Click Here to visit our page

 

Click here to order your copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 










Free Spanish Lessons







 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Click this ad for more info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Click on ad for more information
 

 

 

 

 

 









 BOOK BEFORE AUGUST

SPECIAL! Click for details
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for more information

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

  

 
  

 

Free Spanish Lessons

LAND FOR SALE

Land suitable for small ranch. 

In La Loma 10 minutes north of La Penita.  700,000 pesos. Ejido. 

Contact Rafael at

(cell phone 045 311 161 0573)

Click here for more information

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Spanish Lessons
  

 

 

Aug 11, 2010 

..the heartbeat of the Riviera Nayarit

  

The Sol, the English Language source of News for the Riviera Nayarit Mexico, including La Penita de Jaltemba, Rincon de Guayabitos, Lo de Marcos. Los Ayala, Lo de Marcos, and San Pancho

Learn Spanish Learn Spanish Today Learn Spanish

Amazing photography of Islas Marias taken by John Henderson from his home in Los Ayalas

 

The Islas Marías ("Mary Islands") are an archipelago of four islands that belong to Mexico. They are located in the Pacific Ocean, some 100 km (60 miles) off the coast of the state of Nayarit. They are part of the municipality (municipio) of San Blas, Nayarit. As of 2006, the islands are still being used as a penal colony, containing the Islas Marias Federal Prison. The islands have an aggregate area of 244.970 km². 1116 people lived on Isla María Madre as of the census of 2005. The other islands are uninhabited. The main settlement is Puerto Balleto, with a population of 602.

Isla María Madre, the northernmost island, is the largest, with a surface area of 145.282 km². It houses the Islas Marías Federal Prison which was established there in 1905. The other two islands are Isla María Magdalena (70.440 km²) and, further south, Isla María Cleofas (19.818 km²). They were named after three women called Mary in the Biblical New Testament: respectively, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the wife of Cleopas.


English teacher needed on the Riviera Nayarit
ENGLISH TEACHING OPPORTUNITY!!

English teacher needed to work with children in a beautiful town. We believe
that education makes the difference in the lives of children and their
community by providing quality teachers. The opportunity for educated people
is great but the number of educated people is not.

Teachers must be responsible, enthusiastic, speak English and Spanish.

If you are interested please send us your resume

ea.scholarship@gmail.com

 

 

Become a Friend on the Riviera Nayarit Click Here 

Headline News

Ex-Mexico president calls for legalizing drugs

Former President Vicente Fox is joining with those urging his successor to legalize drugs in Mexico, saying that could break the economic power of the country's brutal drug cartels.

Fox's comments, posted Sunday on his blog, came less than a week after President Felipe Calderon agreed to open the door to discussions about the legalization of drugs, even though he stressed that he remained opposed to the idea….go to original article

 

Cardinal criticizes Mexico's high court for upholding law allowing gay marriages in capital

Cardinal Norberto Rivera sharply criticized Mexico's Supreme Court on Sunday for upholding a law allowing homosexuals to marry in the capital, calling the ruling "aberrant" and "immoral."

The Roman Catholic archbishop said it was wrong to go against Christian doctrine that recognizes only marriages between a man and a woman….go to original article

 

4 Mexico police commanders suspended, investigated

Four federal police commanders have been suspended from their posts in a violent Mexican border city following allegations from subordinates that they have links to drug traffickers.

The action by the Public Safety Department comes just hours after 200 federal police officers detained one of their superiors at gunpoint, alleging that he had connections to drug cartels and had participated in kidnappings, killings and extortion….go to original article

 

Mexico murder rate is . . . down

Cartel violence in 9 states leaves mistaken impression that entire country is under siege

Gruesome murders appear to be commonplace in Mexico:

The severed heads of eight men found along highways in Durango.

Seventeen people massacred at a birthday party in Torreon.

The bodies of 55 people found in a mine near the town of Taxco.

Mexicans and their American neighbors are being bombarded by news of shootouts, bombings, kidnappings and executions as drug smugglers battle each other and the government for control of the narcotics trade. But a closer look at the latest official statistics indicates that much of Mexico has modest murder rates. The horrific violence that's jacking up the national death toll is largely in nine of Mexico's 31 states….go to original article

Mexico Finds Tunnel, Possible Tombs Under

A long-sealed tunnel has been found under the ruins of Teotihuacan and chambers that seem to branch off it may hold the tombs of some of the ancient city's early rulers, archaeologists said Tuesday.

Experts say a tomb discovery would be significant because the social structure of Teotihuacan remains a mystery after nearly 100 years of archaeological exploration at the site, which is best known for the towering Pyramids of the Moon and the Sun…..go to original article

Bienvenido to welcoming Puerto Vallarta

The `San Francisco of Mexico' is home to some of the most gay- welcoming folks in all of Latin America.

Our neighbor to the south has been making great gay gains of late: Mexico City allows same-sex marriage, and there is talk of extending the law all across Mexico. And nowhere is Mexico's new gay vitality on show than in Puerto Vallarta….go to original article

Lo de Marcos - A Little Piece of Heaven on the Road

Discover the real charm of a small fishing town where life goes on without a worry. "When I'm on the road, I always find a little piece of heaven before I reach my destination," says Ana Butterflug in her blog. This Englishwoman, who lives in Canada, is a lover of road trips, and while she was on her way to Barra de Navidad she was captivated by the beauty of the beach and the sunsets at Lo de Marcos, in Riviera Nayarit: it was the little piece of heaven she's always been looking for…..go to original article

 

Mexico says it will sue BP over oil spill in the Gulf

The Mexican government is planning to make BP and the United States pay for damages and for costs associated with the company's ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, the state news agency Notimex reported Monday. Environment Minister Juan Elvira told the news agency the government will sue BP for environmental damages and for the money Mexico spent on monitoring the spill. Although the Notimex report said the Mexican government plans to make both BP and the United States pay, it was not clear from the story whether Mexico is planning to file suit against the U.S. government as well as the company…..go to original article

Protests Test Patience of Mexico City Drivers

On almost any given day, drivers hopelessly paralyzed by the protesters marching down Mexico City’s avenues may feel that the city’s jaunty logo and slogan, plastered everywhere, are taunting them.  “Capital en Movimiento” the city declares itself, next to a windblown drawing of its main landmark, the Angel of Independence.

On many days, however, this capital is not in movement at all. …..go to original article

China, Mexico, Pacific sites get World Heritage status

Six sites located in Brazil, China, Mexico, France's Reunion Island and the South Pacific nation of Kiribati won World Heritage status from a UNESCO panel meeting in Brazil.…..go to original article

FACTBOX-Key political risks to watch in Mexico

Escalating drug violence, a tepid economic recovery, stalled economic reforms and declining oil output are all risks to watch for this year in Mexico, which needs to keep up investor confidence to maintain its debt ratings and rebound from its worst recession since 1932.…..go to original article

 

Mexico celebrates ruling on Arizona law

In the heart of the Mexican capital a crowd of 100 activists stood silently outside the imperious American Embassy on Wednesday waiting for a judicial decision 1,800 miles away in Phoenix, Arizona. When news was announced that Judge Susan Bolton had blocked the Arizona law’s most controversial provisions, the crowd burst into applause….go to original article

 

Mexico, Chile recognize Honduran government

Mexico and Chile are formally recognizing the government of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo a year after his predecessor was ousted by a military-backed coup. Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said Saturday in a statement that it will send its ambassador back to Honduras next week….go to original article

 

Threats of drug cartel attacks shut U.S. Consulate in Juarez, Mexico

Threats of drug cartel attacks against authorities have prompted the United States to shut down its large consulate in Juarez, providing no indication when the building will reopen. A statement posted Thursday night on the consulate's Web site said the facility was reviewing its "security posture." The brief message urged Americans to avoid the general area around the

 

Mexico's Drug Wars: Finally Going After Number One
The operation was swift and deadly. Mexican military intelligence — without any aid from police forces or American agents — zeroed in on a safe house of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel a.k.a. "The King of Ice," one of the continent's most wanted drug traffickers. After clearance from high command, the troops went in on Thursday, July 29. Three helicopters covered from the air while 200 paratroppers rushed on the target in a plush suburb of Guadalajara. The operation commander was the first through the door — and was shot dead with a pistol by a startled Coronel. The next soldier through fired two shots into the drug lord's chest, killing him instantly. A bodyguard rapidly surrendered. The reign of the King of Ice was over…..go to original article

 

Alaska Air adds Mexico route from San Jose

Beginning Nov. 20, Alaska Airlines will add nonstop service between San Jose, Calif., and the Los Cabos in Mexico. The carrier will fly three flights a week on the route, operating one round-trip flight each Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday on Boeing 737-700 jets.,,,,go to original article

 Police in Mexico free two kidnapped cameramen

Javier Canales and Alejandro Hernandez had been investigating corruption allegations at a prison in Gomez Palacio when they were abducted.

The kidnappers reportedly demanded that the TV stations the cameramen worked for broadcast a series of videos accusing local officials of ties with a drug cartel. ….go to original article

 

Flights send illegal immigrants to Mexico, but many return

Guillermo Campos Ojeda stares blankly at the clouds from the jetliner's window, mentally retracing the 22 years that he lived in the United States as an illegal immigrant.

His odyssey began in 1988 with an illegal border crossing and ended in May when he was pulled over for driving without a license. In between were double shifts at a Chicago factory, a string of run-ins with the law, a marriage and his ultimate joy: the birth of his daughter, now 2, who is a U.S. citizen…..go to original article

 

 

lick the

Click here to visit our site

 

 

AARP The Magazine Travels the Globe to Reveal the Top 5 Best Places to Retire Abroad

Experts in celebrating the next chapter in life, AARP The Magazine traveled the globe to discover the ultimate retirement destinations abroad.  Factoring climate, expat community, cost of living, housing, health care, access to the U.S. and culture and leisure, AARP The Magazine reveals the top five locales in its September/October issue (www.aarp.org/magazine), available in homes and online today.  See what regions in Mexico, France, Panama, Portugal and Italy have to offer—castles, palm trees, rain forests, grilled lobster—in their unique and unparalleled retirement experiences….go to original article

Mexico To Send Inspectors To Border

-- If Arizona’s new, tough illegal immigration enforcement law goes into effect on Thursday, Mexico will send human rights inspectors to the border.

Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said Monday that it wants to make sure migrants trying to cross the border are being treated properly….go to original article

Climate change 'will increase Mexico-US migration'

A warming climate could see millions of adult Mexicans migrate to the US as rising temperatures cause a drop in crop yields, according to a study by researchers at Princeton University.

For every 10% of lost crop yields in Mexico, 2% more Mexicans are likely leave their country, the study says….go to original article

Columnist: US Falls Short In Helping Mexico End Its Drug War

Last month, 303 people were murdered in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, which lies alongside El Paso. This month, the dead include three men killed by a sophisticated, remote-controlled car bomb -- the first in Mexico's drug wars. In a city of 1.2 million, more than 2,600 died violently in 2009; some 200,000 more may have fled. ….go to original article

Swim with the whale sharks in Mexico

ISLA MUJERES, Mexico — "There's a limited number of people who'd want to jump into open water with a giant fish," local resident Brian Prince is saying from his spot on the patio of a B&B on this island off the coast of Cancun…..go to original article

Mexican hockey: Signs of hope south of the border

When most people think of sports in Mexico, the first images that come to mind are baseball and soccer. Although the nation has 18 ice rinks and 2,200 registered players, including 1,800 at the junior level -- respectable participation for a non-traditional hockey country -- few people outside its small hockey community even know the sport exists in the country. However, Mexico has been part of the world hockey community for a quarter-century…..go to original article

Mexico's Banorte rebounds from recession

Banorte bank showed strong signs of recovery in the second quarter from Mexico's recent recession, posting a 26 percent rise in net profit from a year earlier as it made fewer provisions against bad loans…..go to original article

Mexico's Banks Unlikely To See Earnings Hit By Limits On Fees

MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Mexico's banks aren't expected to see much of an impact on their earnings as a result of new restrictions on commissions and fees that will take effect in the coming months.

"From our conversations with industry sources in Mexico, including [No. 3 bank] Banorte, the impact from the new measures on banks' earnings is reportedly limited," Barclays Capital analyst Robert Attuch said in a note. …go to original article

Oaxaca festival in Mexico highlights indigenous pride

An old Mexican man, with a big moustache and wearing a wide sombrero, ambles into the sunlit Benito Juarez auditorium in Oaxaca City, clutching a live, twitching turkey.

Looking around for his fellow villagers, he passes rows of vividly embroidered traditional dresses, pineapples with red ribbons tied round their middles in bows, and thousands of sombreros like his own…..go to original article

Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Tropical Sun 

                                                     © Tara A. Spears

sunburn2.jpgOne of the first things that a visitor to exotic coastal Riviera Nayarit usually does is strip down and hit the beach.  It’s so beautiful and the water is so warm, before you know it, you have spent hours basking in the sunshine. Imagine your dismay when you go to take a shower: Ow, pain! Ugh, lobster red! What most visitors (and seasonal residents, too) don’t realize is that at tropical latitudes the sun is closer and more intense than at northern latitudes, therefore, even if you can spend five hours in full sun in Canada, that equates to less than one hour here-even in January.   Before going sunbathing you should consider information on how to avoid sunburn in the first place. It is wise to take proactive measures and protect yourself against the harmful ultraviolet and infrared damage than to spoil your vacation with pain and unsightly peeling. This article includes suggestions for soothing inflamed skin because, even with the good intentions, sometimes you still get a sunburn.

 

To read more of the sunburn story click here

Lo de Marcos - A Little Piece of Heaven on the Road
RivieraNayarit.com
go to original
August 07, 2010
On Nayarit's curving coastline approximately one hour's drive north of Puerto Vallarta's Banderas Bay, the relaxed atmosphere of Lo de Marcos is reflected in the people who live in this tropical paradise.
Discover the real charm of a small fishing town where life goes on without a worry. "When I'm on the road, I always find a little piece of heaven before I reach my destination," says Ana Butterflug in her blog. This Englishwoman, who lives in Canada, is a lover of road trips, and while she was on her way to Barra de Navidad she was captivated by the beauty of the beach and the sunsets at Lo de Marcos, in Riviera Nayarit: it was the little piece of heaven she's always been looking for.

It's seven a.m., and the baroque music of Albinoni resonates through the palm trees and the exuberant vegetation. Alberto is inspired by this Italian composer to cook the catch of the day, which was given to him by the local fishermen in appreciation for helping them pull the nets on the beach to pick up the rewards of last night's work. It's still early and Alberto is about to enjoy his breakfast, but his day started much earlier.

It has been almost 15 years now that he's been visiting Lo de Marcos to get away from the hustle and bustle of Mexico City. The daily routine during his stays, which sometimes prolong for months, is simple: get up at five a.m., jog on the beach and then swim a couple of miles in the sea. By the time he finishes exercising, he usually finds the fishermen coming back to the beach.

Classical music, refreshing relaxation, books, some more rest, a friendly chat with the locals, who already know him - this is how the day goes by, without troubles, noise, street vendors, or concerns.

However, his agenda is strict: every single day, approximately one hour before sundown, Alberto takes a folding chair and his favorite book and heads towards an isolated location on the beach. He then unfolds the chair and points it in the direction where a couple of minutes later the sun will melt in the ocean, and enjoys watching the sunset while he reads his book under the golden light. This is how his tight agenda comes to a close, and how the daily activity concludes.

It's precisely the allure of this place and its relaxing lifestyle that has made Alberto come back for the last 15 years, and which also caught Ana's eye. "It's a real fishermen town, with a beach to die for. I picture this as the ambiance Sayulita must have had when it was first discovered by surfers in the seventies", concludes the seasoned traveler.

Lo de Marcos is one of the jewels of Riviera Nayarit, "Mexico's Pacific Treasure."

DON'T MISS

Lo de Marcos offers lodging in the form of modest properties with bungalows, a trailer park and camping areas. It's low-priced, private and comfortable. We recommend:

Suites El Coral, Carretera Las Minitas N° 39, email: elcoraldelodemarcos(at)hotmail.com

Suites Las Margaritas, Emiliano Zapata No. 22, email: bungalowsmargarita(at)hotmail.com

GET ACTIVE!

Some of the activities you can do at Lo de Marcos include bird watching, hiking along the estuary, fishing trips and visits to San Pancho and Sayulita.


About Riviera Nayarit: Mexico’s newest destination, Riviera Nayarit, stretches along 192 miles of pristine Pacific coast framed by the majestic Sierra Madre Mountains just ten minutes north of accessible Puerto Vallarta International Airport. The region extends along the entire coast of the Pacific state of Nayarit including the resorts of Nuevo Vallarta, the historic colonial town of San Blas, exclusive Punta Mita, picturesque fishing villages, miles of serene beaches and spectacular Banderas Bay. Riviera Nayarit offers countless activities, all pleasantly affordable, such as: PGA golf courses, luxury spas, whale watching, turtle release, zip lining, surfing, record deep sea fishing, bird watching, international cuisine, and shopping for local artwork and traditional Huichol handicrafts. The region attracts and satisfies vacationers of all tastes and budgets with its wide range of accommodations including chic luxury resorts, eco-tourism boutique hotels and quaint B&B inns. Visit the website at RivieraNayarit.com

 

Take the Plunge by Adding a Swimming Pool or Spa

 For Year-round Tropical Pleasure

© Tara A. Spears

Deb & Dana.JPGThe Riviera Nayarit climate, with its abundance of sunny days and warm nights, is utopia for those who enjoy cooling off in a pool or relaxing in a whirlpool spa.  Even for those who don’t care to dip, just the aesthetics of a sparking pool invites one to relax and sit awhile, a sure cure for stress. While adding a swimming pool is a huge investment north of the border, building an in-ground pool in Mexico is very reasonable (I found it to run 1/10th of the cost.)  Couple this fact with the Mexican craftsmen’s flair and skill as tile artisans and you can have a functional work of art to enhance your property and increase its value. Installing a pool in your backyard is serious business, one that involves plenty of planning, a degree of mess and significant cost. This is hardly a decision to rush into as once it’s installed, it is pretty much a permanent fixture. Juan Valdez, of Alberca de Vallarta Pools says, “It takes careful planning to find a pool that works best for your lifestyle and budget. Choosing the right style of pool will have a direct impact on whether your swimming pool becomes a popular hot spot for family and friends or a rarely used yard accessory.”         go here for completes Article                                   

 

 


Tonina Acroplis in the state of Chiapas Bill and Dot Bell Photography

Toniná a Mayan wonder not to be missed

By Dorothy BellStatues of decapatated prisoners

We had travelled only 120 kms or so that day toward Oscinco, but we were already beat tired. We had climbed some amazing pyramids in the last few days and our legs were sore from the endless staircases to the heavens. “Just one more, “said Bill. “This one is supposed to be very interesting.” It doesn’t take much to get either of us interested in another ancient site so we made a left turn off the highway and headed towards the pyramid sign.

Ocosingo is in the heart of Maya country; a city of 35,000 inhabitants. It lies in the mountainous region of Chiapas between the Tabasco lowlands on the Gulf of Mexico and San Cristobel de las Casas, the colonial gem high in the State of Chiapas Mountains.  We drove the 13 kms to the East of the city towards the ancient city of Toniná.

We hadn’t really expected much. Toniná isn’t on the average tourists’ radar screen. It isn’t a seventh wonder of the world like Chichen Itza and the remote location coupled with the Zapatista uprising two decades ago, has kept most travelers away from the area. Avoiding this pre-Columbian gem is a mistake.Dorothy makes her way up the steep steps

We entered the grounds, paid the 41 peso admission and were immediately directed by one of the security guards towards the museum. The first room graphically illustrated the site; both what it looked like when first discovered by Europeans and what it looks like now. There is a three dimensional model of the site that immediately caught our attention and wowed our Mayaphile souls. The acropolis is huge.

While we were anxious to get on the trail to the site, the guard once again interThe view from the top vened and motioned for us to go to a second display room. “Wow.”

Immediately you can see the difference between the sculptures, statues and other images. In Tulum, for example, you struggle to see the original images as they have been worn away by the elements. In Toniná, many of the statues and carvings on stone are crystal clear; three dimensional and full. This second room was impressive not just because of the clarity of the sculptures but also because of the content; a series of statues depicted bound slaves; some decapitated and holding their heads.

Bill and dorothy Bell on top of the world...Mayan world that isToniná was often at war with other Mayan cities and was usually victorious. Even the great city of Palenque was plundered and the King caught and held captive.

After visiting the museum we walked towards the sight; along a horse trail, up and down the banks of a small river until we hit the expansive plain that was the city on Toniná. We quickly walked by a small ancient ballpark and headed for the great acropolis that was once the capital of the Mayan world.

 

Dr. Victor J. Youcha says goodbye to La Penita...we will miss you

Dear friends and patients,

It is with a bit of sadness that I have to inform you that I will be moving away from La Peñita de Jaltemba.  My wife and I will be moving to Ajijic in the state of Jalisco, Mexico for multiple reasons, including to be nearer  to my spiritual community there.

I have enjoyed serving the population in this region of Nayarit as your Doctor of Chiropractic.  I will be available for appointments in my office in La Peñita until approximately September 16, 2010. 
If you or your friends and relatives need my help before I leave La Peñita, please take the soonest opportunity.  My office number is 327 274 3540, and my cell is 322 142 2036.

I hope to find a doctor to take my place here in Nayarit, but there are few licensed Chiropractors in Mexico.

Best regards,
Victor J. Youcha, D.C.

 

Victor J. Youcha, D.C. C.C.S.P.,Dipl.Ac.(NCCAOM)
Doctor Quiropráctico
Centros Quiroprácticos y Bienestar Aliados
Oceano Pacifico #26 Col. Miramar
La Peñita De Jaltemba, Nayarit, México
Office: 327-274-3540
Cellular: 322-142-2036 (cell in México)

Calls from USA add prefix (011 52)

 Mexico Extends Health Insurance Coverage
Xinhua
go to original
August 07, 2010

The SPSS targets Mexico's low-income population, especially those living in rural areas.
Mexico extended health insurance coverage by about a million people a month in the first half of the year, said the Mexican Health Ministry on Friday.

The ministry said there are 36.8 million subscribers to the Social Health Protection System (SPSS) created in 2004. The SPSS targets Mexico's low-income population, especially those living in rural areas.

The National SPSS Commission seeks out citizens not covered by Mexico's multiple health care systems and provides them with health insurance.

According to the Health Ministry, the SPSS Catastrophic Spending Protection Fund paid out 5.1 billion pesos (789 million U.S. dollars) to subscribers in the first half of the year.

The ministry added that over 2.5 billion pesos (197 million dollars) have been spent in fighting H1N1 flu, a pandemic that brought the Mexican economy to a standstill in April and May last year.


 Interior Design Students Team Up with Mexican Village for Community Center
rlog.org
go to original
August 03, 2010

 
What do Interior Design students at Brookline’s New England Institute of Art (NEiA) have in common with a sleepy Mexican village? Thanks to adjunct faculty member Deborah Drew, a shared passion to create a community center.

Drew, who winters in the village of La Peñita de Jaltemba, on the west coast of Mexico, was attracted to the town for its blending of people with many cultural personalities. She also was drawn by the sense of community and common desires to help La Peñita through its growing pains and daily struggles.

"We love the town the way it is," says Drew, "but we want to help and do so by making suggestions and backing them up by stressing the importance of recycling, opening the mangroves for fresh water, by providing a few scholarships and building Eco-parks."

While back in Brookline, Drew, who teaches Interior Design at NEiA, approached her students about taking on a project to help La Peñita reach its long-time dream. The center’s design, to benefit everyone from children to the elderly, was quickly embraced.

The site is an existing basketball court with two smaller buildings adjacent to the town plaza. Drew brushed off her architectural skills and laid out the program based on what she knew her townsfolk in Mexico wanted. "The project is large; as long and as deep as a 15-story building lying on its side," says Drew. "I did the base work and then handed it off to the students."

Each student is concentrating on a specific area. One is creating a yoga studio which impacts another student’s design for the main event area. Another is incorporating a tire wall that abuts the gift shop. The reclaimed tires used on one side create a wall, while on the opposite side those tires are carved into storage spaces.

The Center will include an indoor/outdoor play area, an arts and crafts room, a library and reading room, changing room, public rest rooms, a commercial kitchen and permanent dining area. The main event area will be able to host up to 300 guests from annual fundraisers to monthly local meetings. There is also a large area dedicated to receiving and organizing recycled items delivered by the townspeople.

Throughout the entire process, the students have corresponded with people in La Peñita. "This is a rare opportunity for students to not only design a space, but to work with people of another culture with different needs and desires," says Drew. "They have worked day and night and gladly attended a weekend class, spending all day Sunday working on the project."

The actual building of the facility may be years away, as Drew and her fellow La Peñita residents work to raise the funds, but the groundwork will be laid. "I hope to continue the project in future classes," adds Drew.


The New England Institute of Art is one of 'The Art Institutes,' a system of over 45 education institutions located throughout North America, providing an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals.

Dread and Redemption: A History of Monstrous Mexico City
Benjamin Dangl - Toward Freedom
go to original
August 06, 2010
El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City
by John Ross (New York: Nation Books), 512 pages.

 Check it out on Amazon.com
In El Monstruo: Death and Redemption in Mexico City, long-time journalist and author John Ross summons the magic of Mexico’s history, making it shine through the political blood and city smog. This monstrous work is spiced with humor, murder mysteries, gossip, and haunting detail.

By focusing on El Monstruo – Mexico City – Ross tells an epic history of the region, from the Aztec Empire through the Mexican Revolution, to the 2006 presidential elections and the city’s struggle with swine flu.

The book is interspersed with brief interviews Ross conducted with local characters in and around the hotel he lives in down in the Centro Histórico of Mexico City. In one such exchange, the local Alfredo spoke to Ross about his work buying and selling gold jewelry. He told the writer that he has “never knowingly bought or sold a stolen watch.” Alfredo called himself an urban gold miner. “Your never know where you will encounter gold in this city.”

Ross himself is a kind of urban gold miner. He digs up one story from 1928, when the cartoonist José de León Toral drew a picture of a President Álvaro Obregón while the leader was celebrating his re-election. Toral placed a pistol under the drawing before showing it to the president, and shot Obregón five times. Or did he? The case isn’t closed, and the truth about who pulled the trigger “went to the grave with Toral.” At the end of this unsolved mystery, Ross tells us that “Unrepentant, Toral sucked down his last cigarette – a Faro, the slim-jim cheapos that were then the smoke of choice… The term chupando [puffing] Faros has since become Chilango slang for giving up the ghost.”

Such details pop up in the most unexpected places throughout this history. We’re enlightened about the fact that on the night of the Zapatista uprising, on January 1st, 1994, President Carlos Salinas’ New Year’s Eve party put away three bottles of Dom Pérignon and was contemplating a late night cruise on the presidential yacht. Before the party could cast off, Salinas received a phone call from one of his military officials about a certain masked insurgency rising up in Chiapas, declaring war on the Mexican state. Ross then leads the section on the Zapatista uprising with, Feliz Año Nuevo, Cabrones.

Ross is rightly skeptical of most politicians. When reflecting on the results of a certain mayoral election in Mexico City, he writes,

The Monster was powered by its own internal contradictions. It could not be made to wear the bridle of the Left or the Right. El Monstruo had no political party, or perhaps it was its own political party. Those who sought to rule here had to make peace with the beast. There were certain protocols to follow. As in all 12-step programs, those who claimed to be in charge had first to admit that they had no power over El Monstruo. Once that was established, negotiations could begin.

Perhaps the same political analysis could be true for the entire nation. This is one of the many strengths of El Monstruo: that in gaining an understanding of the city, we gain an understanding of Mexico itself.

After all the tragedy and glory covered in this book, Ross writes that the “social immune system” of those living in Mexico City “is still healthy enough to resist the bullshit of their rulers...” And it’s that people’s stamina that keeps El Monstruo from chupando Faros.

Benjamin Dangl edits of TowardFreedom.com, a progressive perspective on world events, and UpsideDownWorld.org, covering activism and politics in Latin America. He is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia (AK Press, 2007), and the forthcoming book Dancing with Dynamite: Social Movements and States in Latin America (AK Press, 2010).

 

Sex to Die For: Romance Insect Stylelovebug1.jpg

                     © Tara A. Spears

There is a North American species of March flies in the insect family Bibionidae that is known as Lovebugs because of the large swarms that fly about ‘in flagrante delicto,’ oblivious to their surroundings. In the tropics, they herald the change of seasons as they mature only twice a year.  Lovebugs survive because they mainly exist to reproduce. After they grow from larvae they spend the rest of their brief lives attached to the opposite sex. Soon after mating, the male dies and is dragged around by the female, which is perhaps the Lovebugs’ one similarity to humans. The proliferation of the species occurs because the adult bugs have no natural enemies (automobiles are considered manufactured enemies). When the bugs are gone that just means all the adults of that generation have died, and it will be a matter of months until the larvae that were left will mature into adults. Still, what a great way to live: have sex until you die.

To read more about the Love bug click here

Caring for Your Home & Property
During Your Absence

Most people, who enjoy a “Place in the Sun” in the tropical paradise of Jaltemba Bay, are part- time residents who typically return home for the months of April through November. As this time period covers the hot and humid, rainy season there are several important factors to consider in the care of your home and property. These factors include, but are not limited to; security, heat, humidity, rain, insects, grounds and pool maintenance.

The effects of the rains and humidity are the primary concerns for the care of your home and property during the rainy season. Primarily, cue to these two factors, I recommend that one have a reliable person who can be counted on to check their premises, twice and preferably three times per week. One needs to be sure that they can rely on this person, or they may return to their  “Place in the Sun” to find that it has been reclaimed by the jungle or adversely affected by the forces of nature.

To read more on the care of your Mexico House click here

Letters

Your article about travel into Mexico was well said Bill! Coming from a Police world, we also look at the statistics and Mexico is safer than many cities in Canada or the U.S. We took your last caravan into La Penita Park in 2007 & always respected your advice (ie. don't travel at night, don't show wealth, etc.). Everything you told us in that lecture has proven to be right on the money time and time again. Like you, all our travels in Mexico have been safe and pleasant ones thus far. When we see you next we'll tell you about a traffic stop last fall where your advice was priceless to us!  :)   

We'll be in Lo de Marcos by November again this year & looking forward to running into you & Dorothy.

Have safe & fun travels. Look forward to your report.

Rob & Lori Nason

 

Mexican Police Free Reporters Nabbed by Drug Gang
Olga R. Rodriguez - Associated Press
go to original
August 01, 2010

Mexican police rescue two television journalists kidnapped by drug cartel members. Reuters' Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
Mexico City — Federal police rescued two kidnapped news cameramen in northern Mexico on Saturday, five days after they were seized by drug traffickers in a bid to get their employers to broadcast cartel messages.

Local journalists in Mexico have long been under siege from drug traffickers, but Monday's kidnapping of journalists with national television networks, including the nation's largest Televisa, shocked many Mexicans. Two other journalists abducted the same day were released earlier.

Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said Javier Canales of Milenio Multimedia Television and Alejandro Hernandez of Televisa were freed before dawn Saturday in the city of Gomez Palacio, where the men had been held in a residential area.

Garcia Luna, who was accompanied by the two cameramen at a Mexico City news conference, said the Sinaloa drug cartel was responsible for the abductions and that the kidnappers guarding the reporters escaped.

The Sinaloa drug cartel is run by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted drug lord. On Thursday, one of the cartel's leaders, Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel, was killed by troops in an unrelated military operation in the western city of Guadalajara.

"What this criminal group sought ... was the transmission of organized crime messages that would have an impact on the community," Garcia Luna said.

Shortly after the abductions, the kidnappers demanded that the journalists' employers broadcast videos of two police officers and two civilians being interrogated and accusing officials of favoring the rival Zetas drug gang.

Milenio Television on Tuesday aired the three short videos.

Media advocates called the new tactic an escalation of a campaign by drug gangs to control information.

The cameramen were abducted along with a Televisa reporter after leaving a prison where they had covered a protest against the arrest of its warden.

The reporter, Hector Gordoa, was freed Thursday after authorities negotiated his release, Garcia Luna said.

A journalist for a local newspaper was abducted the same day in a separate incident in Gomez Palacio. Garcia Luna said that reporter, Oscar Solis, had been released earlier in the week.

Garcia Luna said the federal police decided to raid the house after the kidnappers failed to free the cameramen.

Hernandez said his captors tortured them physically and psychologically.

"All day and all night, they would intimidate us psychologically and it was very hard," Hernandez said.

He said he was beaten Friday with a wood board.

"Here are the scars," Hernandez said pointing to a bloody gauze on his head.

Canales said their kidnappers also threatened to hurt their families.

"I want to thank God that we're here. You can say we were born again," Canales said. "It was all very sad."

Authorities say a dispute between the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel has resulted in rising violence in the Laguna region, which includes Gomez Palacio and Lerdo in Durango state and Torreon in neighboring Coahuila

Press freedom groups say Mexico is one of the deadliest countries for journalists. More than 60 have been killed there since 2000, according to the National Human Rights Commission, and many have been harassed and threatened by drug gangs.

Mexico Debates Legalizing Drugs
Reuters
August 06, 2010
(Reuters)
With drug-related violence on the rise, Mexico's Calderon proposes a debate on the legalization of small amounts of narcotics.

Full Service Pool Company Now Open in Guayabitos

Vallarta Pool team.JPGAlbercas de Vallarta

       © Tara A. Spears

 

Summer means cooling off with a dip in a pool but with the Riviera Nayarit’s fantastic climate, pooltime is a year round delight. In order to savor the views and enjoy crystal clear water there is a certain amount of routine pool maintenance that is required. Until recently, most LaPenita/Guayabitos residents had to travel to Puerto Vallarta for pool chemicals and supplies- but no more!  Albercas de Vallarta has an excellent variety of in-stock supplies right here in the neighborhood.  Even better for those of us with limited Spanish, the experienced staff speaks perfect English.  Because the company’s main store has been in Puerto Vallarta for seven years, owner Juan Valdez Diez (above, right) is used to providing for the international customer’s needs, including home water filtration systems. Alberca de Vallarta is full service pool company, offering construction of new pools or spas, repair work, or weekly pool cleaning and maintenance service, replacement parts, pumps, chemicals- anything related to keeping your pool in perfect condition- at very reasonable prices.

To read the entire pool story click here

 

The Big Friendly Giants of Escuinapa
Kristian Beadle - miller-mccune.com
go to original
July 24, 2010

A view of the Marismas wetland system south of Escuinapa. (Kristian Beadle)
Big projects — one to preserve and one to promote coastal Mexico — bring with them both dreams and nightmares.

In mid-May of this year, an entire town moved to the beach for five days of partying. School was canceled and work was deferred for the thousands attending the annual Fiesta de Mar de las Cabras. They came mostly from Escuinapa, a town located one hour south of Mazatlán and 20 minutes inland from Playa Cabras.

According to organizers, it is the 105th year of the event, which had roots as an indigenous “pagan” festival to celebrate the sun god Yequi. Kids, parents and grannies listen to live music on the isolated beach. There is nothing around for miles except coconut trees and two impressive neighbors: the biggest wetland on the Pacific coast of Mexico, called the Marismas Nacionales; and the largest tourist “mega-project” in Mexico, which is about to hit high gear.

The town of Escuinapa is a patchwork of gray buildings surrounded by mango plantations. It is a humble place that suddenly finds itself at the feet of those two giants, who claim to be as big and friendly as the Big Friendly Giant in Roald Dahl’s book of the same name.

Likewise, these two giants are dream-catchers. The Nature Giant spins dreams of a healthy and bucolic lifestyle. It might be an antidote to its twin brother, the Money Giant, who trumpets dreams of wealth and growth.

While some are lured by their promises, others regard these giants with suspicion. Those who have read Dahl’s book know that most giants eat little children in their sleep. But might some giants make dreams come true?

The Nature Giant, the Marismas Nacionales (additional link here), is a system of coastal lagoons and wetlands spanning two states. Each state has a planned biosphere reserve — in Sinaloa state, home of Escuinapa, the reserve should be announced next February; while to the south, the reserve in Nayarit state was just decreed two months ago (located near the town of San Blas, not far from Puerto Vallarta).

As part of a United Nations initiative, the biosphere reserves would integrate human activities with the sustainable use of natural resources. They also set aside “core” areas for complete preservation. Both goals support healthy fisheries, a primary occupation for many coastal residents, which have been in extreme decline over the past decades. Shrimp fishing was a highly productive industry in Escuinapa until its crash — the 1,600 tons of shrimp brought ashore each year is now closer to 100 tons. By regulating the industry and setting aside core areas of preservation, the reserves hope to help shrimp stocks recuperate, alongside the countless commercial fish that use the wetland in key parts of their lifecycle.

In so doing, they conjure local fishermen’s lost dream — continuing to fish with their own boat and as their own boss.

On the flip side, fishermen are concerned that reserves will limit their fishing grounds — which is true, particularly in the short term. The reserve would also put restrictions on the growing agricultural industry surrounding the Marismas, with regulations on fertilizer/herbicide use and erosion caused by cattle.

When I was going through town, a meeting between government agencies and private organizations was held to draft the reserve’s management plan. I spoke to Miguel Cruz Nieto, director of conservation at Pronatura, the largest environmental group in Mexico, which was invited to participate in the plan drafting.

“People are resistant to environmental regulations — but they also realize that catastrophes like the Canal de Cuautla need to be avoided,” said Nieto. That man-made canal near San Blas opened in the 1970s to allow fishermen access to the ocean, but massive tidal water movement has left it more than a kilometer wide. Despite that boondoggle, people are concerned that the reserves will somehow handicap the Money Giant — the tourist developments that promise them so much wealth and growth.

The Money Giant is known as the CIP, a Spanish acronym that stands for “Planned Integral Center.” Reports (the link to the page in Spanish can be found here) say that it could become twice the size of Cancún, since the masterminds of the proposal — Fonatur, the Mexico government agency in charge of developing tourism — purchased twice as much land as it owns in Cancún.

The full size of the development will of course depend on the total amount of private investment. Twenty minutes from Escuinapa, the CIP is located between Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. Since the highway runs inland to avoid the flooded lands of the Marismas, the coastline has been kept mostly undeveloped, besides medium-scale agriculture and fishing. The miles of “untouched” beaches are now in the sights of tourism developers. Using the successful model of “Riviera Maya” in the Cancún area, they want to expand the “Riviera Nayarit” tourism corridor leading north of Puerto Vallarta. From the opposite end, south of Mazatlán, condominiums and hotels are springing up along lagoons to bridge that gap.

People in Escuinapa are very eager for the CIP and its potential to bring money to the area. Fortunes have already been made — the 80-year-old owner of the land purchased by Fonatur made millions of dollars and, in a gesture of giving back to the community, built a new school on the edge of Escuinapa. Hence, the general population frowns upon any restriction on the development.

“People don’t even want us to ask for a public review of the environmental impact report, because it slows down the process,” said Carlos Simental from the REDES group of environmental and business leaders of Escuinapa. “They have that much faith in the goodwill of the developers.”

Two weeks ago, Simental submitted the request for public review. “There is just too much at stake,” he said.

In the past, indigenous groups could traverse the 230 kilometers of the Marismas Nacionales by canoe during the wet season. However, water flow has become constricted in the last century and the Marismas are no longer seasonally connected. Six out of the seven rivers that drain into the Marismas have been dammed, and the last one has a proposal for a hydroelectric facility to power the CIP development and feed its water supply.

“Dams have other effects also,” Sandra Guido, director of the environmental group Conselva, told me. “They prevent rivers from flushing the fallen leaves [from seasonal tropical dry forests] which are used as organic matter in the lowlands; siltation and chemicals accumulate; and water availability allows agricultural operations to expand, which means deforestation for cleared lands, erosion and fertilizer runoff — all for something with a limited lifespan of a few decades, since dams fill up with sediment over time.”

However, it is impossible to build a development without water and power, so compromises are necessary.

One person finding a middle ground is mangrove expert Francisco Flores from the Institute of Maritime Sciences (UNAM-Mazatlán), who has been studying the Marismas his whole life. “There are ways to mitigate impact,” he said.

“Don’t let water flow be choked by roadways built up with dirt and rocks [instead, use bridges]. Reduce upstream erosion. Currently 230 annual tons of sediment wash into the Marismas, and the healthy normal is about 20 annual tons. This cuts off fresh water and creates salinization, which destroys the wetland. Mangroves prefer 15-20 [parts per million] of salt, versus the ocean, which is 30 ppm, and 100 ppm have been recorded in dying mangroves. Luckily, mangroves bounce back if given the proper water flow.”

The question is being posed whether these mega-scale projects are a good approach for our increasingly fickle climate. How do we make them sustainable, particularly if rain and temperature change? Are biosphere reserves sufficient antidotes to the possible side effects of dams, agriculture, and development? These Big Friendly Giants have good intentions, but they may either inadvertedly gobble some children along the way — that is, the prospects of the next generation — or keep our dreams intact.

Further down the coast, south of Puerto Vallarta, I would be looking at smaller scales of development and preservation, to see if there are other solutions besides the “super sized” approaches that we’ve come to rely on.

 For more information: Voyage of Kiri homepage also has more photos and maps of the locations.

Mateja's back from Vacation Open This Thursday

Protests Test Patience of Mexico City Drivers
Elisabeth Malkin - New York Times
go to original
August 02, 2010

Protests are a daily occurrence in Mexico City; at one in May was a man with a machete. (Alexandre Meneghini/Associated Press)
Mexico City — On almost any given day, drivers hopelessly paralyzed by the protesters marching down Mexico City’s avenues may feel that the city’s jaunty logo and slogan, plastered everywhere, are taunting them.

“Capital en Movimiento” the city declares itself, next to a windblown drawing of its main landmark, the Angel of Independence.

On many days, however, this capital is not in movement at all.

Since the city does not regulate protests, demonstrators are free to block traffic whenever they please. In just the first three months of this year, there were 740 street demonstrations, an average of about eight and a half a day — an improvement over last year, when there were more than nine a day, the city government points out.

“In our country, it is a constitutional right to demonstrate,” said Juan José García Ochoa, the leftist city government’s point man for protests. “What we can do is to mediate, so that we guarantee the right to demonstrate along with the right of free movement.”

The daily marches may appear to be a sign of a vibrant democracy, proof of a wealth of ideals and opportunities to express them. But they also obey the choreographed rules of engagement laid down during 70 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI.

“For many years, the political system was very closed, but it was not authoritarian,” Mr. García Ochoa said. “During 70 years of the PRI, they let you demonstrate as long as you didn’t threaten their hold on power.”

It has been a decade since opposition parties broke the PRI’s political monopoly, but the idea that the best way to get the authorities’ attention is to stop traffic remains embedded in Mexico’s political culture.

The dynamic is so entrenched, in fact, that the city runs a daily Internet alert, noting what groups are scheduled to protest, whether they are likely to disrupt traffic and dispensing advisories to commuters. “Take precautions” is a common one.

Rather than respond to demands, “officials bet that people will wear themselves out physically, economically and psychologically,” said Renato Consuegra, a political consultant who works on media strategies for civil groups. “Unfortunately, protests are the only channel citizens have to make themselves heard.”

The city government argues that the number of marches is falling because officials are working to address local grievances. A dozen years ago, there were about 20 demonstrations a day, Mr. García Ochoa said.

But the local government, he argues, is powerless to resolve the problems that bring marchers by the busload from other states, looking for a hearing in the capital. Mr. García Ochoa spends part of every day on the phone with federal officials, trying to persuade them to meet with protesters from outside the city.

Raúl Nava, an opposition legislator, has failed so far to persuade the city assembly, dominated by the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, to consider regulating marches. “You have to respect the rights of the majority,” he said. “The cost does not even count the accidents and the injured who don’t get to the hospital on time.”

The city government and its allies in the assembly argue that free speech is paramount and that regulating marches would not deal with the problems behind them anyway.

But Mayor Marcelo Ebrard finally lost some of his cool this month. After fired electricity workers blocked traffic for a day on the main north-south artery, Insurgentes Avenue, he said the union’s leader had to understand that the city’s residents “shouldn’t have to suffer.”

The electricity workers certainly have been persistent. They have demonstrated more than 860 times since the federal government shut down their state-owned company last October, the city says. The damage has been estimated at more than 490 hours of blocked traffic.

“I am fed up with these marches,” said Germán Nieto Luna, a taxi driver for 16 years. The day of the Insurgentes tie-up, Mr. Nieto said, he was taking to a job interview a young man who broke down into tears as it became clear he would be late.

Even some protesters admit that their marches ensnare the innocent and uninvolved. Last week, several hundred students who failed to win places at one of Mexico’s main public universities strode down the main avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, then zigzagged through the narrow streets of the historic center to rally outside the Education Ministry. Street vendors, selling food and water, attached themselves to the crowd like pilot fish.

“If you present a commission of five people to an office like this, they won’t pay attention,” said Armando González, 19, who wants to study law, gesturing at the Education Ministry. “But if you put some pressure, they have to attend you.”

It was a fairly typical morning across much of the city, according to the traffic report kept by El Universal’s Web site. (It is updated every two minutes.)

Besides the students, a group of bus drivers marched to demand an increase in bus fares, while a small knot of protesters gathered outside the United States Embassy to rally against Arizona’s immigration law.

Occasionally, a protest is so disruptive that the city issues a news release to explain its attempts to negotiate an end. So it was a number of weeks ago, after a group of about 13,000 men, women and children from the poor and very distant suburb of Chimalhuacán came to Mexico City to protest the annual flooding during the rainy season, when sewage overflows onto the streets.

Elsewhere in the city that day, a group of mostly blind street vendors had marched to City Hall. Fifty people in the far south blocked streets to demand electricity service. Taxi drivers angry about something had camped outside the city transport office. And, of course, about 200 electricity workers blocked the main westbound artery for an hour.

“We come here every time; they don’t pay any attention to us,” said Asunción Cortés, 56, who cleans houses for a living and was forfeiting a day’s wages in Chimalhuacán. As for the inconvenience to Mexico City residents, she shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter to us because they have everything here and we are poor,” she said.

Police First Superintendent Darío Chacón Montejo, said there was little he could do.

“Everybody has the right to march,” he said.

Zapata: the love of the land. Bicentenario México 2010

 

Congratulations! Its a Ruiz Horton Girl!

Proud mom and grand mother chritisna and Hinde hold Delaney Jiamei Ruiz Horton.. born june 22

Proud Mom and Grandmother Chrsitina and Hinde Horton hold Delaney Jiamei Ruiz Horton.. born june 22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 China, Mexico, Pacific Sites Get World Heritage Status
Agence France-Presse
go to original
August 02, 2010
The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the Royal Inland Road, which was a route that runs from north of Mexico City into the United States, was used to transport silver from mines for 300 years from the 16th century. (Eniac Martinez)
Brasilia – Six sites located in Brazil, China, Mexico, France's Reunion Island and the South Pacific nation of Kiribati won World Heritage status from a UNESCO panel meeting in Brazil.

Four existing World Heritage sites were also expanded to include nearby natural or cultural treasures in Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain, the UN cultural agency said in a statement.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, in a 10-day meeting in Brasilia that will wrap up Tuesday, has already added or extended 17 other sites to its list, bringing the total number of sites around the world with the prestigious stamp to 910.

The latest additions comprised three culturally important sites and three environmentally unique ones.

Sao Francisco Square in the northeastern town of Sao Cristovao was designated a World Heritage site because of a church and convent there, and a palace and associated houses, all from the 18th and 19th centuries that "creates an urban landscape which reflects the history of the town since its origin."

China's Danxia, or rugged red landscapes that emerged from river silt deposits in southwest China, were added because of their role in preserving subtropical forests and hosting flora and fauna, including 400 considered rare or threatened.

Mexico had two sites inscribed.

The first, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, or the Royal Inland Road, which was a route that runs from north of Mexico City into the United States, was used to transport silver from mines for 300 years from the 16th century. UNESCO noted it "fostered the creation of social, cultural and religious links in particular between Spanish and Amerindian cultures."

The second was a complex of prehistoric caves in the Central Valley of Oaxaca, some of which bear "archeological and rock-art evidence for the progress of nomadic hunter-gathers to incipient farmers." One of the caves contained seeds and corn cob fragments dating back thousands of years that are thought to be the earliest evidence of domesticated plants on the continent.

France's Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, gained its first World Heritage site within its national park. The area, dominated by volcanic peaks and cliffs, comprises "subtropical rainforests, cloud forests and heaths creating a remarkable and visually appealing mosaic of ecosystems and landscape features," UNESCO said in its statement.

Kiribati's Phoenix Islands, a zone that is the largest marine protected area in the world, also won heritage endorsement. The island group "conserves one of the world's largest intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, together with 14 known underwater sea mounts" thought to be extinct volcanoes, complete with a staggering variety of marine species.

Existing sites expanded by the World Heritage Committee included ones that now take in an Austrian castle, a Bulgarian national park, a monastery in Romania and prehistoric rock art in Spain.

The 17th castle in Austria, the Schloss Eggenberg, is located three kilometers (two miles) from the historic center of the city of Graz, which was granted World Heritage status in 1999. It is an "exceptionally well-preserved example which bears witness... to the influence of the late Italian Renaissance and the Baroque period," UNESCO said.

Bulgaria's Pirin National Park listing, given in 1983, was expanded to include the Pirin Mountains, except for two areas set aside for skiers.

In Romania, a site including seven churches in Moldavia built in the 15th and 16th centuries that gained World Heritage prestige in 1993 was expanded to include The Church of the Sucevita Monastery - an edifice decorated with late 16th century paintings.

And the inclusion of 645 prehistoric engravings on a cliff in Siega Verde, in Spain's Castilla y Leon, extended the World Heritage site of Portugal's ancient rock art in the Coa Valley.

Saturday, the UNESCO committee announced heritage labels for an imperial palace in Vietnam, temples in China, an Australian penal colony, a historic bazaar in Iran, 14th-century villages in South Korea, an 18th-century astronomical observatory in India, Sri Lanka's Central Highlands region, and the United States' Papahanaumokuakea archipelago.

Earlier, the committee also added Florida's Everglades and Madagascar's tropical forest to a special list of 31 World Heritage sites considered to be in danger.

 

Mexico Group Helps Illegal Migrants to US
Agence France-Presse
go to original
 August 03, 2010

For South American immigrants trying to cross the border illegally into the United States, the journey can be perilous. So the Mexican government has deployed a search-and-rescue group, called the Beta group. These men in orange scour the desert providing relief and advice on how to turn back.
Nogales - A letter written by a migrant before he died in the desert is one tool used by a Mexican group which tries to persuade its compatriots to think twice about crossing the border into Arizona.

"My name is Arturo Gomez. The people trafficker tricked us. He said he knew a lot but it wasn't true. There were 14 of us, we can't all endure this. Goodbye," read the crumpled letter found eight years ago near 14 bodies in the scorching desert between Arizona, in the United States, and the Mexican state of Sonora.

The Beta Group also informs migrants of their rights and rescues wounded and lost people on the vast 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border.

Mexico is the only country in the world to have government-backed groups to assist migrants, according to Enrique Enriquez, coordinator for the Beta Group in the border city of Nogales, one of 16 zones covered along northern and southern borders.

The government set up the group 10 years ago, when migrants were increasingly moving toward the Sonora-Arizona crossing point into the United States after swathes of California and Texas were blocked by a border wall.

Almost half a million people, mainly from Mexico and Central America, try to cross into the United States each year.

In 2009, 182 Mexicans died trying to cross the border between Arizona and Sonora alone, an increase on the 169 deaths the previous year, according to official figures.

Enriquez warned a group of migrants in the area that if they could not be dissuaded from crossing the border they should put their hands on their heads if they came across US Border Patrol agents who may shoot at them.

"Don't split up because, afterwards, everyone runs when the 'migra' (Border Patrol) comes," Enriquez said, explaining it can takes months for family members to reunite if they are deported.

Along with the risks of traveling for days without provisions in the harsh climate or attacks from drug traffickers, a new Arizona immigration law also awaits migrants who cross illegally into the United States.

The law went into effect last week, stripped of powers for police to spot check the legal status of suspects but spreading fear through immigrant communities.

A deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops to the US side of the border also starts this month to help the Mexican government's crackdown on smuggling and drug trafficking.

Enriquez regularly scours the desert, following clothes and belongings dumped by migrants en route and seeking migrants in trouble.

The group recovers dozens of dehydrated or wounded people each week, and also looks for and removes corpses.

Around 50 migrants pass through its offices per day in the summer, compared with up to 400 a day when the weather is cooler.

They help them return home and show them Gomez's letter, in which he named the people trafficker who led him to his fate in a bid to warn others

 

 

 
Experts Say US and Mexico Must Work Together to Battle Mexican Drug Cartels
Laurel Bowman - voanews.com
go to original
July 21, 2010
A deadly car bomb last week, the first of its kind, suggests that Mexico's drug cartels are growing increasingly bold and sophisticated. As illegal drugs and people cross the US-Mexican border into the United States, weapons and possibly billions of dollars in cash flow south. Speaking in Washington this week, experts said fixes will have to be multi-faceted and long-term.

A TV station caught on tape what was a first in Mexico's fight against drugs - a car bomb targeting police detonated in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

At least three were killed in what's being viewed as an escalation in Mexico's already raging drug war.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley:

"Unfortunately, these drug cartels, they have enormous amount of resources at their disposal," said P.J. Crowley. "They can buy any kind of capability they want. But we are determined, working with Mexico, to do everything in our power to reduce this violence."

In Washington Tuesday, experts gathered to discuss steps the United States and Mexico should take moving forward.

Matt Bennett is Vice President of Third Way, a self-described moderate think tank. It hosted the event.

"It is not just a Mexican problem," said Matt Bennett. "Guns and money are flowing from the United States south and fueling this problem and drugs are traveling north…"

"It's a mutual responsibility between the U.S. and Mexico," said Henry Cuellar. "We cannot let Mexico fail."

Congressman Henry Cuellar says tightening the border alone won't do the trick.

The U.S. has to help Mexico develop its police force, justice system, and courts. It's hard to catch drug traffickers in Mexico, Cuellar says, "and once they are caught… to prosecute someone, at least when I was down there, was less than a 2 percent chance," he said.

That's compared to a prosecution rate in the high 90s in the U.S., he says.

"Once again I want to warn everybody, especially in Mexico, if you want to come to America through Maricopa County, we are going to have enough fire power to react to any assaults on our deputy sheriffs," said Sheriff Arpaio.

That's Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona. Last week, while conducting his 17th immigration sweep, he brought out his "big gun," a machine gun. He said his deputies needed it for protection while patrolling desolate areas where drug and immigrant smugglers have been spotted.

But Mexico's Ambassador to Washington, Arturo Sarukhan, says guns bought in states like Arizona are fueling the drug trade.

He is calling on the U.S. to help plug the flow.

"Mexico has very stringent gun laws," said Ambassador Sarukhan. "You can't walk into a store and buy a gun like you can in this country."

The United States has announced it will send 1200 National Guard troops to the border with Mexico. They will help keep a look-out for illegal border crossers and smugglers and assist with criminal investigations.

Mexico's drug violence has killed nearly 25,000 people since 2006, when Mexico's president launched an anti-drug offensive.

Mexican White Gold: The Country’s Largest Agri-Business

                   © Tara a. Spears

Part 2. See the Sol page two for1st installment

Sugar cane is the mainstay crop of Mexico, employing 2.5 million people mostly in the rural areas. Traveling around Nayarit, one can’t help noticing the cane fields with the workers swinging machetes to the rhythm of banda music or the slow moving, overloaded trucks on the serpentine mountain roads taking the harvest to the refineries in Tepic. As with farmers in any country, many Mexican families have worked the same fields for generations: it is a way of life besides a livelihood. The cultivation of sugar cane here has changed little since the 1500s when it was first introduced.

Continued on Page two Click here

 

Mexico: Ancient Woman Suggests Diverse Migration
Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
go to original
July 23, 2010
Mexico City - A scientific reconstruction of one of the oldest sets of human remains found in the Americas appears to support theories that the first people who came to the hemisphere migrated from a broader area than once thought, researchers say.

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History released photos of the reconstructed image of a woman who probably lived on Mexico's Caribbean coast 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. She peeks out of the picture as a short, spry-looking woman with slightly graying hair.

Anthropologists had long believed humans migrated to the Americas in a relatively short period from a limited area in northeast Asia across a temporary land corridor that opened across the Bering Strait during an ice age.

But government archaeologist Alejandro Terrazas says the picture has now become more complicated, because the reconstruction more resembles people from southeastern Asian areas like Indonesia.

"History isn't that simple," Terrazas said. "This indicates that the Americas were populated by several migratory movements, not just one or two waves from northern Asia across the Bering Strait."

Some outside experts caution that the evidence is not conclusive.

Ripan Malhi, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, said that "using facial reconstructions to assign ancestry to an individual is not as strong as using ancient DNA to assess the ancestry of the individual, because the environment can influence the traits of the face."

"All of the current genetic evidence points to Northeast Asia as the main source for Native Americans," Malhi said.

However, there have been few opportunities to use DNA or other methods to identify the origins of the first inhabitants because only a handful of skeletons from 10,000 years ago have survived.

The female is known as "La Mujer de las Palmas," or "The Woman of the Palms," after the sinkhole cave near the Caribbean resort of Tulum where her remains were found by divers and recovered in 2002.

Because rising water levels flooded the cave where she died or was laid to rest, her skeleton was about 90 percent intact. Archaeologists and physical anthropologists calculated she was between 44 and 50 years old when she died, was about 5 feet (1.52 meters) tall and weighed about 128 pounds (58 kilograms).

Experts also measured skull features and calculated the muscle and other tissue layers that once covered her face, which served as a guide for experts in paleo-anthropological modeling at the Atelier Daynes in France to complete a model of the woman.

The model shows a stocky woman and clad in a simple knee-length woven tunic. She had a broad face, prominent cheeks, thin lips, and little trace of the epicanthic eye-folds that characterize many modern Asian populations.

"Her body structure, skin and eyes are similar to the population of Southeast Asia," the institute said in a statement.

Susan Gillespie, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, noted that while the Bering land bridge theory still has a lot of support, "the situation is messier than the straightforward scenario ... of big-game hunters chasing woolly mammoths over the exposed `Bering bridge' to Alaska."

"Recently there has been more serious inquiry into the various origins of migrants, modes of transportation, and dates of when they got here," Gillespie said in an e-mail message. "Dates for peopling of the Americas have been pushed way back, and with the finding of very early skeletal remains, the genetic/skeletal linkages to peoples of northeast Asia has become more cloudy."

But Gillespie cautioned against comparing a reconstructed face from 10,000 years ago to modern populations in places like Indonesia, which have also probably changed over 10 millennia.

"You have to find skeletons of the same time period in Asia, or use genetic reconstructions, to make a strong connection, and cannot rely on modern populations," she wrote. "Do we have any empirical data on what Southeast Asian women looked like ... 10,000 years ago?"
 


 Town, Resort Offer Safe Haven for Mexico Trip
Shera Dalin - Telegraph UK
go to original
July 15, 2010
Barra de Navidad, seen from the luxury Grand Bay Resort on neighboring Isla Navidad, is a small village on the Pacific Coast of Mexico along the Costa Alegre, or Happy Coast, that offers surfing, deep sea fishing, beach combing and excellent seafood restaurants. (Telegraph/Jorge Riopedre)
With all the news of violence coming out of Mexico these days, many visitors have been scared away. But the lovely little town of Barra de Navidad and its neighboring luxury resort on the Pacific Coast are an oasis of welcome and relaxation.

Located about three hours south of Puerto Vallarta, Barra de Navidad is one of the hidden jewels of the Costa Alegre, or Happy Coast. Founded by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza in 1540 on Christmas Day, which explains the name Christmas Bar, this area is blessed with strong waves for the surfer set, gorgeous sunsets that rival Key West and small towns filled with tasty, authentic Mexican food and lovely artisanal crafts.

A good base of operations is the Grand Bay Resort on Isla Navidad, a short boat ride across a lagoon that separates the town from the resort property and is actually located in Mexico's smallest and safest state, Colima. While many tourists may not have heard of Isla Navidad or the Grand Bay, celebrities such as pop star Lady Gaga, hockey player Wayne Gretzky and President Bill Clinton have all decamped to the Grand Bay (www.wyndham.com).

If the two-story Presidential Suite doesn't fit a beer budget ($2,730 per night, low season), one of their smaller executive suites provides a dining room, a living room and even a kitchen for families. A luxury room ($350 per night, low season) had ample space for a couple up to a family with two children, as well as a quiet balcony for watching the boats and birds flit across the lagoon. Balconies also are a great location for early risers who want to spy on tejones, shy raccoon-like animals native to the area.

The Grand Bay's multi-level swimming pool with water slides and swim-up pool bar is a haven from the full-on heat and humidity of a Mexican summer, which is the off-season until August. At that time, Mexican schoolchildren are on vacation and families come in droves. Winter is the high season and the prices rise accordingly.

The resort also provides kayaks for paddling around the lagoon and an excellent kids' club for times when mom and dad want to visit the full-service spa or go shop in Barra's many craft emporiums.

For those who love to shop, there is a wide selection of intricate Huichol indigenous crafts in Barra. Often these are jewelry items or animal figures with tiny seed beads sewn or embedded into the surface of the object in graduating hues of colors that give great depth and artistry to each piece. Like in most markets and bazaars in Mexico, haggling is expected for those who like to negotiate for what they want.

Perhaps one of the best-groomed and most scenic golf courses in Mexico is the course at the Grand Bay. It's open to the public with reservations and has 27 challenging holes, some with arresting views of waves crashing against the rocks bordering the Pacific Ocean.

One of the highlights of a trip to Barra de Navidad is seeing the bounty of surrounding ecosystems. That means leaving the placid Barra area and encountering Mexico's police force.

Taking the main road, Highway 200, to the area's other cultural attractions closer to the city of Manzanillo is likely to result in one or two police or Mexican army checkpoints. These roadside checks are courteous, easily managed in English and result in opening your car's trunk or maybe a quick look around the vehicle's interior.

If the sight of troops with automatic weapons is unnerving, the easiest way around it is to travel with a local tour guide or tour company. The police and army recognize these guides and wave them through checkpoints without stopping.

Although Barra de Navidad is in the state of Juarez, which has been in the headlines for violence, Isla Navidad, and the remaining adventures mentioned here are in the state of Colima. As Mexico's smallest state, it is primarily agricultural and, to date, has the lowest crime rate of any Mexican state.

For those who want to spike all that relaxation at Isla Navidad with a thrill, the Natura Parc zip line in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains is the place (manzanilloadventures.com). For $80 per adult and $35 per child, visitors can launch themselves off five connecting zip lines.

Natura Parc provides each person with a helmet, gloves, safety harness and dual pulleys to ride the zip lines; one is a backup for safety. Experienced English-speaking guides, excluding jump leader Cholo, who leads each jump and is proud of his 2,000 zips across the mountains, accompany each group of riders.

Getting to the uppermost zip line is a physically demanding hike and not for the sedentary. But there is a rest stop at the halfway point up "Deer Mountain," as the guides have named it, and the reward is well worth the exertion, despite the first dizzying moment of stepping off into space and careening lightning-quick across the treetops.

The sunny views of the nearby shipping port of Manzanillo, with its blinding white architecture perched above the Pacific, casinos and the spot where Bo Derek filmed the movie "10," are more than repayment for the brief heart stoppage.

The zip line adventure includes bottled water for the hike and a delicious lunch of clay-oven grilled organic pizza at El Rincon de la Tia restaurant in the hamlet of Benito Juarez adjacent to Natura Parc. Maybe the adrenaline from the zip line enhanced the taste of the pizza, but this is fresh, perfectly baked pizza oozing with gouda cheese. Try the Mexican pizza, which comes with a drizzle of refried beans, green peppers and bacon crumbles.

Another educational and interesting side trip is El Tortugario, the sea turtle preservation center in the tiny beach town of Cuyutlan. El Tortugario (www.cuyutlan.com.mx) is a private turtle breeding and research sanctuary that subsists on the 25-peso (about $2.50) adult admission. The center breeds these gentle giant creatures in the hope that more of their endangered offspring will survive their trek over the black sand beach back to the sea after hatching.

The center has several resident adult turtles for viewing and one baby turtle for petting even if visitors are there outside the hatching season in August. There are also endangered iguanas to look at and a few lazy crocodiles.

Cuyutlan is also home to the Salt Museum, which recently was renovated with federal money. This is still a rustic affair, situated in a wooden warehouse with no climate control. But the exhibits give a good picture of how residents, including indigenous peoples, have toiled over centuries to harvest salt from the sea in man-made salt lagoons.

That sea salt, now prized for its natural minerals, is shipped across the country and is a staple of Mexican tables. A hefty 2-pound bag will cost 5 pesos, or about 40 cents.

If you still haven't had enough of Mexican wildlife, another attraction is the iguana sanctuary in the city of Manzanillo. Sandwiched between a canal and an auto repair shop in a residential neighborhood, visitors can stand on the sidewalk across the canal and see scores of endangered iguanas perched on the trees overhanging the canal. Children especially get a kick out the iguanas' frequent bathroom breaks, which resoundingly land in the watery canal below.

Some of the iguanas are as large as well-fed cats and their colors range from dusty brown to vibrant green - the best to eat and the cause of their endangered but now protected status, said guide Humberto Ramirez of HumberTours.

If the zip line wasn't enough adventure, on the way to Natura Parc on Highway 200 is Rancho Pena Blanca (www.mexicanpacific.com/get/ranchopenablanca/). The ranch offers tours of its tequila distillery, ATV rides on the mountains and beautiful beach surrounding the ranch, and opportunities to pet donkeys and taste tequila, of course. Watch out for days when cruise ships are docked in Manzanillo because the ranch can get crowded.

On the trip back to Isla Navidad, there are opportunities to stop at one of the many roadside stands that sell fruits produced by the banana, coconut, mango and durian (jack fruit) groves populating the area. Five varieties of bananas alone will satisfy most people and give more than a flavor of this rich, vibrant area

US Issues Mexico Border Travel Warning
kvoa.com
go to original
July 22, 2010
The US Department of State has issued this Travel Warning to inform U.S. citizens traveling to and living in Mexico about the security situation in Mexico. The authorized departure of family members of U.S. government personnel from U.S. Consulates in the northern Mexico border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros remains in place. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning for Mexico dated May 6, 2010 to note the extension of authorized departure and to update guidance on security conditions and crime.

Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year. This includes tens of thousands who cross the border every day for study, tourism or business and at least one million U.S. citizens who live in Mexico. The Mexican government makes a considerable effort to protect U.S. citizens and other visitors to major tourist destinations. Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico do not see the levels of drug-related violence and crime reported in the border region and in areas along major drug trafficking routes. Nevertheless, crime and violence are serious problems. While most victims of violence are Mexican citizens associated with criminal activity, the security situation poses serious risks for U.S. citizens as well.

It is imperative that U.S. citizens understand the risks involved in travel to Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and who to contact if one becomes a victim of crime or violence. Common-sense precautions such as visiting only legitimate business and tourist areas during daylight hours, and avoiding areas where criminal activity might occur, can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable. U.S. citizen victims of crime in Mexico are urged to contact the consular section of the nearest U.S. Consulate or Embassy for advice and assistance. Contact information is provided at the end of this message.


 

Hundreds of National Guard Troops to Be Deployed to US-Mexico Border
Yana Kunichoff - t r u t h o u t
go to original
July 22, 2010

(Spc. Karen Kozub/The National Guard)
Hundreds of National Guard troops are expected to begin their deployment to the US-Mexico border on August 1 as part of the Obama administration's attempt to halt the flow of weapons, cash and people to El Norte.

In a joint announcement with the National Guard Bureau, the Obama administration said it will send 1,200 troops to border regions, as per an agreement made in May. The soldiers are expected to go to Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico.

The announcement of a firm date for the troop surge comes on the tail of the federal governments suit against Arizona over its anti-immigrant law SB 1070, which would allow police to question anyone they suspect of being an undocumented immigrant, and as drug-related violence in Mexico continues unabated.

The decision to further militarize the border is a cornerstone of American policy both at home and in the region, said David Bacon, a journalist who has reported extensively on the plight of migrants in Mexico, the United States and the Philippines, along with the macro political events pushing their movement.

At home, the seemingly contradictory nature of the administration further militarizing the border while simultaneously going to court to stop a law which targets undocumented immigrants who cross the border was "simply Obama trying to cover his right flank politically."

"Will it stop people from crossing the border?" Bacon asked, of the administration's plan. "No, how could it - it doesn't deal with why people cross the border in the first place. This is the worst kind of political theater."

Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and former Arizona governor, said the troops heading to the border will be equipped with enhanced security technology like thermal-imaging binoculars and observation aircraft to focus on the area around Tucson.

Arizona will also be where the largest number of troops, 524, are deployed. Meanwhile, of the rest of the volunteer force, 224 will be sent to Texas, 224 to California and 72 to New Mexico.

In addition, 300 agents and officers from the United States Customs and Border Protection will also head to the border, according to Alan Bersin, Customs and Border Protection commissioner.

The Border Patrol, which grew from 9,000 agents in 2001 to 20,000 in 2009, costs an estimated $4 billion annually. The cost of this deployment will be shared between the Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department.

These forces will be stationed along more than 670 miles of border fence, walls, spikes and bollards being constructed since 2006, at an estimated cost of $4 billion.

While the focus of border enforcement is also to stop the smuggling of drugs and other illegal substances into the United States, the conversation politically has centered on stemming the flow of undocumented immigrants. "Sealing" the border has long been a precondition for any immigration legislation considered and with immigration reform now on the table, Obama has taken up the mantle of a stronger border.

In his speech on the subject earlier this month, Obama called the state of US borders "porous" and "broken," said that controlling them was an "obligation" and a "responsibility" and noted that the nation has "more boots on the ground near the Southwest border than at any time in our history."

According to Bacon, if the administration wanted "to start picking apart border enforcement, you have to look at why people are crossing the border in the first place. Poverty in Mexico, trade agreements, structural adjustment policies we imposed through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the North American Free Trade Agreement and encouraging the Mexican government to break trade unions" while at the same time "it is virtually impossible to get a visa to the United States."

Reading Truthout on your smartphone is easy. Click here to sign up for email updates.

Despite the little enforcement policies do to remedy the root causes of migration, said Bacon, they have become an essential part of any immigration bill because they are not used "not to reduce the pressure on people to migrate, but to pressure them into migrating based on corporate friendly programs."

These programs, Bacon continued, are what could be called "corporate labor supply bills. Basically, they are built around the idea that employers need immigrant labor, they should get it and they should get it at any price that they want to pay."

In addition, he said, many undocumented immigrants who would otherwise travel back and forth between Mexico and the United States think twice before doing so because the journey north again is dangerous and expensive.

A report released in 2002 by Princeton University sociologist Douglas Massey, with Jorge Durand and Nolan J. Malone, also argued that the border buildup discouraged seasonal laborers from going back home when they were not working, thus, increasing the number of people who reside without status in the United States.

Despite most political conversation to the contrary, recent reports have shown that, in the past year, undocumented immigration has declined by nearly one million, supporting the arguments of those who say that immigration depends on the economy, not on American policies or border walls.

The exact role of the National Guard troops is unclear. In a statement, Napolitano said the troops "will provide direct support to federal law enforcement officers and agents working in high-risk areas to disrupt criminal organizations seeking to move people and goods illegally across the southwest border."

Bersin, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said the soldiers are "there to support the efforts of law enforcement, not to have a direct law enforcement role."

Regardless of whether the National Guard troops' work is largely administrative or assists in picking up migrants, Bacon says the one thing that they won't be doing is protecting the most vulnerable group on the border.

As the border becomes filled with people with guns, most of whom are troops, it becomes " a very dangerous place for migrants, increasing their risks of getting shot or seriously injured in the process" of crossing, Bacon said. The Border Patrol are "not there to keep woman from being raped or people from having their life savings stolen" as they run from hunger and poverty in Mexico.

The concentration of troops near city points such as Tucson "forces migrants into rural areas, so people have to walk further and further." Rather than deterring people, Bacon said, "today, the average border crossing takes several days" of walking through the desert.

Chichen itza, Bill Bell Photograph

Chichen itza, Bill Bell Photograph

Big Lies and the U.S. Immigration Debate
ernd Debusmann - Reuters
go to original
July 24, 2010
On the emotional issue of immigration, perception trumps reality and the widely-held perception is of an 'unsecured border' and a cross-border invasion by criminals rather than people in search of work and a better life.
The prize for the biggest political lie of 2009 went to Sarah Palin, the darling of the American right, for injecting fictitious "death panels" into the health reform debate. This year, fact-benders are hard at work to control the debate on another controversial topic, immigration. Competition is intense.

It comes from opponents of immigration reforms that would simultaneously offer better control of the 2,000-mile U.S-Mexico border, a new visa system, and a path to legal status for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, the majority Mexicans, who are already in the country. The official term for this is "comprehensive immigration reform."

But influential politicians insist there must be no reform before the border is entry-proof to illegals, and they portray the frontier as a virtual war zone, on both sides of the line.

There is Arizona's governor, Jan Brewer, who is talking about the discovery of decapitated bodies on the American side of the border. There is Senator John McCain, who has said violence along the border is the worst he has ever seen. There is a letter 12 members of congress (10 Republicans, two Democrats) wrote to President Barack Obama saying border violence is increasing "at an alarming pace."

None of this stands up to factual scrutiny though perhaps none of it is quite at the toxic level of the claim Palin put on her Facebook page last year -- that the government's proposed health care reforms included setting up panels that would decide whether elderly or disabled Americans were worthy of continued health care or should be let to die.

This was entirely fictitious but it "set political debate on fire," said the Pulitzer prize-winning fact-check site Politifact.com, which rated the death panels the biggest political lie of 2009, based on a poll of 5,000 readers. The death panel canard contributed to the rapid growth of the anti-government tea party movement and threw doubt over the passage of the health reform bill. It finally passed in March, against unanimous Republican opposition.

On the emotional issue of immigration, perception trumps reality and the widely-held perception is of an "unsecured border" (McCain's phrase) and a cross-border invasion by criminals rather than people in search of work and a better life. There has been no corroboration of Governor Brewer's claim that 87 percent of illegal border crossers have prior criminal records.

The perception that the federal government has failed to fulfill its obligation to keep illegal immigrants out prompted Arizona, the main gateway for unauthorized entry, to pass its own law, the toughest in the country. It makes it a crime to be in Arizona without identifiation papers. The Obama administration says immigration is a federal prerogative, not a matter for a state to decide, and is trying to strike down the law which is scheduled to take effect on July 29.

BORDER PATROL DOUBLED IN SIZE

Early in July, in his first major speech since taking office, Obama described the present immigration system as broken, complained that reform had been held hostage to political posturing and special-interest wrangling and said that "the southern border is more secure than at any time in the past 20 years."

Statistics bear this out. Since 2001, the number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled, from 9,000 to more than 20,000. According to FBI crime numbers, violent crimes in states along the border have dropped steadily over the past decade and are among the lowest in the country now.

That is in stark contrast with sharply escalating violence on the Mexican side of the border, where beheadings and gun battles have become routine, often within sight of the U.S. cities on the north bank of the Rio Bravo. In Ciudad Juarez, the main battle front in Mexico's drug wars, the daily death toll has been running at eight since the beginning of the year. Across the bridge, El Paso is one of the safest cities in the U.S.

Even Phoenix, Arizona's capital, counts among the safest big cities in the country, according to FBI statistics. But the perception that there are waves of violent criminals storming across the border is becoming so widespread that 78 percent of respondents in a CBS/New York Times poll last May said more should be done to keep illegal immigrants out.

Doing so has a perverse unintended consequence, according to Doris Meissner, who headed the Immigration and Naturalization Service for seven years. In an opinion piece co-signed by another former INS official, James Ziglar, she wrote in the Washington Post: "Today, our borders are more secure than ever - so those here illegally stay because re-entry is perilous."

But displays of armed force play well in American politics, which is why Obama ordered the deployment of 1,200 National Guard troops to the four states bordering Mexico. They are scheduled to arrive on August 1.

And when will the president begin to tackle comprehensive immigration reform? Campaigning for the presidency, he said he would take on the issue within his first year. That deadline is seven months past. No new timeline has been set.

(You can contact the author at Debusmann(at)Reuters.com)

 

Calderon Replaces Top Security Official
Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
go to original
July 15, 2010
Mexico's new Interior Minister Francisco Blake, left, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, center, and Mexico's outgoing Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont, gesture during a ceremony at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Wednesday, July 14, 2010. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo)
Mexico City — Mexico's president accepted the resignation Wednesday of his top domestic security official, Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont, and named a former congressman with experience in fighting drug cartels to replace him.

President Felipe Calderon praised the hands-on experience the new federal interior secretary, Jose Francisco Blake, gained serving in the same post at the state level in Baja California, a border state plagued by drug violence.

"In that position, he has played a fundamental role in confronting in a decisive way the problems of violence in that state," Calderon said of Blake, who will oversee the multi-agency national security council.

"The knowledge he has of crime, and the good relations he managed to build between the police and army in the fight against crime in Baja California, will without doubt be of great value in strengthening the fight for public safety," Calderon said.

Mexico's federal police and the army have played the leading roles in a war against drug cartels that has cost more than 22,700 lives since Calderon announced an anti-drug offensive in late 2006.

But in many regions, the army has voiced mistrust of corruption-ridden local police forces.

The Interior Department that Blake will head plays a key role in coordinating efforts between the forces and intelligence gathering. It also recently began promoting a series of social programs it said are aimed at reducing the poverty and unemployment that contribute to the drug problem.

One of the challenges facing the new interior secretary will be gaining approval for a government proposal to combine scattered, ill-equipped and poorly supervised city police forces into single, statewide forces.

Calderon praised Gomez Mont, but more for his efforts at political reforms since assuming the post in November 2008 than for any hands-on involvement in the war against drug cartels.

Gomez Mont's most famous moment in the drug war was an undignified moment in the drug-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez when a heckler slapped him in the back of the head.

Calderon suggested that Gomez, a prominent lawyer and gifted orator with little or no law enforcement experience, would return to private practice.

The leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, welcomed Gomez Mont's resignation.

In a statement, the PRD said his exit "puts an end to a period of constant confrontation between the former head of domestic policy and the opposition parties, who he always treated with disrespect."

The resignation came after a highly publicized dispute between Gomez Mont and Calderon over the advisability of forming electoral alliances with leftist parties like the PRD to prevent a predicted wave of victories by the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Gomez Mont heatedly opposed such alliances, and resigned from Calderon's conservative National Action Party in February to protest the pacts, which some party members said placed in doubt the party's ideological underpinnings.

However, the alliances helped coalition candidates wrest two important governorships from the PRI in the country's July 4th elections.

He also angered the opposition by overseeing the liquidation of a state-owned electrical power company whose militant union had been a constant thorn in the side of the government.

The new interior secretary, Blake, stressed his commitment to human rights and press freedoms, and promised "a democratic security policy, supported not only by the forces of law and order, but also by the three branches of government, and society as a whole."

"We will have to specially direct our efforts in meeting the challenges to public safety and the fight against organized crime," Blake said in accepting the post.

Gomez Mont was also hurt by the antics of his brother Miguel - the former head of the country's tourism investment fund - who was involved in an embarrassing scuffle at the soccer World Cup in June, and later resigned.

Calderon also announced the appointment of Bruno Ferrari, the former head of the country's investment promotion agency, as economy secretary, to replace Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, who will move on to become Calderon's chief-of-staff.

Ferrari said Mexico has "been promoting a responsible and profound transformation," and pledged to continue that work.

But while it has passed tax and regulatory reforms, Calderon's administration has made little headway on its biggest challenge - reforming the country's antiquated labor laws and opening the state-controlled oil sector to greater private participation.

Ferrari said he would continue to make Mexico more investment-friendly, more competitive and productive, and pledged greater economic growth and job creation, but did not say what specific reforms he would pursue in the two years left in the administration.

 

Mexico May Expand 6% This Year, Catching Up With Brazil, De la Calle Says
Jonathan J. Levin - Bloomberg
go to original
July 16, 2010


Mexico’s economy may expand 6 percent this year as domestic demand increases, said Luis de la Calle, the Mexican economist who helped negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The pace of Mexico’s economic expansion will gain on Brazil’s growth as domestic consumption picks up in the second half of the year, said de la Calle, who is now a partner at Mexico City-based business adviser De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera SC, speaking in an interview yesterday.

The economist’s call pits him against the average forecast of 30 Mexican economists surveyed by the central bank, who expect 4.4 percent gross domestic product growth in 2010, according to the July 1 report. In the first quarter, Mexico’s GDP expanded 4.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with Brazil’s 9 percent first-quarter GDP expansion. De la Calle points out that few economists came close to accurately forecasting Mexico’s 6.5 percent plunge in GDP last year.

“Growth between Brazil and Mexico won’t be as different as people think,” de la Calle said. “Everyone that’s saying 4 percent, 4.5 percent -- they were all wrong about the contraction, too.”

Brazil’s economy, Latin America’s largest, may grow 7.1 percent this year, compared with 4.5 percent growth in Mexico, the International Monetary Fund forecast this month.

Mexico’s domestic demand has lagged behind as exports drive the recovery from last year’s contraction, the worst since the 1930s. Mexican retail sales fell 0.1 percent in April from the same month a year earlier, the country’s statistics agency said June 18. The agency will report May retail sales July 21.

The peso fell 1.3 percent to 12.9382 at 12:47 p.m. New York time from 12.7720 yesterday. The yield on Mexico’s 10 percent peso bond due 2024 fell one basis point to 6.93 percent, according to Banco Santander SA. The price of the security rose to 127.89 centavos per peso.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan J. Levin in Mexico City at jlevin20(at)bloomberg.net

 

Bungled Cases Show Weakness in Mexican Judiciary
Caroline Stauffer - Reuters
go to original
July 17, 2010

Most trials are carried out behind closed doors in an antiquated system that relies on written testimony between judges and lawyers, while 40 percent of prisoners in the country's overcrowded jails are still awaiting their day in court, some of them for years, according to rights groups.

Mexico City - An investigation into a child's disappearance is bungled, a senior politician's kidnap is unsolved and the prime U.S. suspect in a murder is allowed to slip back to California in murky circumstances.

A rash of mishandled criminal cases in recent months has exposed gaping deficiencies in Mexico's judicial system at a time when President Felipe Calderon faces his strongest challenge yet from brutal drug cartels.

Calderon, who has pinned his presidency on a war against drug gangs in which more than 26,000 people have died since late 2006, announced far-reaching reforms to the justice system more than two years ago to weed out corruption and speed up delays.

But recent gaffes by police and prosecutors in high-profile criminal cases have highlighted the festering justice system in a major emerging economy with modern financial, manufacturing, mining and telecoms industries.

Last month, the man who oversaw a botched investigation into the disappearance of 4-year-old Paulette Gebara was named attorney general of the populous State of Mexico. Police were ridiculed when they said they found the girl dead in her own bed in Mexico City a week after they had searched the entire house and launched a nationwide campaign to find her in March.

Former Senator Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a former presidential candidate and prominent leader in the ruling National Action Party, has been missing since May 15 when his abandoned car was found near his ranch with bloodstains by it.

Despite pressure by Calderon to solve the case, authorities abandoned their investigation at the request of the family, who are believed to be using private ransom negotiators, in a further mark of broken confidence in the justice system.

Concerns at the way investigations are conducted peaked last month after Bruce Beresford-Redman, a former producer of the hit U.S. television show "Survivor," sneaked home to California under unclear circumstances despite the fact Mexican authorities had named him prime suspect in his wife's murder.

"Lack of accountability has left an injured society without answers," said Jose Ortega, president of the Citizens' Council for Public Security and Penal Justice, which helps individuals file complaints about the justice system. "People have stopped raising their voices to demand more of their government."

DELAYED REFORMS

The stakes for getting the justice system to work have never been higher for Calderon, a lawyer by profession.

Last month, a gubernatorial candidate for the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was gunned down by suspected drug cartel hitmen in the northern state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico's highest profile political killing in 16 years. No arrests have been made in Rodolfo Torre's murder.

Cause in Common, a group that lobbies for justice reforms, estimates that someone is convicted for only 5 of every 100 crimes committed in Mexico. Ortega said that based on government statistics, 91.5 percent of reported crimes go unpunished.

Stories abound in Mexico of people jailed without being charged and being tortured into confessions.

Guillermo Velez was 33 and worked in a Mexico City gym when he was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of running a kidnap ring. He died the next day in jail, with authorities saying his death was due to natural causes.

Nine years on, the prosecutor involved has admitted the charges were false but Velez's father is still campaigning to defend his son. "I will keep fighting until authorities admit the agents tortured and killed my son," he told Reuters.

Intimidation, corruption, torture and plain incompetence in investigating crimes are only some of the problems in Mexico's struggling justice system.

In 2008, Calderon's administration pushed a constitutional overhaul to reform the country's archaic court system.

Most trials are carried out behind closed doors in an antiquated system that relies on written testimony between judges and lawyers, while 40 percent of prisoners in the country's overcrowded jails are still awaiting their day in court, some of them for years, according to rights groups.

The constitutional changes seek to make oral trials widespread. They also introduce the presumption of innocence, and allow authorities to detain organized crime suspects for 80 days rather than the previous 72 hours.

Implementing the changes is left to the country's states, said Martin Barron, a policing and crime prevention specialist at a government research agency, meaning there could be 32 different interpretations of oral trials in the country.

"Corruption means the system hasn't been implemented like it should be," said Maria Elena Morera of Cause in Common.

In May, Calderon called on the states to speed up implementation of the reform so that Mexicans can have "access to a transparent and expedited justice system as soon as possible." He said seven states had completed the reforms, while half of the remaining states were still implementing them.

Some skeptics say that test-bed oral trials in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most murderous city, have actually led to more intimidation in some cases, as victims and their families are put face to face with perpetrators in court. They say the reforms will only work once institutions, such as law enforcement and courts, are strengthened.

"What we want is truth, justice, peace and the right to live a normal life as Mexicans," said Ortega. "Today we don't have that."

(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Kieran Murray)

http://www.jaltembasol.com/ads/VILLASM1.jpg

 

 

Play slideshow
 http://www.jaltembasol.com/miscellaneous/VILLASM2.jpg



 

How the Sneaky Hands of the Big Banks Are Working Overtime to Rip You Off
July 17, 2010
After living through the Great Financial Crash of 2008, just about everybody recognizes that megabanks screwed the economy hard and were rewarded with big bailouts, which further screwed over, well, everybody, in the name of banker bonuses. But Big Finance has been waging its war on the middle class for decades, and many of its most destructive practices don't actually put the financial system in jeopardy. These tactics work because they are so effectively predatory. Banks gouge consumers and get rich—they don't create risks for the financial system, because they result in pure, risk-free profit, converting hard-earned middle-class wages into quick and easy bonuses.

One of the most pernicious of these predatory practices is the overdraft fee. It's one of the biggest revenue streams for banking behemoths today. In 2009, banks reaped over $38 billion in overdraft fees from their own customers, while posting a total combined profit of just $12.5 billion. Without overdrafts, many banks would have scored massive losses last year, and possibly gone under. Instead, they booked epic bonuses.

It can come as a huge shock to get hit with a rash of overdraft fees. You open a bank statement to find that you are not only broke, but deep in the hole thanks to several $30 or $40 charges. Your first reaction is shame. How could I have let this happen? But looking into the ways that banks conduct their overdrafts, you come to realize that you've simply been scammed.

"It abuses consumers and sucks money out of the economy that goes beyond any contribution to society that finance provides," says Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C. "Overdraft fees are one of the worst abuses. For people living paycheck to paycheck, they have a serious effect on their everyday lives."

Banks are actively deceiving their own customers. According to an FDIC study, 75 percent of all banks don't even tell people they've been automatically enrolled in "overdraft protection" programs. Many consumers don't even realize that their accounts are subject to these charges—they assume that anything that puts them past zero will simply be denied.

It gets much worse. Once banks realized that overdraft fees could be a real cash cow, they developed "fee-harvesting" software, which reorganizes the order of your checking transactions to maximize the number of overdraft fees for the bank. In other lines of financial business, this is called "backdating," and it's considered "fraud."

How the Scam Works

Say you've got $100 in your checking account, and you decide to pay some bills and run some errands. You spend $30 on gas and another $20 on your water bill. Later, you head to the grocery store and spend $81—oops!—on groceries. Banks, of course, could notify you that your $81 purchase was going to send you over the edge and result in an overdraft fee. They don't, because they don't want to risk that you'll deny the purchase and reject the fee.

But in addition to neglecting this safeguard, the bank automatically processes your $81 purchase ahead of your previous charges. As a result, you do not get hit with one unwanted overdraft fee for your groceries—you get hit with three, because your costliest purchase was processed before the others—even though you made the cheaper purchases first.

"Overdrafts are a classic example of a potentially useful idea where the industry ends up going totally overboard," says Raj Date, a former Deutsche Bank executive who currently heads the Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy. "When you step back and ask, as a reasonable business person, would any customer want their fees to be itemized such that their fees would be maximized? No. No customer would ever want it."

This is not how banks are supposed to operate. They're supposed to fuel sustainable, healthy economic activity. That was, in fact, the rationale behind bailing them out. As President Obama said in April 2009: "The truth is that a dollar of capital in a bank can actually result in eight or ten dollars of loans to families and businesses."

Needless to say, that lending didn't happen. In a series of monthly reports, the U.S. Treasury Department noted that bank lending to small businesses fell dramatically from April 2009 through January 2010. After months of bad stats, Treasury simply stopped keeping track of the numbers altogether. The FDIC still tracks those numbers, and they don't look good. As Shahien Nasiripour has noted, the latest figures show small business lending down 4 percent from last year's already dismal levels, putting it lower even than early 2009, before the stimulus package kicked in.

Instead of supporting the economy, banks are making their money with cheap-shot fees, risky proprietary trading and secretive derivatives deals. It's worked, in a sense. By "earning" their way back to health, the nation's largest banks are at a much lower risk of collapse now than when Obama took office. But those earnings have not been good for the economy, as we were promised they would be.

"It's not good from a societal sense, but from a banking industry perspective, it's just a recognition of reality," says banking analyst Nancy Bush of NAB Research. Bush is a Wall Street veteran who supports overdraft programs, but acknowledges they indicate economic trouble. Banks have discovered a way to make money off of people without any money. When everybody's broke, that's a much less risky enterprise than lending to businesses that could use the funds to create jobs, but might default due to bad economic conditions. Banking analysts like Bush are charged with holding management teams accountable to their shareholders, and these fees are good for profits, which mean shareholders are getting what they want.

But this is the exact opposite of what anybody but a shareholder would want a bank to be doing. We don't want banks to be kicking society when it's down, we want banks to be helping us get back on our feet.

Setting The Banks Straight

Agencies have been voicing concerns about overdraft fees for years. The FDIC published a damning study on the practice in 2008, and the Federal Reserve began issuing warnings to the banking industry about unfair overdraft programs in 2004. But up until 2004, overdrafts were generally viewed as a form of short-term credit—the bank is basically lending the consumer money that is paid back with interest. But the interest rates are so egregiously predatory—the average overdraft fee amounts to 1,067 to 3,520 percent (PDF), according to the FDIC - that they simply would not be tolerated if regulators had to think of them as loans.

So the banking lobby scored a tremendous coup in 2004 when it convinced the Fed that these were not "loans" but "fees," and therefore not subject to traditional consumer protections. The Fed warned that banks needed to change their marketing so that consumers wouldn't think of overdrafts as loans, but didn't require any changes in the way the programs actually operated.

Even this reclassification scheme wasn't enough for Wall Street, which managed to violate even the much weaker consumer protection rules on fees 335 times a year, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO also found that consumers who went to an actual bank branch were unlikely to be able to obtain information about basic overdraft terms and conditions, much less comprehensive information about how their checking accounts could be gamed.

The Fed is offering another weak response to the overdraft insanity today. By mid-August, the Fed will require consumers to "opt-in" to overdraft programs, instead of being automatically enrolled without their consent. It's a step forward that will likely limit some of the overdraft profits banks currently enjoy. But it will not require that the programs be fundamentally changed. It will not cap the amount of the fees charged, or the number of fees charged, nor will it require consumers to be notified when a purchase or withdrawal will result in a fee. Banks will take a modest hit from the new rules as consumers choose to back out of the program—but the fundamentally obscene business model will remain.

A more promising development comes from the Wall Street reform bill. A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will take over nearly all of the consumer protection rules currently written and enforced by the Fed and the OCC (Rep. Miller was instrumental in getting strong consumer protection through the House). An aggressive director could write strong rules prohibiting abuses, so there is a great deal riding - $38 billion a year, in fact- on who President Obama appoints to the post. Right now the front-runner is Harvard University Law School professor Elizabeth Warren. Warren came up with the idea for a CFPB years ago, and has proven herself to be a strong reformist voice of reason as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She deserves the post.

But without strong leadership, the banking swindles will continue. If recent history is any guide, there are few others in Washington, D.C. willing to take a stand for citizens when the banking industry comes to pillage our pocketbooks.

http://quote.mexpro.com/images/banners/flash_banner.gif