News Summary for the Week of the 14th - 20th

President Felipe Calderón stared the week by delivering his report of his first 45 days since taking office on December 1. At a press conference, he ruled out the need for budget adjustments due to plummeting oil prices. Discussing tax reforms in Congress, there was a price hike in basic goods and security operations were highlighted in Calderon´s first 45 days.

Talking of law and order issues, Calderón ended the week extraditing 10 prisoners, to the US, four of them considered to be drug cartel leaders: Osiel Cardenas, el “Guero” Palma and the Gilberto e Ismael Higuera Guerrero brothers.

Also this week Calderon implemented the so-called "First Job Generation Program” consisting in tax incentives to employers hiring first time employees.

In El Salvador, during a visit to celebrate the Salvadorean Anniversary of the 15th Peace Accords, Calderón stressed his government’s will to work with countries in the region on security, energy, infrastructure and immigration issues.

After widespread distress, last Thursday, a so called “Tortilla Price Stabilization Agreement” was signed by the government and companies linked to the tortilla industry in order to fix a 8.50 peso price per kilo. Subsidized milk prices were lowered by 50 cents after the Finance Secretary and legislators agreed to appoint 500 million pesos in resources taken from the Social Development secretary budget. Finance Secretary Agustín Cartsens said fluctuating milk prices will be subject to inflation. In turn PRD, senators announced they would sue companies such as Gruma, Maseca and Mimsa, due to monopolies on maize production. They also proposed a 30 percent increase of the minimum wage. Meanwhile, meat producers said the yellow maize increase of 15 percent also increased production costs, which will have a direct impact on consumers, according to the National Union of Cattle Producers.

The National Workers Union summoned every independent labor union to demonstrate and stop working as a protest against basic goods price rise. Agustín Rodríguez, a UNT leader said in case of prices hikes continuing they would convene strikes. In turn, the University Workers Union will hold a meeting next week in order to organize demonstrations and sit-ins at different higher education schools as a way to protests against limits on wage increases.

Approximately 2,000 state police took part in security operations in Guerrero against organized crime. However, the local police warned that if the Army confiscates their weapons, as it happened in Tijuana, police members would not work disarmed.
Meanwhile, in Tijuana 2, 300 police members demonstrated before they made their official statements before authorities. The demonstration, they said, was a protest for being disarmed and summoned for no specific reason.

In spite of three violent executions so far in January, Nuevo León governor Natividad González, did not consider necessary the "militarization" of his state.