Mexico
Kidnappings in Mexico up by 9 percent
The number of kidnappings in Mexico grew by 9.1 percent in the first five months of the year, according to figures published this week. The statistics, from the anti-kidnapping branch of the attorney general’s office (Procuraduria General de la Republica, PGR, in Spanish), will serve to justify the fear currently gripping the country over insecurity […]
Mini-skirts banned to stop “provoking” rape in Mexico
A Mexican university has banned miniskirts and other “provocative clothing” in an effort to stop “provoking” violent attacks against women. Héctor Melesio Cuen Ojeda, rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, said that minskirts worn by many of the pupils are an invitation for attacks both inside and outside the university, according to El Universal. […]
Slideshow: Immigration explored as a concept in Mexico City exhibition
The video and photography exhibition Laberinto de Miradas – Laberinth of Glances – that opened in Mexico City last month in the Cultural Center of Spain – features the kind of images that we are used to seeing in relation to immigration. But the show also looks at migration and immigration as a concept, broadening […]
Waiting for a man to die
Photo: An empty bench outside the American Embassy on Tuesday. There was no candlelit vigil for Medellin in a city still on shock from other violent crime. Deborah Bonello / MexicoReporter.com On Tuesday, I waited for a man to die. Even though several people die every minute of every day, I’ve never known the name […]
Video: Raising of the flag
Following last week’s filming session in the Zócalo, where I was denied the chance to film closeup to the military whilst they were raising the ntaional flag, I managed to edit the move into a decent summary of the ritual. This film was made for La Plaza, and you can see it here on this […]
Mexico’s HIV-positive orphans look to the future
Oscar, above, is 10 years old and his favorite subject at school is math. He wants to be a lawyer when he grows up. Oscar also is HIV-positive, and he lost his parents to complications with the virus two years ago. He lives in a community of children here at La Casa de la Sal […]
Filming the raising of the flag in Mexico City
Every morning in Mexico City’s Zocalo, the country’s military raise the national flag in a ceremony enjoyed by tourists and Mexicans alike. Many of the Mexican bystanders on their way to work stop and salute as the flag goes up. Sometimes it goes up at 6, sometimes at eight, and it usually comes down around […]
Video: Mexican public give their view on oil reform
I headed down to Mexico City’s Zocalo on Sunday to get some video for the Los Angeles Times. There was a slow but steady flow of Mexicans arriving to register their view on the current debate in Mexico over whether to allow private investment into the state-owned oil company, Pemex. The left-leaning opposition party the […]
Tijuana: Reflections on the Border
“TJ? Really?” was the response from most people last week when they learned I was heading down south of San Diego for a research trip. They were right to be cautious. I live in Mexico City — one of the biggest, baddest towns around — but still gave Tijuana a second thought. The world’s most […]
Lucha Libre comes to London
For those of my readers in London, this is for you. If you’ve enjoyed the coverage you’ve seen here on the Lucha Libre over the last year, now’s your chance to see the real thing in the flesh because the Lucha Libre is coming to London this weekend, and this weekend only! Lucha Libre London […]
John McCain’s great timing
John McCain, the presumptive U.S Republican presidential candidate, couldn’t have timed his trip to Latin America better. Not only does he fly into Colombia a day before 6-year hostage of the FARC Ingrid Betancourt is liberated, he then rides into Mexico City this morning days after the Merida Initiative gets approved in El Norte. Some […]
Mexican police in “torture” class?
A story emerged here in Mexico today surrounding the emergence of a couple of videos which apparently depict the Mexican police, in the city of Leon, being instructed in the art of “torture” by an unidentified, English-speaking foreigner. The videos are linked below – some viewers might find them offensive.
Mexico welcomes Merida, without human rights restrictions
President Calderon on Friday welcomed the U.S. Congress’ approval of the Merida Initiative a day earlier, an aid injection from the United States which is aimed at helping Mexico in its fight against powerful drug cartels. The bill has dropped a controversial requirement that Mexico meet certain human rights standards in order to receive the […]
Changes at MexicoReporter.com
There is good news and, well, good news here at MexicoReporter.com which I wanted to tell you, my readers, for the sake of transparency. Next week, I will be start in a new job as staff blogger, investigator and video journalist for the Los Angeles Times and their Latin America blog La Plaza here in […]
Mexico City police official to be charged in bar deaths
The police commander who led a botched raid on a Mexico City nightclub will be charged with 12 counts of homicide, one for each person who died in the crush at the bar’s entrance, prosecutors said Wednesday. The Associated Press reports this morning City Atty. Gen. Rodolfo Felix Cardenas said his office was bringing the […]
Mexico nightclub tragedy caused by inept police and an ignored youth, says youth advocate
This was written for La Plaza, the Los Angeles Times blog dedicated to Latin America. A tragedy in Mexico City last weekend, in which 12 people were suffocated or trampled to death in a bungled police raid at the News Divine night club, was due to an inept police force and a lack of public […]
Calderon should accept Merida’s human right conditions?
In anticipation of the scheduled debate around the controversial Merida Initiative aid package in the US Senate this week, the Financial Times newspaper from the UK urges President Felipe Calderon to accept the human rights conditions attached to the US$400 billion injection aimed at helping Mexico fights its drugs barons. But should he?
12 people killed during nightclub police raid
Reports are emerging this morning that 12 people, including three police officers, were killed yesterday during a police raid on the News Divine Nightclub in Mexico City. The capital’s police chief said hundreds of youths marking the end of the school year had panicked when police raided the News Divine club. He said there had […]
Bribe culture in action
Corruption within Mexico’s law enforcement agencies is reputedly rife, and recent figures show that people here spent more on bribes last year than they did during 2005. But it’s always interesting to see hearsay happen, and yesterday I had the pleasure of witnessing the power of the bribe first hand.
Latin America promotes but doesn’t respect human rights
Latin American countries such as Brazil and Mexico have been strong on promoting human rights internationally and in supporting the UN human rights machinery during 2007. But unless the gap between their policies internationally and their performance at home is closed their credibility as human rights champions will be challenged, according to this week’s report […]
Video: Illegal border crossing – for tourists
[video:bliptv:935010]Illegal border crossing – for tourists
Panting for breath, I waded through cow-pat flavoured mud, struggling to keep myself from slipping in the dark. “Vamanos, vamanos, vamanos!†urged my coyote, the Spanish name for people who smuggle migrants across the border into the United States. The sound of La Migra’s sirens – also known as United States Border Patrol – sounded […]
Anthony Loyd and Seamus Murphy in Mexico
Frontline Club regulars reporter Anthony Loyd and photographer Seamus Murphy put together an audio slideshow from Palomas, Mexico. Click the image above to watch and listen the report, or you can read the same story here, Palomas is no stranger to violent death. Straddling a main contraband route across the Mexican-US border, the settlement has […]
Video: Shakira aims to help poor kids
[video:bliptv:919899] Last Thursday, Colombian popstar Shakira got a group of Latin American stars and businessmen together in the Mexican capital to launch ALAS (meaning “WINGS”), a Latin American initiative aimed at aiding the development of young children in the region. Shakira, who recently got together with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Robert Zoellick, president […]
No. 2 police officer gunned down in Juarez: police death count rising
The attacks on police officers, detailed here, continued over the weekend. The No. 2 police officer in this border city across from El Paso was shot to death Saturday, the latest high-ranking official killed in an onslaught of attacks blamed on gangs resisting a crackdown on drug trafficking. Associated Press.
Guns on buses and slain police officers
HONORING THEIR OWN: Federal police officers salute three slain colleagues, including acting chief Edgar Millan Gomez, in Mexico City. Authorities suspect he was betrayed by someone who knew his movements, according to Mexican media reports. Gregory Bull for the Associated Press via The Los Angeles Times. This week, Mexico City has been living up to […]
Video: Leonora Carrington, Paseo de Reforma, Mexico City – Los Angeles Times
Phantoms come, phantoms go. They swirl around Leonora Carrington, a tiny woman of 91 with a tart intellect and a posh British accent, as she sips Earl Grey tea at her kitchen table. They rise like black vapors from the pavement of Avenue Reforma in the Mexican capital, where a menagerie of Carrington’s nightmarishly enigmatic […]
New study contrasts native and immigrant Latinas in U.S
Fascinating statistics released yesterday on the demographic makeup of the female Latina community in the United States show some striking, if unsurprising, differences between non-Latina and Latina women, as well as the native-born and immigrant female Latina communities.
Leonora Carrington on Mexico City’s Paseo de Reforma
Leonora Carrington is a British surrealist artist from Lancashire who left Europe during the Second World War, on the run from the Nazis. She finally settled in Mexico, and has produced an impressive body of work, some of which is currently on display on one of Mexico’s main thoroughfares – Paseo de Reforma.
How many non-immigrant visas does the United States grant in Mexico per year?
In the year ending September 2007, the U.S embassy in Mexico processed applications for 1,300,000 non-immigrant visas (visitor, student, temporary work, and other categories) according to this page on the site of the U.S Embassy in Mexico. This year the embassy is projecting more than 1,600,000 applications – and projections are generally overtaken by actual […]