Mexico Senate Completes Approval of Tax Plan

Bloomberg, 10/31/09
MEXICO CITY, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Mexico’s Senate approved on Saturday a watered-down version of President Felipe Calderon’s fiscal reform package to raise taxes to reduce Mexico’s dependence on its waning oil industry.
Senators in the early morning hours on Saturday agreed to minor modifications to a bill passed by the lower house last week [...]

Gunmen Kill Union Leader in Mexico

The New York Times, 10/31/09
Gunmen ambushed a peasant union leader and his family in northern Mexico, killing him and 14 others in an attack that bore the hallmarks of a hit by drug cartels but one that his organization said might have been related to his union work.
The victims, who included four children, were leaving [...]

Pemex Will Maintain Contracts Despite Constitutional Controversies (in Spanish)

El Economista, 10/30/09
Despite the constitutional controversy of Pemex’s new legal framework, approved by the Senate for some types of contracts that the state-owned company made beginning with the 2008 petroleum reform, the company will continue the signing of contracts with other companies.
Pemex director, Juan José Suárez Coppel, explained that the controversy refers to very specific [...]

Mexico Proposes Limiting Corporate Tax Deferments

Boston Globe, 10/30/09
MEXICO CITY—Mexico pressed businesses to pay more taxes on Thursday, with the administration of President Felipe Calderon forwarding a proposal to limit corporate tax deferments to a maximum of five years.
Calderon angrily lashed out at large corporations that he says pay only an average of 1.7 percent of revenue in taxes.
Calderon called that [...]

Reeling Mexico Hopes Travel Deals Bring Back the Tourists

USA Today, 10/30/09
During a visit to San Diego in April, Pratik and Priti Chavda thought they’d slip over the border into Tijuana just to do a little shopping, have a quick meal and say they had made it to Mexico. But upon hearing the plan, staffers at their hotel sounded the alarm.
“Swine flu! Drug cartels! [...]

Mexico’s Factories Rehire but Recovery Still Weak

Reuters, 10/29/09
Mexican factories on the U.S. border are rehiring following sweeping layoffs as the country pulls out of its worst recession since the 1930s, but plant managers say a strong rebound is still far off.
Mexico’s assembly-for-export factories, or maquiladoras, sell everything from computers to aircraft parts, but U.S. demand has plummeted since January and factories [...]

Mexico Now Embracing U.S. Training in Drug War

The Arizona Republic, 10/29/09
SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico – At a police academy ringed by brick walls and razor wire, dozens of American agents are helping to train Mexican police recruits as part of a $1.4 billion U.S. aid project aimed at helping Mexico fight its drug cartels.
The program, which opened without fanfare in July in [...]

Report: Official Says Dealers Could Teach Farmers

Associated Press, 10/29/09
A Mexican agriculture official has caused a stir by reportedly suggesting that Mexican farmers could learn a thing or two from drug traffickers.
Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Jeffrey Max Jones was quoted by the newspaper Reforma on its Web site Wednesday as saying that farmers “should follow the example of drug traffickers because [...]

Drug Smugglers Are Endlessly Creative Along Border

Associated Press, 10/29/09
SAN MIGUEL, Ariz. — A pickup truck in Mexico pulls up to the 5-foot vehicle barriers that make up part of the multibillion-dollar border fence. A retractable ramp is extended from the truck, forming a bridge up and over the barriers.
Then, a second pickup — this one loaded with a ton of marijuana [...]

Song Banned, Band Pulls Out

Los Angeles Times, 10/29/09
 
Reporting from Mexico City – Los Tigres del Norte, Mexico’s superstar norteño band, abruptly canceled its participation Wednesday in a major awards show after it was barred from performing a song critical of the government’s campaign against drug cartels.
The band, best known for its corridos, or Spanish ballads, chronicling the legendary [...]