Media advertising campaign targets violence against journalists

La Plaza, Los Angeles Times Blog, 12/3/2008
A television, radio and print advertising campaign called “What you don’t know can hurt you” (“Te hace daño no saber” in Spanish) is to launch here in Mexico in an attempt by press freedom groups to raise public awareness about violence against journalists and to demand more action from [...]

Garza: Cartels better organized than government (In Spanish)

Milenio, 12/3/2008
Antonio Garza, the U.S. Ambassador in Mexico, acknowledged that narcotraffickers have coordinated and integrated their transnational operatives far better than the authorities of Mexico and the United States. He suggested that releasing the resources for the Mérida Initiative would help change that reality and help the two countries combat organized crime.
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State visit for Mexican president

BBC News, 12/3/2008
The Queen will host a state visit to the UK by President Felipe Calderon of Mexico in March next year. The visit is expected to include talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a state banquet with the Queen. The Mexican embassy and the Foreign Office said the full details of the visit [...]

Mexico quickly becoming favorite place for car thieves

CNN, 12/3/2008
Auto insurers report that about 60,000 vehicles were stolen in just over a year in Mexico, the highest figure in the past decade. According to the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions, the capital of Mexico City is a favorite site for car thieves to work. “If we talk about data from the federal district, [...]

Mexico’s plea to Obama: Curb drug use

The Christian Science Monitor , 12/3/2008
For two years, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has waged war on powerful and violent drug cartels, deploying 20,000 troops and the full might of the state. Nearly 6,000 lives have been lost – more than all US casualties in Iraq.
With no end in sight, Mr. Calderón now says he can’t [...]

Editorial: Violence in México

La Opinión, 12/3/2008
Replacing Tijuana’s Secretary of Public Security, Alberto Capella Ibarra, is a response to the wave of violence that has taken more than 360 lives in this border city since September. The appointment of Lieutenant Colonel Julián Leyzaola Pérez, formerly Tijuana’s Municipal Police Chief, and of First Captain Gustavo Huerta Martínez to Pérez’s post, [...]

Money to Fight Drug Gangs Is Released to Mexico

The New York Times, 12/3/2008
The United States formally released on Wednesday the first part of a $400 million aid package to help Mexico fight drug trafficking, a sign of how much more involved the United States is becoming in Mexico’s brutal drug war. The agreement signed here makes almost $200 million available for different programs [...]