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.
09/20/2020
Source: U.S. News & World Report
LA BOQUILLA DAM, Mexico (Reuters) – Protesters gathered on Sunday in drought-hit northern Mexico in an attempt to retain control of a dam key to government efforts to diffuse tensions over a water sharing pact with the United States.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has been working to maintain a good relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Friday that Mexico has to comply with its obligations.
09/17/2020
Source: AP
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president vowed Thursday to repay the country’s water debt to the United States, even if it means asking farmers in Mexican states along the U.S. border to pitch in.
Time is running out for Mexico to pay the debt by the Oct. 24 deadline, especially after protesters seized a dam in Chihuahua state to stop water transfers.
09/16/2020
Source: Reuters
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico said on Wednesday said it had formally requested a report from U.S. authorities regarding alleged negligent practices in U.S. immigration detention centers, citing accusations of sexual abuse and unauthorized hysterectomies.
The request come after a complaint by a whistleblower nurse alleging that detainees in a Georgia immigration detention facility had improperly received hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures.
09/16/2020
Source: The Washington Post
The U.S. State Department has lowered its travel advisory for Mexico to a Level 3 from its highest possible Level 4, days before the U.S.-Mexico border closure is due to expire on Sept. 21.
The modified travel advisory says U.S. travelers should “reconsider travel to Mexico due to covid-19” as well as “crime and kidnapping.” A border closure restricting nonessential travel has been in place between the United States and Mexico since March 21 in an effort to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
09/14/2020
Source: The Washington Post
For 75 years, through tensions and disputes over immigration, narcotrafficking and trade, Mexico and the United States have sent each other billions of gallons of water annually to irrigate farms along the border under a treaty signed during World War II.
But today, the 1944 agreement is facing increasingly violent opposition in drought-parched Chihuahua state, where protesters have seized control of a major dam to dramatize the plight of farmers whose cotton, tomato and pecan crops, they say, depend on the water that’s being sent north.
09/10/2020
Source: Rueters
The novel coronavirus pandemic has disrupted joint U.S.-Mexico actions against methamphetamine labs operated by Mexican cartels, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday.
Barr made two trips to Mexico in December and January, which he said led to greater cooperation between the two nations in combating Mexican drugs cartels, including a step up in extraditions of gang leaders.
09/11/2020
Source: USA Today
This week, the U.S. State Department downgraded its travel warning for Mexico. The news comes less than two weeks before the current border closure agreement between the U.S. and its southern neighbor is set to expire.
The entire country is no longer under a Level 4 “Do not travel” warning. Instead, the State Department is listing Mexico’s new status as Level 3 “Reconsider travel,” along with specified advisories for individual regions. There are still “Do not travel” warnings for five states due to crime and kidnapping concerns.
09/08/2020
Source: Los Angeles Times
Silvana Alaníz, owner of the tiny El Rincón restaurant in San Ysidro, works from dawn to dusk alongside her entire immediate family. Even her 10-year-old daughter helps serve the clientele, who often wait in lines that wrap around the block for Alaníz’s locally famous menudo.
“We have five kids, and they all cook,” she laughed. “They all help here. They spend their summer days in this restaurant. I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been surviving.”
09/09/2020
Source: Al Jazeera
Two people died in a gunfight with Mexico’s military police near a protest site at a dam that diverts water to the United States, the National Guard has said, as tensions rose between protesters and officials in the drought-hit region.
Mexicans in the northern border state of Chihuahua, angry at the water being funnelled across the border, on Tuesday evening had hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at security forces, eventually occupying the La Boquilla dam and closing the sluice gates.
09/04/2020
Source: Al Día
Earl Anthony Wayne was attracted to the foreign service from a young age when he became fascinated with other countries, particularly how their culture and history was different from his own.
He began to ponder the tough questions, like how countries fall into certain styles of government. What steps led to the adoption of a democracy, communism or a dictatorship?
The California native took his desire to learn about all the corners of the world and how they can work together to his years in higher education.
