U.S. Consulate in Mexico to Reopen
The U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo will reopen, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico said Friday, a week after announcing the offices would be closed amid rising violence in the border city.
In a statement, Garza said the councilman‘s killing underlined the need to crack down on crime, but would not affect the decision to reopen the U.S. consulate Monday, a week after it closed.
While Mexican officials had called the consulate closure and over-reaction, Garza said the Friday killing proved that unusual measures were justified.
His decision to close the offices, announced July 30, came after an attack at a private residence that included rocket launchers and grenades. Nuevo Laredo has logged more than 100 homicides since January, including the city‘s police chief who was gunned down hours after taking office in June.
More: leadingthecharge.com
Mexico battles crime
New checkpoints were set up downtown Sunday and nightclubs were ordered closed early, part of what local and federal authorities call Phase 2 of a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.
As many as 600 new federal troops and agents joined hundreds more in what many here say is an elusive goal: stemming the violence in this border city across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas. The crime wave is spreading quickly and threatening several other cities across Mexico.
``Now we're going after true security for the public,'' said Nuevo Laredo Mayor Daniel Pena Trevino, announcing stepped-up measures of Operation
Health Net and Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles Address Health Care Gap among Latinos; First-Ever Cross-Border Plans for Individuals and Families
Health Net of California, in collaboration with theConsul General of Mexico, today introduced new and innovative productsand services specifically addressing the Latino health care gap inCalifornia.
The Mexi-Plan program and the Health Net Cross-Border Individualand Family Plans are the first-ever cross-border health care plansavailable to individual consumers who purchase benefits directly frominsurers. Both are part of Salud con Health Net, Health Net'sgroundbreaking initiative providing health care coverage and financialsecurity to the Latino community.
Mexi-Plan was developed through a unique collaboration
Mexico OKs extradition in Colo. shooting
A man accused of killing a Denver police officer can be extradited to the United States, the Consulate General of Mexico said.
Raul Gomez-Garcia was charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Detective Donald Young and the wounding of Detective John H. Bishop in May while the men were working off-duty as security for a party.
He has been jailed in Mexico since he was captured there in June.
Gomez-Garcia has 15 working days to appeal, the Mexican Consulate said in a news release Thursday. If he does not, he could be returned to
Thomas rips Mexico in illegals’ arrest case
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas told Mexico not to meddle in his prosecution of illegal immigrants Friday, a day when thousands rallied in the streets against harsh immigration reform.
Thomas had a letter hand-delivered to the Consulate General of Mexico in Phoenix telling the Mexican government that it is responsible for the problems associated with illegal immigration.
Thomas wrote the letter in response to a March 9 letter the consulate sent Thomas outlining a number steps the Mexican government wanted him to take in presenting a case to the grand jury against 48 illegal
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. ambassador to Mexico now says he should have used "different phrasing" rather than saying he closed a border town consulate partly to punish the Mexican government for not stopping violence there, according to the State Department.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday that Ambassador Tony Garza's real reason for closing it was to protect Americans working there.
Garza closed the U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas, during the first week of August following dozens of drug-related killings, the assassination of the police chief and a city councilman, and a machine-gun, grenade and rocket
Mexico City Officials Try to Close Hotel
City officials moved Tuesday to shut down a U.S.-owned hotel that angered many Mexicans when it kicked out a Cuban delegation under pressure from Washington.
Virginia Jaramillo Flores, head of the city borough where the upscale Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel is located, said authorities notified the hotel staff that it would be closed because it is in violation of building codes.
Jaramillo said the hotel could reopen when it had corrected the violations and paid a $15,000 fine.
Borough officials posted signs at the front entrance saying, "Due to infringement of local law, the Sheraton Hotel
Jaina
The small limestone island of Jaina lies just off the coast, 40 km north of Campeche. Discovered by Morley in 1943, excavations on Jaina have revealed the most extensive Maya burial grounds ever found, over 1,000 interments dating back to AD 652. The bodies of religious and political leaders were carried long distances from all over the Yucatan and Guatemala to be buried beneath the extremely steep Pyramids of Zacpol and Sayasol on Jaina.
The corpses were interred in jars in crouching positions, clutching statues in their folded arms, some with jade stones in their mouths; food, weapons, tools
Mexico OKs Request to Close Copper Mine
Mexican labor authorities approved Grupo Mexico SAs request to close the La Caridad copper mine and cancel the collective contract after a three-month strike, a company official said Friday.
Juan Rebolledo, vice president for international affairs for Grupo Mexico, said the labor arbitration board approved the closure of the mine in northwestern Sonora state, and that the company can now cancel the contract which involves at least 1,200 unionized workers.
About 700 nonunion staff and 800 contract workers also will be affected, although the company can later reopen the mine with other workers once the
Hurricane halts Mexico travel
Tour operators are holding back tourists from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, which was hit by Hurricane Emily last week, until hotels reopen and damage is assessed.
Winds of 125mph swept across the popular holiday region on Monday, killing six and forcing the evacuation of 30,000 tourists in Cancun. Many had to camp in a local gymnasium for the night. Some tourists on the island of Cozumel also had to abandon their hotels.
The hurricane continued to the north-east coast and moved inland, travelling westwards. A hurricane warning remained in effect from La Cruz to the Texas border at
U.S. ambassador to Mexico ruffles feathers
A rift is forming between the United States and Mexico after the U.S. ambassador there criticized the country for not doing enough to fight drug dealers.
Ambassador Antonio Garza Jr. said Tuesday that he temporarily closed a consulate in Nuevo Laredo as punishment to the Mexican government for not controlling border area violence, The New York Times reports.
Geronimo Gutierrez, Mexico's assistant foreign affairs secretary for North America, shot back Wednesday, saying his harsh words "do not fit the role of ambassador."
A spokesman for Mexican President Vicente Fox U.S. also criticized Garza.
State Department spokesman, Sean McCormick,
