News Summary for Abril 21th, 2008

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck Mexico City this Sunday in the evening. No damage or victims were reported. The National Seismological Service said the epicenter was located 38 kilometers southwest of Teloloapan, Guerrero…
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After leftist opposition lawmakers ended their sit-in of Congress on Friday, PAN and PRI senators warned that the Broad Progressive Front could carry out the same action if an extra period of sessions is approved.

Speaking at the PAN special national assembly President Felipe Calderón said that “those who wanted to break institutions failed” and said that the results of energy reform will be more visible in many years.

Former PRD presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador launched the second phase of his movement, the “pacific civil resistance in defense of petroleum” which includes doubling the number of brigade members, a tour of all of Mexico and possibly a referendum…

In more on the PRD election fracas, the technical electoral committee must rule on several complaints filed by the teams of both Alejandro Encinas and Jesús Ortega…
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The PAN special national assembly approved allowing non-party members running in elections as candidates, but polls or surveys continue to be barred in the choice of candidates…
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And the drug battles continue… On Saturday three shootouts between different bands of narcotics traffickers left 13 dead and 5 wounded in Tijuana… Eight suspects were arrested and authorities seize 21 vehicles, 54 weapons and munitions…
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And two people were killed, one wounded and six arrested after military troops engaged in a gun battle with suspected members of “Los Zetas” in Calatrava, in the municipality of Palenque, in Chiapas.
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Meanwhile, in Oaxaca, several state Attorney General’s Office officials and experts, including Romeo Ruiz – the cousin of governor Ulises Ruiz – were arrested by the army and federal police agents in connection to the disappearance of two members of the Popular Revolutionary Army, the EPR, Edmundo Reyes Amaya and Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sánchez.
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Some 1,200 residents of Jalisco took part in a march to protest over rude language used by governor Emilio González Márquez as well as huge donations of public funds made to associations linked to the Catholic Church.