NOT REAL NEWS: Mexico Did Not Lower Age of Consent to 12

07/11/2018 The New York Times

Mexico has not lowered its age for sexual consent to 12, contrary to claims circulating on social media and websites.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter tweeted on June 30 that the age of consent in Mexico is now “12 for the whole country,” and linked to a Your News Wire story making the same claim.

Mexico raised its age for sexual consent from 12 to 15 in 2012, according to a review of historical changes to the penal code available online from the Mexican government. Prior to the change, sexual activity involving children from the age of 12 through 17 could still be prosecuted under laws governing corruption of minors, or if consent was obtained through deceit. Those restrictions now apply to children 15 to 17 years old.

Read more…

Advertisements

A personal perspective on Mexico’s mass exodus to the United States

06/29/18 The Washington Post

Beneath the current headlines on family separation, a larger story of long-term population shifts is unfolding. Alfredo Corchado, a reporter with the Dallas Morning News, addresses what was once the most conspicuous portion of that shift — the diaspora from Mexico into the United States — in his timely new book about immigration.

Though migrants from Mexico have lately been overshadowed by their counterparts from countries farther south, who are bearing the brunt of new “zero tolerance” policies at the border, Corchado offers broad insight into the arc of immigration over the years. His narrative makes clear that U.S. immigration policies have long been rife with contradictions and prone to backfire, and that migrations tend to proceed regardless, following their own highly complex logic. They are events with their own story line, with a beginning, middle and, perhaps, an end.

The latest story of Mexican migration spans about four decades, and this roughly coincides with Corchado’s career reporting from both sides of the border. In “Homelands” Corchado tells two stories at once — that of his life as a bicultural, naturalized American reporter and the larger saga of a migration surge that occurred at the same time.

Read more…

Reporter beaten to death in northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas

05/29/2018 Reuters

A journalist was beaten to death in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas on Tuesday, local prosecutors said, becoming the third reporter in Mexico to be killed in the past two weeks.

The body of Hector Gonzalez, a local correspondent for national daily news paper Excelsior, was found in the state capital Ciudad Victoria, the Tamaulipas attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Gonzalez is at least the sixth journalist to be killed this year in Mexico, where violence has surged to record levels.

Read more…

Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists. People are demanding action. via @NBCNews

05/15/2018 NBC News

MEXICO CITY — Journalist Javier Valdez focused his award-winning reporting on the victims of violence in Mexico, including the orphans left behind by a failed war on drugs and the reporters who were assassinated for their muckracking work. On May 15, 2017, the co-founder of the independent newspaper Rio Doce was fatally shot down in broad daylight in Culiacan, Sinaloa, believed to be murdered by some of the same forces that he had denounced in his book Narcoperiodismo (Narcojournalism) released just a few months before.

A year after his death and ahead of the country’s presidential elections in July, Rio Doce co-founder Ismael Bojórquez and other independent media outlets and press freedom groups have organized a week of rallies and events to celebrate his life but also demand answers and action so that journalists like him are not killed with impunity.

The week of action’s main event is a march in Culiacán on Tuesday that ends at the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s office. Vigils and protests are also being held in Monterrey, Mexico City and other cities.

Read more…

Support for Mexico presidential frontrunner narrows: poll

05/10/2018 Reuters

Mexican politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, leader of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) gestures as he addresses the audience during a meeting at Plaza Zaragoza in Monterrey, Mexico February 25, 2017. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s lead over his nearest rival narrowed slightly ahead of the July 1 presidential election, a poll by GEA-ISA showed on Thursday.

Lopez Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor, received 29 percent support in the poll conducted from April 28-30, up from 28 percent in a mid-March poll. The results did not strip out undecided voters, unlike a number of polls.

His lead over second-placed Ricardo Anaya, who heads a right-left alliance, fell to five percentage points from six in the prior poll. Anaya’s support rose to 24 percent from 22 percent following the first television debate.

Read more…

Thousands Protest Brutal Killings of 3 Mexican Film Students

04/27/2018 The New York Times

MEXICO CITY — Thousands of people gathered in Mexico’s second-largest city Thursday to protest the deaths of three film students who were killed and dissolved in acid in a case that has highlighted the disappearance of the country’s youth amid a vicious drug war.

The students were abducted March 19 on the outskirts of Guadalajara after working on a film project for school at a location that authorities say was being watched by members of a cartel. Their disappearance had become emblematic of Mexico’s 35,000 missing people and drew the attention of celebrities, including Oscar-winning Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.

Mexicans were horrified by this week’s announcement by prosecutors that they had been killed and their bodies dissolved in acid.

Read more…

Mexico data protection body to investigate possible links to Cambridge Analytica

04/09/2018 Reuters

Mexico’s data protection body said on Monday it had opened an investigation into whether companies possibly linked to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica broke the country’s data protection laws.

INAI, the transparency and data protection regulator, said it was looking at Mexican companies that worked with cellphone app Pig.gi, which gives users free top-ups in exchange for receiving ads and completing surveys.

Read more…