Mexico & Central America News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Children as young as 6 are taking up arms in Mexico
Child soldiers
Nineteen children were conscripted into a vigilante group that for years has been battling drug gangs in Mexico’s Guerrero state. The recruits are as young as 6.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/st ... d-to-fight

In a lawless stretch of western Mexico, children as young as 6 are taking up arms against organized crime.

This week, 19 children were conscripted into a vigilante group that for years has been battling drug gangs in restive Guerrero state. Images published by local journalists of the initiation ceremony — in which uniformed, rifle-wielding boys performed military-style maneuvers — drew outrage across Mexico, with human rights officials condemning the exercise as child abuse.

A leader of the vigilante group said in a phone interview Thursday that an increase in violence in the region and the absence of government intervention have left the community with no choice but to arm even its children.

“They must be prepared,” said Bernardino Sanchez Luna, who founded the self-defense group known as the CRAC-PF. “If they are afraid, the criminals will kill them like little chickens.”

[caltrek]

An Interview With Prime Ralph Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
by Laura Capote and Leticia Garziglia
June 19, 2022

Introduction:

(Janata Weekly) [The small island countries of CARICOM have given a demonstration of dignity and sovereignty, maintaining firm positions on the U.S. interference policy against Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Here is an Exclusive interview with Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “Comrade Ralph”, as he is known to his supporters and countrymen, is the main leader of the Labor Unity Party, and is serving his fifth consecutive term in office, after winning the 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 elections.

In addition to being an active campaigner for the republic and full sovereignty, Gonsalves is a renowned intellectual figure. An economist and Master in Public Administration from the University of the West Indies, and Doctor in Administration from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, he has written on trade unionism, Marxism, neocolonialism, political economy, Africa, the Caribbean and the problems of integration and development, among other topics. Some of his most outstanding books are “The Specter of Imperialism: The Case of the Caribbean” (1976); “History and the Future: A Caribbean Perspective” (1994) and “The Non-Capitalist Path to Development: Africa and the Caribbean” (1981).

Currently, Gonsalves is one of the main promoters of the policy of reparations to Afro-descendant populations for the crimes of slavery and trafficking, as well as an active promoter of the integrationist policies of CARICOM and ALBA-TCP.]

❈ ❈ ❈
Question: How do you analyze the global and continental geopolitical situation? What projects and forces are in conflict? What are the main trends?

Ralph Gonsalves: We are in an extremely complex period of the global political economy, flooded with multiple contradictions. One of the constants is the advance of monopoly capitalism, which has spread across the globe. The asymmetrical link between global monopoly capitalism, the governments of North America, Europe, Australia, Japan and what are known as “emerging markets” is visible. Of course, within the major monopoly capitalist countries there are national factions, so there are contradictions within the European Union itself and between them and the United States, even though they all share capital’s historic mission.

Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/ralph-gonsalv ... -succeed/


Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

[caltrek]

How Cuba Is Eradicating Child Mortality and Banishing the Diseases of the Poor
by Vijay Prashad and Manolo De Los Santos
July 6, 2022

Extract:

(Eurasia Review) The region of the Zapata Swamp, where the Bay of Pigs is located, before the Revolution, had an infant mortality rate of 59 per 1,000 live births. The population of the area, mostly engaged in subsistence fishing and in the charcoal trade, lived in great poverty. Fidel spent the first Christmas Eve after the Revolution of 1959 with the newly formed cooperative of charcoal producers, listening to them talk about their problems and working with them to find a way to exit the condition of hunger, illiteracy, and ill-health. A large-scale project of transformation had been set into motion a few months before, which drew in hundreds of very poor people into a process to lift themselves up from the wretched conditions that afflicted them. This is the reason why these people rose in large numbers to defend the Revolution against the attack by the United States and its mercenaries in 1961.

To move from 59 infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births to no infant deaths in the matter of a few decades is an extraordinary feat. It was done, Dr. Dayamis says, because the Cuban Revolution pays an enormous attention to the health of the population. Pregnant mothers are given regular care from primary care doctors and gynecologists and their infants are tended by pediatricians—all of it paid from the social wealth of the country. Small towns such as Palpite do not have specialists such as gynecologists and pediatricians, but within a short ride a few miles away, they can access these doctors in Playa Larga.

Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/06072022 ... oor-oped/

caltrek’s comment: Given Cuba’s advances in such fields as this, the United States ought to be ashamed of any continued sanctions against that country.

[wjfox]

'Narcos' drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero captured in Mexico - as 14 killed in Black Hawk helicopter crash during operation

Saturday 16 July 2022 12:24, UK

Mexican military forces have captured notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the torture and murder of a US drug enforcement agent in 1985.

Caro Quintero, 69, was arrested after a search dog named Max, a bloodhound, flushed him out of hiding in shrubland in the town of San Simon in Sinaloa state during a joint operation by the navy and the attorney general's office, according to a statement from the Mexican navy.

[...]

Caro Quintero was on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $20m (£16.9m) reward offered for his capture.

The US government hailed the arrest, and said it would waste no time in requesting his extradition.

"This is huge," White House senior Latin America adviser Juan Gonzalez wrote on Twitter.

https://news.sky.com/story/mexico-captu ... h-12652871

[caltrek]

^^^Of course, now I suppose we will be hearing from the libertarians about the excessive use of force in capturing this scumbag...errr...I mean suspect.

[weatheriscool]

Haiti gang violence: UN votes to ban small arms sales
Source: BBC

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to ban some weapon sales to Haiti, rocked by deadly gang violence.

The resolution calls on UN member states to prohibit the sale of small arms, light weapons and ammunition to what it calls "non-state actors".

But a proposal by China for a full embargo on weapon sales was rejected.

Since last week, 89 people have been killed in the Port-au-Prince capital region alone. Aid agencies say many areas are now dangerous to access.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62187717

[caltrek]

Mexican President Lopez Obrador Showed Leadership in Meeting With President Biden
by Rodrigo Guillot
July 27, 2022

Introduction:

(Alternet) Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) visited the United States on July 12 and offered five proposals to U.S. President Joe Biden. These proposals are based on AMLO’s in-depth knowledge of Mexican history and his reading of the economic crisis in the United States, which seems to be losing its edge as a global leader.

See article linked below for a description of the five proposals

Conclusion:

López Obrador has not only established himself as the political reference point for the Latin American left but has also been leading the process of integration in the south of the region through the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit and his diplomacy in Central America. He has managed to undermine the interventionist capacity of the United States without losing the friendly relationship with Mexico’s northern neighbor, as this official visit to the United States demonstrates. Besides this, Mexico has proposed solutions to inflation and the global ailments caused by the pandemic and the Ukraine war, encouraging its U.S. counterpart to follow Mexico’s political economy.

Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly being seen as equals to the United States; are putting themselves on the front line in the battle for the sovereignty of countries such as Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela; and are backing progressive processes such as those in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Honduras. Likewise, López Obrador has put on the table a political subject that will be of paramount importance in U.S. domestic life: the rights of the Mexican and Latino migrant workers. AMLO has asked them to use their votes to monitor and shape the immigration legislative reforms in the United States and to ensure that the interests of the Global South are no longer ignored during policymaking in the West.

Read more here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/mexic ... -history/

[caltrek]

Mexico President to Bypass Congress to Keep Army in Streets
by Maria Verza
August 15, 2022

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president has begun exploring plans to sidestep congress to hand formal control of the National Guard to the army, a move that could extend the military’s control over policing in a country with high levels of violence.

That has raised concerns because President Andrés Manuel López Obrador won approval for creating the force in 2019 by pledging in the constitution that it would be under nominal civilian control and that the army would be off the streets by 2024.

Neither the National Guard nor the military has been able to lower the insecurity in the country, however. This past week, drug cartels staged widespread arson and shooting attacks, terrifying civilians in three main northwest cities in a bold challenge to the state. On Saturday, authorities sent 300 army special forces and 50 National Guard members to the border city of Tijuana.

Still, López Obrador wants to keep soldiers involved in policing and remove civilian control over the National Guard, whose officers and commanders are mostly soldiers, with military training and pay grades.

But the president no longer has the votes in congress to amend the constitution and has suggested he may try to do it as a regulatory change with a simple majority in congress or by executive order and see if the courts will uphold that.

Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/08/1 ... streets/

[caltrek]

In Mexico Resort Town, Squatters Make a Stand Against Developers
by Mark Stevenson
August 18, 2022

TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Unchecked development has hit this once laid-back beach town on Mexico’s Caribbean coast so hard that developers are now eager —even desperate— to build condominiums and hotels in a shantytown.

While police are trying to evict squatters so towering condos can be built next to wood and tarpaper shacks, residents are fighting back, saying they are tired of foreign investors excluding local people from their own coast.

In the latest clash on July 27, police accompanying a backhoe fired tear gas and tried to knock down some squatters’ homes in the shadow of a new, balconied condo building. The attempt ended when wind shifted the gas back onto officers, who retreated under a hail of rocks.

The contrast between rich and poor is stark. Gleaming white four-story condos with vaguely Mayan-sounding names and English slogans like “Live in the Luscious Jungle” and “An immersive spiritual experience” stand next to shacks made of poles, packing crates, tarps, and tin roofing.

On a coast where unchecked resort development has already closed most public access to beaches —there are only a few public access points on the 80-mile stretch known as the Riviera Maya— residents of the squatters’ camp may have reason to ask whether poorer Mexicans will be allowed here at all.

https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/08/18 ... squatters/

[weatheriscool]

Nicaraguan government takes over opposition newspaper headquarters
Source: Reuters

The Nicaraguan government took over the facilities of a long-standing newspaper critical of President Daniel Ortega to turn the space into a "cultural center," the newspaper said on Tuesday.

The paper "La Prensa," one of the oldest in the Western hemisphere, was occupied by Nicaraguan police forces last year and several of its executives detained. Since then, a team of reporters in exile have kept the site online from abroad.

"For several days, (the regime) has been carrying out construction and moving some of (La Prensa's) machinery and equipment," the paper said on its website.

"With these actions, the Ortega-Murillo regime completes the de facto confiscation of the assets of the industrial plant of Editorial La Prensa," it said.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ ... 022-08-23/

[caltrek]

U.S. Offers Hurricane Assistance to Cuba Amid Blackouts
by Gisela Salomon
October 19, 2022

Introduction:

MIAMI (AP via Latino Rebels) — The United States said Tuesday it has offered critical emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Cuba to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian, an unusual but not unprecedented move after years of bilateral tensions.

The assistance includes $2 million in provisions and supplies that will be delivered through independent non-governmental organizations that have experience and are already working on the island directly with the affected populations, said a senior administration official who asked to remain anonymous following government policies.

“We are responding to a disaster by working with our international humanitarian assistance partners to deliver critical assistance directly to those most in need,” she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press before the official announcement. “We stand with the Cuban people and will continue to seek ways to improve their political and economical well-being.”

Conclusion:

The full embargo can only be lifted with authorization from the U.S. Congress, and the official said the aid will be consistent with U.S. laws and regulations.

The official said the U.S will continue its demands for the release of political prisoners and respect for human rights on the island.

Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/10

[weatheriscool]

Cartel lays siege to Mexican city after recapture of the son of 'El Chapo'
Source: Los Angeles Times

Armed men took hostages, burned vehicles and stormed an airport in northern Mexico on Thursday after federal forces captured Ovidio Guzmán, one of the world’s most wanted cartel leaders and the son of notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

The drug boss was arrested after a predawn gunfight in the city of Culiacán, a stronghold of Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel, and was later flown to Mexico City, according to Mexican Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval González.

Officials canceled flights, suspended school and ordered residents to shelter in place as cartels responded to Guzmán’s arrest by throwing up road blockades across the state of Sinaloa, with the worst of the violence concentrated in Culiacán. Sandoval said cartel fighters blocked all six entrances to the city with burning vehicles and attacked the city’s airport as well as an air force base located nearby.

One local journalist, Marcos Vizcarra, said he had been effectively taken hostage along with other civilians in a hotel, their cars confiscated by armed gunmen to be incinerated in the streets.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/st ... n-captured

[caltrek]

University Ethics Panel Finds Mexico Supreme Court Justice Plagiarized Undergrad Thesis
by Cody Copeland
January 12, 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse NewsN) — An ethics committee at the alma mater of Mexico Supreme Court Justice Yasmín Esquivel Mossa confirmed Wednesday evening that her undergraduate thesis was a “substantial copy” of one presented the year before.

The controversy stems from a LatinUS report from Dec. 21 claiming Esquivel had plagiarized a significant portion of the thesis she presented in 1987 from one presented the year before at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Esquivel was a candidate for the chief justiceship in December but lost the job to Norma Piña Hernández, who became the first woman to lead the court in early January. Legal scholars told Courthouse News at the time that the plagiarism scandal played a role in tanking her candidacy.

The justice did not respond to a request for comment, but she did make several attempts to defend herself and her reputation in response to the allegations. On the day the LatinUS report was published, she posted a press release by her thesis adviser Martha Rodríguez Ortiz, in which the adviser claimed that the thesis was original work.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/univers ... d-thesis/

[weatheriscool]

Nicaragua Frees Hundreds of Political Prisoners to the United States
Source: New York Times

Nicaragua released 222 political prisoners early Thursday in a deal negotiated with Washington, marking one of the biggest prisoner releases ever involving the United States, according to senior Biden administration officials with knowledge of the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about a sensitive matter.

The Nicaraguan government sought nothing in return, the officials said, but agreed to release the prisoners as a way to signal a desire to restart relations with the United States. The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on the government and the family of President Daniel Ortega as the country has slid into autocratic rule and targeted its opponents in civil society, the church and the news media.

A total of 224 political prisoners were offered refuge in the United States, but two declined. The American government sent a chartered flight to Nicaragua’s capital, Managua, which took off at about 7:45 a.m. E.S.T. to take the prisoners to Washington, where the plane was expected to land at about noon local time.

Many of the prisoners had been arrested over the last few years for their political dissent against the Ortega family with many sentenced to prison or house arrest in what critics and family members called sham trials.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/worl ... lease.html

[caltrek]

Low-income Families Hit Hardest by Mexico’s Rising Inflation
by Cody Copeland
February 10, 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse News) — As Americans start to glimpse the light at the end of the inflationary tunnel, the trend continues to rise in Mexico, and it’s hitting the lowest earners the hardest.

While the annual inflation rate in January rose slightly to 7.91%, households earning an average of 3,313 pesos (US $177) per month are currently experiencing 10.2% inflation, according to a statistical analysis by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO).

Citing data from Mexico’s national statistics institute Inegi, IMCO found that number greatly contrasts with the rate felt by higher-earning households. Those with monthly incomes averaging 11,122 pesos ($595) are seeing 8.82% inflation, while those bringing in $54,427 pesos ($2,910) are enjoying a rate lower than the national average at 7.68%.

This trend is primarily due to the distribution of people’s consumption patterns, according to Ana Gutiérrez, head of foreign trade and labor markets at IMCO. Mexico's lowest-earning households can end up spending more than half of their monthly income on food, which has seen the some of the highest price hikes both in Mexico and elsewhere in the world in recent years.

“When half of their consumption is focused on food, and food has the highest inflation, then obviously the pressure on those households is higher than on the other end,” said Gutiérrez.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/low-inc ... nflation/

[weatheriscool]

40 killed in fire at immigration detention center in Mexico

Source: AP

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — After migrants in northern Mexico placed mattresses against the bars of their detention cell and set them on fire, guards quickly walked away and made no apparent attempt to release the men before smoke filled the room and killed at least 40, surveillance video showed Tuesday.

Hours after the fire broke out late Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under shimmery silver sheets outside the immigration detention facility in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, and a major crossing point for migrants.

Twenty-nine people were injured and were in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.

At the time of the blaze, 68 men from Central and South America were being held at the facility, the agency said.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/mexico-fire- ... ed1cf572b3

[caltrek]

Mexico: Despite ‘Coup,’ Castillo Legal President of Peru
March 30 , 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (AP via Latino Rebels) — Mexico’s president said Wednesday that Peru‘s ousted president, Pedro Castillo, remains “the legal and legitimate president” of that country and that he was jailed as part of a “coup.”

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also claimed Peru’s current government is “racist” and had jailed Castillo because he is Indigenous. The comments were the most forceful indication yet that López Obrador doesn’t recognize current Peruvian President Dina Boluarte.

“I maintain that he (Castillo) is the legal and legitimate president,” López Obrador said at his morning press briefing. “He suffered a coup.”
“They won’t accept Pedro Castillo because he is from the mountains, he is Indigenous,” the president said.

Boluarte took office on December 7 after then-President Castillo was removed by Parliament and jailed for trying to dissolve Congress to avoid a vote on his removal from office. Castillo, who was Peru’s first leader from a rural Andean background, was plagued by corruption scandals and a revolving-door cabinet.

Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2023/03/3 ... illocoup/

[caltrek]

Indigenous Anti-Mining Activist Found Slain in Mexico
April 5, 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (AP via Latino Rebels) — An Indigenous anti-mining activist has been killed in a dangerous part of western Mexico, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

The killing of Eustacio Alcalá comes just over two months after two other community anti-mining activists disappeared near where Acalá’s body was found.

It reinforced Mexico’s reputation as the deadliest place in the world for environmental and land defense activists, according to a report by the nongovernmental group Global Witness, which said Mexico saw 54 activists killed in 2021.

Alcalá was found dead days after he disappeared while driving on a highway known for violent incidents on Saturday. He was driving a group of nuns or lay religious workers —it wasn’t clear which— in his truck, when they were pulled over by armed men. The nuns were later released, the activist group All Rights For Everyone said.

Alcalá had led a largely successful fight to prevent an iron ore mine from opening near his Nahua village of San Juan Huitzontla. Residents argued the proposed mine would pollute waterways and damage the environment.

Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2023/04/0 ... admexico/

[caltrek]

Mexico Supreme Court Invalidates National Guard Transfer to Army
by Cody Copeland
April 18 , 2023

Introduction:

MEXICO CITY (Courthouse News) — In a brutal blow to the agenda of Mexico’s president, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that last year's transfer of the civilian National Guard to the military was unconstitutional.

The transfer was approved this past September via a legislative reform to the 2019 law that created the National Guard. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador initially tried to push the transfer through with a constitutional reform, but he did not have the necessary support from Congress.

The project received the minimum eight votes necessary to rule a law unconstitutional. López Obrador appointees Loretta Ortiz Ahlf and Yasmín Esquivel Mossa — currently in hot water for having plagiarized both her undergraduate and doctoral theses — voted against the initiative, as did former Chief Justice Arturo Zaldívar.

The National Guard must now return operative and administrative control to the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection.
Although López Obrador and other advocates of the move reject the term "militarization," opponents of his security strategy hailed the court’s decision as a step in the right direction toward putting checks on this and other actions of the current federal administration.

“The Constitution clearly says that the National Guard is a civil institution,” said María Elena Morera, executive director of the watchdog group Causa En Común. “This ruling slaps a hand on the table, telling the president and his party that we still have separation of powers in Mexico and they can’t go over the Constitution to do whatever they feel like.”

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/mexico- ... -to-army/

[weatheriscool]

Shocking video shows Mexican drug cartels in shootout that left 11 dead in violence plagued Baja California region

An armed cartel member can be seen gunning down attendees of a car race in Ensenada, Baja California in horrifying video posted on Twitter.

The video shows several men wielding guns and shooting at cars about 2:18 pm Saturday.

Rounds of automatic weapon fire can be heard firing nonstop in the footage posted by Mexican journalist Alfredo Alvarez.

The carnage reportedly left 11 dead and seven injured and sent terrified witnesses scrambling across the street to try and hide from the danger.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... video.html