Sluggish labor market a victim of Mexico's economic backslide in 2013

"The notion of reducing poverty without economic growth and the generation of quality jobs is illusionary" - U.N. official in Mexico

Guadalajara -
Only one of three persons seeking work in this country was able to secure formal employment in 2013, Mexico's Banco Base has reported in an end of the year analysis. The nation needs to create at least 1.5 million jobs a year to keep up with demographic demands, but in 2013 fewer than half a million full time positions opened.

The poor report card will not surprise most, since Mexico's gross domestic product will be lucky to grow a paltry 1% this year. Official government reports will be out in about a month, and they're not expected to be pretty. Wal-Mart sales in free fall a good barometer of Mexican economy on the skids. The effects of a deaccelerating economy, which some say is in full recession, are being felt throughout the nation. Mexico's economic woes take a toll on Yucatán business.

Body count continues at newly discovered narco burial site in Guadalajara outskirts

Work of the Matazetas, authorities say

Zapopan County, Jalisco -
Technicians and forensic pathologists continue to work today at a mass burial site in this suburban county outside Guadalajara, where 17 bodies have been discovered since the beginning of the week. Authorities say all were most probably victims of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), better known here as Los Matazetas (the Zeta killers).

United Nations selects Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court for prestigious Defense of Human Rights Award

*Updated Dec. 10*
Guadalajara -
The Supreme Judicial Court of Mexico (SCJN) is one of several winners of the United Nations 2013 Defense of Human Rights Award, given out every five years by the world organization.

From his Havana jail cell, Alan Gross implores President Obama to free him

Translation: "Mr. President, please trade me for the Miami Five Four Three"

*Updated May 6, 2014*
Guadalajara -
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the arrest of former Maryland resident Alan Phillip Gross, who is serving a 15 year sentence for state security crimes in Cuba. In desperation, he reached out to the only person whom he says can help him: the president of the United States.

Convicted murderer of DEA agent writes Peña Nieto, asking for "due process" and protection from extradition

"I seek justice, not American vengeance"

Guadalajara -
Former Guadalajara Cartel boss and convicted murderer Rafael Caro Quintero, on the lam since a federal appeals court in Jalisco ordered his release from custody on technical grounds on Aug. 8, has appealed directly to Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, asking that he be spared an "absurd persecution" by the U.S. government.

Caro Quintero, 70, is wanted both by Mexico and the United States following a Nov. 6 decision by the Mexican Supreme Judicial Court which overturned the lower tribunal's ruling and and ordered that he be returned to prison. Caro Quintero was convicted of the February 1985 torture and murder of 37 year old Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar at a Guadalajara safe house.

Enrique Peña Nieto at one year: a marathon, not a sprint

MGR News Analysis -
The trail leads through Michoacán, and a cabinet member publicly frets over administration progress

Guadalajara -
In real life, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto is no slouch on the track.

Well, on the 10K anyway. How he'll do on the 42.195 kilometer course, to which he compared his presidency Sunday, is yet to be seen. Peña Nieto just completed 12 months of his 72 month term.

"I'm running a full marathon, and I've only done 7K," he told reporters over the weekend while asking for patience.

Federal congressional grounds sealed, as energy reform vote approaches and PRD exits Pact for Mexico

"No to the biggest robbery of all time" - Mexico City, Dec. 1

*Updated Dec. 1*
Guadalajara -
One year ago, on Dec. 2, 2012, then just inaugurated president Enrique Peña Nieto called upon leaders of Mexico's three major political parties to put aside partisan bickering and to work together for the common good, without traditional backroom wheeling and dealing. The much heralded Pact for Mexico was born as a result. But it had an all too short life. Late this week the left wing Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) announced it was withdrawing from the unprecedented 12 month old agreement.

Enrique Peña Nieto is "a marvelous husband"

Guadalajara -
Yesterday was the third wedding anniversary of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and telenovela (soap opera) star Angélica Rivera. They were wed in Mexico City on Nov. 27, 2010. It was the second trip down the aisle for both, but the Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the nation's capital gladly obliged them. Peña Nieto was a widower, and Riviera had procured a formal decree of annulment from her first husband. They met and began dating when EPN was still governor of Edomex (the State of Mexico).

Mexican Supreme Court rejects appeal of co-defendant in U.S. agent's 1985 murder case

Arrested in Puerto Vallarta in 1985, he'll remain in prison for another decade or more

Guadalajara -
In its second ruling this month on legal issues arising from the murder of a Drug Enforcement Agent in Guadalajara 29 years ago, the Supreme Judicial Court of Mexico today rejected an appeal filed by one of several perpetrators who claimed that he was tried in the wrong court.

DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar was executed in February 1985 on the orders of former Guadalajara Cartel leader Rafael Caro Quintero. On August 8 a federal appeals court in Jalisco freed Caro Quintero, 70, on technical grounds after he had served 28 years of a 40 year sentence. He walked out of prison at 1:30 a.m. the following day, and no one has seen him since. The death house on Lope de Vega.

Mexico's economic woes take a toll on Yucatán business

The White City has 45 less restaurants than a year ago, as recession hits hospitality sector hard

Mérida, Yucatán -
Innkeepers, restaurateurs and others in the hospitality industry in this capital city so heavily dependent on tourism won't be singing Auld Lang Syne with much enthusiasm 35 days from today. It has been a very difficult year for most, and yesterday a national restaurant association said the commercial challenges of 2013 have been the most severe members have seen since Mexico's economic crisis of 1994.

Revolution Day brings out everybody in Guadalajara

Mexico underwent a civil war in the early 20th century, which began on Nov. 20, 1910. The 103rd anniversary of the Mexican Revolution was remembered all over the nation yesterday and today. These are glimpses of Guadalajara's version on a gloriously sunny and warm day, where a little of everything was on display, no matter how tenuous the connection to the event being celebrated.

Mérida narco queen gets sentence reduction, is deported from Nicaragua

Mérida, Yucatán -
The Supreme Court of Nicaragua today authorized the deportation of 18 Mexicans who were convicted last December of narcotics trafficking and money laundering after entering the country in August 2012 while posing as reporters and technicians working for the huge Televisa network.

A convoy in which the defendants were traveling was stopped and searched by Nicaraguan customs officials and troops after it had crossed the Honduran border. They found $9.2 million USD stashed in several vehicles, all of which carried the Televisa logo. The network denied the Mexicans were its employees, and said it knew nothing of the caper.

Mass grave by Jalisco's Lake Chapala held 18 74 remains

Daily body count increases, with no end in sight

*Updated Jan. 15, 2014*
La Barca, Jalisco -
The discovery of mass burial sites in Mexico's 83 month old drug war is not an unusual event, but the largest one which has been found in 2013 is located just to the east of Lake Chapala, long a haven for American and Canadian expatriates and retirees.

A total of 18 bodies have been recovered in the past week from La Barca, a county and town of the same name which straddle the violent Jalisco-Michoacán state border. La Barca is less than a 90 minute drive from metropolitan Guadalajara.

Mexican deputies approve $344 billion USD 2014 budget

Guadalajara -
After nine hours of floor debate, Mexico's lower legislative chamber, the Cámara de Diputados, passed a 2014 federal operations budget early this morning.

By a vote of 466 to 18, with four abstentions, deputies authorized an expenditure of over four trillion pesos in fiscal 2014. At an exchange rate of 13 to 1, that represents about $343.6 billion dollars.

Mexico's far left MORENA achieves official recognition

The Left is alive and well in Mexico, and it comes in several flavors

Guadalajara -
Mexico's ultra left wing National Regeneration Movement (Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional, commonly known by its acronym MORENA) became a legitimate political party yesterday in Mexico City when it met minimum requisites set by the nation's Federal Election Insitute (IFE) for participation in federal and state contests.

MORENA was founded by two time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador in September 2012, after he split with a consortium of leftist parties which supported his second run for Mexico's highest office in last year's election. AMLO breaks with leftist coalition, forms new party. Despite a slow start, López Obrador confounded political prognosticators by capturing second place in 2012 with 32% of the vote, leaving conservative National Action Party (PAN) contender Josefina Vázquez Mota - Mexico's first female presidential candidate from a major party - far afield.