Bad booze from Belize, say Quintana Roo health officials

*Updated June 15*
Cancún, Quintana Roo -
Adulterated liquor sold to unsuspecting consumers, including foreign tourists, is a growing problem along the Rivera Maya, according to state health officials.

MGR first reported on the issue May 17. Cancún bars push deadly drinks.

Investigators say most of the product originates in the Federal District, the State of Mexico (Edomex) and Belize, which has a common border with Q.R.

Cancún cops reject American coed's rape claim, but not before stripping the men she accused - of everything

Tourist was raped . . . kind of

Cancún, Quintana Roo -
Oh, the troubles in Margaritaville. They just don't end (Two Canadians, two Mexicans and a bar tab of $9,415).

An 18 year old American tourist reported she was raped by five Uruguayans at the Grand Oasis Hotel - the scene of many a sad tale - but the investigation will be dropped after the young woman told police she was on vacation, and could't be bothered by time consuming legal procedures. Especially ones in Spanish.

Aeroméxico: Boeing 787 Dreamliner is on the way

Guadalajara -
Mexico's flagship carrier Aeroméxico announced today that it will take delivery of its first Boeing 787-8 on Aug. 15.

Almost a year ago, the company signed a contract for $11 billion dollars with the Everett, Washington manufacturer. In July 2012 Aeroméxico purchased 10 Dreamliners, together with other aircraft, as it embarked on a program to upgrade an aging fleet. Aeroméxico places huge order with Boeing. The company later decided to acquire an additional nine.

PRI mayoral candidate assassinated in Chihuahua

Guadalajara -
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate for mayor of Guadalupe y Calvo in Chihuahua state has been found executed, governor César Duarte Jáque reported this afternoon.

Jaime Orozco Madrigal, 40, was kidnapped from his home by an armed commando team Monday evening. His bullet riddled body was found about noon today. Investigators say Madigral was shot 13 times with cartridges most likely fired from an AK-47, the drug war weapon of choice for cartels and organized crime operatives.

59% of Mexicans remain trapped in underclass

Government numbers are not encouraging


Guadalajara -
For the first time ever, Mexico's National Statistical and Geographical Institute (INEGI) has reported on social and economic divisions within this country of 118 million people.

The agency says that 59.1% of the population, who occupy 55.1% of the nation's households, are part of the lower class.

INEGI did not apply a rigid income test in its analysis. Instead, it defined membership in la clase baja as including anyone who would likely be cast into long term poverty if confronted by the loss of a principal breadwinner, a serious illness, hyperinflation or a significant national recession.

As peso continues its slide, Peña Nieto puts a trillion of them on the table

PRI primes the pump: "Commercial credit must become accessible and cheap"

Guadalajara -
In an effort to increase private sector commercial credit and stimulate Mexico's flagging economic growth, president Enrique Peña Nieto said yesterday his government will make available one trillion pesos to the nation's development bank.

"Esto es un millón de millones de pesos, otorgados e inducidos por la Banca de Desarrollo del Estado Mexicano," the president announced to thundering applause at the executive mansion in Mexico City. "That's a million million pesos in direct loans and loan guarantees to the Bank."

At this morning's exchange rate of 12.85, the government funds are worth more than $77.82 billion USD.

88.5 million pesos, a red Ferrari and a Get out of Jail card

Ex-treasurer of Tabasco who may have gorged on public funds audaciously asked U.S. for "political asylum," but was denied

José Manuel Sáiz Pineda was hauled into court Sunday
Guadalajara -
Graft and political corruption are alive and well in Mexico. And far too often, the subject of little or no punishment.

Last month the former governor of Tabasco state, Andrés Granier, was much in the news in this country for his Imelda Marcos style clothes buying habits. Granier's six year term as Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) boss of Tabasco ended in December, and within days the new Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) governor reported that, coincidentally, state coffers were almost empty.

Interpol joins search for Ukrainian woman in Yucatán murder case

Mérida, Yucatán -
The Yucatán state prosecutor said this week that Maryna Burakova remains the principal suspect in the stabbing death of her husband, Oleksandr Batychko, whose body was found in late December near the town of Valladolid and the famous Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá.

Now the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, has joined Mexico's thus far unsuccessful search for her.

The couple traveled from Ukraine to the Yucatán peninsula in late 2012, renting a car in Playa del Carmen. Maps and other items found in the vehicle suggested they were headed west to visit the ruins, and probably to Mérida, two hours away.

Mexico records another month with less than a thousand drug war deaths, a pleased government reports

Still, 6,247 have already died in drug war violence on Peña Nieto's watch


Guadalajara -
The six month old administration of PRI president Enrique Peña Nieto considers any month with less than a thousand drug war deaths to be worth bragging about, and it did so today with the release of May's official report.

How do you say "Xi Jinping" in Spanish?

Guadalajara -
Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, who is famous/ infamous for his . . . George Bushisms, pulled another one yesterday.

This week he's hosting Chinese president Xi Jinping. The visit is a very public affair, and the two have been busy announcing a wide array of deals designed to enhance financial and commercial ties between the two countries. China is thrilled at the prospect of expanding its Latin markets, and Mexico at the prospect of reselling many items to North America, albeit with different packaging.

In any case, one of the lesser reported side stories of the big event is that the Chinese president got a name change right after he arrived in Mexico City. He now calls himself Juan Yin Juan Yin, and the clip below proves it. Xi Jinping may be Chinese by birth, but he's mexicano de corazón.

Mexican tourism posts strong four month recovery

Half of all arrivals were Americans, followed by Canadians

Guadalajara -
Two weeks ago Mexico received some disappointing news from the the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The country fell to 24th place in 2012 measured by gross travel receipts, and to 13th place measured by the number of tourist arrivals. That was a drop of one step in the case of the former, and three in the case of the latter (both compared to 2011). Mexico drops another notch in gross tourism receipts.

Vicente Fox: "I'd raise marijuana, were it legal"

"It's good for you," claims ex-prez. "It may even cure cancer."


Guadalajara -
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox wants to take marijuana trafficking out of the hands of infamous cartel boss El Chapo Guzmán . . . and put it into his own.

Fox, who served as the National Action Party's first president from 2000 to 2006, made the announcement today at the Vicente Fox Center, his nonprofit org which is headquartered in Guanajuato state.

Last week Fox was in the United States lobbying hard for cannabis legalization. This week he's carrying the same message to fellow Mexicans.

Fox said that if marijuana is legalized, he would not hesitate to enter into every phase of the business - cultivation, marketing and distribution. He told a press conference that Mexico should "industrialize" cannabis production and become a major exporting nation.

Venezuela deports American Timothy Hallet Tracy after dropping espionage and sedition charges

"The gringo has been expelled"


*Updated June 6*
Guadalajara -
U.S. citizen Timothy Hallet Tracy, who was arrested in Caracas on April 25 after the government of president Nicolás Maduro accused him of trying to launch a civil war, has been deported.

The 35 year old Michigan native, a self-styled documentary film maker, was taken into custody on charges he was preparing a "violent ambush against state authority." His arrest came only days after Maduro won a narrow victory at the ballot box to replace former president Hugo Chavez, who died Mar. 5. Venezuela arrests U.S. national, claiming he was sent to lead "right wing destabilization."

U.S. Marine kidnapped in Tamaulipas is still missing

Guadalajara -
A U.S. Marine who went missing in violent Tamaulipas state last month is the subject of an intense hunt by Mexican and American authorities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked law enforcement in this country to step up their efforts.

Armando Torres III, 27, disappeared at his family's ranch near La Barranca, Tamaulipas on May 14.

YouTube video posting by Peña Nieto ex-lover is sure to embarrass new president, and fascinate Mexico

President sued for child support but ignores judge's order to respond, alleges mother of their child


Guadalajara -
Once upon a time, before he became the most powerful man in Mexico, Institutional Revolutionary Party president Enrique Peña Nieto was something of a Don Juan. His affairs, which he publicly acknowledged in January 2012 just before last year's presidential campaign began in earnest, produced two illegitimate children. And although the new PRI chief executive says he's now "devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus," he may have to answer to the law of men as well. Enrique Peña Nieto admits: "I was unfaithful" - and bares all during newspaper interview.