UPDATE 1-Mexico Senate could vote on telecom laws next week

Reuters, 11/23/09
Mexican senators could vote next week on a proposal to remove foreign-investment limits in fixed-line telephone companies, which would be a blow to market leader Telmex, controlled by tycoon Carlos Slim.
Sen. Marko Cortes, who proposed changes to existing laws, told Reuters on Thursday that Senate committees were still debating a reciprocity clause in the [...]

Central American Disorder — A Threat to Mexico’s Security

MEXIDATA.INFO, 11/23/09
The everyday realities of Mexico’s drug war are grisly and overwhelming. On a daily basis, both Mexican media outlets and U.S. news sources report the latest mass murders that have resulted from turf wars between Mexican cartels and internal organizational discord.
Security in Mexico is perceived as mostly an internal problem. But Mexico is not [...]

Program to Help Truckers Attracts Drug Smugglers

Associated Press, 11/23/09
A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.
Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of [...]

Mexico’s Rural Mennonites Feel Impact of Drug Violence

BBC, 11/23/09
“They have murdered Mennonite people… the drug-traffickers,” says Abraham Peters, a 66-year-old retired rancher, who hails from the Protestant Mennonite sect in the agricultural heartland of Chihuahua state.
Their parents and grandparents came to Mexico in the 1920s from Canada after being promised religious freedom in return for resurrecting farmland devastated during the Mexican revolution.
Read [...]

Mexico City’s Transit Improvements On Track

Reuters, 11/19/09
Cash-strapped Mexico City is pressing ahead with new bus lines and bike lanes in 2010, buoyed by prestigious recognition for a world-class transit system that has reduced pollution in one of the globe’s largest cities.
“We hope that Mexico City will inspire other cities around the world to embrace environmentally sustainable programs,” said Mayor [...]

UPDATE 1-Mexico’s Cablevision Eyes Q1 Cellphone Service Launch

Reuters, 11/19/09
Mexican cable operator Cablevision, owned by broadcaster Televisa, said on Thursday it could launch cellphone services in the first quarter of 2010.
“I think it would be in the first quarter,” Cablevision CEO Jean Paul Broc told reporters.
Cablevision (CABLECPO.MX) and other Mexican cable companies are rushing to stake out territory in telephone and Internet services [...]

WRAPUP 1-Mexico Says Credit Downgrade Wouldn’t Be Disaster

Reuters, 11/19/09
Mexican top government officials responded on Thursday to fears of an imminent credit downgrade by rating agencies, saying the country’s finances are on a “sustainable path” while ongoing infrastructure reforms will support economic growth.
Furthermore, a downgrade of Mexico’s BBB-plus rating wouldn’t bring major financing problems because the government has low external borrowing needs, Finance [...]

Mexico Gov’t Closes Gold Mine to Reduce Pollution

Xinhua via COMTEX, 11/19/09
The Mexican government has formally closed a gold and silver mine belonging to Canadian firm New Gold, ordering the firm to reduce pollution after legal authorities revoked New Gold’s license.
The San Xavier mine, located in the central Mexico state San Luis Potosi, has been ordered by Mexico’s Environment Ministry to halt work [...]

Mexico’s ‘Giant Underwater Museum’

BBC, 11/19/09
On 19 November, four sculptures are due to be submerged in the Caribbean waters, off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico’s south-eastern state of Quintana Roo.
They will be the first of many hundreds of figures, which will be dotted around an area of the region’s national park.
The sculptures will be made of PH-neutral [...]

Geopolitical Analysis of Mexico

Stratfor, 11/18/09
As the southernmost portion of North America, Mexico was dealt a difficult geographic hand. It has a small and limited core territory surrounded by mountains, deserts and jungles that are inherently hard to control and nearly impossible to defend against threats from within or without.
The country is funnel-shaped, its high plateau anchored in the [...]