Los Zetas money washers on trial in Texas federal court

From the racetrack to the public dock


*Updated Sept. 5*
Guadalajara -
A 46 year old Mexican national who is the brother of a man federal authorities claim is the second ranking official of the powerful Los Zetas drug cartel will go on trial Monday in an Austin, Texas courtroom.

José Treviño Morales is facing multiple federal charges, including money laundering, which could land him in prison for the rest of his life. He is the brother of Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, known as Z-40. Miguel is alleged to be the second in command of the Los Zetas and is presumed to be in Mexico, although his whereabouts are unknown.

U.S. national sentenced to 13 years in Guanajuato murder

Sexual escapade with teenager led to the homicide, prosecutors allege


Guadalajara -
Dylan Ryan Johnson, a 29 year old American citizen from Greene County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after a Mexican judge convicted him in the 2003 murder of a 16 year old Guanajuato boy.

Greene was extradited to Mexico by U.S. authorities in December 2012, and was recently tried by a state district criminal court. He was also ordered to pay restitution of 32,000 pesos to his victim's parents - less than $2,700 dollars.

Mexican drug cartels have strong foothold in Europe

"We don't want the level of brutality seen in Mexico to be reflected here" - European Police Office


Updated May 5 -
Guadalajara -
The European Union's primary law enforcement agency, Europol, warned today that Mexican drug cartels are working hard to establish themselves as the primary players in the continental narcotics market, and in collateral criminal enterprises such as weapons and human trafficking.

Mexico's troublesome policías comunitarias will prompt some to argue failed state theories

MGR News Analysis -
"Autodefensas," on the march in rural Mexico

*Jan. 14, 2014 - Michoacán security accord more of the same old song*
Guadalajara -
A political science professor, especially one specializing in comparative governments, would explain to a classroom of undergraduates that one of the classic symptoms of a failed state is the loss of monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within its territorial boundaries. Governments at all levels - federal, state and local - enjoy by their very existence the exclusive right to conduct policing operations to protect the citizenry. When they fail to do so, or begin to share that monopoly with third parties, circumstances may suggest internal collapse. In recent decades bona fide examples of failed states have been limited to developing continents, particularly Africa. Somalia is a classic illustration.

Illiteracy, rudimentary education hold back 40% of Mexico, while teachers in three states again form picket lines

PRI administration says it will make no deals with lawbreakers - or the "police" protecting them


*Updated June 7*
Guadalajara -
While Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas states deal with striking school teachers whose complaints are perennial, the Secretary of Education has reported that almost 50 million Mexicans are illiterate, or lack the basics of even a primary school education.

During a forum in Palenque, Chiapas, SEP Secretary Emilio Chuayffet emphasized that Mexican law regards education as a fundamental human right guaranteed to all citizens. He said the guarantee is not being complied with, and that the federal government must address the problem.

Criminal charges for abortion soar in Mexico, with poor indigenous women the most common defendants

*Updated Sept. 7, 2014*
Guadalajara -
Last August MGR reported that abortion prosecutions are on the rise in many Mexican states. A national advocacy group known as Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE) now says that criminal complaints against women rose 164% in the two year period between 2009 and 2011.

Yucatán tourism remained flat in first quarter of 2013

Hostelry occupancy rates even weaker than in 2012


*Updated Apr. 15 - Progreso violence*
Mérida, Yucatán -
The Mexican Hotel Association (MHA) reported that Yucatán occupancy rates dropped 4.24% in the first 90 days of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012.

The numbers delivered by the trade group were anemic in the extreme. MHA said that average occupancy in establishments of all grades, from one star to five, was 46.38% during the first quarter of the year.

Industry professionals say most hostelries cannot turn a profit without at least 50% occupancy. In 2008, before the worldwide economic downturn, the peninsula enjoyed an average occupancy of 62%. Last fall, in anticipation of Mundo Maya "end of the world" activities, the rate was about 56-57%, according to the Yucatán Tourism Council. Overall the state reported a modest 4.5% increase in tourist traffic through the third quarter of 2012. Yucatán tourism languishes.

Nicaragua: drug traffickers "could overrun us"

Central American leaders will deliver a strong message to president Obama in Costa Rica

Guadalajara -
International drug trafficking continues to take a sizable bite out of the Mexican economy, as MGR reported yesterday. Mexican states will spend $1.17 billion on security in 2013. But it's a huge cost for its partner to the north, too.

In the past five years the U.S. has given Mexico well over a billion dollars in domestic security assistance under the Mérida Initiative, a 2007 agreement which provides for U.S. training and equipping of Mexican security forces, and joint intelligence gathering operations. It owes another half billion under the plan approved and funded annually by congress.

Mexican states will spend $1.17 billion on security in 2013

Drug war has many costs, direct and indirect

*Updated Apr. 9*
Guadalajara -
Whether measured by direct outlays for policing or the heavy impact on national commerce, Mexico's 76 month old drug war remains a very expensive proposition.

Mexico has 31 states and a federal district. This year those entities will collectively spend more than a billion dollars on domestic security. The 14.2 billion peso price tag includes security expenditures by county governments.

U.S. dollar continues downhill slide against Mexican peso

The "super peso" is on the rebound

*Updated May 31 - As May ends, U.S. dollar stages powerful rebound*

Guadalajara -
Last year ended on a disappointing note for the dollar, which lost ground against the peso during most of the final quarter of 2012. On Dec. 31, the exchange rate was a little below 13 pesos. Dollar falls unexpectedly against Mexican peso as U.S. goes over fiscal cliff.

Those who spend dollars south of the border will long for those good old days, however. One hundred days into 2013, the peso continues its upward climb against the greenback. Yesterday it reached its highest level since August 2011, prompting a Mexican paper to comment this morning, el súper peso está de vuelta - "the super peso is back." Overall the 19 month high is good economic news for Mexico, although not such good news for its heavily U.S.-dependent tourist trade. A weak peso and strong dollar attract and promote the latter, by making everything here cheaper for visitors. A rising peso does just the opposite.

U.S. gunrunners shipwrecked off Riviera Maya coast, Mexican press suggests

The Sloop John B?

*Updated Apr. 6*
Tulum, Quintana Roo -
An American sloop ran aground off this famed Riviera Maya resort early Thursday evening.

It was carrying a 33 year old man, his 27 year old pregnant (six months) wife and their child of about 15 months - and a thousand rounds of ammunition used in the AK-47 assault rifle and other firearms.

Mexico breaks up assassination plot targeting two federal legislators

*Updated Apr. 23* Guadalajara -
Mexico's Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) announced Thursday that authorities have arrested several men who planned to kill two brothers, both members of Mexico's federal congress. The PGR is the equivalent of the U.S. Attorney General.

The alleged conspiracy, details of which are still unfolding, targeted Ricardo Monreal Ávila, a member of the Cámara de Diputados which is the lower legislative chamber, and his brother, senator David Monreal Ávila.

Mexican Senate wants details on Mexican citizens facing death penalty in United States

Guadalajara -
Mexico's Senate yesterday approved a measure which directs this country's Foreign Ministry to investigate and report on Mexicans facing the death penalty in American courts. The Senate wants to know how many are on death row, for what crimes and the status of each condemned prisoner's case.

The upper legislative chamber adopted the proposal at the instance of Labor Party senator David Monreal Ávila, who expressed concern about violations of civil rights in death penalty cases involving Mexican nationals in the United States.

Mexico has no death penalty, and will not extradite prisoners wanted on international warrants in capital cases unless the soliciting nation agrees to waive such punishment. That has happened in some cases involving drug cartel defendants. Los Zetas accused killer makes his first appearance in D.C. federal court.

Mexico's March drug war tally was 1,025 dead, with Jalisco state in fourth place nationwide

On average, 35 persons died every day last month from drug cartel and organized crime violence, and more than one law enforcement officer every day - while PRI government says "things are looking up"

*Updated Apr. 12*
Guadalajara -
Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party government began its fourth month in office yesterday, and it already understands that victory in the 76 month old drug war will require a marathoner's endurance.

Death toll in Guadalajara bar attacks rises to eight

North American confirmed among the victims

"This worsening security situation already has caused problems for expatriates in Mexico in 2013" - Stratfor Global Intelligence, March 7, 2013

*Updated Apr. 9*
Guadalajara -
Four persons were killed late Easter Sunday evening and 16 others were injured in separate attacks against two drinking establishments in this capital city of Jalisco.  A fifth died hours later.  She was identified as a 23 year old waitress in one of the bars

The related attacks occurred about 10:30 p.m. as thousands of tapatios, as locals are known, were returning home after Holy Week vacations to Puerto Vallarta and other parts of the nation.

Mexico's Milenio news network originally reported that both bars were in suburban Zapopan, a hot zone for almost daily acts of drug war and organized crime violence..  But it later said they were within the city limits of Guadalajara.