More from NAFBPO
Thursday, 9/30/10
El Universo (Mexico City) 9/29/10
Violence and insecurity costing Mexico
Mexico’s Industrial Chambers Federation reported that the cost of insecurity in Mexico reaches 7% of the country’s gross national product, the equivalent of 9,640 pesos (U.S. $770) per person. According to an estimate by this paper, resources lost due to the fight against drug traffic and crime in general represent 154 billion pesos. Some domestic and international organizations believe that the cost of insecurity in Mexico is above 15% of the country’s gross national product.
Tourism has also been affected, not only in the border area but also in such places as Cancun and Los Cabos. Conventions are no longer seen, or are cancelling and going elsewhere.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/712346.html
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Thirty Gulf Cartel members arrested
Mexican marines arrested thirty Gulf Cartel members and seized an arsenal of two rocket launchers, 53 firearms (including 43 “long barrel”) and nearly 10,000 rounds of ammo, 24 hand grenades, uniforms and hundreds of thousands of both pesos and U.S. dollars. All this is reported to have taken place in the state of Tamaulipas within the last 48 hours.
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/712459.html
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El Universo (Guayaquil Ecuador) 9/28/10
Migrants ask for divine protection
In Ecuador, Christian devotion baptized the diminutive image of Our Lord of Andacocha with different nicknames, among them Little Saint Coyote, referring to the thousands of Ecuadorans who entrust themselves to this image when they’re going to set out on an illegal journey to the United States. For this reason they also call him Lord of the Migrants, while inside and outside the country he’s known as the Lord of Miracles.
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El Heraldo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 9/28/10
Single visa for some Central American countries
The directors of the national immigration agencies of four Central American countries, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (C4,) are meeting in Honduras. They intend to establish a single, uniform visa, applicable for all persons from elsewhere in the world when visiting any of the C4 countries. Residents of any C4 country would be able to enter any of the other member countries simply by presenting their identity cards.
The immigration heads are also evaluating strategies to combat organized crime, especially people trafficking. The Honduran Government Minister said that danger must be kept away from the region, especially the presence of ever more dangerous persons from other countries, such as the Iranian recently apprehended on the border with Nicaragua, while he was attempting to enter the country.
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Correo (Leon, Guanajuato) 9/28/10
Mexico calls meeting to deal with migrants and violence
Representatives of 14 western hemisphere countries, including the U.S. and Canada, will attend a meeting in Mexico to “strengthen international cooperation in the combat against organized crime, whose lawlessness affects citizens and aliens in the continent’s countries.” The meeting will begin on Oct. 8 and will also be attended by delegates from the OAS, the International Migration Organization and the Regional Migration Conference. The article also cites the recent killing of 72 aliens in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
http://correo-gto.com.mx/notas.asp?id=186567
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El Financiero (Mexico City) 9/29/10
White House: immigration reform makes “good economic sense”
Melody Barnes, National Policy director for President Barack Obama, said today that an integral migratory reform and the legalization of some 11 million of undocumented persons make “good economic sense.” In a forum about immigration, organized by the Hamilton Project, Barnes indicated that a reform would encourage highly trained immigrants to remain in the United States and will assure that undocumented workers pay their taxes. She noted that, “The taxes that immigrants pay can be an important part of the government’s revenue in coming years, and could help in dealing with some of the fiscal challenges that we face.” She pointed out that, from a security standpoint, a reform would permit a review of their criminal record so that law enforcement officials can focus on larger threats, and underlined that Democrat Senator Richard Durbin has reintroduced the Dream Act project to legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth. Also, that the White House will work with Senator Robert Menendez about his plans to introduce an integral migratory reform proposal “soon”, which she hopes the Congress may approve for its enactment by President Obama.
During his video-conference presentation from New Mexico, Governor Bill Richardson reiterated his support for an immigration reform, though he warned that anti-immigrant laws such as Arizona’s SB1070 can affect those efforts. He also indicated that he expects President Obama and the Congress will take immigration reform as a “national priority” after the November legislative elections and when the new Congress assumes its functions next year.
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La Jornada (Mexico City) 9/29/10
City Hall attacked
An object believed to have been a grenade was hurled this morning at the Matamoros City Hall. Two persons were injured and the front of the building was damaged.
Five Mexican city mayors have been assassinated since Aug. 18, two of them in the border state of Tamaulipas; a candidate for governor of that same state was murdered in late June. (Matamoros is right across the Rio Grande River from Brownsville, Texas.)
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Milenio (Mexico City) 9/29/10
Mexico’s isolated population
(Recent heavy rains in Mexico caused a landslide that buried parts of the village of Tlahuitoltepec, state of Oaxaca, which rescue groups were unable to reach. Following is a portion of an op/ed by Roman Revueltas, who questions the existence of so many isolated villages in Mexico, and then ends by asking “wouldn’t it be a good thing to begin thinking about a great population reshuffling in Mexico?)
Suddenly, without warning, the brutal reality of a nation, such as ours, fragmented in small, isolated and distant communities. The people love their land, it’s true, but not so much so that the disastrous economic doesn’t allow them to leave their home, family, language, customs and loved ones in search of a better future in strange lands. Millions of Mexicans emigrate to the United States of America and many of them don’t return to their origins except to visit those who have remained behind and, imagine the vileness of this country, that the extortion by the police and the assaults by criminals confirm to them, as if it were necessary, that Mexico almost doesn’t offer shelter nor opportunities to honest people.
http://impreso.milenio.com/node/8839605
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- end of report –
http://m3report.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/violence-and-insecurity-costing-mexico-billions-of-pesos/
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