Ongoing Protests in Solidarity with Missing Mexican Students (Updated)

University students in several parts of Mexico are protesting on Wednesday as part of a continuing push for the safe return of 43 young adults missing for more than a month.

At least one hundred protesters have taken control of several highways of access Mexico City today and have allowed motorists to avoid paying at the tollbooths. The demonstrators reportedly include pupils from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) and are calling for support of the students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero state who have disappeared since September 26th. 

In addition, students from the IPN and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) plan to take control of the radio stations to their respective schools and provide messages of support for the families of those missing.  Meanwhile, both teachers and students at one of the campuses of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) have suspended classes today as part of their own protest.

Today’s events are part of three days of action planned by several universities with the aim of calling to justice those responsible for the missing students, defend public education and criticize state-sponsored violence.  Students, teachers and other demonstrators plan to march in Mexico City on Friday, for example.

On September 26th, were riding local buses back to their school in Ayotzinapa following a protest over job discrimination in Iguala.  That evening, armed men from the town of Iguala fired upon the buses and killed three passengers while others fled in terror.  Eyewitnesses claimed that local police shot at some of the escaping students while others were caught and bundled into police vehicles.

Daily Headlines: January 30, 2013

* Venezuela: The U.N. human rights office expressed concern over “an alarming pattern of violence in Venezuelan prisons” in the wake of a recent deadly riot at the Uribana prison.

* Haiti: Will an aggressive campaign to promote tourism in Haiti help revive a country still ailing from a major earthquake that struck two years ago?

* Peru: Legislators are considering approving a proposal that would protect the “near threatened” Andean condors.

* Mexico: Electoral authorities claimed they found violations made by the campaign of defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
 
Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources- Huffington Post, The Latin Americanist, NBC News, NPR

Daily Headlines: September 10, 2012

* Mexico: Twice defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he will form his own political party to oppose incoming president Enrique Peña Nieto.

* Nicaragua: Approximately 3000 people were evacuated from several towns around the ash-spewing San Cristobal volcano.

* Venezuela: The U.S. State Department confirmed that Venezuelan officials would drop arms trafficking charges against the crew of a detained U.S.-flagged cargo ship.

* Chile: Police used tear gas and a water cannon to disperse some one hundred protesters who acted violently at the end of a peaceful rally commemorating the victims of the 1973-1990 military regime.

Video Source – YouTube via Milenio

Online Sources- AFP, Miami Herald, CNN, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 19, 2012

* Colombia: The federal government and indigenous protesters in southern Colombia started a dialogue aimed at lowering tensions in the war-torn Cauca province.

* Mexico: Andrés Manuel López Obrador continued his legal challenge against Mexico’s recent presidential election and accused the campaign of apparent president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto of money laundering.

* Venezuela: The Venezuelan foreign ministry condemned the attack yesterday that killed three senior Syrian military officials and called for global powers to “avoid any armed intervention.”

* Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic joined Honduras and the Ukraine and filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Australia's cigarette package laws.

Mexico: López Obrador Rails Against “Brought” Elections

Did Mexico’s PRI political party purchase votes that allowed Enrique Peña Nieto to win Sunday’s presidential election? This was the accusation made by runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

“We will prove the hypothesis that (the PRI) brought votes,” said the Progressive Movement candidate.

López Obrador referred to allegations that the PRI gave away pre-paid gift cards that thousands of Mexico City residents tried to redeem this week.

“The buying of votes in a municipality or a town can be covered up but we’re referring to the massive purchase of votes through these cards”, alleged López Obrador.

He also attacked Mexico’s main media entities for mounting a “propaganda” campaign favoring Peña Nieto and accused the defeated PAN party of “colluding” with the PRI by not “defending the vote.”

Peña Nieto claimed earlier this week that “there are no grounds” behind the accusations of vote buying and that the allegations are part of a “campaign of finger pointing.” According to Bloomberg, however, Mexico’s electoral commission might not agree with Peña Nieto’s assessment:

Vázquez Mota Wins Mexican Expat Vote

Josefina Vázquez Mota may’ve ended in third in yesterday’s Mexican presidential election but she scored a win among her countrymen living abroad.

According to Mexican electoral officials, the former minister representing the PAN gained 42.16% of the expat vote while Andrés Manuel López Obrador was second with 38.99%.

Presumed general election winner Enrique Peña Nieto of the PRI finished a distant third among Mexicans abroad with a paltry 15.61%.

The results were a repeat of the previous presidential election six years ago when most expats opted for the PAN’s Felipe Calderon while the PRI candidate only gained 4% of the vote. For Carlos Arango, the head of Chicago-based community organization Casa Aztlán, the results this year are not a surprise:

Once again most voters abroad “punished” the PRI since “they have no sympathy in the U.S.,” said Arango. “Those that are living abroad have not forgotten that they had to leave Mexico due to the problems caused by PRI-led regimes.”

The activist also noted that Enrique Peña Nieto and his party “did not invest in the expat community until the very end of his campaign.”

Mexico: Enrique Peña Nieto Widens Lead in Presidential Election (Updated)

Mexico’s old guard is apparently poised to reclaim the country’s presidency.

According to Mexico’s electoral board, the IFE, Enrique Peña Nieto of the PRI leads the race for the presidency. With 84.27% of the votes counted, the center-right Peña Nieto is first with 37.55% of the vote, 5.31% ahead of the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Update (12:15): Peña Nieto has widened his lead to over 6% with nearly 93% of the vote counted, which explains why he's received congratulatory messages from several countries including Britain and Spain.

The former State of Mexico governor claimed that he won the election after a "quick count" conducted by the IFE gave him a 6-8% lead over López Obrador.

“Mexicans have given our party another chance. We are going to honor it with results,” said Peña Nieto to his followers while a senior IFE official claimed that Peña Nieto’s electoral advantage is “irreversible.”

If the numbers do hold then it would represent a return to the presidency for the PRI, the party which ruled Mexico for seventy-one years until 2000 when PAN candidate Vicente Fox ended the hegemony.

“The last word hasn't been spoken yet…We simply do not have all the facts,” said López Obrador, who claimed that he would not quit until all the votes are counted.

It is unknown if López Obrador’s backers plan to repeat the actions of six years ago when he launched massive street protests after controversially losing the presidential race by less than 1% to current president Felipe Calderon.

Daily Headlines: November 16, 2011

* Mexico: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will run again for the Mexican presidency after losing in a very close election in 2006.

* Colombia: A “hardliner” known as Timochenko was selected as the new head of the FARC guerillas nearly two weeks after alias Alfonso Cano was killed in a military operation.

* U.S.: Latino New York City councilman Ydanis Rodriguez will reportedly be released from police custody today after being arrested and possibly assaulted by officers during Monday’s actions against Occupy Wall Street protesters.

* Guatemala: President Alvaro Colom gave permission for the extradition of former leader Alfonso Portillo to the U.S. where he awaits trial on supposed money laundering.

Image Source – Flickr via user Eneas (CC BY 2.0)

Online Sources- CBS News, Reuters, Huffington Post, CNN, The Latin Americanist,

Lopez Obrador blasts Mex. Prez over crime

Ex-presidential candidate and leading opposition figure Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador harshly criticized a “crime summit” led by Mexico’s government. According to Milenio, Lopez Obrador claimed that Thursday’s meeting of the National Public Security Council was “pure demagoguery” and added:

“The problem will not be resolved with more police, more soldiers, a heavy hand and harsher laws nor can it with demagogic and propaganda-like meetings…

“(The government) cannot resolve the problem nor can they do anything about it because (President Felipe) Calderon is a puppet and his chiefs aren’t willing to change anything in the country and lose their privileges.” - [ed. personal translation]

The conference is set to unite Calderon’s allies and foes to discuss additional measures to cut crime such as permitting anonymous judges to head trials and stiffer penalties against kidnappers.

Sadly, crime in Mexico is seemingly out of control; on Wednesday alone fifteen people were killed in the state of Chihuahua including two minors. For the country’s wealthy, the wake-up call on crime was the kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old businessman’s son.

Image- BBC News (“A billboard displays a mother's appeal to find her kidnapped son”)

Sources (English)- AFP, BBC News, Sydney Morning Herald, San Diego Union Tribune

Sources (Spanish)-Milenio

Today’s Video: Lopez Obrador = Hitler?!

Godwin’s Law seems to have occurred during the already ugly debate in Mexico over oil reform.

Mexico’s Congress has been shut down for over a week by opposition politicos against President Felipe Calderon’s plans for PEMEX. In response, “a conservative civic group called Better Society, Better Government” issued an attack ad comparing leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Pinochet.

Is the ad appropriate or tasteless? See for yourself:

Sources- jargon.net, Reuters UK, Houston Chronicle, YouTube

Mexicans divided over future of PEMEX

To privatize or not to privatize? That is the question regarding the future of Mexican state-run oil firm PEMEX.

During a ceremony marking the 70^th anniversary of the nationalization of PEMEX, President Felipe Calderon said that he wanted to “transform Pemex so it becomes a more efficient and stronger company.” Doing so would require a partial privatization that Calderon claims would significantly boost production.

Critics of Calderon’s plan feel that he is using scare tactics to convince people that PEMEX will soon collapse unless it's reformed. One of the most vocal critics has been Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador- who Calderon beat in a highly contentious presidietal election:

Leftist opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said opening the company up to outside investment would threaten national sovereignty.

"We can't permit any kind of foreign entities or economic interests to come before the nation of Mexico," he told a rally in Mexico City.

"The theft of the oil industry would leave open the risk of violent confrontation," Mr. Lopez Obrador said, promising more protests against any proposed reform.

Sources- PRESS TV, BusinessWeek, The Latin Americanist, Houston Chronicle, BBC News

Image- TIME (“A Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, near the shores of the state of Campeche, Mexico.”)