Mexico Week In Review: 09.24-09.30

[cisdc]

Mexico Week In Review:  09.24-09.30
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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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ZAPATISTAS SUSPEND SOUTHERN MEXICO PLANS; COMMENT ON EPR

Zapatista spokesperson, Subcomandante Marcos, stating that
communities are under threat in Chiapas by police and paramilitary,
announced the suspension of plans for a central and southern Chiapas
"Otra" campaign. The Zapatistas will proceed with the
Intercontinental Encuentro in Vicam Pueblo Oct. 11 -- 14, 2007.
Marcos said, "We will do what we have to do: resist. It does not
matter if we have to do it alone. It wouldn't be the first time;
before we became coffee-shop kitsch, alone indeed we were."

Commenting on the recent oil pipeline bombings, Marcos, in the same
communiqué,  stated that the People's Revolutionary Army's (EPR)
demand for the government to release two of its members "is not only
legitimate, it is also a complaint against the dirty war being
revived by that lover of military uniforms, (President) Felipe
Calderon."

Sources: www.unobserver.com: 09/25; Associated Press: 09/24
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HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT: ARMY DRUG WAR ABUSES

On Sept. 21 the Mexican government's National Human Rights Commission
(CNDH) urged President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa to start "the gradual
withdrawal" of the military from a high- profile anti-crime campaign
he launched at the beginning of the year. The CNDH based its
recommendations on its finding that 78 soldiers, including a colonel
and a general, had been involved in human rights violations during
the campaign; the abuses included rape, torture, arbitrary detention
and murder. "It's time for the government to produce a plan to bring
the soldiers back to the barracks," said CNDH president Jose Luis
Soberanes Fernandez, "and to stop exposing them in missions for which
they aren't prepared and which aren't strictly in their
jurisdiction." Soberanes also called for criminal prosecutions of the
soldiers responsible for the abuses, and expressed his opposition "on
my personal account and as a lawyer" to the practice of trying such
cases in military courts. Only cases involving military discipline
and the discharge of military duties should go to the army's courts,
he said. "[I]n the rest of the cases, it should be the civilian
courts that investigate the crimes."

Soberanes gave details on several of the cases. From May 2 to May 4
soldiers committed multiple crimes against the population in
Nocupetaro, Caracuaro and Huetamo municipalities in Michoacan state,
he said, including the rape of two adult women and two minors. On May
7 soldiers killed four alleged drug traffickers in a confrontation in
Apatzingan, Michoacan, and then illegally detained and tortured eight
suspects at an army installation. On the night of May 31-June 1,
soldiers fired on a family's van in Sinaloa de Leyva municipality, in
Sinaloa state, killing two young women and three children under
eight; three of the victims died of their wounds "because the
soldiers prevented them from receiving medical attention." The
soldiers had been smoking marijuana, and one had taken cocaine,
according to the CNDH; a colonel was involved in the incident. On
July 11, soldiers raped 14 women in the El Persico Dancing and Las
Playas Cabaret dance halls in Castanos, Coahuila state. This was in
reprisal for the establishments' detention of a soldier. A general
took part in the attack.

In the past Soberanes has been attacked by the Mexican left for
having too close relations with the military. Many Mexicans dispute
the CNDH's conclusions on the case of Ernestina Ascension Rosario, a
73-year-old campesina who died on Feb. 26 after allegedly being raped
by soldiers in Zongolica, Veracruz state. Soberanes insisted before
Congress that she was not raped and had died from an acute anemia
resulting from pre-existing conditions, including an ulcer and
pneumonia.

Source: Weekly News Update- Nicaragua Solidarity Network Of Greater
New York: 09/23
====

CONSUMERS HIT HARD WITH PRICE INCREASES

Starting with tortilla price hikes, Mexican consumers have been
slammed with escalating costs for necessities in 2007. New statistics
from the Ministry of Economy and the Attorney General for Consumer
Protection report that the prices for 43 commodities included in the
basic consumer basket jumped by 34.17 percent between December 2006
and September 15, 2007. The new numbers mean that the basic basket
inflation rate is outpacing the official inflation rate of 4.2
percent by more than eight times. In the first 9 months of the
Calderon administration, wages increased only between 4.1 percent and
4.75 percent, according to the official Bank of Mexico.

High food prices are emptying consumers' pockets. In recent weeks,
prices for green tomatoes nearly doubled from about one dollar per
kilo to almost two dollars per kilo. Steak meat topped more than $6
dollars per kilo, and bread prices continued their steady creep
upward. Not all the news was bad, however. Onion lovers, for
instance, had occasion to celebrate. Beating the inflationary trend
were tear-stoking bulbs, which actually decreased in price. In the
northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, inflation is topping the
national average. During the first half of September, prices for pork
increased by 2.6 percent, milk and dairy products by 4.5 percent,
eggs by 9.09 percent, limes by 14.2 percent, tomatoes by 27.4
percent, and cucumber by 7.6 percent.

While all Mexicans are subject to the price pinch, inflation is
particularly unwelcome news in households and communities dependent
on remittances sent by US-based migrant workers. For a variety of
reasons, remittances are diminishing. What's more, the dollar doesn't
buy as much in Mexico as it once did because of relatively stable
peso-dollar exchange rates.

Business and popular sector leaders offered varied explanations for
the price surge. Rafael Galino, leader of the Independent Campesino
Central, blamed US-based transnational companies for manipulating the
wheat and poultry markets, but did not offer any immediate evidence
of illegal shenanigans. Leopoldina Aguirre, general director of the
National Chamber of Small Commerce, a group that represents
mom-and-pop grocery stores, contended that the rising cost of imports
from the United States coupled with speculation stemming from the
recent tax reform law passed by the Mexican Congress were
contributing to inflation.

The escalating cost of living is bound to produce political
consequences. Last December's tortilla price hike provoked outbreaks
of popular discontent across Mexico, with protests only subsiding
after the Calderon administration pledged to hold the price of
tortillas at 8.5 pesos per kilo. A new anti-inflation movement
affiliated with the El Barzon organization, "Hunger is Wiping Us
Out," kicked off its campaign in Mexico City last weekend. In tandem
with former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador,
federal legislators who represent the center-left Party of the
Democratic Revolution also announced recently that they will back
nationwide street protests against the latest price increases.

Sources: Frontera NorteSur (FNS): 09/25; El Diario de Juarez: 09/25;
El Universal: 09/23-24; La Jornada: 09/14-30
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CALDERON POSTPONES MEXICO GAS TAX TO AVOID BACKLASH
(In light of the past weeks events in BurmaŠ --.ed)

President Felipe Calderon postponed a new gasoline tax and halted
fuel-price increases for the rest of the year, bowing to lawmakers
who said his plan to overhaul tax legislation would stoke inflation.
The freeze on fuel and electricity prices is needed to ensure
inflation doesn't hurt poor families, Calderon said in a speech from
his Mexico City residence. The president also called on manufacturers
not to raise prices this year.

Calderon is seeking to quell criticism from lawmakers who say his tax
overhaul legislation, approved by Congress Sept. 14, hurts low-income
families. Members of opposition parties, as well as Calderon's
National Action Party, have said the 5.5 percent tax on gasoline in
the new legislation unfairly burdens the poor who must drive for work.

"This is really a response to a political issue more than to an
inflation issue," Gray Newman, senior Latin America economist with
Morgan Stanley in New York said in a telephone interview. "Inflation
for this year is largely written." Calderon, during his speech, also
thanked Mexico's association of retailers for agreeing to cap the
price of a bread roll at 1 peso even as wheat prices rise. In August,
Mexico extended an agreement with retailers to limit the price of a
kilogram of corn tortillas to 8.50 pesos for the rest of the year.

The freeze on fuel-price increases for the rest of the year will cost
the government-run energy sector as much as 9 billion pesos ($824
million), Jesus Reyes Heroles, chief executive officer of Petroleos
Mexicanos, said in a radio interview on Grupo Formula. Calderon today
said members of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party and
of his own party had asked him not to implement the gasoline tax this
year. "The discussion of this measure has unfortunately taken place
during an adjustment of international prices for different products,
among them wheat, which has affected the family economy," Calderon
said. "To avoid this, I have decided to postpone the gasoline-price
increase according to the terms solicited by legislators."

Source: Bloomberg: 09/26
====

BORDER NEWS I: MINUTEMAN COMES TO MIDWEST

A routine city hall appointment threatens to turn Kansas City into a
new front in the U.S. debate over illegal immigration, even though
the closest Mexico border crossing is hundreds of miles (kilometers)
away. Anger has been simmering among Hispanic leaders since the
summer, when newly elected Mayor Mark Funkhouser appointed Frances
Semler, a dues-paying member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
(MCDC), to the city's parks and recreation board. Critics say the
group is a racist band of vigilantes patrolling the Mexican border
with guns and intimidation. "The Minuteman is an extremist group ...
espousing hate and sometimes violence," said Janet Murguia, chief
executive of The National Council of La Raza, the largest U.S.
Hispanic advocacy group. The Minutemen, who count about 9,000 members
nationally and have a stated mission of helping apprehend "those who
violate our borders," counters that it wants only to uphold the law.
It says opponents are the ones promoting hatred and law breaking.

The group is now seizing on the appointment controversy to increase
its visibility in the Midwest, promising to make Kansas City the site
of a winter leadership meeting and a public education "open house" on
immigration concerns. "Kansas City is going to become a hotbed and
center point for the issue in the near term," said MCDC spokesman
Bryan Rudnick. The group's Midwestern chapters are already among the
fastest growing in the United States, according to MCDC president
Chris Simcox. Membership has been given a boost by growing worries
that illegal immigrants are crowding out jobs and resources in
heartland areas and from rumors of a Mexico-to-Canada "superhighway"
that will pass through Kansas City.

There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United
States. How to deal with them and others seeking to come in has
become a divisive issue for Americans and a key topic for contenders
for president in the November 2008 election. This week's battle in
Washington over legislation that would grant permanent legal status
to students under certain conditions is only the latest proposal that
has outraged those seeking stricter enforcement of U.S. immigration
laws. La Raza and other ethnic organizations are threatening to
boycott Kansas City by canceling conventions unless the mayor removes
Semler -- a move the mayor has refused. "It's a pickle," said
Kendrick Blackwood, a spokesman for Funkhouser. "I'm optimistic that
we're going to find some way to work through this."

Semler, who joined the Minuteman group in December because of
frustration with a lack of enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, said
she has been vilified in smear campaigns on the Internet and
elsewhere. But she has no intention of backing away from the group.
"I feel very strongly about enforcing the law," she said. The furor
has left city and business leaders frustrated. "I'm concerned about
our image nationally," said city councilwoman Jan Marcason, who fears
the controversy makes the metropolitan area of 2 million people look
like a "right-wing extremist community." "The border of Kansas and
Missouri is not in jeopardy," Marcason said. "It is odd that they
feel like they should even be here."

Source: Reuters: 09/26
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BORDER NEWS II: HANDCUFFED KIDS STEAL U.S. AGENT'S CAR

Three Mexican minors detained in California on suspicion of smuggling
drugs stole a U.S. Border Patrol car while still wearing handcuffs
and drove it back across the border to Mexico. Police in the Mexican
border city of Mexicali said the three boys had been driving a
pick-up truck on a remote Californian highway when a Border Patrol
agent stopped them. Suspicious they were carrying marijuana, he
handcuffed them and put them in his patrol car while he searched
their truck.

"As the agent was doing his search, he left the vehicle running and
the keys in the ignition, so one of the lads, still wearing
handcuffs, grabbed the steering wheel and they headed back to
Mexico," a police spokesman said. The Border Patrol, which plays cat
and mouse around the clock with illegal Mexican migrants and drug
traffickers, confirmed the vehicle was stolen in southern California
and driven over the border near Mexicali. Mexican police used a
helicopter to locate the patrol vehicle in a remote agricultural area
near the border.

Source: Reuters: 09/25
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CONGRESS TO PROBE EX-PRESIDENT FOX'S WEALTH

Mexico's lower house of Congress said it would open a probe into the
finances of former president Vicente Fox after a magazine spread on
his swanky country home sparked questions about his new wealth. A
congressional commission will investigate where Fox got the money to
transform his modest ranch into a luxury property adorned with a lake
and swimming pool, as shown in the glossy magazine Quien earlier this
month. Fox, a conservative whose term ended in December 2006, worked
as a Coca-Cola Co executive before being elected president in 2000,
ending 71 years of one-party rule.

Fox's election was hailed as the start of Mexico's transition to a
true democracy and many hoped it would mark the end of widespread
corruption under the all-controlling Institutional Revolutionary
Party or PRI. While Fox has never been linked to financial scandals,
his second wife, Martha Sahagun, has been accused of siphoning off
money from a social fund she headed as first lady and channeling
government contracts to her sons. Sahagun, also chastised in the
Mexican media for her love of expensive designer clothes, denies any
wrongdoing and the accusations were never proven in court.

The photos of Fox's San Cristobal ranch in the central state of
Guanajuato showed a beautifully furnished mansion, a stylish swimming
pool, a lake and immaculately kept grounds with deer and peacocks.
Photos of the same ranch taken in 1999 show a smaller, more austere
house with simple furniture and no swimming pool. Fox has denied any
wrongdoing, saying in a statement that the "Centro Fox" think tank he
is building near his Guanajuato estate is financed with private
donations.

Source: Reuters: 09/24

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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:  09.24-09.30
--