Mexico's case against former Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman in jeopardy over technical errors

Defendant may walk, says local paper

*Updated Aug. 10, 2013* - No exit for Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman

Cancún, Quintana Roo -
Bruce Beresford-Redman, a former associate producer of the popular U.S. television series Survivor, is on trial in a district court here for first degree murder. But a local news service monitoring the case reports the state's prosecution may be in serious jeopardy due to clumsy mistakes by prosecutors, and predicts the judge will be forced to free him. "He's got one foot out of jail," it wrote today.

Drug war tally at day 70 of new Peña Nieto administration is 2,097, says Milenio, with slight improvement in January

Guadalajara -
Just after midnight, Mexico's Milenio network reported drug war statistics for president Enrique Peña Nieto's first 70 days in office: a total of 2,097 homicides, or an average of about 30 a day.

The network said in January there were 957 narco executions nationwide, down exactly a dozen from December 2012 (Narco violence stats after first month of PRI administration not encouraging: 982 executions, 32 a day).

Ten of the January victims were police officers. Numerous Jalisco police officers were the targets of narco squad and organized crime hits in late December and January (stories below).

On Tuesday, nine Guerrero police officers were killed in a single attack in a community northeast of Acapulco. Gunmen ambush police patrol in war torn Guerrero state, leaving nine officers dead.

Acapulco's tearful mayor begs Peña Nieto for federal help

*Updated Feb. 13 - Six arrested*
Guadalajara -
Desperate to solve the case of the six Spanish tourists raped in his city early Monday morning, and reeling from the sting of relentless criticism arriving from every corner of the world, Acapulco mayor Luis Walton today implored Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto for help - with tears in his eyes.

Two lynched in Edomex, as Mexicans resort to self-help

Angry locals take the law into their own hands

Guadalajara -
In a nation which at times seems a footstep away from civil meltdown, two suspected criminals were killed by a mob this afternoon. The Mexican press headlined it a "lynching."

The events occurred in Ecatepec de Morelos, a city in the State of Mexico (Edomex). Edomex is just beyond the limits of Mexico City. Enrique Peña Nieto served as governor of Edomex from 2005 to 2011. He was elected president July 1, and assumed national office Dec. 1, 2012.

Gunmen ambush police patrol in war torn Guerrero state, leaving nine officers dead

What next in besieged state?

*Updated Feb. 9*
Guadalajara -
The news just keeps getting worse for the Mexican state of Guerrero.

Forty-eight hours after disaster befell six Spanish tourists in Acapulco, news services report that an armed commando squad ambushed a local police patrol and killed nine officers Tuesday evening. The attack occurred about 9:30 p.m. near the small town of Tepoztepec, in the municipality of Apaxtla de Castrejón. The area is northeast of Acapulco and south of Mexico City.

International press bombards Acapulco: "a death zone"

Acapulco hotels are "almost vacant, the boardwalks are empty and waiters in restaurants pass their time rearranging tables and chairs for guests who never arrive" - Spanish newspaper ABC

*Updated Feb. 13 - Six arrested*
Guadalajara -
In the wake of Monday's brutal attack against six young Spanish tourists who had just arrived in the city on vacation, the world press, especially in Europe, is showing Acapulco no quarter.

The women were repeatedly raped by a gang of heavily armed, hooded men over a period of three hours. A Mexican companion with them was spared the sexual assault, but was robbed of all her belongings, as were the Spaniards. Spanish tourists raped, robbed on Acapulco beach front.

Body of Ukrainian murder victim remains in Mérida, nearly six weeks after his death

Search continues for the prime suspect - his wife - who may have fled Mexico through Belize

Mérida, Yucatán -
The body of a Ukrainian man killed in late December near the historic town of Valladolid and the famous Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá has yet to be claimed, a local news service reports.

Oleksandr Batychko, 25, was found next to his rented car on an isolated rural property Jan. 7. He'd been dead for days, according to state forensic investigators, and his remains were in an advanced state of decomposition. Batychko was eventually identified by DNA analysis, with test samples submitted by family members in the eastern European nation.

The victim and his wife arrived on the Yucatán peninsula in late 2012, renting a car in Play del Carmen. Items found in the vehicle suggested they were headed west to visit the ruins, and perhaps to Mérida, which is but two hours away.

"Image of Acapulco" is on the line, admits its mayor

"Guerrero cumple" - Guerrero does its job - is the state's motto; but Spain's Foreign Ministry warns its citizens against travel to Acapulco, calling it a "zone of special danger"

*Feb. 13 - Six arrested*
Guadalajara -
City and state officials in Acapulco are scrambling this morning to reassure the world that their town is safe for visitors, while they try to track down the men who brutally attacked a group of young Spanish women early Monday (Spanish tourists raped, robbed on Acapulco beach front).

Mexican Attorney General: Pemex explosion an accident

"No evidence of a bomb" at the scene where 37 lost their lives

Guadalajara -
The Attorney General of Mexico is conducing a press conference at this hour concerning the cause of last week's devastating blast at Pemex Tower B2 in Mexico City (Huge explosion at Pemex offices in Mexico City).

The explosion has claimed 37 lives as of today. Many other victims remain hospitalized. Some are in critical condition.

Spanish tourists raped, robbed on Acapulco beach front

Victims had arrived on vacation less than 24 hours before

*Updated Feb. 13 - Six arrested*
Guadalajara -
Six Spanish women vacationing in Acapulco were attacked on a beach front rental property early this morning by unknown assailants who raped and robbed them. A Mexican woman with them suffered a similar fate.

The assault occurred about 1:30 a.m. in Acapulco's Diamond Zone.

The seven women were lodging in a bungalow on San Ándrés Playa Encantada. The location on the map above is approximate.

An expanding U.S. presence in Latin drug wars, says AP

"Key focus area" is now just beyond Mexico's southern frontier

Guadalajara -
An Associated Press report monitored by Spanish language news agencies, including this one, concludes that the U.S. is enlarging its presence throughout Latin America as it seeks to bolster fledgling regimes which face threats to their very existence at the hands of organized crime.

Most of those regimes are in Central America, where international narcotics traffickers have partially shifted operations after enduring years of heavy pressure from Mexican military forces. Former president Felipe Calderón launched the drug war in this country on Dec. 11, 2006, and soon adopted a National Security Strategy based upon the use of combat troops, especially crack marine units. In two reports published in 2012 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) noted that the approach was working, pushing criminals southward across Mexico's border with Guatemala. New president Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office on Dec. 1, has indicated that he'll stick with the strategy, even promising to ratchet up the pressure by adding 75,000 units to federal paramilitary forces (Human Rights Watch's condemnation of Mexican drug war reveals how little it understands about conflict).

Crime with "impunity" still the norm in much of Mexico

"There is a generalized lack of confidence in Mexico that justice will be done" - Guadalajara's Roman Catholic archbishop, José Francisco Robles Cardinal Ortega, from the pulpit Feb. 3.

Guadalajara -
Justice is blind is a common saying in Anglo-American courts. Determined only to carry out the mandate of the law, she does not concern herself with the wealth, political power or station in society of those standing before her.

In the case of many Mexican courts, justice is blind, too, in the most literal sense of the word. In almost 90% of criminal complaints filed by citizens, the guilty parties are never identified by law enforcement officials, or receive little or no punishment when brought before local tribunals with penal jurisdiction.

The striking data, reviewed by news agencies here, is drawn from the 2012 Encuesta Nacional de Victimización y Percepción de la Seguridad Pública - the National Survey of of Victimization and Perceptions of Public Security.

Gay alliance charges that Yucatán legislature has shelved its petition for approval of same sex marriages

Rumbles of litigation, as state representatives straddle the fence

*Updated Feb. 10*
Mérida, Yucatán -
A coalition of 16 organizations here is demanding that the state legislature immediately authorize same sex unions.

But the Colectivo Matrimonio para Todos y Todas - which can be rougly translated as the "Marriage Collective for All Men and All Women" - says legislators are ignoring them.

The coalition delivered its request to the legislative body on Nov. 27, but has heard nothing since. "We're worried the proposal is in the freezer," a spokesman said yesterday.

Human Rights Watch's latest condemnation of Mexican drug war reveals how little it understands conflict

MGR Opinion
Ivory tower - n. A place or attitude of retreat, especially preoccupation with lofty, remote or intellectual considerations rather than practical everyday life.

Guadalajara -
Thank God for the Mexican army. Thank God for Mexican naval and marine forces. All are at the forefront of the brutal drug war, which today entered its 74th month. Without them, Mexico in 2013 might look more like Somalia did in the 1990s. Guadalajara, more like Mogadishu. A failed state.

Yucatán safety continues to be subject of hot debate

MGR News Analysis

The White City's iconic stone cathedral is the oldest in the Americas

*Updated Mar. 1, 2014*
Mérida, Yucatán -
The Yucatán peninsula is a huge fist of land jutting up into the Gulf of Mexico. It's hot, flat and dry. Three Mexican states comprise the peninsula: Campeche on the far west; Yucatán, more or less in the middle; and Quintana Roo, along the country's Caribbean shore. The latter area is often referred to as Mexico's Riviera Maya. Geographers will remind us that the peninsula also includes Belize and a small part of Guatemala.