Area417

News Shorts: Mexico

Illegal aliens may not be the only thing crossing our southern border.  Dengue fever, a viral illness transmitted by mosquitoes, is a growing problem, particularly in Latin America.

Overall dengue cases have increased by more than 600 percent in Mexico since 2001, and worried officials are sending special teams to tourist resorts to spray pesticides and remove garbage and standing water where mosquitoes breed ahead of the peak Easter Week vacation season.

...More alarming is that a deadly hemorrhagic form of the disease, which adds internal and external bleeding to the symptoms — is becoming more common. It accounts for one in four cases in Mexico, compared with one in 50 seven years ago, according to Mexico's Public Health Department.

There is no drug to cure the disease, but proper treatment, including lots of rest and fluids, reduces fatalities to less than 1%. (Link: Dengue surging in Mexico, Latin America, Associated Press)

***

In Monterrey, Mexico, dueling drug cartels killed two police officers along with six other people in the ongoing war to control smuggling routes into the U.S.

The battle has led to beheadings, grenade attacks and execution-style killings across Mexico and the violence has taken a particularly heavy toll on police.

Mexican authorities think that the battle front may have moved into Monterrey from Nuevo Laredo, where hundreds have been murdered in battle for control of the lucrative, illegal drug market. (Link: 8 die in northern Mexico killing rampage, Houston Chronicle)

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In a plan that would make any U.S. liberal proud, authorities in Mexico City are offering to trade computers for large-caliber firearms.

In an ambitiously noble effort to cut down the enveloping surge of drugs-related violence running amok throughout the crime-addled streets of Mexico City, chief of police Joel Ortega has announced that anyone prepared to surrender a high-caliber weapon, such as a machine gun, will receive a free computer in exchange. And, perhaps in the interests of scale and fair play, anyone turning in a smaller calibre handgun will be presented with either cash remuneration or an Xbox videogame console.

Rather than point out just how absurd the plan is, I think I'll just say "good luck with that." (Link: Mexico City offering computer hardware for surrendered guns, Monsters and Critics)

Mexican Women Say Close the Borders!

Dear friends in the United States....
We are Mexican women from villages in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero.
Our brothers and husbands have left us for work in the US.
We support closing of the US-Mexico border to illegal entry.
We did not want our men to leave and we want them to return to us.
As we struggle as women, against the difficulty of our situation,
we focus all effort on building a business to sustain ourselves and our children.
But we need the help of our husbands and our brothers
to re-unite our families and to help us develop economic opportunity
in the traditional fashion jewelry production industry that is the heritage of our parents.
Please close the US Border to illegal migration and send our men home to us.
Thank you.
Best wishes from Mexico to all persons of good will.
We should continue to be friends and respect each other.
Atentamente,
Eusebia Flores
Artcamp Artesanas Campesinas
Tecalpulco, Municipio de Taxco de Alarcon; Guerrero, Mexico
please click on this link     http://www.artcamp.com.mx/venga/
to learn more about the village women of Mexico
and how we are creating a hopeful future for our children
by calling on our traditions and creativity and willingness to work.
Best wishes,  friends,  from Mexico!
Contact:  Eva Albavera Viveros

Iraqis Caught Trying Enter U.S. Illegally

Eleven Iraqis were arrested in Mexico for trying to enter the U.S. (through San Diego) with fake passports.

Investigators said they determined the fake passports had been issued in Turkey and Cyprus, the newspaper said. During interrogation, group members said they had each paid as much as $10,000 for the passports and new identities that said they were Christian refugees fleeing the war in Iraq.

Gee, President Bush, do you suppose these people were coming to clean toilets and work in your garden?

While this particular group may have been (or may not have been) "friendlies," it is clear that our wide-open borders continue to pose a danger.

Link to United Press International - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Mexico In The News

23 women charge Mexican police with rape and sexual abuse. A government spokesman counters that none of the women have submitted to medical exams to gather evidence of rape. Link: CNN.com

Zapatista leader says Mexico is in a "state of rage and social indignation." Link: Mercury News

One journalist's solution to Mexico problem--invasion. Link: Navasota Examiner

10 years of big oil revenues with nothing to show for it. Link: Reuters

Politics--Mexico's lefties sound a great deal like America's left. "It admires Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, wants to repeal NAFTA, renationalize parts of the economy and spend money extravagantly." Link: LA Times

Mexican Police Search For Compadres

A look into our future?

Thousands of riot police firing tear gas forced their way into a rebellious town near Mexico City on Thursday to hunt for fellow officers taken hostage in a riot that left at least one person dead.

Scores of police clad in body armor sweeping into the fractious farming town of San Salvador Atenco, 15 miles north of Mexico City, and hauling off bleeding protesters amid peasants armed with sticks, machetes and Molotov cocktails.

Violence exploded in the area on Wednesday when police tried to evict unlicensed flower traders from a market. A 14-year-old boy was killed in the riots, whose televised images raised concerns of stability in a presidential year.

Link: Mexico police take rebel town - Yahoo! News.

I'm Sorry, Mexico Won't ALLOW Us To Do That

The Mexican Government is once again throwing a hissy-fit over the fact that the U.S. is making get-tough noises over illegal immigration.

...angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, (the Mexican government) pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it. Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the Mexican government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration.

Mexican Foreign Secretary, Luis Derbez said that "Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow... this wall."

Most telling of all is this quote from a resident of Zacatecas:

We learned to believe in the United States. We have a binational life," he said of Zacatecas, a state that has been sending migrants north for more than a century. "It isn't just a feeling of rejection. It's against what we see as part of our life, our culture, our territory.

Mexico won't allow us to protect our sovereignty? Sounds like fightin' words to me.

H/T But Thats Just My Opinion
Link: BREITBART.COM - Mexico Promises to Block Border Wall Plan.
Linked with: basil's blog

Mexico sends aid to Katrina victims

A Mexican army convoy  is headed to Houston with a variety of supplies for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The convoy includes two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a day, three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water treatment plants and 15 trailers of bottled water, blankets and applesauce. It also includes military engineers, doctors and nurses.

H/T Basils Blog

Small-scale drugs sales up 700% in Mexico

Vicente Fox has implied that if demand would dry up in the U.S.,  Mexicans wouldn't be selling them. Guess he didn't see this coming:

In a report released in March, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) stated that the rise in small-time drug dealing in Mexico is alarming.

The agency reported that drug cartels are increasingly interested in creating a strong internal market in Mexico and are no longer so heavily focused on smuggling drugs into the United States.

The INCB observed a marked rise in drug use in Mexico, especially among women.

The article states that illicit drug sales are up 700% around Mexico City.

 

Mexico tells U.S. to reopen consulate in Nueveo Laredo

Vicente Fox's chief spokesman insists that the U.S. reopen its consulate in Nuevo Laredo, saying that conditions in this border town never warranted the closing to begin with.

In a statement announcing the consulate would be closed last week, Garza made reference to "continued violence along the border" and an "alarming incident" recently, in which a group of men arriving in several vehicles fired machine guns, grenades and a rocket launcher at a home neighbors say was a safe house for drug smugglers in southern Nuevo Laredo.

Surprised and angered by the move, Mexico has called the ambassador's decision extreme and said it "doesn't correspond to reality."

Here's a reality check: Since January, due to warring drug gangs, over 100 people have died violent deaths; 15 of these were police officers. One new police chief was mowed down within a few hours of being sworn in.

For more on the violence in Nuevo Laredo, readU.S. Closes Nuevo Laredo, Mexico Consulate, Mexico deploys federal forces against organized crime along border, Mexican special forces take control in border town,  and Killings continue in embattled border city despite federal force.

Link: HoustonChronicle.com - Mexico wants U.S. to reopen consulate.

U.S. Renews Travel Advisory for Mexico

Due to continuing violence in Mexico, particularly along the border, the U.S. State Dept. has issued a travel advisory, which makes the government of Mexico none to happy. Link: U.S. Renews Travel Advisory on Mexico - Yahoo! News.

Mexico's First Lady criticized over spending habits

Marta Sahagun de Fox  is donating part of her expensive wardrobe  in an effort to deflect criticism over the amount she spends on designer clothes.

This isn't the first time finances have gotten her in hot water. Her charitable foundation saw donations drop after it was revealed that administrative costs outstripped money disbursed to the needy. See earlier post: Mexican 1st Lady's foundation woes and see also this Washinton Times article.

 

Mexico crime fight sparks police brutality charges

And yet more corruption, courtesy of Mexico  Mexico crime fight sparks police brutality charges.

Masked union enforcers storm Mexican newspaper office while police stand and watch

Masked men, bearing ax handles, forced employees of Noticias from the their offices and destroyed office equipment. Two employees remain missing.
Masked enforcers evict newspaper workers - Americas - MSNBC.com.

Journalism Is a Dicey Job In Mexico

At least 16 Mexican journalists have either been killed or disappeared since year 2000. Most of these cases appear to be linked to the drug cartels.

The attorney general's office has set up a hot line to report threats. Article at HoustonChronicle.com - Mexico AG starts hot line for threatened journalists.

President Is Beginning To Get The Message On Border Control

And the message he's hearing is better enforcement needs to come first. Read it here.

Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin notes that workplace enforcement of immigration laws has fallen through the cracks under this administration.
 

Nuevo Laredo Rages On

Former members of military intel battalion now side with drug traffickers. Read it here.

A relative, who was stationed at Ft. Huachuca,  says that these guys have some  serious fire-power. He  saw the constant activity at the border, with Mexican police sometimes escorting  the drug traffickers across the border.

He had seen the Minutemen when they were observing the border, said they  were endangering their lives, and  noted  that this was a job for well-armed, trained individuals. While I agreed with his point, I told him that the Minutemen were drawing attention to the border problem by their presence and may be the only way we get those well-trained and armed people manning our borders.

The Battle for Nuevo Laredo Continues

Mexican federales, having moved into town last week, are still warring with local drug gangs for control of Nuevo Laredo. Read it here.

Border Bust

Mexican national caught trying to take two rare white tiger cubs into Mexico.Link: HoustonChronicle.com - Border Patrol discovers tiger cubs in truck.

the battle for nuevo laredo, mexico

A local says "it is a city without law."  The local police are being investigated for ties to organized crime/drug trafficking. You can read about it here.

Mexican 1st Lady's foundation woes

According the the article, administrative expenses exceeded aid to the poor. Does Marta Fox really need 32 staff members? Link: americas.org - Marta Fox's charity sees donations fall after expos�.