WASHINGTON – The Mexican staging area for illegal aliens that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson demanded this week be bulldozed is among hundreds of similar sites along the border sponsored and maintained by the Mexican government.
Many of the sites are marked with blue flags and pennants to signal that water is available. Others, such as the Las Chepas site that Mr. Richardson denounced, are a collection of old, mostly abandoned buildings or ranch houses where illegals gather for water and other supplies – sometimes bartering with smugglers, or “coyotes,” for passage north.
Las Chepas, law-enforcement authorities said, also is a center for drug smugglers looking to move marijuana and cocaine into the United States.
Rafael Laveaga, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, yesterday said his government “has a duty and obligation by law to protect Mexican citizens at home and abroad.”
He said record high temperatures in the desert areas south of New Mexico and Arizona this year had resulted in the death of many illegal aliens.
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's government congratulated U.S. authorities on Friday for action against Mexican companies and individuals alleged to be involved in laundering illegal drug profits.
President Vicente Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, told a news conference the U.S. declaration was based on investigations within the United States -- implying it did not violate Mexican sovereignty.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday added 30 companies and individuals to a list of alleged drug trafficking organizations. It allows U.S. authorities to seize their U.S. assets and blocks any U.S. citizen and resident from dealing with them.
"The government of Mexico congratulates the U.S. government
Mexican government officials have made it clear for many years that, far from attempting to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States, they encourage it actively. They do so for a very good reason - in their minds: Mexico's economy is a wreck, in comparison to that of the United States. The more Mexicans who come here illegally to make money and send it home, the less reaction Mexican officials have against bad government there.
All the while, of course, Mexican officials have claimed to share our concern about illegal immigration. But recent revelations demonstrate that any
Bill Richardson touches off a firestorm in Mexico
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's August 12 declaration of a state of emergency along the Mexican border with his state provoked sharp reactions in Mexico. Almost immediately, national Mexican newspapers posted stories about the declaration on their front pages, while the federal Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) and Interior Ministry issued a joint statement deploring the move. Leonel Cota, the national president of the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution, called on Mexico's federal government to not be pressured and reject the emergency declaration.
Gov. Richardson issued the declaration after touring southern New Mexico
Brazil, Mexico, Canada hit highs
Markets in the Americas continued their bull run into 2006 on Wednesday, with a second day of record-setting closes in both Brazil and Mexico.
Brazilian shares surged to another record-high close with the help of foreign and domestic funds snapping up blue chips and building portfolios for what is expected to be a banner year.
The benchmark Bovespa stock index closed 1.3% higher at 35002 points, edging over the psychologically daunting 35000-point barrier and topping the previous record-high close of 34541 points set Tuesday. Volume was heavy in Sao Paulo.
Foreign and domestic funds were building blue-chip portfolios
Mexico evacuations begin as Wilma closes in
Mexico has begun evacuations on Wednesday of high risk areas of the Yucatan peninsula, a major tourist draw, as powerful Hurricane Wilma churned closer.
The island of Mujeres close to the holiday resort of Cancun, was believed to be one of the most at risk of being targeted by Wilma, the most powerful storm recorded in the Atlantic.
"Some of the computer models are showing it getting closer and closer to the peninsula, and we may be facing a potential landfall in some areas of the northeast of the Yucatan, in the area of Isla Mujeres,"
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
MEXICO'S PLAN PUTS AMERICAN VALUES TO THE TEST
Behind the illegal immigrants waving Mexican and Salvadoran flags in Los Angeles last week; behind the Mexican girl in Arlington, Va., who was quoted as saying on radio, "Citizens -- what are they for? We do all the work"; behind the antiquated calls for taking back the Southwest in the name of a Mexican Aztlan -- there is a plan.
I am not saying that this plan, propagated by Mexico City, could challenge the lies, secrecy and Machiavellian scheming of American war plans in the Middle East. I am not saying that
Emergency in Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador: Luck Mervil Supports Efforts to Provide Assistance to Hurricane Stan Victims Who Have Been Forgotten by International Aid
The committee to aid Hurricane Stan victims, represented by Mario Rene Henández, treasurer of the Canada-Guatemala chamber of commerce, Ana Gloria Blanch, director of the Centre d'aide aux familles immigrantes (Mexico), Ramon Quintanilla, director of the CEDESAL chamber of commerce (El Salvador), Marcel Tremblay, special advisor to Mayor Gerald Tremblay and responsible for intercultural relations for the City of Montreal, Paolo Tamburello, mayor of the Villeray - Saint-Michel - Parc Extension borough, Luck Mervil, spokesperson
Cancún and Mexico’s Maya Riviera resurrected
Cancún, Mexico’s flagship tourist destination is steaming back.
A number of its popular resort hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, and area attractions are in fact already back in business and receiving guests. And rapid pace work continues on other visitor sites and services – all damaged by Hurricane Wilma and the devastation it left along the Caribbean coast of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula last October.
Going beyond the range of Wilma, regional repair, restoration and aid work is also taking place in areas where Hurricane Stan caused damage. Stan struck before Wilma, in early October, and while
Getting to Mexico
All countries in Latin America officially require travellers who enter their territory to have an onward or return ticket. In 2000-2001 this regulation was rarely enforced by any country, but it can create problems. (It does not apply to travellers with their own vehicles.) In lieu of an onward ticket out of the country you are entering, any ticket out of another Latin American country may suffice, or proof that you have sufficient funds to buy a ticket (a credit card will do).
