Juarez Violence Keeping Spring Breakers Away

Last year fears of swine flu and concerns of violence kept tourists away from Mexico.

Now, this past weekend's attacks against several people affiliated with the US consulate in Cuidad Juarez has brought concerns of security along the US-Mexico border to the highest levels.

Highlighting the seriousness of the situation, the US State Department has advised all Americans to delay travel to the border regions of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango states.

The violence against the consular employees has raised new concerns of security, since the victims seem not to have had any connection to the drug trade that is responsible for the vast majority of violence in Juarez. Assuming the drug gangs were indeed behind the killings, they are becoming scarily effective at sending the message that they can continue to operate with impunity.

With many colleges kicking off Spring Break, it's likely that the Mexican tourism industry will once again see a drop in visitors.

Of course there may be some hidden perks, such as a reduction in cross-border idiocy and Jessica Simpson singing.

Kidding aside, any hit to the Mexican tourism industry will deal a significant blow to an industry that represents the fourth largest source of foreign exchange for Mexico.

Online Sources: Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, CNN, AFP, State.gov, Wikipedia
Image Source: Jessica Simpson at MTV Spring Break, Cancun

Today’s Video: Vigilantism along the border

A few things come to mind after watching the following CBS News report:

• I hate to be repetitious but it’s worth mentioning – immigration reform ASAP!
• One of the men monitoring the border warns that migrants crossing the border illegally could lead to another 9/11. But if most of 9/11 hijackers entered the country by overstaying visas and falsifying passports then shouldn’t legal immigration be scrutinized more?
• A $2 million grant was spent on the hidden border cameras and the result has been eight arrests and four drug seizures. That doesn’t sound like money “well spent”.
  

What do you think?

Online Sources- YouTube

Obama Urged to Change U.S. - Latin American Relations

Friends of Brad Will, named after the independent journalist killed in Oaxaca, called on President-elect Obama to move away from decades of failed "war on drugs" policies that have served to fund and arm corrupt police and military powers, like the one that killed Will.

Let's see if Obama really will be about change.

Friends of Brad Will today called on President elect Obama to take note of the failures of the "war in drugs" in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean and to reject funding corrupt security forces there. The advocacy organization established when the U.S. reporter Brad Will was murdered by Mexican security forces in front of witnesses in a crime still unpunished also urged the President Elect to call for the release of Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, wrongly accused by Mexican government officials of the murder of Mr. Will in Mexico in 2006.
"Mr. Martinez was framed by Mexican authorities to cover-up for officials from the State of Oaxaca who were filmed shooting into crowds during the 2006 teacher's strike." said Miguel Rivera, of Friends of Brad Will. "We demand his release and call on the Obama Administration to cease the proposed funding of helicopters and Blackwater and Dyncorp mercenaries through Bush's Merida Initiative to the Mexican and other Western Hemispheric militaries."

In a letter today to President Elect Obama, the respected Washington DC-based Witness for Peace stated, "Instead of spending billions in a failed "supply-side" strategy that funds human rights abuses, destroys the environment and fuels a decades-long armed conflict, end military aid and invest in real alternative development abroad and drug prevention and treatment at home."

The growing call to stop the Merida Initative builds upon the opposition of the AFL-CIO, US Steelworkers, and many others.

About the investigation of the murder of Brad Will, Rep. Manzullo (R, Illiinois) wrote to outgoing Secretary of State Rice, "Why should the U.S. Government give money to a government to "fight organized crime" when the very Mexican officials trusted with spending this money, including the Mexican Attorney General, refuse to cooperate with officials of the U.S. Government concerning a U.S. victim of a Mexican criminal act?"

Friends of Brad Will also called on the Mexican government to vacate the arrest warrants of others wrongfully accused of the death of the American journalist. Their names are: Hugo Jarid Colmenres Leyva, Octavio Pérez Pérez, Miguel Cruz Moreno, Leonardo Ortiz Cruz, Edgar Santiago Navarro, Gualberto Francisco Santiago Navarro, Marco Antonio Rojas Lazaro, Gustavo Vilchis Ramírez.

Source : Friends of Brad Will

Immigration Destroying Families On Both Sides of the Border

With the recent ICE raids across the U.S. there is much talk about how families are being torn apart without a deeper analysis of the how and the why immigrants are coming to the United States and how on the Mexican side of the border, families are being torn apart as well as breadwinners are forces to look for work outside their national borders.

So single women go north. And increasingly grandparents are being left
behind with grandchildren to take care of. The elders do what elders
do: they grow older, they start to lose their hearing, they need
someone to take care of them. But that generation is up north. Women
like Floriberta are left to take care of the elders…to the degree that
they can.
The people who spoke to us are clear that the forced migrations have
brought their towns economic benefits but a devastating disintegration
of families.
In Boqueron, I was struck by how empty the town is of traditional
families. There are elders of both genders and younger women with
their babies but very few men and women in their twenties and
thirties.

Source : Racewire

Ecatepec, Mexico a Sanctuary City

With all the fury about sanctuary cities and churches in the United States, one Mexican town is taking an open arms approach to immigrants from other countries. Jose Luis Gutierrez , the mayor of Ecatepec, a place where Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and others begin their march on North towards the U.S. border, understands the immigrants and in fact sees their movement as protected.

He has ordered his police officers and city officials not to arrest, extort or otherwise harass the migrants. He's also ordered them not to cooperate with Mexican immigration agents.
"Let them go and guard the borders," he said. "For Ecatepec, migration is not a criminal act. It's a universal right: the right to seek work and the right to travel freely from one place to another."

Right on.

Source : The LA Times