Mexico sees oil output at 3 mln bpd in 2015

Reuters, 1/14/2009
Mexico’s faltering crude oil output should recover to 3.0 million barrels per day in 2015, Energy Minister Georgina Kessel said on Wednesday. Kessel told senators in a presentation that state oil monopoly Pemex expected to be producing between 2.7 million and 2.8 million bpd over 2009 and 2010, around the same level as today.
Mexican [...]

Mexico “narco junior” teenagers kill drug rivals

Reuters, 1/14/2009
Mexican teenagers as young as 15 are killing rivals for a few hundred dollars in a brutal drug war on the U.S. border that is increasingly sucking in young people. Feuding gangs in the violent cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez prize teenage drug cartel members, known as “narco juniors”, because they give the [...]

Despite Economy, Illegal Immigrants Unlikely to Leave U.S.

Washington Post, 1/14/2009

Although the economy’s nosedive has probably contributed to a substantial drop in the number of illegal immigrants coming to the United States, those already here will be less motivated to return home, according to a report released today.  Among other reasons, the study by the nonpartisan, Washington-based Migration Policy Institute (read the executive [...]

Slow start to Mexico oil reform as board delayed

Reuters, 1/14/2009
The implementation of Mexico’s 2008 energy reforms has gotten off to a slow start after the government failed to make key appointments at state oil company Pemex. The legislation called for President Felipe Calderon to nominate four so-called professional directors to the Pemex board by the end of December but the government has so [...]

Calderón Offers Advice to Obama: Mexican Leader Urges Action to Improve U.S. Image Abroad

Washington Post, 1/14/2009
Mexican President Felipe Calderón said yesterday that President-elect Barack Obama should take steps to stem a “worrisome” rise in anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America. In a meeting with Washington Post editors and reporters, Calderón warned that Obama will face threats throughout the region to principles promoted by the United States, such as free [...]

The IFE outlines mechanism to avoid campaign contributions from organized crime (in Spanish)

Proceso, 1/14/2009
Expressing concern that organized crime would taint the political process in the next elections, the IFE unanimously approved a “bailout” for political parties to prevent “dirty money” from being used in the electoral race.
The approved agreement contains a series of mechanisms to prevent illicit funds from reaching political campaigns. It comes [...]

Op-ed: A visit Obama should have skipped

John M. Ackerman and Irma E. Sandoval, Chicago Tribune, 1/14/2009
Barack Obama has made the wrong choice by beginning his dialogue with Latin America in a meeting Monday with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon. He should have chosen a more creative leader, like Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Michelle Bachelet of Chile or Cristina Kirchner [...]