News Summary for June 1st, 2012

++ Mexico’s Central Bank,  “Banco de México”, for the second time this year auctioned off dollars to defend the peso in the midst of speculative attacks that led to a more than 2 percent devaluation of the peso. The peso exchange rate fell to 14.45 pesos per dollar… This is the lowest the peso has fallen since March 2009.

++ A national newspaper survey found a four-percentage point difference between PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto and his closest rival, leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

++ The PRI filed a complaint with the IFE against Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the PRD, the Labor Party and Citizens’ Movement accusing them of breaking campaign spending limits. This came in the wake of reports that aides to López Obrador met with businessmen to request six million dollars for his campaign.

++ Leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he has no problems with going to the IFE if he is called in… He declared that after a survey found him just four points under Peña Nieto with 34 per cent of voter´s preference against the frontrunner’s 38 per cent, that he was in a technical tie with the PRI candidate.

News Summary for May 30th, 2012

++ For the first time since the National Security Strategy was launched the number of homicides dropped at the national level according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.  Officials said that 56 per cent of homicides on a national level occur in seven states… Chihuahua tops the list followed by Nuevo León, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Mexico State, Jalisco and Tamaulipas.

++ As she headed to the final event closing the conference on transnational organized crime held in Cancún, Attorney General Marisela Morales, hailed the achievement that the Americas has, for the first time,  come together to create a common front to fight organized crime.

++ The United Nations representative against drugs and crime in Mexico, Antonio Maziteli, said that the Los Zetas drug cartel is the only criminal organization in the world that has changed its operation mode to control and take over land, using unfettered violence.

++ Guanajuato Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa said that the leader of the Knights Templar Celaya cell drug cartel arrested last weekend was identified as Giovanni Martínez García of Morelia, Michoacán. He was arrested with another three people in the wake of attacks on Sabritas firm depots in Salvatierra.

Invitación a conectarnos en LinkedIn

De Ana Maria Salazar Slack Vicepresident and Executive Director en Mexico Weekly Ciudad de México y alrededores, México Me gustaría añadirte a mi red profesional en LinkedIn. -Ana Maria Confirma que conoces a Ana Maria Estás recibiendo invitaciones a conectar. Date de baja © 2012, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct., Mountain View, CA 94043 EE.UU.

News Summary for May 28th, 2012

Meeting Saturday in Tlatelolco square, students belonging to the “I am 132”, movement reaffirmed their non-party stance, and agreed to promote the “NO to the Null Vote” on election day and called for the next presidential debate to be broadcast on national television.

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While in Zacatecas, PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto called on citizens not to fall into trickery, populism or violence in the campaigns.

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Meeting with women in Ciudad Juárez, PAN presidential candidate Josefina Vázquez Mota said her rivals are sending protesters to her campaign events because they are afraid she is gaining ground.

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On a tour of Oaxaca, leftist presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he admired the “I am 132” movement and rejected any attempt to manipulate them by political parties.

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New Alliance candidate Gabriel Quadri said that those who are accusing the National Teachers Union led by Elba Esther Gordillo, of holding back education in Mexico are launching empty attacks to discredit teachers…

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Es Mexico un pais en Guerra... Opinion de esta semana..

Estamos en guerra

México es un País en guerra, por lo menos esto señalan las escalofriantes cifras de seguridad y justicia que tenemos en este País. Como en toda guerra tenemos muertos, muchos muertos. Del total de 60 mil 420 muertes relacionadas con el crimen organizado durante los últimos cinco años, 48 mil 692 corresponden a 12 estados. Es decir, 12 entidades federativas donde se concentran 80.5% del total de crímenes. De esos muertos, 4 mil son menores de edad que han muerto a causa de la guerra contra el crimen organizado. Hay pocas democracias del mundo donde se puede encontrar fosas de 300 personas torturadas y asesinadas como lo que se encontró hace un año en San Fernando en el Estado de Tamaulipas.

Hay demasiados huérfanos en México. Sólo en Ciudad Juárez se calculan que hay 12 mil menores huérfanos por la violencia. Pero algunos dicen que tal vez 60 mil niños mexicanos se han quedado huérfanos por la violencia criminal desde finales de 2006, basándose en la suposición de que las más de 60 mil personas asesinadas, aunque la cifra oficial del Gobierno es de 3,700 huérfanos.

Una de las características de un país en guerra es que aparece una población importante de refugiados. En la primera encuesta nacional que mide este fenómeno, elaborada por la empresa Parametría, se encontró que sólo en el último año aproximadamente 700 mil personas han tenido que dejar atrás sus casas, empresas, tierras, cultivos, hasta sus animales para escapar de los violentos. Un estudio de la Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez sugiere que más de 230 mil personas han abandonado Juárez en los últimos tres años. De éstos, alrededor de 124 mil personas habrían buscado refugio en El Paso. Para continuar hacer click aqui.

Today`s Comment... Is Mexico at war?

My column today highlights the numbers that seem to indicate that Mexico is a country living a war-like situation.

Estamos en guerra

México es un País en guerra, por lo menos esto señalan las escalofriantes cifras de seguridad y justicia que tenemos en este País. Como en toda guerra tenemos muertos, muchos muertos. Del total de 60 mil 420 muertes relacionadas con el crimen organizado durante los últimos cinco años, 48 mil 692 corresponden a 12 estados. Es decir, 12 entidades federativas donde se concentran 80.5% del total de crímenes. De esos muertos, 4 mil son menores de edad que han muerto a causa de la guerra contra el crimen organizado. Hay pocas democracias del mundo donde se puede encontrar fosas de 300 personas torturadas y asesinadas como lo que se encontró hace un año en San Fernando en el Estado de Tamaulipas.

Hay demasiados huérfanos en México. Sólo en Ciudad Juárez se calculan que hay 12 mil menores huérfanos por la violencia. Pero algunos dicen que tal vez 60 mil niños mexicanos se han quedado huérfanos por la violencia criminal desde finales de 2006, basándose en la suposición de que las más de 60 mil personas asesinadas, aunque la cifra oficial del Gobierno es de 3,700 huérfanos.

Una de las características de un país en guerra es que aparece una población importante de refugiados. En la primera encuesta nacional que mide este fenómeno, elaborada por la empresa Parametría, se encontró que sólo en el último año aproximadamente 700 mil personas han tenido que dejar atrás sus casas, empresas, tierras, cultivos, hasta sus animales para escapar de los violentos. Un estudio de la Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez sugiere que más de 230 mil personas han abandonado Juárez en los últimos tres años. De éstos, alrededor de 124 mil personas habrían buscado refugio en El Paso.To continue reading click here.

News summary for May 25th, 2012

++ Hurricane Bud, a category two –three storms is  located at the southwest of Manzanillo, Colima… The Mexican Navy Secretariat reported that the storm has sustained winds of 167 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 204 kilometers per hour. The storm was expected to affect Guerrero, Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco with moderate to strong rains.

++ In anticipation of the storm schools were to be shut in the municipalities of Cihuatlán, La Huerta, Tomatlán and Cabo Corrientes, in the Jalisco southern coastline.　

++ PRI national chairman Pedro Joaquín Coldwell called on the National Party Justice Committee to meet and order the expulsion of former Tamaulipas governor Tomás Yarrington who is under investigation in the United States on charges of receiving money from drug lords.

++ The former head of operations at the Federal Electricity Commission, Néstor Félix Moreno Díaz, who is accused of corruption, will face his trial in prison after a federal court rejected a petition to allow him to be released..

++ Authorities arrested Lucio Moreno Silva, former official with the now defunct States Housing Institute, who is accused of fraud and abuse of public office. He was arrested at the Tapachula airport.

++Also arrested in Nuevo Leon the former governor of Baja California Sur, Narciso Agúndez Montaño who is being acussed of fraud. 

More news..

News Summary for May 23, 2012

++ During the Fourth National Security and Justice Forum President Felipe Calderón said that his comprehensive strategy against crime can be criticized, but the issue now is whether the next President will continue fighting organized crime. During this same meeting the head of the México S.O.S. organization Alejandro Martí thanked President Calderón for proposing criminal system reform however he pointed out that a large number of politicians oppose these same reforms.

++ An invited speaker to this Forum was Attorney General Marisela Morales said there is no reason not to attack corruption and to circumvent the professionalization of the Attorney General`s Office. Also participating was Supreme Court justice Sergio Valls Hernández called on legislators to move forward quickly with approval of the new Criminal Procedures Code and the Amparo or Legal Protection Law.

What happens to those that return..Report from Seguridad Total

On my weekly tv program "Seguridad Total TV" we analyzed the drama lived by migrants who are returned to Mexico through Baja... Check out this report click here