DAILY LINKS
The Nation has a long, wonky, wonderful article on Mexican maize cultivation, the effects of NAFTA, and the dangers of genetically-modified seeds. Author Peter Canby backs up his excellent writing with piles and piles of meticulous research. Not to be missed. [link, via SM] (Image from Joel Penner.)
Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas ended his hunger strike yesterday after 134 days. Farinas decided to end his strike after the Cuban government said it would release political prisoners rounded up in the "Black Spring" crackdown of 2003. Get well soon. [link]
The Uruguayan selection, which has made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup, just received a shipment of half a ton of fine cuts of beef for the mother of all asados in preparation for a contest against Ghana on Friday: "450 kilos of lomo, 200 of entrecot, 75 of vacío, 75 of colita de cuadril, 150 of ojo de bife and 50 kg of picaña." [link]
Hitmen have assassinated the PRI candidate for governor of Tamaulipas State, Rodolfo Torre Cantú. Torre was gunned down along with six others at about 10:30 this morning on a highway on the way to a campaign event. Drug mafias are assumed to be responsible. [link]
From the days when coups were something of a regional sport, new documents detail a famous British ballerina's role in a plot to topple the government of Panama. The plan was to use her yacht to gather men and arms, then "land somewhere and collect in the hills." It didn't work. [link]
Mexico's Attorney General's Office has posted on its web site irrefutable evidence that gold-plated AR-15s and diamond-studded pistol grips are not nearly as cool-looking as they sound. The deadly knick-knack collection is said to belong to Valencia Cartel leader El Lobo. [link]
Two Brazilian ranchers were sentenced to 30 years in prison apiece for ordering the killing of an environmentalist nun: "Prosecutors said the pair offered to pay a gunman $25,000 to kill the 73-year-old [Dorothy] Stang because she had prevented them from stealing a piece of land that the government had granted to a group of poor farmers." [link]
This video of a kidnapping and car chase in Mexico is notable mainly for the bad-assitude of the TV journalists who were on this like white on rice. Well done, gentlemen.
The Economist takes a peak at the Mockus phenomenon in Colombia: "His moustacheless beard gives him the air of a Baltic pastor... He is financing his campaign with a bank overdraft. His supporters rely on Facebook and make their own posters; street vendors sell unofficial campaign T-shirts." [link]
Some cruise lines will cease traveling to Antarctica after this cruise season, as a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil goes into effect next year. The ban came after a 2007 incident when a Gap Adventures ship got punctured by ice and sank, causing a mess. [link]
Category Archives: Mexico
On holiday
I guess drug kingpins need vacations too. Honduran Security Minister Óscar Álvarez is saying that Sinaloa Cartel head Joaquín “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzmán is hanging out in Honduras, getting a little R&R. He’s rumored to be staying in an area known as “El Paraíso” (paradise). Among evidence cited is the possibility that Mexican narcocorrido group [...]
Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim has denied a rumor that he intends to buy out the New York Times Co. and take it private. Slim owns 7% of the company, as well as warrants on 15.9 million shares. [link]
Also posted in Economy, Side notes Leave a comment
“Chuntaro Style”
Daniel Hernández has had a few great posts recently on his Intersections blog about the urban street dancing culture in Mexico: The style of dancing [below] reflects a style celebrated in the video for “Chuntaro Style” by El Gran Silencio [also below], where norteños in cholo-like outfits, both men and women, dance a poppy, low, [...]
Thankless task
Pity the municipal mayors of Durango state. They’re dropping like flies. The latest, the head of El Mezquital municipality, was killed on Monday, gunned down in a restaurant. He’s the fifth to be murdered, kidnapped, or run out of town in two years, according to La Jornada. “We don’t have protection of any kind, no [...]
The region’s two biggest economies – Mexico and Brazil – are going to start talks on a possible free trade agreement.
Also posted in Brazil, Side notes, Trade Leave a comment
Now in pre-construction sales!
Who knew the age of outlandish real estate development projects would be back so soon. A consortium of “unnamed” foreign investors is funding the construction of a full-scale replica of Tenochtitlan somewhere near Mexico City. In a nod to the proud indigenous peoples who built the original holy city, the 740-acre project will include “a [...]
Also posted in Economy, Odd Tagged Mexico, Nican Ca Tenochtitlan Center, real estate, Tenochtitlan Leave a comment
Military abuse
Amnesty International is reiterating its call for the Mexican government to start doing something about the horrible crimes its military is committing in the pursuit of its war on drugs at the border. Specifically, the organization cites a case in Chihuahua in which three Mexicans were picked up by 10 soldiers and never heard from [...]
Also posted in Human Rights, War on drugs Tagged abuse, Amnesty International, forced disappearance, Human Rights, Mexico, War on drugs Leave a comment
Good business
An amazing story in the LA Times documents the “Wal-mart” of heroin: Basically, a black-tar heroin co-operative from the tiny municipality of Xalisco in Nayarit, Mexico, that bases its business model on good service and low prices. From the article: Users need not venture into dangerous neighborhoods for their fix. Instead, they phone in their [...]
Also posted in War on drugs Tagged black tar heroin, drug dealing, entrepreneurs, low low prices, Xalisco Leave a comment
“We are all Juárez”
Is Mexico’s border war on drugs over? Last week, Calderón made a trip to Ciudad Juárez in an attempt to stem the political fallout from a massacre in which narcos gunned down 15 innocent youths. He was met with angry protests. In his speech, he talked about a new strategy for combating crime there, including [...]
Whack-a-mole