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Cinco de Mayo: Not Mexican independence Day!

This week is Cinco de Mayo, what most Americans think is Mexican Independence Day. Well, it's not. It's the anniversary of the victory of the Republican forces over the French on that date in 1862. Yeah, I know, beating the French isn't much of an achievement or an excuse for a holiday, and in Mexico, very few outside the state of Puebla, where it took place, even notice�.go to original article

Best Kept Secrets of Puerto Vallarta, MX : The Friendliest City In The World

In 1963 John Huston, the American film director, already a legend in his own time, set up shop in a small resort town on Mexico�s Pacific Coast. Puerto Vallarta, a beachfront community on the Bahia de Banderas, known primarily as a refuge for American and Mexican artists, writers, and composers who found the area�s seclusion and natural beauty inspiring and relaxing. When Huston began filming Night of the Iguana, Puerto Vallarta abruptly entered the mainstream of American and European tourist destinations, a process that continues today, forty-seven years after the first of Huston�s cameras began to roll. Night of the Iguana starred the Welsh actor, Richard Burton, and popular American actresses, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr, but the straw that stirred the drink during the shooting of Night of the Iguana and who put Puerto Vallarta at the center of world attention, was Burton�s girlfriend who had accompanied him to the filming, Elizabeth Taylor Fisher. The blazing affair between Burton and Taylor would be captured on film by the paparazzi and chronicled daily by hundreds of Hollywood gossip writers. The daily dateline, Puerto Vallarta, cast the small city into the limelight, and the Puerto Vallarta beaches became a �must see� destination for thousands of American and European tourists�..go to original article

Arizona law sparks anger, resignation in Mexico

The line of Mexicans waiting to go shopping in Arizona snakes twice around the sun-drenched plaza, even as politicians nearby slap stickers on cars calling for a boycott of the U.S. state.

And the illegal migrants targeted by a tough new Arizona law dismiss it as just another obstacle that pales in comparison to the extortion, arrests and kidnappings they already risk to reach U.S. soil. They vow to keep on coming.

Resentment has erupted throughout Mexico over the immigration law in Arizona that is considered racist here. But crossing back and forth between the countries is so intrinsic to their lives that many Mexicans find it hard to give it up despite calls by immigration activists for a boycott of Arizona. �.go to original article

Ochoa set for swansong tournament on home soil

Lorena Ochoa, who is leaving the sport on her own terms, will say goodbye to golf by finishing her brilliant career on her home soil at the LPGA's Tres Marias Championship.

The 28-year-old Ochoa leaves the LPGA tour with two major titles and almost 15 million dollars in earnings.

The world number one has 27 wins heading into this week's 1.3 million dollar tournament where she will be paired with Japan's Ai Miyazato and American Natalie Gulbis�.go to original article

Mexican Consulate Slammed after New Arizona Law

The Mexican consulate office in Las Vegas has been overwhelmed with Mexican nationals asking a lot questions after the immigration law in Arizona.

The consul says his office was not only trying to help those with daily consulate needs like passports and visas, but now the office is also having to calm people's nerves about the law in Arizona.

The lines at the consulate are typically full of people needing to get their documents updated to stay in this country without any hassles. But now more and more are showing up out of fear�.go to original article

Violence is not up on Arizona border despite Mexican drug war
Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona border town.

"We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico," Bermudez says emphatically. "You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America." �go to original article

U.S. to allay Mexican anger over Ariz. Law

The Obama administration is trying to "mitigate" the outrage Arizona's new immigration law has caused in Mexico, and the issue will top the agenda during next month's visit to Washington by the country's leader, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Thursday.

"Not surprisingly, the Mexican government has registered its very strong concern about the legislation passed in Arizona," Mrs. Clinton told reporters at the State Department. "We'll be working to understand and try to mitigate the concerns on that and other issues." �.go to original article

Retire to Mexico -- the price is right

The years-long trend of Americans buying homes and expatriating to Mexico has collapsed, done in by a trifecta of the recession, swine flu and an epic crime wave.

Sales volume plunged nearly 70% last year for Coldwell Banker, according Phillip Hendrix, director of the firm's Mexican operations. And at Costa Baja, a residential resort development a few miles north of La Paz, sales have slowed by about 40% in the past 12 months�..Go to original article

Mexico issues travel warning

The Mexican government is urging U.S.-bound shoppers to avoid Arizona or prepare for unprovoked harassment by police.

The governor of Sonora has called off the binational Arizona-Mexico Commission meeting - suspending the tourism and trade meeting for the first time in 50 years - as federal politicians urged him to interrupt partnerships with Arizona.

And at least one Mexican airline, Aeromexico, will cancel flights to Phoenix, claiming demand is down because of Arizona's new immigration law. Some nonprofit organizations and community leaders in Nogales and Hermosillo, Sonora, joined the call for an economic boycott of the state�..Go to original article

Mexico's Felipe Calderon says Arizona laws breed intolerance and hate

Arizona's tough new immigration law threatened to turn into an international dispute today when Mexico made clear its opposition to a move it said would breed discrimination and hate.

The Mexican president, Felipe Calder�n said the country would not stand idly by in the face of a policy that infringed basic human rights and promised to raise it with President Barack Obama during a visit to Washington next month�.Go to original article

Mexico Senate: Army abuse cases in civilian courts

- The Mexican Senate passed a measure Tuesday to make soldiers accountable to civilian courts for abuses involving civilians, and ensure the use of troops in actions like the offensive against drug cartels is temporary.

The legislation now goes to Congress' lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, for consideration.

Mexico's army has increasingly been used to perform policing duties in the drug war, and complaints have piled up about illegal detentions, searches and shootings by soldiers�.Go to original article

LatAm stocks quake in wake of credit-ratings upheaval

Latin American stocks slid Tuesday as ratings cuts on the sovereign debt of Greece and Portugal heightened investor worries that those nations' economic troubles may unleash a worldwide impact.

A 3.2% day-session slide in Brazil's Bovespa to 66,511.10 left the index with a year-to-date loss of 3%. It's the first time since late March that the index tracking the region's largest stock market has been in the red for the year.

Mexico's IPC fell 3.2% to 32,679.36, its sharpest percentage drop since a 4% tumble in late-June 2009. �Go to original article

Take the Tequila Trail: Mexico's agave-growing regions are a shot of fun

It's an ancient tradition in Jalisco, Mexico. The jimador in his wide hat and boots, the elegant arc of attack, the final swift plunging of the sword. Bullfight? Not exactly. It's harvest time for blue agave plants: giant pineapple-like blobs that are chopped, roasted and distilled here into the world's finest tequila.

Watching the tough but smooth harvesters at work is only the start of the spectacle for those on Mexico's Tequila Trail. Tours and tastings are free at the estates near Guadalajara that produce Jose Cuervo, Herradura, Sauza and the other famous brands that end up in your margarita glass�.Go to original article

Mexico paving new future for Devil's Backbone

PALMITO, Mexico � Mexican legend says when the Archangel Michael threw Satan out of Heaven, his broken spine formed a jagged ridge that winds across Mexico's Sierra Madre: the Devil's Backbone.

The mountainous terrain that surrounds this serpentine road has another story: one of bloodshed and poverty.

Farms in the thickly forested area here are a major source of marijuana and opium cultivation and the cartels that control the drug trade use gruesome violence to settle scores. The people who live here have few choices for work given that no highways and the commerce they bring have penetrated the Sierra Madre�.Go to original article

Alleged abuse victim continues fight against clergyman in Mexico

For 12 years, Sylvia Chavez tried to warn leaders of the Catholic Church in the United States and Mexico about the priest she alleges sexually abused her as a child in California.

She met with church officials in San Francisco to describe the assaults, enlisted American lawyers to search for the priest in Mexico and wrote letters to two successive archbishops of Yucatan, pleading with them to keep the Rev. Teodoro Baquedano Pech away from children. At one point, she even received written assurance from the Yucatan Archdiocese that "we have taken all precautions . . . to restrict Father Baquedano's access to children and vulnerable adults." �go to original article

On the Beatnik trail in Mexico City

Mexico City was a magnet in the 1950s for some of America's greatest Beat Generation writers �Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and others.

Many of their old haunts in Mexico's capital have now faded. But fans of the Beats can still find traces of their sojourns here � in cafes and cantinas, along boulevards and even at the site of an infamous killing.

The Beats came to Mexico City seeking a refuge from mainstream America in what they saw as a magical and alien land south of the border. They were searching for enlightenment, and sometimes fleeing criminal cases. Their stomping ground was the Roma district, a once-wealthy neighborhood of mansions that was in decline by the time Kerouac and Burroughs lived there�.go to original article

10-year-old's pregnancy fuels Mexican abortion debate

A pregnant 10-year-old, allegedly raped by her stepfather, has become the latest lightning rod in the country's heated abortion debate.

The girl's stepfather has been arrested. But advocates on both sides of the issue say their battle is just beginning.

"This girl is much more than an isolated case," said Adriana Ortiz-Ortega, a researcher at Mexico's National Autonomous University who has written two books on abortion in Mexico, "and there is much more influence now from conservative groups that are trying to prevent the legalization of abortion."�.go to original article

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Los Amigos is Looking for Good Candidates for Its Scholarship Program

Do you know a deserving high school aged student who is committed to working towards bettering their community?

Los Amigos is currently looking for ten candidates for the second round of its Scholarship Program. The program is intended to encourage students to participate actively in local affairs, develop future leaders in the community, provide educational support to local youth and encourage young students to participate in Los Amigos de La Pe�ita.

Students in the 3rd year of Secondaria or the 1st and 2nd year of Preparatoria and Conalep 257 in La Pe�ita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, who are residents of the town of La Pe�ita de Jaltemba, Guayabitos, Los Ayala and La Colonia Para�so are eligible to submit an application. They must be committed to undertaking community service in La Pe�ita de Jaltemba, Nayarit and participating in one of the of Los Amigos de La Pe�ita activities.

All requests must be submitted before 5 pm on May 15, 2010 to Xaltemba Restaurant y Galeria (Attn: Becas Los Amigos de La Pe�ita.)

More information on the program and an application can be found at:

http://www.losamigosdelapenita.com/en/scholarships.htm (English)

http://www.losamigosdelapenita.com/esp/s-scholarships.htm (Spanish)

1^St Jaltemba Foundation Home Tour logo blk letters.jpg

Benefits Local Projects

� Tara A. Spears

It was a perfect tropical day for strolling through beautiful homes admiring the stunning designs and innovative d�cor. Lots of �oohs and ahhs� accompanied by camera clicks as the participants were guided by the homeowner to note special features. �It�s so interesting how each home is so different,� said Maureen who was on vacation from Canada. �I�ll certainly go on another tour next year.� The event net proceed of $19,365 pesos supports the ongoing charity work of Cancer de Mama, Jaltemba Cup, Robert Howell Memorial Fund, Fashion Show scholarships, Margarita Challenge Education & Family Fund, Ana�s Kids, LaPenita RV Park Fund, and the Fran Milski Education Fund throughout the year.

To read more click here

Los Amigos de La Pe�ita and the Jaltemba Economic Development Initiative Join Forces

Two volunteer groups working to improve the lives of the citizens of Jaltemba Bay have agreed to join together. At it�s meeting of April 12^th, Los Amigos approved a motion to expand its services to the community to include economic development initiatives and to form an Economic Development Committee that will initially be led by Agneta Dyck, Marilyn Miller, Piedad Ay�n Velasco and Laura Aguilar � the Executive of the Jaltemba Economic Development Initiative, which was formerly known as Martes Women.

Jaltemba Economic Development Initiative was formed in response to an awareness of apparent and increasing poverty in the Jaltemba Bay area. The group�s research clearly showed that there was no structured approach to economic development for this region. They decided to focus on socio-economic projects that would address both poverty and the reasons for poverty, providing a long-term, sustainable solution. They also decided that their primary focus would be jobs for women, especially as they learned of the large number of single mothers and the high rate of unemployment among women. By impacting this, we felt that a project could significantly raise the social and economic profile of the community. Their research also suggested that a focus on agri-business would benefit the entire region.

The goal of the Economic Development Committee is to create employment by attracting for-profit corporations, non-profit ventures that would create year-round job opportunities for women and their families.

�Our goal is to create employment by attracting for-profit corporations, non-profit ventures, government grants or a combination of the three, that would create year-round job opportunities for women and their families,� said Agneta Dyck, the Chair of the new Committee. �Los Amigos has already established a good reputation in the community and has credibility with local political leaders. I am confident that working together will help us achieve our goals.�

Planning is already underway for the group�s initial project � the production of mango salsa. The project is being made possible through the generous donation of the Xaltemba restaurant�s kitchen facilities through the summer and it is hoped that the project will create four jobs.

�The focus of Los Amigos has always been on social projects � our education committee and our scholarship fund � or on projects with an ecological bent � our plastics recycling program, the EcoPark, and our beach cleanups,� said International President Ken Snyder. �We are excited about this first venture into the economic development field.�

�The committee has already received a letter of support from the Comisariado Ejidal of La Penita de Jaltemba,� added Zobeida Barrera Lozano, National President. �We�re pleased to be involved in projects that will create jobs for the people of our community.�

For more information on Los Amigos and the Jaltemba Economic Development Initiative, please go to: http://www.losamigosdelapenita.com/en/index.html

Letter to Editor

Jaltemba Foundation doing a good job

Dear Mr(s) Editor,

I have been involved with local JB charities in a minimal way for several years. I gotta say, the Jaltemba Foundation has accomplished a couple things I have dreamed of for years. One thing is they have done the leg work to get registered as a non-profit organization. I don�t have to worry that if I give them money they can get in trouble with the government questioning them about it being personal income. Also, I can write it off on my income tax so I have a little more I can give. The other great thing they have done is set up a Paypal account which helps me get the money where it is needed. If I have a few extra dollars I log into Paypal and they get the money instantly. I print a receipt for my tax records and everything is done neat and clean. What a change from years past! Hopefully other local groups will follow their lead and do the same.

Bawbby

America rightfully took great pride when they helped destroy the infamous Berlin Wall, yet here on the Arizona Border with Sonora Mexico, the United States has constructed a wall themselves with as much pride I imagine that the Soviets did in the construction of the Berlin Wall...ironic? Bill Bell

US Hispanics Decry Arizona Law at May Day Rallies
Jill Serjeant - Reuters
go to original
May 02, 2010

Protests by immigration rights activists took place in a number of U.S. cities, including the Arizona capital, Phoenix, where the governor signed the toughest immigration law in the nation eight days ago.

Los Angeles - Angered by Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants, protesters took to the streets on Saturday to denounce the new law and call on President Barack Obama to act urgently on immigration reform at May Day rallies across the United States.

In a sea of American flags and banners painted with "We Are All Arizona" and "Overturn Arizona Apartheid," tens of thousands of marchers, dressed in white, swarmed downtown Los Angeles.

In Washington, a U.S. congressman was among 34 people arrested in a protest outside the White House.

Activists want a repeal of the law that seeks to drive illegal immigrants out of the U.S.-Mexico border state and they want Obama to fulfill his election promise to overhaul immigration laws. An estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants, mostly from Latin America, live in the United States.

"What is happening in Arizona is making the community come out to the street," said activist Omar Gomez in Los Angeles.

Hispanics are the largest minority in the United States and a powerful voting bloc, particularly in Southwestern states.

The Arizona law requires state and local police to determine people's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are in the United States illegally.

Supporters say it is needed to curb crime in the desert state, which is home to some 460,000 illegal immigrants and is a major corridor for drug and migrant smugglers from Mexico.

Critics say the law is unconstitutional and opens the door to racial profiling. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed changes to the law on Friday that she said made it "crystal clear" racial profiling was illegal.

Polls show the measure has the backing of almost two-thirds of Arizona voters and majority support nationwide. The law has prompted legal challenges and hurled immigration back on the front burner of U.S. politics in this volatile election year.

'NO PLACE FOR BIGOTRY'

"Laws that make suspects out of people for no other reason than the color of their skin have no place in our country," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Mexican-American, told marchers packing into the city center.

"We must show that bigotry has no place in the United States of America," added Villaraigosa, a Democrat who is one of the most powerful Hispanics in U.S. politics.

Kellie Morrell, a waitress at a New York City restaurant that she said employs several illegal immigrants, was among a few thousand activists who took to the streets of New York.

"They work really hard and they deserve to not have to live in fear of arrest or being thrown into prison, or even worse," she said.

In Washington, Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez from Obama's home state of Illinois, was arrested with 34 others after they locked arms and sat in front of the White House fence, chanting Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes we can" in Spanish. The congressman was later released, a spokesman said.

Organizers had expected turnout at rallies to be at the highest levels since 2006 and 2007, when hundreds of thousands of immigration rights supporters marched in U.S. cities

Police estimated 50,000 people attended the Los Angeles rally, but organizers pegged the number at 250,000. Crowds in most cities appeared to be smaller.

Despite the fact the Arizona law is not slated to come into effect until late July, just a few hundred protesters turned out in Phoenix. Some said a two-day crime and immigration sweep by an Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on illegal immigrants kept many at home.

In Chicago, where activists turned out to protest the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team at a game this week, tens of thousands of marchers turned out. In the Boston area, some 2,000 people marched in favor of legalizing undocumented migrants.

Anger at the law spilled over the border to Mexico on Saturday, where activists toting placards reading "Justice for Migrants," gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

OBAMA'S PROMISE

Arizona's law instantly revived efforts by Democrats to enact immigration reform six months before congressional elections.

A framework set out by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was quickly endorsed by Obama on Thursday, but analysts see only a slim chance of it passing.

Frustration at Obama for not delivering on an election promise to overhaul immigration laws was evident in placards like "Where is your promise Obama?" and some doubted they would vote for Democrats in November congressional elections.

"They feel worse than neglected, they feel attacked," said Joseph Antoine, 21, who was among 2,000 marchers in Boston. "They're not going to be rushing to support Democrats in November."

(Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, Bradley Dorfman in Chicago, Norma Galeana in Los Angeles, David Schwartz in Phoenix and Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington; Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Mary Milliken)

Xaltemba's Summer Hours

Dot & Bill,

Thank you for all the support you've given us this season.

We have been fortunate to have had a great season and your support was a substantial help.As of tomorrow the new days and hours are:
Closed: Monday - Wednesday evenings
Open: Tianguis Thursday for Breakfast & Lunch until 1 pm
Dinner: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

Next Sunday, April 18 we have a special Cabaret Show to say good-bye to all our season residents heading back North.

Eddie Dominguez
Xaltemba Restaurant & Galer�a
Salina Cruz #4
La Pe�ita de Jaltemba

Why Mexico Opposes the Arizona Immigration Law
Sara Miller Llana � Christian Science Monitor
go to original
April 30, 2010


	The law has also unified Hispanic activists in the US, who are organizing mass protests for May 1 celebrations in more than 70 cities across the country.

Mexico City � Mexico, like most countries, abounds in diversity that is often-celebrated but can also lead to stereotyping. Veracruzanos might look suspiciously at the �Chilangos� of the capital. Northerners proudly boast that they are the most upfront and honest Mexicans.

But the tough new Arizona immigration law, which Mexican President Felipe Calderon immediately denounced as discrimination, has united Mexicans from all points of the compass.

�We are all against it, from Baja California to Campeche,� says Jose Luis Jimenez. �It is racial discrimination against all of us, simple.�

Mr. Jimenez was en route to his home in Guadalajara, after attending a banking convention in Mexico's capital. He was one of thousands of Mexicans at Mexico City�s international airport catching flights home or heading to business meetings or to visit family Thursday, nearly a week after the Arizona immigration bill was signed into law. The law allows local police to question anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally.

Some Mexicans have more at stake on this issue than others. But almost to a person, they say that the move � which Arizona implemented to deal with an unabated tide of illegal immigration � is not just discriminatory but counterproductive because so much of the US economy depends on cheap Mexican labor.

Impact on Mexican pocket books

Janet Garcia, a soft-spoken woman on her way home to a tiny pueblo in the southern state of Oaxaca, says her farming community has not stopped talking about the law since it was first unveiled. This isn't just patriotism, it's personal: most of them get by on the remittances sent home from brothers, fathers, and husbands toiling in the US. Quite simply, US immigration politics affects their daily existence. �We depend on that income,� says Ms. Garcia, who has a brother in California.

The law has also unified Hispanic activists in the US, who are organizing mass protests for May 1 celebrations in more than 70 cities across the country that promise to be bigger than the 2006 protests that drew activists across the country calling for immigration reform.

In Mexico, politicians of all ideologies have unanimously condemned the law. So have newspapers, religious leaders, and governors from across the country. �We are all brothers, Mexicans and Latin Americans,� says Rafael Flores, a medical technician awaiting a flight, �in the face of something so unjust.�

The move is a particular blow for Mexicans in the border region, who understand that a border is a national demarcation but means little when it comes to family, education, and health care. �Americans travel to Mexico to shop, Mexicans travel to the US to visit family,� says Domingo de la Mora, on his way to Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Jose Oswaldo Reyes, a mechanic heading to a job in Merida on the Yucatan peninsula, says the law may win the governor of Arizona political points but will do little to stem migration from Mexico. �Mexicans will continue to go to the US, even if not to Arizona then to another state,� he says.

Boycott Arizona

But at least a few say they will boycott Arizona. �I felt terrible when I heard about the law,� says traveler Maria Elena Guijarro, who visits California once a year but says now she would not consider Phoenix or anywhere else in Arizona as an alternative.

�It is in protest,� says her husband, Mr. Jimenez. �We will not go to a place where our civil rights are not recognized.�

Mr. Flores, on his way to San Diego to visit friends and view medical equipment, referrs with a smile to last-minute stragglers rushi

ng to board an Aeromexico flight to Phoenix: �Thank God I am not on that one.�

Mexico on Alert Over Massive Oil Spill
Emilio Godoy - Inter Press Service
go to original
April 28, 2010

Mexico City - Mexico is gearing up for the environmental effects of the oil spill caused by last week's sinking of a BP-owned deepwater drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of the U.S. state of Louisiana.

A BP team using remotely operated underwater vehicles continued trying without success Tuesday to plug the leaking oilwell on the seafloor, as other teams placed floating oil barriers to protect the most sensitive coastal areas, like a national wildlife refuge in Louisiana.

"If the projections remain steady, the oil slick will not reach Mexico. But if the weather conditions change and that happens, it would mean an environmental disaster on a scale that Mexico is not prepared to cope with," Gustavo Ampugnani, Greenpeace International political coordinator for Latin America, told IPS.

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, owned by Swiss-based Transocean Ltd and under lease to BP through September 2013, sank Thursday after an explosion caused a fire that burned for two days.

The disaster could become the worst oil spill in North America since the Exxon Valdez ran aground off Alaska in 1989. Of the 126 crew members on the rig at the time, 11 are missing and presumed dead, and 17 were injured, one of whom is still hospitalised.

The rig was sitting in water 1,500 metres deep. An estimated 42,000 gallons (nearly 160,000 litres) a day of crude oil is leaking from the well on the sea floor. The oil slick now covers some 4,800 square kilometres, and as much as 140 tons of fuel could end up in the sea, according to projections.

Greenpeace Mexico warned that the water pollution threatens marine fauna, waterfowl, beaches and wetlands in and off the coast of Tamaulipas. For example, there are six species of whales in the area, and it is currently fishing season for bluefin tuna.

Mexico's ministries of energy and the environment and natural resources have not yet issued statements on the disaster.

"The accident is bad publicity for the industry," said Ampugnani. "But the Mexican government is in favour of the continued all-out use of fossil fuels to drive economic growth."

The Gulf of Mexico, which is bordered by the U.S. states of Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida and the eastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, has the second largest man-made dead zone in the world's coastal waters.

There are an estimated 150 dead, or "hypoxic," zones, which are places where there is not enough oxygen to support marine life.

The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has grown to cover an area as large as 20,000 square kilometres, and is off the coast of Louisiana, Texas and Tamaulipas.

The dead zone is caused mainly by the use of nitrogen fertilisers that wash off the fields into the Mississippi River, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilisers encourage algae to grow in massive quantities, consuming the oxygen necessary to the survival of fish and other marine species.

The governments of the United States and Mexico and the oil industry are speeding up oil exploration and drilling in the region. In late March, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new national oil drilling proposal to allow exploration for oil and natural gas along the Atlantic coastline from Delaware to Florida.

The Obama administration is also seeking congressional approval for opening up a vast expanse of water in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida, to drilling.

U.S. authorities and the London-based BP have sent 49 vessels -- oil skimmers, barges, tugboats and recovery boats that separate oil from water -- to the area to contain the oil spill.

The BP-led team reported Tuesday that 29,140 gallons of dispersant had been deployed to break the oil into droplets that can dissolve into the water, and said the crews had recovered 1,152 barrels (43,384 gallons) of an oil-water mix.

Officials said most of the oil is of a lighter grade that easily disperses.

Since 2001, there have been 858 explosions and fires in the Gulf of Mexico, and 69 offshore deaths, according to the Minerals Management Service, the U.S. federal agency responsible for managing federal lands for oil and gas exploration and development.

"This can't be completely cleaned up; the best that can be done is to recover a portion of what was spilled," Ampugnani said.

Up to now, the worst oil spill in North America occurred in March 1989, when the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled 10.8 million gallons (some 40 million litres) of oil into the sea off the coast of Alaska, triggering one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters in history.

In 1996, a U.S. federal court ordered Exxon to pay five billion dollars in punitive damages. But the verdict was overturned, and in the end the fine was reduced to 507 million dollars

Mexico Paving New Future for Devil's Backbone
Chris Hawley - USA Today
go to original
April 26, 2010

The world's second-highest bridge being built at the Baluarte Gorge.

Palmito, Mexico � Mexican legend says when the Archangel Michael threw Satan out of Heaven, his broken spine formed a jagged ridge that winds across Mexico's Sierra Madre: the Devil's Backbone.

The mountainous terrain that surrounds this serpentine road has another story: one of bloodshed and poverty.

But the Devil's Backbone is undergoing surgery. The Mexican government has launched a massive road construction project to straighten and modernize the road, an engineering feat that will require 63 tunnels and 32 bridges, including the world's second-highest road bridge.

The new highway will provide easy access to and from the Pacific Coast, its ports and tourist destinations, cutting the drive time from 8 hours to 2� hours. Mexican authorities say the faster ride will open up industrial cities to the region, maybe even persuade carmakers and other companies that pay good wages to supplant the drug trade.

"The more jobs we can bring to these areas, the more we'll reduce crime � I'm a true believer in that," said Nicol�s Vel�z, a tunneling supervisor.

Vel�z and others hope the new road will also make it easier for police to access the lawless mountains and establish order, rebutting claims that the road will become a drug superhighway.

"I think it's going to bring more security," says Ernesto G�mez Chac�n, the town administrator in nearby Pueblo Nuevo.

Completion set for 2012

The old Devil's Backbone road is the only crossing through the Western Sierra Madre mountains for 500 miles and it runs through some of the most remote parts of Sinaloa and Durango states.

When the three-year project is done in 2012 it will create a 45-mile stretch of modern road between the Pacific Coast city of Mazatlan and the interior city of Durango. About 11 miles will be underground and its total 95 bridges and tunnels dwarfs the seven tunnels stretching 4� miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, known as America's "Tunnel Highway."

"This is going to be a marvel, something really world class," said construction manager Miguel Angel Ram�rez, as he stood at the edge of the 1,280-foot-high Baluarte Gorge, which lies along the route.

Later this year crews will start on a span across the gorge, creating a bridge so high that the Empire State Building could fit under it.

The first road along the Devil's Backbone opened in the 1940s. The terrain was so rugged that construction crews had to bring in supplies by mule train.

"Now we're trying to do in three years what it took them 15 years to do," said Ernesto Gonz�lez, a construction supervisor on the new road.

Construction of the Mazatlan-Durango highway began in 2005, but work on the toughest stretch through the Sierra Madre began only last year. Most of the tunnels are already being dug, including the 1.6-mile Sinaloense Tunnel, the longest on the route. Workers are also excavating a tunnel parallel to the Sinaloense to be used as an escape route in case of emergencies.

The most challenging part of the highway is the Baluarte Bridge on the border of Sinaloa and Durango states, Gonz�lez said. With its roadway 1,280 feet above the Baluarte River, it will be the world's second-highest highway bridge after the 1,550-foot-high Sidhue River Bridge in China, according to HighestBridges.com, which ranks such structures.

Drug gangs occasionally set up roadblocks in the area to protect shipments or drug crops, check for rivals or shake down residents. And in other parts of Mexico cartels have begun blocking main highways to keep police from sending reinforcements during gunfights.

So far there have been no run-ins between construction crews and drug traffickers, Ram�rez said.

"I'm sure they're out there, but we don't bother with them and they don't bother with us," Ram�rez said.

That has not been the case with the people in the region, where the thickly forested mountains are full of clandestine farms growing marijuana and opium, the raw ingredient in heroin, as well as airstrips used to move cocaine shipments northward.

In Pueblo Nuevo, a province encompassing many villages on the east side of the Baluarte Gorge, suspected traffickers killed three teenagers in February and sprayed a town hall building with assault rifles. In March they gunned down 10 people, ages 8 to 21, for failing to stop at a checkpoint they had set up on a road near Los Naranjos, population 600.

In a village on the other side of the gorge, traffickers kidnapped and killed a man in September and another in January.

Drug-related murders doubled in Sinaloa from 2006 to 2009, and in Durango state they shot up by 900%, according to a tally by the Reforma newspaper. (Sinaloa had 350 in 2006, 767 in 2009. Durango had 64 in 2006, 637 in 2009). The U.S. State Department has urged Americans not to travel to Durango state because of the danger.

Currently the closest federal police stations and military bases are hours away so drug traffickers operate with impunity, using murder and torture to silence villagers and keep weak local police forces at bay. They also dabble in highway robbery, ambushing vehicles as they crawl along the Devil's Backbone road, said G�mez.

The new road will be high-speed, well-lit and patrolled by federal police cruisers, the Mexican Transportation Department says. Military reinforcements will be able to move more easily through the mountains to deter drug smugglers, it says.

"We won't be so isolated from the authorities any more," G�mez said.

And that may help turn people away from the drug trade, officials hope.

"With development of this type, people will have less reason to turn to illicit activities," said Alma Larra�aga, a spokeswoman for Mexico's Transportation Department.

Eager for development

A real highway to the Pacific means the hundreds of thousands of people living in the central part of the country north of Mexico City will be able to drive to Pacific Coast vacation spots like Mazatl�n. Along the way they will need to stop for a variety of goods, people hope.

In Palmito, population 788, residents are eagerly anticipating motorists who might stop in their town to buy gas, eat or visit nearby attractions like the Pope's Peak, a rock formation that looks like a man with his hands folded in prayer.

"It's already brought a lot of work. You see people going down to Mazatl�n to shop and coming back with all these new things they've bought," said Sandra Quinteros, a nurse at the town's clinic.

And many townsfolk are getting good construction jobs on the project.

"It's going to be good. The people here need this."

And even greater hope is industrial jobs. During an event in Palmito this month, Durango Gov. Ismael Gonz�lez Deras said he's hoping the new highway will encourage Asian manufacturers to open factories in his state because of the easier connection to the Pacific Ocean.

His government has purchased 4,300 acres near the highway for a new industrial park. Sinaloa Gov. Jes�s Aguilar predicted a boom in traffic at Mazatl�n's seaport.

Experts cautioned against too much optimism.

Traffickers are deeply entrenched in the Sierra Madre, and the region is vast. It could take years before new development puts a dent in the drug trade, said Gerardo L�pez Cervantes, director of the economics department at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.

"It's not going to change overnight," L�pez Cervantes said.

Says Vel�z, "If we don't give these mountain people any options than to be criminals, then that's what they'll be."

April 21, 2010
Dear Friends,
I am writing to ask for your help to keep alive the hopes and dreams of a school that is making a real difference in the lives of Mexican families. In San Francisco, aka San Pancho, a little coastal village in the state of Nayarit, north of Puerto Vallarta, a Montessori school is providing that rarest of rare opportunities for children in rural Mexico - an inspiring, high quality education. The school is La Escuela del Mundo - The School of the World.
La Escuela del Mundo, a co-operative school based on the Montessori philosophy of teaching the "whole child", was founded in a 3-bedroom house in San Pancho by a handful of parents with a dream of giving children the tools necessary to be responsible global citizens and lifelong learners.
After four years of hard work by the staff, and parent volunteers, la Escuela del Mundo is beginning to live up to the promise of its name, enrolling over 50 students from Latin America, Europe, Canada, and the United States. Mexican children from local villages including San Pancho, Bucerias, Sayulita, and Lo de Marcos make up about half the student body, and many are able to participate due to the assistance of sponsors.

What started as a parent-led initiative to educate their own children has grown larger and now impacts the entire region. In the process, the school has also outgrown its original facility. The school now resides on rented land where the students learn and play in a small concrete schoolhouse and a modest rented mobile classroom surrounded by fruit trees, an educational garden, and playground structures made of recycled materials.
Here, la Escuela del Mundo provides a rich, multi-cultural learning environment that encourages critical thinking, community values, environmentalism, and creativity. Parenting classes reach out to everyone and a vision of a middle school is now taking shape.
As the scope of the mission has grown, the challenge of achieving financial sustainability has become more complex. A tuition fund has been created for needy children as it was deemed important to teach as many capable children as possible. But, even with increased tuition and sponsorships, the school struggles to make ends meet. But we have a plan we believe is clear, achievable and that will lead to the sustainability of the school into the future.
One of the financial problems is the cost of the rented mobile classroom that was purchased 18 months ago. If the school is able to pay off the money owed on the classroom by 10th of May, a portion of the rent paid (to date) can be credited toward the purchase price. If we are able to pay off the classroom we will save $48,000 pesos a year that can be applied to other program expenses.
In order to buy the classroom, we needed to raise $115,000 Pesos, So far we have been given $30,000 Ps, leaving $85,000 or approximately $7,000 USD to take advantage this opportunity. We only have about 4 weeks to raise this money.
In addition, the school is in dire need of a sustaining fund to help it weather summer holidays, buildings maintenance and other cyclical and one-time school expenses that historically have resulted in debt. With a "rainy day fund" in the bank, we could pay for scheduled maintenance, changing student needs and the ups and downs in student enrollment and not go into debt year after year. We estimate that we need an additional $120,000 pesos or approximately $10,000 USD to insure that we will be teaching children for many years to come.
We are hoping that you, or others that you might know, can help us raise this money. Any amount you can afford will make a difference. Remember, the total amount we need to raise is $205,000 pesos, or around $17,000 USD and the first $7,000 USD will go to the critically important classroom purchase (before May 10th).
Our final dream is that we can move off our rented land, the price of which goes up every year, and have a place to call our own. We know that the price of land in San Pancho is very high but we are hoping that we will either be able to move to government owned land or be allowed to use locally owned land at a discounted price. But this goal is more long term than the issues discussed above.
One child and one family at a time, la Escuela del Mundo is changing our community. Please consider becoming part of the Escuela del Mundo by making a contribution. And, if you can't help today, I'm sure you can help out in the future. Please stay in touch by signing up for the school newsletter. Just send us a request via email and we will put you on the list.
The dream of a brighter and more peaceful future grows larger and more ambitious every day.
Glades Huizar,
General Director
gladeshuizar@gmail.com / escueladelmundo@yahoo.com.mx

HOW TO MAKE A DONATION:
From Mexico, you can deposit a check into their account at Actinver-Lloyds, or by dropping by the school (phone 311 258 4441) OR through Paypal.com (account name: escueladelmundo@yahoo.com.mx)

Or, from out of the country you can wire USD to:
Bank of America, branch 050, San Diego, Ca
ABA number: 026009593 Account number: 1450108957
Beneficiary Account: ACTINVER-LLOYD, S.A. S.O.S.I.
For Deposit to Actinver-Lloyd account number 2842300 in the name of Viridiana Fazkowicz.

Note, it's important that you include the Actinver-Lloyd account number and name for faster credit to the account. Funds will be converted to Pesos as the prevailing exchange rate. It's also important that you inform Actinver-Lloyd of the wire transfer by sending a copy of the wire receipt to FAX: 011-52-322-22-43915 or email: etovar@actinver.com.mx

Riviera Nayarit Sayulita's Classic Longboard Surf Contest

Sayulita's Classic Longboard Surf Contest Bill Bell Photograph

From sayulita

Click the above image to view slideshow of surfing event

Mexico Issues Travel Alert Over New Arizona Law
Associated Press -
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Mexico's government is warning its citizens about travel to Arizona because of a tough new immigration law there.

The travel alert from the Foreign Relations Department urges Mexicans in Arizona to "act with prudence and respect the framework of local laws."

It says that the law's passage shows "an adverse political atmosphere for migrant communities and for all Mexican visitors."

It says that once the law takes effect, foreigners can be detained if they fail to carry immigration documents. While enforcement details are not yet clear, the alert says "it should be assumed that any Mexican citizen could be bothered and questioned for no other reason at any moment."

Views from My Tropical Garden �Tara A. Spears

Warm climate gardening tips

A sure sign of spring is the full flowering of the lovely lilac-blue tree, Jacaranda mimosifolia, that adorns the Riviera Nayarit jungle and roadways. The blue jacaranda tree, which is native to Mexico, the Caribbean, South America, Australia, and Africa, is a beautiful flowering tree with a profusion of tubular, trumpet-shaped flowers that grow in dense clusters 8 to 12 inches long. Of the many Jacaranda species, the most popular is the blue jacaranda tree, left photo. The flowers begin to bud in late March and will continue blooming until late May. While spectacular to look at, some people can be allergic to the shedding petals and leaves that fall off individually to carpet the ground beneath the trees. The large seed pods are a flat and puffy irregular shape that is about two inches wide and a half inch thick that contains winged seeds.

How to Grow

Jacaranda trees are fast growing trees that thrive in fertile, well-drained, sunny locations. Its shallow root system makes it an ideal ornamental tree for large gardens- they are not suitable for a small backyard garden as they as can rapidly outgrow and overpower a small plot. The mature tree height of 15 meters (50 feet) is a lot of tree for most home landscapes. However, the jacaranda is ideal for street or park plantings that can benefit from a light summer shade. The Riviera Nayarit frost free coastal climate is perfect for growing these beautiful trees.

jacaranda flower.jpg jac seeds.jpg

In autumn, the lacy leaves of the jacaranda tree turn yellow and individually fall to the ground along with the leaves of the flower bracts, which creates quite a mess. The mature seed pods can get quite large (above photo) so be prepared to do regular clean up around the tree. Since the shed flowers are sticky and oily, it is wise to not park under a blooming tree. It�s best to choose a location for the jacaranda where its stunning blue flowers can be easily seen but the continually shedding will not be a problem.

jacaranda leaves.jpg High Maintenance

Although a tropical species, the blue jacaranda tree is deciduous, losing its leaves due to the dry season lack of rainfall as opposed to northern cold winter temperature leaf shedding. Be prepared to spend a lot of time taking care of a jacaranda tree: regular pruning is crucial, especially the first few years after planting. The new branches of the tree have a tendency to grow at narrow angles to the trunk- they should be removed immediately. Unlike many other types of trees, the jacaranda branches should never be shortened as it causes a burst of new stems to form at the cut; instead, the limbs should be carefully pruned at the base of the trunk or removed from the branch to which they are attached.

Jacaranda legends

In South America it is believed that sitting under a blue jacaranda tree will bring justice; in Australia the blossoms are thought to impart wisdom so studying under a blooming tree is a common student practice. Even without the myths, the jacaranda tree with its exotic brilliant colored blossoms and delicate, lacy leaves is a standout in any garden.

Tara got hooked on gardening in college and became an active American Federation of Garden Club participant until retiring. She has exhibited flowers and floral arrangements in juried flower shows; her home gardens have won awards and been showcased in home tours for charity. She had a greenhouse when living in northern latitudes because �four1/2 months growing season wasn�t enough flower time for me.� She moved to the tropics- and year-round outdoor gardening, 15 years ago. Email questions or comments: tara.sprs@hotmail.com

Mexico: Fakes Dominate Seized Artifact Collection
Associated Press
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April 16, 2010

Leonardo Patterson is shown in his apartment in Munich, southern Germany, on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008.

Mexico City - A collection of supposed pre-Hispanic artifacts seized from a controversial private antiquities dealer in Germany contains many pieces that are fake, Mexico's government archaeology agency said Thursday.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History said most of the larger, impressive pieces seized by German authorities from Costa Rican dealer Leonardo Patterson are modern copies of ancient artifacts.

The institute said experts who examined the collection of 1,029 sculptures, pots and figurines had determined 252 are fakes.

"Several of the forged pieces, in fact, evidence the use of modern machinery and tools while being assembled," the statement said.

An additional 691 pieces "are authentic and originate from Mexico's current territory," apparently making them eligible for return to Mexico. The remaining 86 were not from the Meso-American region, according to a statement by the institute.

Academics say Patterson built a reputation over the course of decades - and across several continents - for trading and displaying artifacts of dubious provenance.

In 2008, Munich police seized more than 1,000 purported Aztec, Maya, Olmec and Inca antiquities from Patterson after an international investigation and a chase across Europe.

At the time, Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica said some of the pieces in the exhibit - valued by investigators at more than 74 million euros (US$100 million) - were stolen and were trying to get them back.

In a 2008 interview, Patterson maintained he had done nothing illegal and said he assembled the exhibit from several private collectors.

Among the false objects are several large piecest, such as an Olmec head statue, a carving of a reclining pre-Hispanic deity known as a "chac mool," and bas-reliefs carvings, columns, masks, and mural fragments.

The genuine pieces include animal and human figurines, pots, incense burners, jewelry, and weapon and knife points.

Experts had long claimed Patterson's exhibits and collection contained some fakes, mixed with some apparently real pieces.

The statement did not say whether the genuine artifacts would be returned to Mexico. It said only that Mexican government agencies "will continue working together to recover this heritage, resorting to all legal procedures and authorities concerned with this case."

lick the

Senators: Telcel Measure Not Appropriate
V�ctor May�n - The News
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April 15, 2010

To register a number, cell phone users can check www.renaut.gob.mx for details.

Mexico City � National Action Party (PAN) and Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) senators said on Wednesday that the injunction granted to Telcel is a challenge to the Mexican State.

They said it was inappropriate that Telcel resorted to legal procedures so that the cell phones of its users who did not register with the National Registry of Mobile Users (Renaut) would not be suspended because this is openly violating the law.

Alejandro Zapata Perogordo, president of the Legislative Studies Committee and member of the PAN, condemned Telcel for turning to a judicial alternative to look for an extension. He said that this decision only took into consideration the economic aspect and did not consider the fact that Renaut is a tool that aims to fight kidnapping and extortion.

Tom�s Torres Mercado, a member of the Communications and Transportations Commission and PRD senator, said that even though the action of Telcel was legal, the district attorney who granted the extension is �illegitimate� because this decision affects the social interest that constitutes Renaut, which is to protect cell phone user from crimes.

He also said that it was highly impertinent of Telcel to enact a lawsuit.

�It is a challenge to the Mexican state from the carrier. I believe that it was an impertinence from them, an absolute impertinence. After all, it ought to have chosen to sit down and talk things over with the Federal Telecommunications Commission (Cofetel) or with the Interior Secretariat and look for a consensus, an administrative agreement with the Cofetel and not a lawsuit,� he said.

The senators called on Telcel to collaborate with the social effort and to contribute to guaranteeing the peace and security that Mexicans need.

For his part, H�ctor Osuna, head of the Cofetel, said that there were an estimated 10,000 to 50,000 cell phones registered under public figures� names. He also said that these figures are not significant in comparison to the number unauthentic I.D. cards or college diplomas.

Osuna said that they are debating whether Movistar will be sanctioned for not suspending the services of those that did not register with Renaut on time. As long as this carrier is not granted an injunction, it is technically breaking the law.

Migrants Risk Everything in Arizona Desert Crossing
Jeb Sprague -Inter Press Service
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April 18, 2010

This is a NAFTA border. Money moves freely, people with money do too, but the poor are pushed into a dangerous cycle of crossing the desert.
- Connie Romero

Nogales, Mexico - As he drops his last purification tablet into a pail of swirling, murky water, Sergio, 26, stares out toward the desert. Recently deported from Arizona, where he has a young child and where he has lived for the majority of his life, he explains, "I have to return, it's my home."

Lacking official U.S. documentation, Sergio, like other undocumented migrants is unable to get a driver's license. Using a fake ID, he was originally deported to Mexico after being pulled over in a routine traffic stop and jailed for four months.

In fluent English, he explains that immediately upon his deportation he attempted to cross the desert but was captured by U.S. border patrol agents and jailed for another eight months. He has no family ties in Mexico's frontier states, he explains, his life is in Arizona.

On Apr. 13, the harshest anti-immigrant bill in the country, SB 1070, passed through Arizona's state legislature. Criminalising people for not having proper identification, the bill requires police to check the legal status of anyone they suspect of being undocumented.

Just two days later, a huge operation with 800 agents and officers from nine federal and local law enforcement agencies arrested 50 people working in the shuttle service sector, in what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials described as including "unprecedented cooperation with Mexico's Secretariade Securidad Publica", in an investigation that has "implicated high-level members of human smuggling organisations".

On the same day, members of the anti-immigrant Tea Party organisation held a few rallies in Arizona's Maricopa County. Former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo blamed undocumented migrants for committing murder and pointed to the case of an unsolved killing last month of an Arizona rancher named Rob Krentz.

"The blood of those people is on the hands of every politician who runs a sanctuary city," said Tancredo, speaking in Tempe.

On Pacifica Radio, Isabel Garcia, co-chair of the Tucson-based Coalition for Human Rights, said that she "put the onus and blame on the federal government, in addition to the state government, for funneling and purposely creating Arizona as the laboratory for all of these anti-immigrant measures".

With urban border crossing points such as Nogales heavily fortified, migrants deported to Mexico and wanting to return to their families in Arizona make dangerous treks across the desert.

According to U.S. civil rights groups, the number of migrants who die each year attempting to enter Arizona increased from nine in 1990 to over 200 by the mid-2000s.

The Barack Obama administration has continued its predecessors' policy of using death as a deterrent, which under U.S. and International law has been deemed illegal.

In 1994, with the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, then President Bill Clinton officially militarised the border with 'Operation Gatekeeper' and 'Operation Hold The Line'. By redirecting government resources to the major U.S./Mexico urban crossing sites - Tijuana/San Diego, Nogales/Nogales, El Paso/Juarez - where water, food, and shelter are more readily accessible, successive U.S. administrations have explicitly used open desert conditions as an immigrant deterrent.

Engracia Robles, a nun with Sisters of the Eucharist, helps run a small volunteer walk-in centre for deportees.

With no money, a location to sleep is hard to find, she says, and "people often sleep in the cemetery" just a few hundred feet away.

"People come in with their feet blistered, cuts on the face and bruised. They are hungry, destitute; shoes are broken from walking in the desert for days," she said.

IPS witnessed an emotional family reunion at the centre, as two children separated from their parents for months were finally brought together again. Wiping away their children's tears, the parents embraced their children for nearly half an hour before letting go.

Nearby, at the Mariposa port-of-entry, hundreds of trucks pass fuming up the hill crossing the border.

"This is a NAFTA border," explains Connie Romero, a volunteer with Arizona-based No Mas Muertes. "Money moves freely, people with money do too, but the poor are pushed into a dangerous cycle of crossing the desert."

On the Mexico side of the border, sitting beneath a tree near a bus bench across from the local cemetery, one group of deportees spoke with IPS about the dangers of desert crossings.

Garcia Augustin, a construction worker, explained, "We have been in the U.S. for the last 18 years but we were shipped back by [Joe] Arpaio [referring to the sheriff of Maricopa Country, where Phoenix is located]. We have no family here. We have nothing here."

Another labourer, deported recently, could not understand why a country so large and with so much opportunity would not allow him to work, as he was breaking no laws. "Sheriff Arpaio does not like people with brown skin. John McCain, the senator of Arizona, hates me because I'm brown. But Obama is a black man, he should understand, but he also hates me. Why?"

Corey Jones, a local kindergarten teacher, undergoing a training seminar with Good Samaritans Project, a migrant advocacy organisation, says, "Arizona is the site of a social struggle. On one hand you have very powerful wealthy people that benefit from the labour of a super-exploitable class of workers, and on the other hand you have some of the poorest people in North America seeking to make a living any way they can."

More Tequila Express in Mexico
Jimm Budd - TravelVideo.tv
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April 14, 2010

For more information visit the website at www.tequilaexpress.com.mx

Negotiations are underway to have the Tequila Express operate on Thursdays and Mondays as well as Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.

And, if this were to come to pass, the train would actually go to Tequila (the town) for a visit to Cuervo Centro, the Tequila Cuervo visitor center.

Currently the train goes to Amatitl�n, where Herradura (Horseshoe) Tequila is distilled. The train is operated by the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce, which hopes this way to keep visitors in Guadalajara one more night

The Tequila Express features all the tequila (or beer or soft drinks) a passenger can consume. Mariachis stroll through the cars.

On arrival, there is a tour of the distillery followed by lunch, a show, and more free booze on the trip back.

Trade Winds from the East
Emilio Godoy - Inter Press Service
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April 15, 2010

Mexico City - China has replaced Mexico as the top supplier of goods to the United States, and experts say that a specific trade strategy is needed for this Latin American country to compete successfully with Beijing in the U.S. market, the world's largest.

"What is lacking is an active trade policy to try to cut down imports of many inessential articles, and a policy to boost national exports," Arturo Ortiz, of the Institute of Economic Research at the state National Autonomous University of Mexico, told IPS.

Since 2003, China rather than Mexico has been the chief source of U.S. imports, a situation maintained by the artificially low value of China's currency, the yuan, which drives that country's exports, according to local and international analysts.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Tuesday that China had a trade surplus of 16.5 billion dollars with the United States in February, having sold 23.4 billion dollars' worth of goods and purchased 6.9 billion dollars' worth.

Mexico also had a positive trade balance with the United States, of 4.8 billion dollars in February, with exports worth 16.4 billion dollars and imports worth 11.6 billion dollars from its northern neighbour, according to the report.

"Mexico can regard China as a partner, and not necessarily as a competitor," Chilean economist Osvaldo Rosales, head of the Division of International Trade and Integration at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), told IPS. "There is room to sell any category of goods, but the relationship must be approached with a forward-looking vision, for the medium term."

Also on Tuesday, ECLAC published its report, "La Rep�blica Popular de China y Am�rica Latina y el Caribe: hacia una relaci�n estrat�gica" (The People's Republic of China and Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards a Strategic Relationship), just ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's trip to Brazil, Venezuela and Chile, this Wednesday to Sunday Apr. 18.

Hu visited Mexico in 2005 and Mexican President Felipe Calder�n travelled to Beijing in 2008.

The report says that over the present decade, Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded an overall trade deficit with China, mainly due to the increasingly negative trade balances of Mexico and Central America with the Asian giant.

In Mexico and Central America, it adds, China has become one of the main sources of imports, while exports to China have not increased significantly.

But the ECLAC report calls on Mexico and the rest of the region to prepare for an imminent reality: by 2020, China will be the region's second largest export market, overtaking the European Union and treading on the heels of the United States.

Mexico's foreign trade strategy has revolved around the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between this country, Canada and the United States ever since the treaty came into force in 1994.

NAFTA has boosted Mexican exports to the United States, at the cost of increasing its dependence on its northern neighbour, with which it shares a 3,326-kilometre border.

Mexico prides itself on being the "world champion" of trade agreements, having signed 38, with countries on every continent.

In contrast, China has used its increasing weight as a world power to consolidate and diversify its markets, without turning its back on trade liberalisation programmes. To date it has seven free trade agreements in operation, the most recent one implemented in March with Peru, while four more are being negotiated.

Economically, the two countries are at very different levels. Mexico was hit hard by the global economic crisis that originated in the United States in 2008, while China was only slightly affected.

In 2009, Mexico's GDP fell by nearly seven percent, while China's grew by 7.9 percent.

According to official figures in China, since November 2009 its foreign trade has returned to net growth, with a year-on-year increase of 9.8 percent. In November, Chinese imports increased by 27 percent compared to the same month in 2008, while exports fell by 1.2 percent, a sign of economic strength, the authorities emphasised.

The bilateral trade balance is in favour of China, which sold 32.5 billion dollars' worth of goods to Mexico in 2009, while buying 2.2 billion dollars' worth, according to Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, which highlights that China is Mexico's seventh largest supplier.

Mexico is also seeing U.S. investment fleeing the country and pouring into China, said Ortiz. "China has practically become the United States' 'maquiladora' (labour-intensive factories assembling imported materials for re-export)," he commented.

According to experts, the gains Mexico made in the U.S. market are being lost to China, which joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001 and opened its market to foreign products.

Mexico, the second largest economy in Latin America, has failed to take full advantage of its proximity to the largest world market and of the logistical advantages it enjoys for selling its goods across the border.

China, the analysts say, fights back with different competitive advantages: its low labour costs, attractiveness to foreign investors and productive power to manufacture cheap export goods.

"One task (for Mexico) is to use its geographical position to set up joint ventures, particularly productive alliances in business and technology that would encourage more bilateral exchange, and probably more Chinese investment, taking advantage of the benefits of NAFTA," ECLAC's Rosales suggested.

Between 2003 and 2008, China invested 1.1 billion dollars in Mexico, in the automotive, manufacturing, electronics and mining sectors, according to ECLAC.

In Rosales' view, it is essential to agree a regional agenda to do business with China. ECLAC also says the asymmetry between Mexico and China "must be addressed in their respective trade strategies."

Sunset by Bill Bell

Mexico's Zetas Drug Gang Now in El Salvador
Associated Press
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April 15, 2010

San Salvador, El Salvador � President Mauricio Funes says Mexico's Zeta drug gang has entered El Salvador and has made contact with local gangs in what appears to be an exploration of opportunities.

Funes says the gang already has extended its operations into Central America, operating in countries like Guatemala and Honduras. But he adds it is not clear whether the violent gang has set up shop yet in El Salvador.

Funes told reporters Wednesday that Central America needs a U.S. anti-drug aid plan designed specifically for the region. Mexico gets most of the $1.4 billion in U.S. anti-drug aid under the current Merida Initiative.

Mexican cartels have increasingly been using Central American as a transit point to ship drugs toward the U.S. market.

Mexicans Top Canadian Asylum List
The News
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April 14, 2010

UN affirms that over 9,000 requested asylum in 2009

Mexico City � In 2009, more than 9,000 Mexicans sought asylum in Canada, making it the country with the most requests, according to the Regional Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

At the signing of a cooperative agreement with the National Commission to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), UNHCR representative Fernando Protti Alvarado said that 680 people applied for asylum in Mexico, 113 of whom were admitted as refugees.

Speaking before Conapred president Ricardo Antonio Bucio Mujica, Protti said that according to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951, which Mexico joined in 2000, a refuge is defined as someone who is persecuted due to political, religious or racial questions, as well as victims of violence.

Also present at the signing was the general coordinator of the Interior Secretariat�s Mexican Commission to Help Refugees, Katia Somohano Silva, who said that a group of earthquake survivors from Haiti will arrive soon. A program to accept refugees from Haiti began following the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed a quarter of a million people.

Even before this program was created, Haitians were one of the top nationalities to request asylum in Mexico. Last year, 22.9 percent of those seeking asylum were from Guatemala, 16.3 percent were Colombian, 14.9 percent were from El Salvador, 14.2 percent were Haitian and 4.2 percent were from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some also came from Iraq.

For his part, Conapred�s Bucio said that with this agreement, the approximately100,000 refugees residing in Mexico will have more legal resources and will be able to make complaints of discrimination before the National Council to Prevent Discrimination.

During the ceremony of the agreement�s signing, Bucio talked about statistics of Mexicans� attitudes toward foreigners: 19 percent said they would not hire foreigners and 42 percent would refuse to live with foreigners. Those who suffer the most discrimination are other Latin Americans, Bucio said.

Discrimination impedes social and cultural integration of refugees, and in extreme cases limits their fundamental rights to life, Bucio said.

With Canada�s thousands of requests from Mexicans seeking asylum, last summer Canada abruptly began requiring Mexicans to apply for a visa.

Mexico Kingpin Captures Drug Routes
Alicia A. Caldwell & Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
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April 13, 2010

Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is shown to the press after his arrest in June 1993. (Associated Press)

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - After a two-year battle that has killed more than 5,000 people, Mexico's most powerful kingpin now controls the coveted trafficking routes through Ciudad Juarez. That conclusion by U.S. intelligence adds to evidence that Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel is winning Mexico's drug war.

The assessment was made based on information from confidential informants with direct ties to Mexican drug gangs and other intelligence, said a U.S. federal agent who sometimes works undercover, insisting on anonymity because of his role in ongoing drug investigations.

The agent told the Associated Press those sources have led U.S. authorities to believe that the Sinaloa cartel has edged out the rival Juarez gang for control over trafficking routes through Ciudad Juarez, ground zero in the drug war.

Other officials corroborated pieces of the assessment. Andrea Simmons, an FBI spokeswoman in El Paso, confirmed that the majority of drug loads arriving from Juarez now belong to Mr. Guzman.

Mexican Federal Police Chief Facundo Rosas told the AP that while authorities are still working to confirm the U.S. assessment, "These are valid theories."

"If you control the city [Ciudad Juarez], you control the drugs," the federal agent said. "And it appears to be Chapo."

The twin border cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas, are a primary crossing point for drugs smuggled into the United States. Control of drug routes in Chihuahua, the state along New Mexico and West Texas where Juarez is located, is vital to Mr. Guzman's efforts to grow his massive drug cartel's operations.

Already, the Sinaloa cartel is the world's largest, and Mr. Guzman last year made Forbes magazine's list of the world's top billionaires.

His cartel moved in on the city in 2008 in an attempt to wrest it from the Juarez cartel led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. The fighting prompted Mexican President Felipe Calderon to send thousands of army troops to the city, but the fighting has killed more than 5,000 people, making Juarez one of the world's deadliest cities.

A Guzman victory may not immediately halt the gang warfare in Juarez's streets. But those gangs "are fighting over crumbs. They're fighting over the retail sales in Juarez," Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told the AP.

The U.S. agent warned that Mr. Carrillo Fuentes is unlikely to give up the fight entirely as long as he is alive and free.

The Sinaloa cartel has grown steadily more powerful since Mr. Guzman escaped from a Mexican federal prison a decade ago by hiding in a laundry truck, even as successive Mexican governments � including that of Mr. Calderon � have faced accusations that they have not pursued the Sinaloa cartel as aggressively as other gangs.

"We've certainly seen them get stronger," said a U.S. law enforcement official in Mexico, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of security reasons. The Sinaloa cartel is "the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world."

Several of Mr. Guzman's rival kingpins have been taken down by Mr. Calderon's intensified, military-led crackdown on drug trafficking, including Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed in a shootout with Mexican marines in December, a year after his gang is believed to have split with the Sinaloa cartel.

The Sinaloa cartel has been moving steadily in on the lucrative smuggling routes into the United States, which consumes more drugs than any other country.

Most recently, officials and experts believe the cartel is trying to take over a series of small farming towns east of Juarez. The towns, across the Rio Grande from the Texas farming towns of Fabens and Fort Hancock, had long been under the control of the Juarez cartel and were historically used as staging areas for drug smugglers. But the arrests or killings of local smugglers have left it vulnerable to attacks by Sinaloa leaders.

In Ciudad Juarez itself, the majority of drug suspects in jail belong to gangs allied with the Juarez cartel. Since August, more than 50 Juarez cartel allies have been arrested in the city, compared to only 18 suspects tied to Mr. Guzman's organization.

The Juarez-aligned Azteca and La Linea gangs are struggling to maintain their traditional dominance of the city as they fend off constant assaults from the Sinaloa-aligned Killer Artists and Mexicles gangs and from Mexican law enforcement.

"The onslaught against the Juarez cartel has been very brutal, not only by the Chapo Guzman cartel but also the military," said Tony Payan, an expert on the Juarez drug war at the University of Texas-El Paso. "I don't think by any means the Juarez cartel is done, but it's a shadow of its former self."

Mr. Payan said much of the recent violence in Juarez can be attributed to Mr. Guzman's men killing off Carrillo loyalists, including "stragglers" who have so far evaded them and continue to deal drugs on Juarez streets.

"The killings, they are mostly small retail people," Mr. Payan said. "I think they are Aztecas, falling like flies all over the city."

AP writer Alexandra Olson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Mexico, U.S. Make Little Progress on Truck Dispute
Robin Emmott - Reuters
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April 13, 2010

Monterrey, Mexico � U.S. and Mexican officials pledged on Monday to set up a working group to resolve a trucking dispute, dampening hopes of a quick end to a spat that caused Mexico to slap duties on about $2.4 billion of U.S. exports more than a year ago.

"The countries will establish a working group to consider next steps of the cross-border trucking program," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and his Mexican counterpart, Juan Molinar, said in a joint statement after talks in the Mexican city of Monterrey near the Texas border.

In March, LaHood told U.S. lawmakers that President Barack Obama's administration was "finalizing a plan" to resolve the trucking dispute.

But the establishment of a working group to mull over next steps for resolving the long-running dispute indicates a solution is still not in sight.

A U.S. Transportation Department spokesman said he had no information on who would serve on the working group or whether it faced a deadline for completing its work.

In their statement, Molinar and LaHood said resolving the spat was a matter of "highest priority."

The United States agreed to open its market to Mexican trucks as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement that went into force in 1994, but the U.S. Teamsters union and many of its supporters in Congress have fought implementation of the pledge.

A year ago, Congress voted to cancel funding for a cross-border pilot program begun by former U.S. President George W. Bush's administration that allowed Mexican long-haul trucks to circulate in the United States.

The move infuriated Mexico, which retaliated by imposing duties on U.S. exports, including fruit, vegetables and industrial goods worth an estimated $2.4 billion.

It was entitled to take that action under a 2001 NAFTA panel ruling on the trucking dispute in Mexico's favor.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Alleviating Conflict in Mexico is a Shared Responsibility
Jerry Brewer - mexidata.info
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April 14, 2010


	The prosecution of smugglers that are apprehended in the U.S. or Mexico must be a collaborative and diligent effort between both nations.

The simple response to the highly complex and heinous human misery and carnage being suffered by the Mexican populace is joint strategies and a clear shared vision with the U.S. Why must Mexico and its neighbor to the north reluctantly acquiesce to seeing things, at a minimum, through a prism that may still slant or distort procedural, cultural and other institutional differences?

It is quite easy to answer that both sides are experiencing the organized criminal activity of transnational narcoterrorism. In its simplest form it means that the U.S. has a multi-billion dollar voracious drug habit and the narcoterrorists wish to continue to profit from it. Too, they want the dollars to flow unimpeded back across the U.S. border along with guns that supplement what they can acquire from Central America to enforce their will.

Cooperation between Mexico and the U.S. is a fluid process. However, the problems that exert a dominating influence on many coordinated operational acts, strategies and mutual vision in confronting the same enemy relate to the shared boundary between both nations. This includes issues of state sovereignty and related ethnic independence. Even the enforcement angle of interdiction is quite diverse on the U.S. side as it relates to federal, state, local, and tribal responsibilities. This dilemma is faced on both sides of the border as the Mexican military performs outside of traditional police procedures and the common effort becomes somewhat ad hoc and in unsystematic fashion.

The priorities in confronting the drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are somewhat diverse to both nations. The death and violence in Mexico is of grave concern and requires urgency. But it also is, and must be seen as, a critical threat to government and a democracy. Law enforcement in both nations is experiencing an enemy that is developing powerfully and technologically at an alarming rate. This impairs a government�s ability to sustain a viable fight with the necessary resources, training, and abilities to maintain authority and prevent additional loss of life.

Mexico is also confronted with securing their frontier with Central America and transnational gangs, the drug trafficking supply pipeline, human smuggling, and other insurgent related issues. Mexico�s necessary tourism industry is stifled and retail businesses thus seriously compromised by a failure to interdict the violence.

U.S. assistance has been effective in many interdiction strategies such as the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) visits and work in tracing the itinerary of weapons flowing south. U.S. intelligence analysis and operational-related information sharing has led to the death and capture of DTO hierarchy. Tips/contributor information has also come from rival DTOs in Colombia and Central American nations. This information is always potentially intercepted and compromised.

Human intelligence (HUMINT) is of paramount concern since the true mission of locating, penetrating, and ultimately dismantling DTOs is a hunt for flesh and not necessarily commodity. The massive wealth of this enemy equates to corruption at potentially every level of government, with this collusion becoming a death warrant for anyone standing in the way of sabotaging the DTO�s mission.

U.S. intelligence, federal law enforcement, and military training provided to Mexican counterparts bring much expertise and specialization gained from many domestic and international venues. Much of this transnational technology brought forth by experience in Middle Eastern war zones and associated technology in border security, unmanned aerial equipment, and similar operational acts.

The DTOs come to the playing field with their own acquired advanced weaponry, technology, communication systems, transportation methods, intelligence information, and financing systems. It is truly a war.

The prosecution of smugglers that are apprehended in the U.S. or Mexico must be a collaborative and diligent effort between both nations. Since kingpin hierarchy harbors massive wealth and related resources and intelligence wealth, this must be a constant priority. Southbound narco revenue dollars and guns must also continue to be a priority for it leads to a recipient. However, absent a reliable symbiotic and focused interdiction strategy and law enforcement effort, a state may choose to equate another interpretation and understanding of justice, and thus impede progress because of conflicting opinion.

To those who have cleverly deciphered that this enemy will never be totally defeated because of supply and demand, regardless of the contraband, it is clear that the U.S. and Mexico share the responsibility in this war. Mexico has much more to lose with a dog in this fight by its state weakening over time without effective interdiction and reducing the violence. This could lead to DTOs acquiring a strong parallel power on Mexican soil due to their resiliency and prosperity.

Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami, Florida. His website is located at www.cjiausa.org

Driving Safely in Mexico

Driving safely in Mexico tips by Bill and Dot Bell

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Click here to read about the orphans of Tepic and how one man fishing dream became a Fishin Mission

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Speak Spanish - That Should be Your Goal!

Learn Spanish Today Make 2009 the year that you learn Spanish

Can you Speak Spanish? How long have you been studying Spanish? Between high school classes, college classes and you own efforts you could easily have a couple years already under your belt. During this time you have likely built up a good Spanish vocabulary, along with a basic understanding of Spanish verb conjugation. But can you speak Spanish?

Why is speaking Spanish so hard? Would you feel comfortable approaching a native Spanish speaker and starting a conversation? Why not? Why is it so hard to speak Spanish evenBeginning high school and college Spanish classes, as well as most self study Spanish courses start off by teaching vocabulary and verb conjugation. You practice speaking, but the focus is on the individual word or phrase. Lists of words are memorized and tests are given on verb conjugation. So when it comes time to speak, the words and phrases are separate in your mind. It becomes a matter of trying to pull all the pieces together and form them all into a sensible sentence, not just speaking.

The key to becoming more comfortable in speaking situations is to practice and learn the sentences as a whole, not in separate pieces. This way when you are trying to remember what to say, the whole sentence pops in your mind, not just one word. You will speak Spanish more correctly, more fluently and more confidently than ever before.

The Visual Link Spanish Course allows you to utilize this effective way of learning and practice speaking Spanish. In our free online demo lessons, you can see how we utilize these strategies to truly teach you to speak Spanish. You will be able to recall everything you learn and words will come into your mind as a complete sentence not separate individual words. You will already be on your way to speaking Spanish more fluently and more confident

Learn Spanish Today - Learn Spanish on-line for free, using interactive audio/visual lessons.

New with travel guide information added!

Pacific Coast Road, Driving and Travel Guide Log 2010

Driving in Mexico just got a little safer with the release of M�xico Road Logs - A comprehensive compilation of road logs of the Mexican Highway system researched and created by Bill and Dot Bell (www.ontheroadin.com). They have just released the updated version of their successful Nogales to Puerto Vallarta road Log and Travel Guide.

The Mexico Road Log and Driving Guides give details of what to expect along major travel routes when visiting different areas of Mexico. "Far more than a simple map, these road logs detail intersections, driving directions, points of interest, and provide important information on driving hazards that even current GPS systems do not track" said Dot Bell. "The Road Logs are a must for those who are driving throughout the Baja, Pacific, Gulf Coast, and the Interior of Mexico."

According to Insurance Guru Jim Labelle President of Mexpro (the largest insurance supplier to Canadians and Americans entering Mexico ) the Road Logs will make car and RV travel in Mexico less intimidating. "For years, our clients have asked us for updated road logs of Mexico," Labelle said.

"The Mexico Road Logs provide our customers with additional peace of mind and will allow them to have a more enjoyable Mexico travel experience. They may even prevent U-turns and collisions! By using the Mexico Road Logs, our clients will experience less stress and have a more relaxed driving experience, which should also help Mexpro with reduced claims that in the past have resulted from customers getting lost or losing their composure," Labelle said.

The Mexico Road Logs are updated, simple to read, easy to use, and offer the perfect solution to people who want to drive and enjoy Mexico.

The Bell's originally designed the Mexico Road Log for a Caravan they were leading down Mexico's West Coast. "We wanted to list every individual gas station and identifier so folks wouldn't get lost. We wanted to warn them of every turn and hazard along the way," says Bell. "They were such a hit and even the people who have driven Mexican Roads for years were asking for them. They wanted to be reminded where the next gas station was, if it sold diesel or where the next Military checkpoint was likely to be."

The Bell's are experts in Mexico Travel and have led conferences, seminars and special classes about driving and travel in Mexico throughout Canada and the USA. They have the most comprehensive travel website on Mexico Driving, RVing and Camping and are now working with Mexpro to distribute Mexico Road Logs in an easy-to-use interactive download.

Available at http://www.ontheroadin.com.

How to download and buy the Road Log

Click on the buy now button and you will be directed to a merchants page. Once you pay for the road log you will redirected to an easy to use download page where you will be able to receive your product immediately. Now only $9.99