Mexico’s Midterm Elections: Winners and Losers

Andrew Selee and Katie Putnam, Mexico Institute, 7/10/2009

Starting now: A discussion on Mexico’s Midterm Elections and the Future of Democracy with José Antonio Crespo and Jeffrey Weldon. The event will be webcast live from 12-2pm at wilsoncenter.org/mexico.

On July 5, Mexicans elected the five hundred members of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Congress), six governors, and hundreds of mayors and local legislators throughout the country. At the midpoint of President Felipe Calderón’s term, the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) made important gains in the Chamber of Deputies, as well as in gubernatorial and local elections. The election results carry important implications for pending domestic reforms and for the 2012 presidential elections.

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Sculptures Reflect Violent Life on the Border — and Death

Photo by Flickr user digiyesica

CNN, 7/10/2009

The sculptures speak for themselves: Piñatas in the shape of decapitated heads bearing gunshot wounds adorn the walls of El Paso’s Public Library in Texas.

The exhibit, called “Ciudad Juarez es the .1,” is the work of local artist Abel Saucedo, 24, a recent arts graduate of the University of Texas in El Paso.

Saucedo grew up in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez across the border in Mexico, and says violence is now a normal part of life on the border.

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2009 Elections: Outlook and Results (In Spanish)

Fundacion IDEA, 7/10/2009

On the 5th of July Mexico celebrated the conclusion of another midterm election that was distinguished not only by the return to power of the PRI, but by the large percentage of voter turnout.

The Preliminary Electoral Results Program (PREP) finished counting ballots on the 6th of July at 8:00 p.m. with information from more than 99.87% of voting centers. According to this information, though preliminary, the PRI will obtain 36.9% of the votes, the PAN 28.0%, and the PRD will receive 12.2%. Due to the election, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) lost its status as a national political party, and there was a notable presence of citizens participating in the blank ballot campaign (Voto Nulo) on a nation-wide level of 5.4%

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With USA in a Recession, Rural Mexico Feels the Pain

Photo by World Bank Photo Collection

USA Today, 7/9/2009

Not long ago, this remote Mexican mountain town was in the middle of a construction boom — as families proudly built their American-style dream homes, using cash sent home by relatives working in the USA.

Work on those houses has stopped, leaving shiny steel rebar jutting awkwardly out of concrete walls all over this town of 4,500. Meanwhile, residents have been forced to cut back on staples such as rice and corn. Eggs, meat and milk are now out of reach for many families.

“Thank God, we haven’t had anyone die of hunger yet,” says Jesus Tello, 63, a farmer. “But things are getting harder and harder. People are living on beans.”

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Army feeble as murders surge in Mexico drug war city

Reuters, 7/8/2009

A massive army surge has failed to calm raging drug gang violence in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city on the U.S. border that is at the heart of President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

An influx of 10,000 troops and federal police in March brought temporary calm, but three months later drug murders have resumed and are overtaking 2008 levels, according to police and media tallies.

Calderon, whose party lost heavily in mid-term weekend elections, is under extra pressure to deliver on security as Mexico’s slumping economy hits his popularity.

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Wal-Mart Mexico expands profit despite recession

Photo by Flickr user Elmada

Reuters, 7/9/2009

Walmex, Mexico’s biggest retailer, posted a 16 percent rise in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday as aggressive promotions, improved efficiency and a helpful calendar offset a deep recession.

Wal-Mart de Mexico, or Walmex (WALMEXV.MX), said it earned 3.753 billion pesos ($285 million) in the April-June period, better than the 3.641 billion pesos forecast on average by analysts consulted by Reuters.

Last year, the busy Holy Week vacation week fell in March, the end of the first quarter, while this year it was in April, the beginning of the second quarter. That helped push Walmex’s revenues for the quarter up 11 percent to 63.894 billion pesos, the company said. Improved efficiency limited growth in general expenses to 7 percent.

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Crime campaigner killed in Mexico

BBC, 7/9/2009

Benjamin LeBaron, 32 and Luis Widmar, 29, were beaten and shot after armed men stormed into their house in Galeana in Chihuahua state on Tuesday.

Public safety groups said Mr LeBaron had been killed in retaliation for his stance against organised crime.

He led protests against the kidnapping in May of his brother Eric, who was released without a ransom being paid.

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Senate backs border fencing over virtual tech

Photo by Flickr User Samuel.Bowman

Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, 7/8/2009

he Senate voted Wednesday to require actual fencing along 700 miles of the border with Mexico rather than vehicle barriers and high-tech equipment.

The plan by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., won approval by a 54-44 vote as the Senate began a second day of debate on a $42.9 billion measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

DeMint said the U.S.-Mexico border “has become a battleground” as drug and weapons traffickers, along with illegal immigrants, move too freely. He said the department is spending too much on “virtual” fencing such as motion detectors. Those barriers, he said, don’t work as well as a real fence designed to block people crossing the border on foot.

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U.S. to require contractors to use E-Verify

Anna Gorman, LA Times, 7/9/2009

Beginning Sept. 8, the government will award contracts only to companies that enroll in E-Verify, an online program that uses federal databases to check whether employees are in the country legally and authorized to work. Businesses receiving money under the federal stimulus program also will be subjected to the rule, adopted under President George W. Bush but never implemented.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced plans to throw out a rule that would have allowed the federal government to use mismatched Social Security data to find illegal immigrants in the workplace.

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Report: Council On Foreign Relations

CFR, 7/8/2009

The Council On Foreign Relations(CFR) recently published a study which reflects the consensus of leaders in fields of immigration policy, homeland security, education, labor, business, academia and human rights. The group urges Congress and the Obama administration to move ahead with immigration reform legislation.

Link To Full Text Report…