National labor strike fizzles in Guadalajara and elsewhere, as federal education reforms take effect across the nation

MGR News Analysis -
An embarrassing turnout by protesting teachers in Mexico's second largest metro

*Updated Oct. 2*
Guadalajara -
Teacher unions have been making waves and making news in Mexico since Aug. 19, when the most radical of two major syndicates staged a state-wide walkout in Oaxaca, leaving a million kids without classes on the first day of the new school year. Teachers still have not returned to their classrooms.

Former San Francisco millionaire, philanthropist dies in Vallarta prison, 13 years after pedophilia charges filed

"These tourists live double lives. They come here to live out fantasies."

Guadalajara -
U.S. national Thomas White died in a Puerto Vallarta prison early today, the Jalisco state attorney general has reported.

More than a decade ago White was a millionaire businessman and philanthropist enjoying a life of luxury in San Francisco. But in the early 2000s his world of privilege came crashing down, when he was hit with civil lawsuits filed by young men who alleged White had sex with them while they were minors.

Mexican Federal Police and military units capture 26 Zetas in Nayarit, northeast of Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco -
Security forces captured 26 members of the Los Zeta drug cartel early Saturday in Tepic, the capital of the Pacific coast state of Nayarit.

The operation was carried out by Mexican marine and army units assisted by the Federal Police, authorities said.

Tepic is about 100 miles from Puerto Vallarta.

The 26 suspects were heavily armed, according to the state prosecutor's office, which said they are Zetas. Most are reported to be from the border state of Tamaulipas, where Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel are locked in a violent struggle for control of U.S. bound drug trafficking routes. Mexican army captures leader of Gulf Cartel.

Ambush of Mexican army leaves 11 dead near Acapulco

Chichihualco, Guerrero -
Drug traffickers attacked a Mexican army unit in rugged central Guerrero state on Friday, and the ensuing gun battle left 11 persons dead.

Authorities said an infantry batallion on duty in Military Zone 35 stumbled upon a field of opium poppy under guard by the men, who opened fire on the troops. They responded, killing 10 of the assailants.

Peña Nieto picks up some cash in St. Petersburg

"Can you believe it? - I just got $500 million outta this guy!"

Guadalajara -
President Enrique Peña Nieto is returning to Mexico City at this hour, after a whirlwind trip to Russia where he attended the G-20 Summit.

Many problems await him at home, but at least he's not coming back empty handed. Peña Nieto got his personal chit chat with president Obama, who promised to look into that little matter about Peña Nieto's e-mail account. "That disturbs me," assured Obama. Then the Mexican president returned the favor by saying of the simmering Syrian crisis, "We condemn the use of chemical weapons, and we respect the right of every nation to respond as it deems appropriate." There's nothing like bilateral cooperation in times of trouble, especially between two old friends. Maybe the U.N. Security Council and most of the world is opposed to Obama's plan to launch missiles against the Damascus regime, but America can always count on its loyal ally Mexico.

And then there's the money, which is invariably a good subject for press releases.

School closings spread to Yucatán, but Peña Nieto says "there's no turning back"

Strikers plan to march along Paseo de Montejo tomorrow

*Updated*
Sept. 12 - Yucatán teachers fold, return to classes
Sept. 11 - National labor strike fizzles in Guadalajara

Mérida,Yucatán -
Mexico's three week old school teacher strike has spread to the Yucatán peninsula, where one union has shut down dozens of schools idling at least 50,000 students, and another will march down the city's famed Paseo de Montejo Saturday.

The powerful Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), which has forced the closing of most primary and secondary schools in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, claims that its members have darkened classrooms in 326 schools in Yucatán until further notice. The state board of education said yesterday that the actual number is perhaps half that. About 1,000 CNTE loyalists demonstrated outside the municipal palace on Thursday.

Teachers' union ups the ante, calling indefinite strike in Chiapas; Oaxaca governor holds tough and refuses to pay dissidents; major protests scheduled for Mexico City

Educators' syndicate refuses to yield to overwhelming votes in both houses of Mexico's congress

Images by MGR's photo affiliate in Mexico City, José Luna

*Updated Nov. 25*
Guadalajara -
Despite lopsided votes in favor of sweeping educational reforms this week in Mexico's senate and house of deputies, the powerful Coordinadora Nacional de los Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) called a strike today in Chiapas, a state bordering Oaxaca where the CNTE work stoppage began three weeks ago, shutting down 13,000 schools. Teacher strikes idle a million students in Oaxaca.

Enrique Peña Nieto will speak directly to Barack Obama about NSA electronic spying in Mexico

On his way to Russia, Mexico's president calls U.S. e-mail snooping "espionage"


*Updated Sept. 6*
Guadalajara -
Two days after a U.S. journalist based in Rio de Janeiro said he has written evidence that the National Security Agency conducted electronic surveillance against Mexico's president in June 2012, tapping into the then PRI candidate's personal email account, Enrique Peña Nieto says he plans to take up the issue with president Obama this week when the two meet at the G-20 Summit in St. Petersburg. Peña Nieto made his comments to the press during a brief stop in Canada, on his way to the former tsarist capital of Russia. The economic summit begins tomorrow.

Mexico's Senate passes education reform bill, as labor unions threaten further civil disobedience in capital

Teaching jobs will no longer go to the highest bidder - or pass by inheritance

Guadalajara -
In Mexico City this evening the Senate passed the same educational reform package approved by the lower chamber of congress on Sunday night. Mexico's House of Deputies passes education reforms.

The legislation, which was carried with broad mutlti-partisan support from the political far left to right, will modernize an archaic system of teacher evaluation which has enabled powerful labor unions to completely dominate primary and secondary education for decades in some regions of the country.

Mexico roars back over U.S. spying on Peña Nieto

Ambassador Wayne gets taken to the woodshed

Guadalajara -
Late this afternoon Mexico's Chancery announced the government's "energetic condemnation" of electronic surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency against president Enrique Peña Nieto, which an American journalist today said had occurred before the 2012 elections. Guardian journalist: U.S. spied on Enrique Peña Nieto.

Guardian journalist: U.S. spied on Enrique Peña Nieto before he was elected

It's not nice to read the president's private communications


Guadalajara -
On the same day president Enrique Peña Nieto delivered his first state of the nation address to Mexico, the American journalist who revealed details of the U.S. National Security Agency's PRISM electronic surveillance program three months ago reported that Peña Nieto was a target of NSA spying before he was elected July 1, 2012.

Peña Nieto's email account was tapped into and some communications were read, according to a story published today in Brazil and being carried at this hour by Spanish press sources in Mexico.

Peña Nieto delivers his first State of the Union address

Domestic security, economic claims will be open to many challenges

*Updated Sept. 3*
Guadalajara -
In a prototype state of the nation speech summarizing claimed achievements of his nine month old Institutional Revolutionary Party government, president Enrique Peña Nieto reminded the congress and the nation this morning that his promise was "not merely to administer Mexico, but to change it." EPN takes oath, but not all applauded.

The president arrived promptly at a press facility on the grounds of Los Pinos, Mexico's White House, just before 10:00 a.m. He spoke for about 65 minutes to an audience which included his cabinet, key legislative leaders, judicial ministers of the Supreme Court and foreign dignitaries.

Mexican presidents usually deliver their mandatory state of the nation address, known here as El Informe, in the official meeting place of the lower legislative chamber, the Cámara de Diputados. But two weeks ago the entire federal congress was dislodged from San Lázaro, Mexico's Capitol Hill, by striking school teachers, so for security reasons the presidential report was delivered within the safety of the executive grounds. PRI government shows no resolve against thug teachers.

Mexico's House of Deputies passes education reforms

*Updated Sept. 3*
Guadalajara -
Mexico's Cámara de Diputados, the lower chamber of congress, approved a package of sweeping educational reforms late Sunday evening on an easy vote of 390 to 69.

The reforms are based upon federal constitutional amendments which were passed earlier this year.

The most critical measure, and the one most resisted by teachers' unions, will establish a federal agency for the evaluation of educators. The agency's primary duty will be to set uniform minimum teaching qualifications applicable across Mexico, and to administer periodic competency and preparedness examinations based on national, rather than local or regional, standards.

Manuel López Obrador: Peña Nieto has been a "disaster"

AMLO still firing in all directions

Guadalajara -
On the eve of Enrique Peña Nieto's state of the nation address to congress and 118 million Mexicans, two time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) government's first nine months in office have been disastrous.

On a visit to Veracruz state, the firey leftist leader said nothing has changed because Peña Nieto is following the same policies of the center right National Action Party (PAN) administration which it replaced on Dec. 1.

"If things were bad before, then they've only gotten worse. Peña Nieto has done nothing," López Obrador told an audience.

Narco attacks on security forces continue in Zacatecas

Zacatecas, Zacatecas - In the central Mexican state of Zacatecas, Saturday evening brought renewed attacks by regional insurgents against local security forces in the community of Guadalupe.

One police officer was killed, as was an assailant. Two other police officers were seriously injured in the 10:30 p.m. ambush.

On July 11, a motorized batallion of Mexican infantry was attacked in the same area. None of the troops were injured, but they killed all 13 of a heavily armed commando team, whom authorities say belonged to the powerful Gulf Cartel. Mexican army kills 13 sicarios in Zacatecas shootout.