Salem-News.com Mexico articles Page 27

Anarchy In The Streets of Mexico

Here in Mexico, people have a natural distrust of "authority". They are a step ahead of their American counterparts in realizing that those who seek and obtain power over others more often than not, do it for the wrong reasons.

(SAN BLAS, Mexico) - The last time I got a traffic ticket in the US, it was because my driver's license was expired by three days. This was in Silverton, Oregon.

When the officer handed me my ticket, I asked him why he could not let something so trivial go with just a warning, and he replied that "It is for your own good... We are here to protect you" with emphasis added on "you".

Special Report: High Noon in Ciudad Juarez?

How human rights figures into Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola Perez’s management in Ciudad Juarez will be a critical question.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - Mexico-US border police chiefs were at the top of the news in recent days.

In a bitter twist to an almost fairytale story that captured the imagination of the US and Mexican press, the 20-year-old police chief of a small town in the blood-soaked Juarez Valley, Marisol Valles, fled to the US seeking political asylum last week.

A Searing Indictment of American Government Officials in Mexico`s Drug Cartel Wars

95 years after Pancho Villa, the polarity of the threat against civilians reverses.

(SALEM, Ore.) - City and police officials in New Mexico are behind bars and facing federal charges for smuggling deadly weapons to Mexican drug cartel members.

It happened in Columbus; a small town associated with a historic border raid by Pancho Villa.

The Silencing of Women` Voices

In recent years, a third variant of violence, connected to organized crime disputes, has added an “extra” deadly element to an already violent scene.

(CIUDAD, Juarez) - On the second Tuesday in March; International Women’s Day 2011, the voices of many prominent human rights defenders will be absent from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Within the past 14 months, human rights campaigner Josefina Reyes, poet Susana Chavez and activist mother Marisela Escobedo all have been murdered, while Cipriana Jurado of the Worker Solidarity and Research Center and Paula Flores have been forced to flee the city.

U.S. Human Rights Policy is Self-Serving and Duplicitous: George Katsiaficas

In my view, the synchronicity of revolts and occupation of public space that began in 1968 is continually widening its circles. - George Katsiaficas

(TEHRAN / GWANGJU) - George Katsiaficas is a renowned university professor, sociologist, author and activist. He is a visiting American Professor of Humanities and Sociology at Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea where he teaches and does research on the 1980s and 1990s East Asian uprisings.

He specializes in social movements, Asian politics, the U.S. foreign policy, comparative and historical studies and has written numerous books in these fields.

The Slaughter of Children

The homicide rate in Ciudad Juarez and the state of Chihuahua in 2009 was nearly seven times greater than the Mexican national average for minors.

(CIUDAD, JUAREZ, Mexico) - In Ciudad Juarez and other parts of Mexico, the killings of children and young people are now routine headlines.

In particular, the last week has been a rough time for many families in the border city.

Ciudad Juarez Mourns, Organizes

In Ciudad Juarez, people have two stark choices: they can either sit back passively and wait to be killed or extorted or do something in spite of the dangers.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - Stunned by the murders of three people whose lives they tried to save, human rights activists in Ciudad Juarez vow nevertheless to press forward with their movement for justice.

On Saturday, February 26, Elias Reyes Salazar, his sister Magdalena Reyes and Luisa Ornelas, the wife of Elias Reyes, were laid to rest in the rural Juarez Valley south of the city.

Cops, Crime and Drugs

1,066 minors were slain in drug war-related incidents from December 2006 to December 2010. Increasingly targeted for killing, children also fell victim to cross-fire in the streets and slippery triggers at military checkpoints.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - Constant headlines about the security situation in Mexico rivet the US media. Statements, questions, policy assessments and more questions echo from Capitol Hill and the White House, feeding a constant video and audio stream of punditry.

Is Mexico a national security threat to the US? Does criminal violence constitute a narco-insurgency? Will drug cartels team up with Al Qaeda?

Suspects Arrested in Murder-for-Hire Plot Commissioned by Mexican Drug Cartel

"I applaud our agents and law enforcement partners for their good work in uncovering and thwarting this murder-for-hire plot" - California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris

(PALMDALE, Calif.) - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced the arrest today of three suspects in a foiled murder-for-hire plot commissioned by a Tijuana drug cartel.

Dozens of special agents from the California Department of Justice armed with a search warrant conducted the early morning raid at a residence in Palmdale, California.

Border Activists Under Siege

A demonstration against attacks on human rights activists and violence and militarization in general, will be held Friday at the Bridge of Americas at high noon.

(CIUDAD, Juarez Mexico) - The sister of a murdered woman from Ciudad Juarez is the latest activist in the border city to suffer an aggression against her person or property.