Two Sides of a Border: One Violent, One Peaceful

New York Times, 1/22/2009
Juárez and El Paso are divided only by the narrow Rio Grande and a couple of border checkpoints that have done little over the years to stop the steady back and forth of trade and family visits.
The two cities are so close that the mayor of El Paso can look out his [...]

PAN leaks that the PRI is considering Salinas as candidate in Nuevo León (in Spanish)

Excelsior, 1/22/2009
The PRI is considering running former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari as the party’s candidate in the 2009 Nuevo León gubernatorial race, according to the PAN secretary general, Rogelio Carbajal Tejada. The PRI has approached him as a possible candidate, said Carbajal.
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Mexico Today’s news summary for 1/22/2009

Mexico Institute, 1/22/2009
Ana Maria Salazar, host of “Imagen News” and former Policy Advisor for President Clinton’s Special Envoy for the Americas, maintains an excellent blog on Mexican politics. Mexico Today’s news summary includes includes INEGI’s statistic that Mexican unemployment is at its worst since 2000,  that the IFAI does not have information about Elba Ester [...]

Border Cooperation: Today and Tomorrow (Podcast)

Travis High, Mexico Institute, 1/22/2009
During their 1/12 meeting, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and then President-elect Barack Obama emphasized that violence and trouble along the U.S.-Mexico border is, as Calderón said, “a common problem that affects us both.” Drug-related violence has resulted in over 5,000 deaths in the last year and has made its way into [...]

Mexico’s Televisa settles with partner Univision

Reuters, 1/22/2009
Mexico’s top broadcaster Televisa and its U.S. partner Univision have settled a lawsuit over a royalties dispute, ending three years of legal battles.
Televisa  will receive increased payments in exchange for “incremental rights” from privately held Univision, the two said in a statement on Thursday. The two did not give specific details on the settlement.
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Mexico Peso Bonds Advance to Two-Week High on Slowing Inflation

Bloomberg, 1/22/2009
Mexico’s peso bonds rose, pushing benchmark yields to a two-week low, after a central bank report showed inflation in the first half of January slowed more than economists forecast.
Consumer prices in the first half of this month increased 0.15 percent after advancing 0.45 percent in the first half of December, Banco de Mexico said [...]

Economic Policy in Mexico: Damage control

The Economist, 1/22/2009
Manufacturers and banks are firing workers. The value of wages fell last year. Credit card debts are piling up. The economy began to contract in the last quarter of last year. Mexico has been here before. But there are two big differences between this recession and the three that preceded it in the [...]

The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up

Washington Post, 1/22/2009
The cleanup of the historic center is one element of a greater environmental struggle being waged in Mexico City. The capital and its surrounding metropolis, home to 20 million people, is in danger of being buried in its own garbage. The city’s enormous Bordo Poniente dump, which produces 15 percent [...]

Immigrant Advocates Call for End to Raids

Washington Post, 1/22/2009
Several hundred immigrant supporters and religious leaders from across the country marched to the Southwest Washington headquarters of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency yesterday, strumming guitars, beating drums and waving colorful homemade banners exhorting President Obama to halt immigration raids and promote legislation offering illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
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Nashville Won’t Make English Official Language

The New York Times, 1/22/2009
Nashville voters on Thursday rejected a proposal to make English the city’s official language and largely prevent government workers from communicating in other languages.
The proposal was introduced by Eric Crafton, a metropolitan councilman. It was opposed by a broad coalition including the mayor, civil rights groups, business leaders, ministers and the [...]