Mexico Week In Review: 10.01-10.07

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review: 10.01-10.07
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Published since 1994, 'Mexico Week In Review' is a service of the
Committee of Indigenous Solidarity (CIS).  CIS is a Washington, D.C.
based activist group committed to the ongoing struggles of Indigenous
peoples in the Americas.  CIS is actively supporting the struggles
of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico while simultaneously combating
related structures of oppression within our own communities.

To view newsletter archives, visit:
http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/mexico-week/

"Para Todos, Todo; Para Nosotros Nada"
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EPR EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH ZAPATISTAS

Mexico's underground Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) issued a
communiqué Oct. 3 to the leadership of the Zapatista National
Liberation Army (EZLN), expressing solidarity and pledging to "avoid
to the maximum" any action which could affect them or compromise
their security. The document, addressed to the EZLN's general
command, the Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee, and to
Subcomandante Marcos, stated that the EPR has a presence in Chiapas
and that its campaign of "harassment" against the state will continue
if the government does not return alive its "disappeared" militants.
It recognized that the EZLN "continues to be harassed and in many
cases assassinated, in spite of everything it has done to maintain a
praiseworthy resistance in the face if these injustices"-an implicit
acknowledgment of the EZLN's strategy of civil struggle.

The communique, which is online at Chiapas Indymedia , also invoked
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the left-opposition presidential
candidate who charged fraud in last year's election and now purports
to lead a parallel government. The statement said many of the EPR's
demands "coincide" with those of López Obrador's movement, "in spite
of the differences" of analysis.

Source: www.ww4report.com: 10/06
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BORDER NEWS I: U.S. SENATE APPROVES FUNDS FOR TROOPS

The Senate approved funding to keep up to 6,000 National Guard troops
deployed along the U.S. border with Mexico. The measure, approved on
a voice vote, is an amendment to a nearly $460 billion defense
appropriations bill for the fiscal year that began on Monday (10/01).
The amendment added $794 million to fund the National Guard force at
the border.

President George W. Bush ordered 6,000 National Guard troops to the
border last May in a move to help the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection agency cut the flow of illegal immigrants crossing north.
About 3,000 National Guard troops are currently deployed in the
border security program, which was slated to end on July 1, 2008.
That figure is down from 6,000 in May.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, author of the amendment, said the additional
funding would allow the National Guard mission to continue throughout
next year. "The number of illegal aliens attempting to cross the
border has decreased by about 25 percent since National Guard troops
were deployed. This program is a proven success and it would be
unthinkable to back away so soon from this critical part of our
border enforcement strategy," Sessions, an Alabama Republican, said
in a statement. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed its own
version of the bill and the two chambers will have to resolve their
differences before adopting a final version.

Source: Reuters: 10/04
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BORDER NEWS II: CHERTOFF: ILLEGALS 'DEGRADE' ENVIRONMENT

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defended the
construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's
actually better for the environment than what happens when people
illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line. "Illegal migrants really
degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage,
discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas,"
Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
"And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the
environment."

To curb illegal immigration, the U.S. government plans to complete
670 miles of fencing on the southwest border by the end of 2008. But
this has drawn complaints about damaging the cross-border economy and
hurting the environment. Wildlife enthusiasts fear the natural
wonders of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas could be spoiled by fences
and barriers and could harm some animals by cutting them off from the
only source of fresh water.

Chertoff said the department has been able to satisfy most
environmental concerns and will continue to address them. But if
someone goes to court to slow construction, he said the department
will use the environmental waiver authority Congress authorized. For
now, he said, everything is on track and the department exceeded its
goal to complete 150 miles of fencing along the Mexican border by the
end of the 2007 fiscal year, which was Sunday. Chertoff also said
apprehensions of illegal migrants at the border have gone down about
20 percent in the past year. "I was really driving these guys hard to
make sure that we were getting this done," Chertoff said of the
fence. "This is one of those deals where we made a promise, and we've
lived up to that promise."

Last month, Chertoff said there was glitch in a "virtual fence" - a
28-mile stretch of surveillance technologies near the border
southwest of Tucson - and he would not pay the contractor, Boeing
Co., until that was resolved. The glitch was that the technologies
were not all working together so that images caught on radar could be
sent to a Border Patrol agent monitoring the system, Chertoff said.
But he also said the problem "appears to be getting fixed" and
Chertoff said the program will undergo its final testing phase this
month. "I've seen this kind of system work in other settings, so it's
not a novel or a technologically difficult task," he said. "But
because it is complicated, and because it's a demanding environment,
we just weren't comfortable that we were happy with the way it was
working."

Source: Associated Press: 10/01
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GOVERNMENT JAILS SOLDIERS FOR RAPE IN FIRST CIVIL TRIAL

A Mexican court has sentenced four soldiers to up to 40 years in
prison for raping nine women in 2006, the first time troops have been
tried in a civilian court, a judge said. Judge Hiradier Huerta in the
northern state of Coahuila told Reuters he sentenced the soldiers for
raping the women last July in the mining city of Monclova. The case
went to a civilian court because the soldiers' abandoned their posts
and the crimes were not linked in any way to their duties in the
military, he said.

"This is a watershed, the first case handled by a civil judge against
members of the military" in Mexico, Huerta said. The case is
particularly relevant because the military faces accusations of human
rights abuses in its fight against drug cartels, mainly in the
western state of Michoacan. The soldiers can still appeal the case in
Mexico's Supreme Court and be tried in a military court.

Mexico's military courts, which are closed to the public, have very
rarely tried soldiers accused of human rights abuses. Huerta is due
to rule later on the case of three other soldiers accused of raping
another woman in Monclova on the same day. President Felipe Calderon
has been criticized by Amnesty International and other rights groups
for using the military to combat Mexico's drug traffickers.

Source: Reuters: 10/02
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WAL-MART WINS APPROVAL TO RUN BANKING CENTERS IN MEXICO

The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., said it had won
approval from Mexico's government to open banking centers in its
Mexican stores. A spokesman for Wal-Mart de Mexico, Wilfred Castro,
said the US retail giant was initially planning to open between 10
and 15 new banking centers in the country. Wal-Mart said it won
approval to operate bank branches from the Mexican Banking Commission.

Branches of Banco Wal-Mart de Mexico Adelante will be located in
existing Wal-Mart stores and retail outlets. "With Banco Wal-Mart we
will be able to complement the services we provide to the segment of
the population that currently lacks the benefits of having accessible
banking services," the president and chief executive of Wal-Mart's
Mexican operations, Eduardo Solorzano, said in a statement.
Wal-Mart's expansion into banking services in Mexico is likely to be
watched closely by the banking industry and retail rivals.

The retail behemoth withdrew a plan to open banking centers in the
United States following stiff opposition from the US banking industry
and activist groups. Tesco and Sainsbury's, two large British
retailers, run banking and finance operations in their British
stores, but banks have lobbied hard to guard their turf in the United
States. Banco Wal-Mart plans to open its first branches in early
November.

Source: Agence France Presse: 10/03
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TEACHERS ON STRIKE OVER PENSION CUTS

Teachers in the capital city and five states of Mexico began a
48-hour work stoppage over pension cuts leaving some 800,000 school
pupils without classes. The strike broke out in Mexico City and the
states of Colima, Chiapas, Michoacan, Oaxaca and Tlaxcala, where
teachers were holding demonstrations against the State Workers Social
Services and Security Law passed earlier this year.

In Mexico City, some 2,000 teachers marched on the Federal Palace of
Justice, where Mexico's legislature meets. The strike was led by the
National Educational Workers Coordination (CNTE), a dissident union.

The CNTE argues that the law reduces their life insurance and home
loan benefits, and will jeopardize their interests if they are made
redundant through sacking, early retirement or invalidity. CNTE
leaders have warned they would call a national strike if their
demands are not met.

Source: Xinhua: 11/02
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CONGRESS BLAMES MINING COMPANY FOR DISASTER

Mining company Grupo Mexico is largely to blame for an explosion that
killed 65 men in A northern Mexican coal pit last year, a
Congressional commission said. Negligence on the part of Grupo
Mexico, one of the world's top copper producers, allowed a build-up
of methane gas and coal dust which exploded deep in the shaft and
caused most of the mine to collapse, the commission said in a report
on the accident. The lawmakers also said blame for the February 2006
explosion was shared by government labor officials and the
mineworkers union, who allowed work to carry on despite evident
danger.

In April, a manslaughter trial of Grupo Mexico executives ended
without prison sentences after one of the defendants paid damages of
about $16,500 to each of the victims' families. In the report, the
congressional commission recommended officials and company executives
linked to the explosion be removed form their posts and banned from
working in the industry. Only two bodies have been recovered since
the blast. Industrial Minera Mexico, the Grupo Mexico subsidiary that
ran the mine, abandoned the search because of unstable conditions in
the mine. Grupo Mexico says it paid each family a one-off sum of
close to $70,000 after the accident, plus several monthly payments.

Source: Reuters: 10/05

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The above articles were originally published and copyrighted by the
listed sources. These articles are offered for educational purposes
which CIS maintains is  'fair use' of copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

end: Mexico Week In Review: 10.01-10.07
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