Attacks on Mexican journalists on the rise in 2013

No reduction in violence during EPN's first 120 days, reports London-based press advocacy group


*Updated July 1*
Guadalajara -
Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day, but there was little to celebrate in Mexico.

In London the human rights organization Article 19, which focuses on freedom of information and expression issues, reported this week that attacks against journalists in Mexico rose 20% between January and March, compared to the same period a year ago. President Enrique Peña Nieto took office on Dec. 1, advertising a domestic security strategy focused on "reducing the violence" in Mexico.

Miami Five member René González may stay in Cuba if he renounces U.S. citizenship

U.S. dangles a tiny carrot in Havana, but it will be too little and too late to extricate Alan Gross

René González of the Miami Five, at far right

*Updated May 31*
Guadalajara -
A federal court in Florida today granted all but unconditional freedom to René González, 56, one of the members of the Miami Five arrested in 1998 and sentenced to a long prison term for espionage.

González was in Cuba when he received the news.

Obama tells Mexico: "drug legalization not the answer"

"Tu eres el sueño. You are the dream" - Barack Obama, Mexico City, May 3

*Updated May 24*
Guadalajara -
In a mid-morning speech before young people at Mexico City's Museum of Anthropology, president Barack Obama again bluntly acknowledged U.S. responsibility for this country's domestic security challenges. He ruled out drug legalization as the solution:

President Obama arrives in Mexico

"Stemming the southbound flow of guns and cash is critical" - Barack Obama, Mexico City, May 2


Guadalajara -
President Barack Obama arrived in Mexico City this afternoon, his fourth visit to the country since taking office in 2009.

A joint press conference conducted by Mr. Obama and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto is underway at this hour at the National Palace.

Bolivian president Morales expels "subversive" USAID

Cold War era development agency remains in harsh Latin American spotlight


Guadalajara -
On International Workers' Day in La Paz, Bolivian president Evo Morales announced that he will expel the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), alleging that it has engaged in unspecified conspiracies against his nation.

Today was not the first time Morales has complained about American officials and activities in his country (Morales threatens to close U.S. embassy in Bolivia). During public festivities in honor of workers worldwide, the president mentioned with annoyance new U.S. secretary of state John Kerry, who, according to Morales, has referred to Latin America as "the back patio of the United States."

Federal agents sent to arrest Los Zetas die in plane crash

Guadalajara -
Mexican attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam has announced that six federal agents were killed in a plane accident Tuesday in Zacatecas, a state in north central Mexico, where they had gathered the day before to serve arrest warrants on three members of the notorious Los Zetas drug cartel. The plane crashed about noon, he said.

The dead included three law enforcement agents and the pilot, copilot and a mechanic. All were employees of the Procuraduría, Mexico's justice ministry. The three police officers were assigned to SEIDO, an agency which investigates drug cartel and organized crime activity.

Yucatán court orders recognition of gay marriage

*Updated Aug. 8*
Mérida, Yucatán -
In the first decision of its kind in this state, a Yucatán federal court has ordered local officials to recognize and register the marriage of two men, identified in legal filings only as Javier and Ricardo.

On Mar. 26 the men presented themselves before the Civil Registrar with all necessary documentation and asked to be married. The top official of the department refused, relying on the state's Family Code, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The applicants protested, citing a provision of Mexico's federal constitution which prohibits discrimination based on gender. The Registrar persisted in its refusal and declined to marry the men.

Mexico refused U.S. offer to "take out El Chapo Guzmán"

Military bosses were opposed, claims journalist - but "numerous politicians" know where drug lord is


*Updated May 2*
Guadalajara -
A Mexican journalist claims that during the administration of former president Felipe Calderón, the United States offered to capture or kill Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, the world's most wanted drug lord, in a "quick, easy surgical strike of 15 minutes. But the plan was rejected by Mexican military leaders, because only American personnel would have been allowed to participate in the operation."

Jesús Esquivel, a U.S. based writer for the Mexican paper Proceso, makes those allegations in his new book, The DEA in Mexico. One of Esquivel's main sources was José Baeza, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Mexican Supreme Court ruling expands abortion rights

On its second review of abortion in less than two years, SCJN gives a strong hint of where it's headed


*Updated May 19, 2014*
Guadalajara -
The Supreme Judicial Court of the Nation (SJCN) today struck down a state law which declared that life begins at conception, further moving the country towards elimination of most restrictions on access to abortion.

By an eight to three vote, the full court ruled unconstitutional and nullified legislation in Querétaro state, which "recognized, protected and guaranteed the right to life of every person from the moment of conception." Querétaro lawmakers had decided that "the products of fertilization form a human being, with corresponding legal rights until death." The SCJN rejected that determination as an arbitrary and insupportable legislative finding, which would prohibit abortion for virtually any reason.

Death in the Afternoon

"To show his nervousness was not shameful; only to admit it” - Ernest Hemingway, 1932

Aguascalientes, Sunday, April 28, 2013

Timothy Hallett Tracy makes first appearance in Venezuelan court, as prosecutors announce charges

Conspiracy, aiding and abetting at the heart of the case


*Updated June 5 - Tracy deported after all charges are dropped*
Guadalajara -
Timothy Hallett Tracy was transported from his jail cell to a Caracas courtroom this morning for formal arraignment, but the proceeding came to an abrupt halt after he asked for medication.

News services covering the proceeding reported that it was unclear what Tracy had requested, or what medical ailments he might be suffering. Court officials said Tracy would be clinically evaluated as soon as possible so that the hearing could continue, perhaps later today.

Grass won't grow in Yucatán, says Mexican general

But other questions remain unanswered

Mérida, Yucatán -
That's what Brigadier General Luis Manuel Vélez Fernández de Lara, commander of Military Zone 32, claimed earlier this week. He wasn't referring to bluegrass or bermuda, of course.

Gen. Vélez, who assumed his post in June 2012, was offering up theories on why there is so little narco violence in Yucatán. One of the reasons, according to Vélez, is that a major cash crop for drug traffickers simply doesn't thrive in the state. He said that the Yucatán's soil and climate provide less than optimal conditions for cannabis cultivation. "The few plants we occasionally encounter are generally of very poor quality," he noted.

A bankrupt Acapulco can't meet its payroll

"Tenemos la bahía más bella del mundo, pero sí, estamos quebrado
We have the most beautiful bay in the world, but yes, we're broke" - Mayor Luis Walton

Guadalajara -
Pity Luis Walton, the mayor of Acapulco in Mexico's southwestern Guerrero state.

After six young Spanish tourists were brutally gang raped in their beach house early on the morning of Feb. 4, Walton shed tears as he pleaded for assistance from president Enrique Peña Nieto. He acknowledged that the "image of Acapulco" was on the line.
Spanish tourists raped, robbed on Acapulco beach front
Acapulco's tearful mayor begs Enrique Peña Nieto for federal help.

But the world showed mayor Walton no mercy. The international press called Acapulco "a death zone," causing huge cancellations by spring breakers. Spain's Foreign Ministry repeatedly warned its citizen to stay out of Guerrero - and many other parts of Mexico - as narco violence raged on unabated in the region. Gunmen ambush police patrol in war torn Guerrero state, leaving nine officers dead.

Venezuela arrests U.S. national Timothy Hallett Tracy, claiming he was sent to lead "right wing destabilization"

Defendant's intent was to launch a civil war, Maduro government charges

*Updated June 5 - Tracy deported after charges are dropped*
Guadalajara -
In Caracas today the leftist government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro announced the arrest of U.S. citizen Timothy Hallett Tracy on charges he was preparing a "violent ambush against state authority."

Some news broadcasts referred to Tracy, 35, as "the gringo." Reports say he was born in Michigan in February 1978.

Guerrero on verge of civil meltdown, as teachers riot

Union activists attack in all directions, destroying every major political headquarters in state capital

*Updated May 4*
Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero -
Rioting school teachers and their supporters went on a rampage for several hours today, taking over sections of this capital city of southern Guerrero state while they indiscriminately attacked public facilities and the local headquarters of most of Mexico's major political parties.