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.

Malaysia's OLD drug war strategy

MGR's view

May 16, 2012 - Three Mexican brothers sentenced to die on rope for Malaysian drug crimes
Apr. 24, 2013 - U.S. drug czar releases "new strategy," focused on treatment and prevention

© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.

On eve of Obama visit to Mexico, U.S. drug czar releases "new strategy," focused on treatment and prevention

MGR News Analysis -
"An intelligent way to combat drug trafficking"

*Updated Aug. 29*
Guadalajara -
President Obama will arrive in Mexico next week - his first official visit since Enrique Peña Nieto took office Dec. 1 - and in advance of the trip Washington is busily advertising what it has billed as a new approach to combating drug usage in the United States.

The timing is not coincidental. The president has acknowledged that U.S. drug demand is responsible for damage done to Mexico and other Latin American nations. And a recent report by the U.S. Center for Investigative Reporting found that drug cartels regularly recruit U.S. nationals to haul their illicit merchandise across the border. Mexican drug traffickers find ready assistance in mules carrying American passports.

Six Lake Chapala police officers ordered to stand trial in kidnapping and attempted murder case

Linked to organized crime, prosecutors say

Guadalajara -
Six Chapala police officers have been bound over for trial on charges they kidnapped two men in that city and then turned them over to gunmen, who shot the victims and left them for dead.

Lake Chapala is 45 minutes southeast of Guadalajara. The neighboring community of Ajijic is home to thousands of expatriates, primarily Americans and Canadians.

Guadalajara's mayor: "I'm worried about security"

"Not the results we wanted . . ."


Guadalajara -
Mayor Ramiro Hernández García didn't mince words today when he candidly admitted that Guadalajara's rising level of violence concerns him.

"Security here is a worry. It's our job to look for ways to deal with the problem of insecurity in the city. From our first day in office we've focused on that issue, but we've not had the results we wanted."

Mexico's House of Deputies proposes dramatic change in rules regulating foreign ownership of real estate

"One if by land, two if by sea"

Puerto Progreso, Yucatán, January 2008

Guadalajara -
By an easy majority this afternoon, Mexico's lower legislative chamber, the Cámara de Diputados, approved a bill which would entirely eliminate restrictions on the foreign ownership of land close to the country's international borders, or along its vast coastlines.

The roll call was 356 in favor and 119 against, with two abstentions.