Seeking to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship.
10/06/19 – LA Times
By Kate Linthicum
The sun had not yet risen when dozens of gunmen stormed into the town of Ocotito in southern Mexico and started shooting.
Salvador Alanis Trujillo tried to fight back, but his shotgun was no match for their assault rifles. So he and his family fled.
The Mexican army _ the country’s last line of defense against violent gangs _ is struggling with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s desire to avoid confrontation while simultaneously dealing with gangs that have become more aggressive and often use townspeople as human shields.
López Obrador has given the army a bigger role than it has had in decades, but he also given it the mandate of avoiding civilian casualties. For months, that has meant allowing army patrols to be slapped around by crowds, disarmed and humiliated. But the army’s patience appears to be running out, with soldiers firing warning shots in some recent confrontations.
09/30/19 – Fronteras
By Rodrigo Cervantes
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), is pushing for what he calls an amnesty law to benefit some alleged drug traffickers. But his government also is imprisoning them for certain minor offenses. And there are concerns brought by the measures.
“[AMLO] calls it Amnesty Act and in his words he tries to fight against crimes that only are prosecuting very poor people without opportunities,” explained Miguel Alfonso Meza, a lawyer at the non-profit Mexicans Against Corruption.
09/19/19 – Reuters
By Lizbeth Diaz
Mexico will open a new investigation into the 2014 disappearance and apparent massacre of 43 students, authorities said on Wednesday, a controversial case that caused a crisis for the previous government and drew international criticism.
“We’re going to start again,” Omar Gomez, a special prosecutor appointed to oversee the reexamination of the case, said in a statement.
09/18/19 – Mexico News Daily
By Eduardo Hernández
Mexico City is “back on track,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday, declaring that government corruption is a thing of the past, although she acknowledged that her nine-month old administration still has a lot of work to do to improve security.
Presenting her first annual report to the Mexico City Congress, Sheinbaum asserted that she has established a new form of governance in the capital, one in which the payment of kickbacks and illegal commissions and the awarding of contracts to shell companies is no longer tolerated.
09/15/19 – Reuters
By Dave Graham & Diego Ore
Mexican prosecutors will target a former attorney general and his top aides in their investigation into the handling of a controversial probe into the disappearance five years ago of 43 student teachers, a government official said on Sunday.
The attorney general’s office said on Saturday prosecutors would hold to account those who oversaw the widely-panned probe into the abduction and apparent massacre of the trainee teachers by corrupt police working with a violent drug gang.
09/16/19 – Reuters
By Dave Graham
Five people were shot dead in a bar in the home state of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador a few hours before he was due to lead his first independence day celebrations on Sunday night.
The public security ministry said in a post on Twitter that five people were killed and three were injured when a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire in the bar near Villahermosa, the state capital of Tabasco in southeastern Mexico.
