Mexico Week In Review: 10.22-10.28

[cisdc]

Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:59:11 -0400
To: cis-dc-info at lists.mutualaid.org
From: Milt Shapiro <mshapiro at zzapp.org>
Subject: Mexico Week In Review: 10.22-10.28
Cc:
Bcc:
X-Attachments:

Mexico Week In Review: 10.22-10.28
=================================================================
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"
=================================================================

BORDER NEWS I: CHARRED BODIES OF MIGRANTS FOUND IN PATH OF CALIFORNIA FIRES

Border patrol agents discovered four charred bodies in rugged 
mountains near the Mexican border on Thursday, bringing the probable 
death toll from California's wildfires to 12, even as firefighters 
gained the upper hand in their five-day battle. Agents found the 
badly burned remains, thought to be three males and a female, at the 
bottom of a rocky ravine in the mountains east of San Diego, about 3 
miles from the Mexican border. Together with two other burned bodies 
found earlier in a house in San Diego County, the discovery doubled 
the probable death toll from the fires. At least 60 people have been 
injured.

The four bodies found near the Mexican border were likely illegal 
immigrants who were overrun by flames as they walked through the 
rugged terrain. The remote area is often used by coyotes -- guides 
who smuggle people into the United States for profit. They appeared 
to have died in the Harris fire, U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Matthew 
Johnson said. "It seems fire related. The Harris fire at the border 
was out there," Johnson said.

Source: Reuters: 10/25
====

BORDER NEWS II: BOEING CRITICIZED OVER BORDER SECURITY GLITCHES

Republicans and Democrats criticized Boeing Co and the Department of 
Homeland Security for a belated, glitch-plagued security pilot 
program being set up along 28 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border. The 
program is to create a mix of security infrastructure including 
fencing plus cameras, sensors and radar to help U.S. border patrol 
agents detect illegal entries. "I'm afraid this is just another 
example of a contractor pitching the American public the 
end-all/be-all solution and instead, wasting taxpayer money to 
deliver nothing more than smoke and mirrors," said Rep. Christopher 
Carney, a Pennsylvania Democrat who heads the House of 
Representatives' Homeland Security subcommittee on management.

Boeing was chosen in September 2006 to lead the technology segment of 
a multiyear, multibillion-dollar program to secure U.S. borders with 
Mexico and Canada. Project 28, as Boeing's $20 million demonstration 
system is known, is designed to showcase the technology's 
effectiveness for a larger Department of Homeland Security effort 
called the Secure Border Initiative, or SBInet. "SBInet is not a new 
concept," said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, 
a Mississippi Democrat. "It is the department's third border security 
technology program."

Boeing's pilot program is facing software integration and other 
problems more than four months after it was to have entered service, 
congressional investigators told a hearing of two Homeland Security 
subcommittees. "Among several technical problems reported were that 
it was taking too long for radar information to display in command 
centers and newly deployed radars were being activated by rain, 
making the system unusable," Richard Stana of the nonpartisan 
Government Accountability Office testified. Chicago-based Boeing's 
work on the project "has not been accepted by the government and will 
not be accepted until Boeing resolves a number of integration and 
software issues," Gregory Giddens, head of SBInet, told the hearing.

A senior Boeing official, Roger Krone, testified: "Today, the system 
is substantially improved." "The system is consistently able to slew 
to new radar targets and successfully record people crossing the 
border," said Krone, president of Boeing's network and space systems 
business unit. "Camera elevation difficulties have been fixed and a 
solution for radar display delays has been implemented."

Project 28's problems also drew barbs from the top Republicans on the 
subcommittee on management, investigations and oversight and the 
subcommittee on border, maritime and global counter-terrorism. "The 
American people deserve better border security than what these 
millions of dollars have bought so far," said Rep. Mark Souder of 
Indiana, the top Republican on the border subcommittee. Projected by 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials to cost as much as $8.8 
billion over the next six years, SBInet features ground-based and 
tower-mounted sensors, cameras and radar plus high-speed 
communications, command and control equipment and devices that detect 
tunnels.

Source: Reuters: 10/24
====

BORDER NEWS II: ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS WAIVED ON BORDER FENCE

Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, waived several 
environmental laws to continue building a border fence through a 
national conservation area in Arizona, bypassing a federal court 
ruling that had suspended the fence construction. Citing 
"unacceptable risks to our nation's security" if the fence along the 
border with Mexico was further delayed, Mr. Chertoff invoked waiver 
authority granted him under a 2005 bill that mandated construction of 
the fence. He ordered work to continue on 6.9 miles of fence along 
the border through the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area 
in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona.

In a ruling on Oct. 10, Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle of the federal 
court for the District of Columbia held up construction of the fence, 
finding that the government had failed to carry out the required 
environmental assessment. The decision came in a suit brought by the 
Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife. In a statement, the Department 
of Homeland Security said it "disagrees with the court's ruling" and 
was confident of eventually winning the case. It noted that two 
federal land management agencies had authorized the department to 
proceed with the fence.

In addition, department officials said that some 19,000 illegal 
immigrants were detained passing through the conservation area in the 
2007 fiscal year and that the immigrants' trash, human waste and 
illegal roads had caused more damage to plant and animal life than 
the fence would. Sean Sullivan, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in 
Arizona, said that "we can secure our borders while we protect our 
public lands" and that "bulldozing" the conservation area was not 
necessary to manage the border. The plaintiffs described the area 
near the San Pedro River as "one of America's most unique and 
biologically diverse areas."

Source: The New York Times: 10/23
====

BUSH SEEKS FUNDS TO HELP MEXICO COMBAT DRUG TRADE

President George W. Bush asked Congress for $500 million to help 
Mexico fight powerful drug gangs as part of larger program to curb 
violence and the flow of narcotics into the United States. Bush and 
Mexican President Felipe Calderon have spent several months hammering 
out the details of the package, which comes as the United States has 
welcomed a crackdown by Mexico on drug trafficking. Concerned about 
killings tied to the narcotics trade, Mexican officials have made a 
series of drug raids, including one earlier this month in the city of 
Tampico that resulted in Mexico's biggest cocaine bust. "The United 
States will do all it can to support Mexico's efforts to break the 
power and impunity of drug organizations and to strengthen Mexico's 
capabilities to deal with these common threats," White House press 
secretary Dana Perino said in a statement.

Bush's initial $500 million request for Mexico is part of a program 
that will total $1.4 billion. His administration has also requested 
$50 million for counter-narcotics efforts in Central American 
countries. Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said the 
three-year program meant the United States would send its southern 
neighbor equipment such as surveillance aircraft, drug-detection gear 
and data-processing technology. Washington would not send Mexico 
cash, nor would it ask for guarantees in terms of arrests, get 
involved in strategy or send soldiers, she told a news conference. 
"At no point has the presence of U.S. troops or the participation of 
U.S. personnel or companies been contemplated," she said in Mexico 
City.

The anti-drug request earlier received a cautious reception from 
Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, who chided the White 
House for not consulting Congress more on details of the plan. "The 
devil will be in the details, and to this point, the details are 
scarce," Menendez said. He said he would be concerned if there was 
too much of a focus on enforcement without broader measures such as 
economic initiatives aimed at addressing the roots of the drug trade.

Source: Reuters: 10/22
====

EXPLOSIVES IN MEXICAN CONSULATE IN NYC

Two improvised explosives were thrown into the rear of the Mexican 
Consulate causing small explosions that blew out some windows. No 
injuries were reported. Police believe someone on a bicycle threw the 
devices - made from replica grenades packed with explosive powder - 
at 3 a.m., New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The 
commissioner said witnesses reported seeing someone on a bike at that 
time near the consulate in Midtown Manhattan. Edgar Trujillo, the 
press attache with the Mexican Consulate, said three windows were 
shattered.

Police and FBI agents were at the scene. The block was cordoned off 
by police tape, and by Friday afternoon, about 50 people who had 
business at the consulate stood on the street corner waiting to see 
if they would be allowed to enter. The consulate on East 39th Street 
between Madison and Park avenues is sandwiched between an office 
building and another building under construction covered in green 
netting. Residential buildings, banks and food shops are nearby.

In 2005, an explosion caused by two makeshift grenades fitted with 
fuses blew out a window near the British Consulate, several blocks to 
the north. There were no injuries, and no one was ever arrested.

Source: Associated Press: 10/26

====
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: 10.22-10.28
--