Government should keep out of the battle, and not weigh the odds in favor of one side or the other." - Fredrick Siebert, Four Theories of the Press (1963)

On this date in history, in 1791, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution became law. The text of the First (right sidebar) is simple and elegant, and stands like a sentry defending freedom of thought, worship and expression. Forty-five words suffice to stop potential tyrants in their tracks. The draftsmen of the American Bill of Rights had long suffered at the hands of British monarchs who could not see that the Age of Democracy was at hand, and they understood from bitter experience the need to build a wall of expressive protection which would endure through the ages in the young nation. The First Amendment is 221 years old today and is as healthy as ever, despite challenges over the years by those who sought to silence robust speech and the free exchange of information.

U.S. denies Congressional Medal of Honor to Mexican Marine who threw himself on grenade, saving 12 GIs

MGRR News Analysis -
Once again, a double standard in Washington

*Update below*
Guadalajara -
While many on Capitol Hill continue to whine about the August arrest of former Marine Lance Cpl. Jon Hammar, who's in jail near Matamoros for bringing a 60 year old shotgun into the country, another Marine - a real hero - has been given short shrift by the U.S. Dept. of Defense.

Hammar's case became a cause celebre in the U.S. a week ago when McClatchy news service published this weepy report. Some in Washington are demanding that Mexico release him immediately. The case has received only the most marginal attention in this country, and has been largely ignored by the Mexican press. It's easy to understand why most here feel little sympathy for him.

Firearm ownership in Mexico is strictly prohibited, except by military and police forces. Mexico is in month 72 of an offensive against drug cartels and organized crime which has cost about 60,000 lives. It's almost impossible to enter the country by land, as Jon Hammar did, without confronting road signs clearly warning that all firearms possession is illegal. Allegedly relying on the advice of others that he was committing no offense, and that he could lawfully register the gun, Hammar ignored the warnings and crossed the border at Brownsville. He faces a decade in prison, although a diplomatic resolution appears likely.

Mexico celebrates "La Virgen Morena," the Brown Virgin

The most solemn day in the nation's liturgical calendar is observed in every city, town and village

Guadalajara -
Today is the 481th anniversary of what millions of Mexicans (and many other Latin Americans) believe was the miraculous appearance of their beloved Brown Virgin - the national Patroness - to a young peasant named Juan Diego (modeled by this child).

According to the faithful, she addressed Juan Diego in Nahuatl, his indigenous language, and asked that a church be built in her honor at the spot of their encounter. Three days later, when Juan Diego took the request to Mexico City's first archbishop, a sudden miraculous event is said to have convinced the church prelate of the truth of the humble man's story. Mexicans refer to the Brown Virgin as Our Lady of Guadalupe, a word derived from the Nahuatl language, which may mean "rocky summit," in reference to the remote and barren place of the apparitions in which so many believe.

These shots were taken in Mérida last year: a proud youth group in its "team uniform;" the archbishop of Yucatán entering perhaps the city's most beautiful church for the evening service; food for hungry Mass-goers; and tots specially outfitted for the feast day, with clothing hecho a mano.

Peña Nieto proceeds with plans for national gendarmerie, asks Mexico's congress for $116 million dollars funding

Money will be used to create 40,000 member paramilitary force and add 35,000 Federal Police agents

*Updated May 8*
Guadalajara -
The day after he was elected president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto told the New York Times that he planned to create from scratch a federal gendarmerie, which would focus on providing security in the countryside and the targeting of key organized crime bosses (Enrique Peña Nieto's Manifesto makes New York Times). A week later his chief quarterback for national security, Colombian General Óscar Naranjo, said much the same thing during a press conference dealing with strategy for the 72 month old drug war (Security consultant elaborates on "new" Mexican drug war strategy - but is it?).

Just a week into his new job, president Peña Nieto made good on his promise yesterday when he asked the House of Deputies to budget $1.5 billion pesos for the new law enforcement body. At the current exchange rate that represents an investment of over $116 million dollars in the planned 40,000 strong gendarmerie, which will be modeled after Colombia's as well as the Italian Carabinieri. In those nations which have them gendarmeries are generally utilized as paramilitary forces, to supplement or even replace local law enforcement in certain operations.

Extreme narco violence marks Peña Nieto's first week

55 executed nationwide in last seven days; bodies of 13 organized crime victims found in Tamaulipas

"The fight against drug trafficking in Mexico has to imply the reduction of violence" - General Óscar Naranjo, PRI government drug war czar, July 7, 2012

Guadalajara -
Mexico was wracked by brutal narco violence this week, the first of 312 which await newly installed PRI president Enrique Peña Nieto in his six year term which began last Saturday. He was sworn in on Dec. 1.

At least 55 persons have been executed in drug trafficking and organized crime violence since last weekend, according to news service reports. The events occurred in 13 Mexican states: Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, Coahuila, Guerrero (Acapulco), Sinaloa, Sonora, Morelos, Jalisco (Guadalajara), San Luis Potosí, Chihuahua, Michoacán, Oaxaca and Estado de México.

DEA ends 30 month drug operation with 3,780 arrests

Cartel connected gangs distributing on U.S. soil were a target of "Operación Debajo de la Cintura"

Guadalajara -
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration today announced in Washington the conclusion of a 30 month undercover operation which yielded 3,780 arrests and the seizure of tons of narcotics on U.S. and foreign streets.

Operation "Below the Belt" (translated by some news sources as "Below the Beltway") was launched in May 2010 in 79 cities in the United States, Mexico, Central America and Europe according to the DEA's press release this morning.

Mexico's Supreme Court takes another step towards nationwide recognition of gay marriage

Dec. 7 - U.S. Supreme Court agrees to consider two cases which present gay marriage issues

June 26 - U.S. Supreme Court rules on gay marriage

Guadalajara -
In January, Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court ruled that each of the country's 32 separate jurisdictions could decide for itself whether to permit gay marriage (Mexico's highest court upholds right of same-sex couples to marry, but only in some states). The Federal District had already done so in 2009, but legislatures in some states challenged its authority in the matter. The judges rejected that challenge, ruling that gay marriage is a local issue to be entrusted to state, not federal, representatives.

In May same sex unions became lawful in Quintana Roo on Mexico's Caribbean coast (Gay marriages recognized in Quintana Roo). Cancún and other Riviera Maya locations which depend so heavily on the tourist trade have expressed interest in setting up a boutique industry dedicated to gay weddings and honeymoons (Can Quintana Roo state save itself from Los Zetas by promoting gay marriage?).

Mexican prosecutors get tough with YoSoy 132 rioters

With a line borrowed from the country's national anthem, YoSoy cues up a call to battle: "You have a soldier in every son (God) has given you"

Guadalajara -
Sixty-nine persons arrested in connection with violent demonstrations in Mexico City on Saturday have been ordered held without bond. They're facing sentences of up to 30 years in prison.

The Federal District's chief prosecutor, Jesús Rodríguez Almeida, said in a television interview yesterday that no amount of political pressure from any quarter would result in their release. "We have the obligation to see that no one is allowed to act with impunity in the nation's capital. The accused are in the hands of the criminal justice system now, which will decide whether or not the evidence establishes guilt."

As new PRI administration gets under way, narcos send Enrique Peña Nieto a message: nothing has changed

Mexicans - and drug traffickers - anxiously await EPN's "new" national security strategy

Guadalajara -
Drug traffickers and organized crime sent newly installed president Enrique Peña Nieto an inaugural greeting card this weekend, reminding him they're still around.

In Torreón, a city in the state of Coahuila in north central Mexico, authorities discovered dismembered bodies early this morning. A local police commander reported, "We've found seven human trunks, all of them male, and different body parts such as hands, arms, legs and feet, as well as the heads. They were left in six black plastic bags."

Retired U.S. software magnate arrested on Mexico-Belize border for questioning in neighbor's murder

Oops - maybe it was just his double; Belize P.M. describes suspect as "extremely paranoid, even bonkers"

*Read updates below*
Guadalajara -
Former U.S. computer programmer John McAfee, whose anti-virus software made him both a household name and a multi-millonaire in the 1990s, has been arrested along the Mexico-Belize frontier near southern Quintana Roo state (Q.R. is in black in the map; Belize is just below it).

McAfee, 67, had been sought by authorities in connection with the Nov. 10 murder of American expatriate Gregory Viant Faull, 52, who was his next door neighbor. Faull was shot in the head, and two days after his death Belize investigators named McAfee as a person of interest in the case. The men owned adjoining beach front homes on Ambergris Caye, a Caribbean island northeast of the Belize mainland.

By the time police went looking for McAfee he had fled. In telephone calls to press sources he said was afraid that police would kill him, and refused to reveal his whereabouts. In a Nov. 15 interview Belize prime minister Dean Barrow told The Telegraph, a British newspaper, that McAfee is "extremely paranoid, even bonkers."