Plan de Guadalupe, 100 Years Later (Spanish)

Vanguardia, 3/26/2013

In 1913, Francisco I. Madero – who arrived at the presidency after helping put an end to Porfirio Diaz’s dictatorship – had been murdered while Victoria Huerta, former secretary of defense, took power with the support of the United States Embassy in Mexico City. Politicians and local governments faced two options: recognize the new government as legitimate, or reject the usurpation of power and oppose it. The government of Coahuila, through Venustiano Carranza, chose the second.

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Mexico housing project goes solar

United Press International, 2/25/2013

A housing project in Guadalajara is going solar with help from Mississippi’s Solar America Corp., an innovator in the cost-saving technology. Mexico leads Latin America in solar energy production but analysts say the country has yet to exploit its full potential. More solar power generation in Mexico will free up its oil output for exports and save the state precious resources that are currently spent on producing non-renewal energy.

Industry analysts say Mexico can combine solar power with wind energy production to get the best results from its existing potential of the two natural resources. The latest solar energy deal takes development of the resource a few steps forward. Solar America Corp. said Monday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Valdez Cueva Constructores Asociados S.A. de C.V., the principal contractor for the housing project.

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I am the People [Opinion in Spanish]

Letras Libres, August 2012

In this article Krauze discusses López Obrador’s potential effects on Mexico should the Tribunal rule in his favor.  He says if this occurs it will damage Mexican democracy because AMLO does not believe in limited personal power, which is why he fundamentally is not a liberal but a populist, a caudillo in the style of Porfirio Díaz.  He says that the thinks this of López Obrador because of his rhetoric regarding the law (that is a way for the bourgeoisie to dominate the proletariat) and because for him the “people” are those who follow him, not everyone in the nation who has the right to vote.  He says that this might be worse than the PRI’s long time in power because they had some limits on personal power, in that they had institutional limits on the amount of power a president could have even if he went too far with his own personality cult…

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Mass protest in Mexico against power firm closure

Associated Press, 10/16/09

At least 150,000 people protested in Mexico City against the surprise closure last weekend of a state-run electricity company, police and unions said.

Helicopters hovered above a mass of demonstrators Thursday, many clad in red, carrying Mexican flags and banners slamming President Felipe Calderon as they marched down a main axis to end up in the capital’s giant Zocalo square.

The powerful Mexican Electricity Workers Union (SME) said that more than 350,000 people had taken part, while police put the figure at some 150,000.

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Mexico proposes expanding army’s power

Associated Press, 4/23/2009

Military Checkpoint in Juarez

A bill that would let Mexico declare temporary states of emergency and expand the army’s power in a bloody fight against powerful drug gangs drew immediate fire Thursday from human rights activists who say soldiers should not be doing the job of police.

President Felipe Calderon’s proposal, which centers on the idea of declaring drug trafficking hotspots “domestic security” zones, would give the army access to civilian court and police files.

The measure was submitted to Congress late Wednesday.

The expansion of organized crime poses new challenges for democratic societies,” it reads. “That requires the government to bring to bear all the force of the state to confront it.”

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