Free Republic

A mayor in southern Mexico was found murdered in the back of van, just days after another politician was killed in the same region. Acacio Flores, who represents Malinaltepec, was found dead after the killing of Salvador Villalba Flores, another mayor from Guerrero state elected in June 2 polls. Prosecutors in Guerrero said Lores’ death had been ruled a homicide, and agents of the Ministerial Police were investigating. Flores was found with a bullet wound to the back of the head in the back of a van, a human rights campaigner told AFP. The rights activist said the politician was...

In Atlanta to promote the Biden administration’s efforts to quell the import of illegal drugs into the U.S., Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced new sanctions against members of a Mexican drug cartel accused of trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, meth and migrants through the southern border. Included in the sanctions are eight members of the La Nueva Familia Michoacana drug cartel, a notoriously violent group that wars for territorial control with a slate of other Mexican cartels. Also Thursday, Yellen issued an advisory to banks to help them identify and report suspicious transactions related to the sale an purchase of chemicals and...

Be patient with your bag of unripened avocados, because they might become more difficult to find in grocery stores pretty soon. According to a translated June 18 news release from U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, two United States Department of Agriculture employees were attacked and detained while inspecting avocados in Michoacán, “the world’s leading producer” of the coveted fruit. Though the inspectors have since been released, the department is halting avocado and mango inspections in the region as a safety measure. USDA press representatives told SFGATE via email that operations have been paused “until further notice.” Salazar wrote that avocados will...

The man accused of wrecking a semi along a highway in Colorado last week, killing one person and injuring another, is an illegal immigrant who has a long history of removal from the United States, authorities said. Ignacio Cruz-Mendoza, 47, of Mexico, is facing reckless driving and homicide-related charges in connection with the June 11 crash. Mendoza was hauling a load of steep pipe on Hwy 285 near Conifer when he lost control of the semi, sending it rolling onto its side as it veered off the road, Colorado State Patrol (CSP) said.

T​ropical Storm Alberto will track into Mexico through Thursday, while also spreading heavy rain, coastal flooding, rip currents, high surf and isolated tornado impacts into parts of Texas. Here's where this system is located now and where it's headed: Alberto formed a few hundred miles south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, late Wednesday morning. It won't stay over water much longer and is expected to track into Mexico by Thursday morning with little strengthening anticipated. Alberto is centered just under 300 miles south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and is moving to the west.

Fentanyl gets manufactured by Mexican drug cartels and then transported over the US border where it eventually results in tens of thousands of overdose deaths per year. But the precursor chemicals used to produce all of that fentanyl isn't produced in Mexico. It comes from China. Not only has China brushed off repeated US demands that it crack down on the sale of these chemicals, but we learned a few months ago that China's government is still subsidizing them. This comes from a House committee report that looked into it.As part of our investigation, the Select Committee obtained materials showing...

After a tropical rainstorm brought heavy rainfall to portions of Florida last week, AccuWeather hurricane experts warn that yet another tropical rainstorm is expected to impact the southern U.S. in the coming days. In addition to the tropical rainstorm, two other areas in the Atlantic Basin are being monitored for tropical development later this week, including one off the Southeast coast. It is possible that one of these areas could strengthen into Alberto, becoming the first named storm of the season.

Tupperware Brands announced it will be closing its South Carolina factory — the company’s last remaining plant in the US — and laying off more than 100 workers. The iconic plastic food container company will shift all of its manufacturing operations to Mexico, where many of its products sold in the US and Canada are already made. The shuttering of the facility in the small town of Hemingway will result in the layoffs of 148 employees, according to the company, which is headquartered in Orlando. Layoffs are set to begin in September with a closure date scheduled for January 14,...

The patient died of sepsis caused from a combination of chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and arterial hypertension over the past 14 years. Greetings from the lovely city of Bologna, Italy. I am taking a few moments from my European tour to report on an important update to the bird flu story that was breaking as I left the country: A man in Mexico had died of a new strain of avian influenza. A new strain of bird flu has jumped to humans in an event that has ‘potential for high public health impact’, the World Health Organization has warned. Officials...

Down in Mexico, they killed another mayor and I can't count anymore. 36? 37? Yolanda Sánchez Figueroa, mayor of Cotija in Michoacán, was shot dead hours after the country elected its first female president. Here we go again. To be honest, they've been killing both men and women so I don't think that the killers care one way or another. They just want to send a message that they want to control the routes with or without you.The presidential elections results were quite a landslide for the incumbent party and Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum the candidate. In fact, it was so...

Mexico's new president Claudia Sheinbaum has said she would have a "good" relationship with Donald Trump if he becomes president again. Sheinbaum, the candidate of Mexico's current ruling party, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), will become the country's first woman president, after winning the presidential election in a landslide. She will succeed her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Asked about her thoughts on a possible Trump victory in an interview with Bloomberg News last month, Sheinbaum, Mexico's first Jewish president, said she would be able to maintain good ties regardless of who is commander-in-chief in the U.S. "I...

The international media has a new Mexican girlboss to fawn over. Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s new presidenta, leading a landslide for AMLO’s populist leftist Morena Party now empowered to alter Mexico’s Constitution according to his wishes. Should Donald Trump return to the White House, I can only imagine the “yas kween” memes that will emerge from their confrontations over the remain in Mexico policy. And did you know she’s a socialist and a climate scientist, too? Coming soon to a TIMEime magazine cover, a Vogue fashion profile and a children’s board book near you.Of course, those articles to come will...

In a landmark election, Claudia Sheinbaum became the first woman, and the first Jewish person, to be elected president of Mexico. This year’s election is considered the largest in Mexico’s history, with the highest number of voters casting ballots for the presidency and more than 20,000 local, state and congressional posts. This page shows preliminary results provided in real time on election night. The vote counts that determine the final result will take place from June 5 to June 8. Claudia Sheinbaum A scientist and former mayor of Mexico City who has pledged to continue President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's...

Way before 5 a.m. people eager to cast a vote for the Mexican presidential election began to form a line outside the Mexican Consulate in Chicago. By noon, thousands of people took over South Ashland Avenue, forcing police to close off streets and set up barricades to control the lines. For the first time, Mexican nationals could cast a vote in person at consular offices around the world, in a historic election where the country is set to elect its first woman president. Voters will decide whether Claudia Sheinbaum, aligned with the left-wing party Morena, or Xóchitl Gálvez, with the...

The leader of Mexico has dramatically ramped up apprehensions of U.S.-bound migrants, providing relief to President Joe Biden as he fights for re-election. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has overseen an unprecedented level of migrant apprehensions in the 2024 calendar year which has, in turn, led to a decrease in migrant encounters for U.S. federal immigration authorities. The drop in migrant flow has helped ease a major headache for Biden as he’s faced poor polling on the migration issue, but questions remain whether the will to crack down on illegal immigration by Mexican leaders will remain after the U.S. election.

Mexico goes into Sunday’s election deeply divided: friends and relatives no longer talk politics for fear of worsening unbridgeable divides, while drug cartels have split the country into a patchwork quilt of warring fiefdoms. The atmosphere is literally heating up, amid a wave of unusual heat, drought, pollution and political violence. Opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez has focused her ire on López Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” policy of not confronting the drug cartels. She faces former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is running for López Obrador's Morena party. Sheinbaum, who leads in the race, has promised to continue all...

Pro-Hamas protestors were at it again, this time setting fire to the Israeli embassy in Mexico City, with some reports of injuries, puzzling quite a few observers. According to the Jewish Chronicle:Rioters on Tuesday set fire to the Israeli Embassy in Mexico during a protest ostensibly against the Israeli military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.Masked protesters threw stones at security forces who had created a barricade preventing access to the diplomatic mission in the Mexico City’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood.Around 200 people participated in the “Urgent Action for Rafah” demonstration, dozens of whom attempted to break down...

Noé Ramos was chatting with voters, sharing breakfast with supporters of his mayoral reelection bid in his hometown in northern Mexico. “It’s something very special that people give me a glass of water, that they invite me to have a taco, to have a tamale,” Ramos said in a Facebook livestream last month featuring him at an outdoor table in El Mante in Tamaulipas state. “It motivates me to keep on working to make things better. … I will not defraud them.” An hour later, Ramos was dead. An attacker approached him on the campaign trail and stabbed him multiple...

USA Today blames Mexican cartel and Latin America violence on small-time American gun stores, but then says the quiet part out loud. From Nick Penzenstadler’s exclusive article at USA Today: Hacked data reveals which US gun sellers are behind Mexican cartel violenceA massive leak of Mexican military intelligence has exposed for the first time in two decades U.S. gun shops and smugglers tied to 78,000 firearms recovered south of the border – and which types of guns are being trafficked. The nuggets of information are among roughly 10 million records hacked by an anonymous collective known as ‘Guacamaya’ and shared...

A violent pro-Palestinian demonstration took place involving dozens of people outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City • The demonstrators tried to break through fences, threw different types of grenades and Molotov cocktails, and tried to set fire to the embassy building • At least six Mexican police officers were injured. Tzipora Siman Tov. • 21 Iyar 5784 • 29.05.24 The demonstration is taking place on the day that the Israeli Embassy in Mexico receives the body of Orión Hernandez [Radoux], the Mexican hostage whose body was rescued from the captivity of Hamas and is making its way to his...