Mexico peasant ecologist freed in murder case
A peasant fighting logging in Mexico’s mountains was cleared of murder charges and ordered freed on Thursday after 10 months in jail in a case that sparked international outcry over corruption in the courts.
Felipe Arreaga, 56, who has been held in a sweltering jail on the Pacific coast since November, was exonerated in the 1998 murder of the son of a powerful local landowner, said a rights group working in his defense.
“They declared him innocent,” defense lawyer Mario Patron told Reuters by telephone from the courtroom.
Rights workers worldwide had said the charge was trumped up by a network of special interests seeking to silence Arreaga and fellow environmentalists over their anti-logging campaign.
The ruling by a criminal court judge in the coastal resort of Zihuatanejo was seen as a victory for human rights in a system that often puts police, prosecutors and courts at the service of political leaders, especially in the countryside.
Greenpeace, Amnesty International, other groups and U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, had called for the release of Arreaga, who helped found the Peasant Ecologists of the Petatlan Sierra.
More: alertnet.org
Tucson teen wanted in murder case arrested in Mexico
A teenager sought in a slaying has been taken into custody by authorities in Mexico and turned over to U.S. officers in Douglas.
Authorities said Robert C. "Manny" Garcia, 16, was booked Friday into the Pima County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder in the May 14 death of 18-year-old Jimmy Lee Rose of Tucson, who was shot numerous times after a fight.
A murder warrant had been issued for Garcia's arrest.
Garcia was ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail on the murder charge and was held without bail on a
Mexico seeks rearrest of agents freed in drug case
Mexico is seeking to get back into custody five Mexican federal agents who were charged in the kidnapping of suspected drug hit men but released by a judge in September, officials said on Saturday.
Mexico arrested eight federal agents on Aug. 31, but a few days later a judge released five of them for lack of evidence.
"We totally respect the decision of the judge but we have appealed because we do not agree (with it)," an official in Mexico's attorney general's office said on condition of anonymity.
The appeal was filed in September,
Bulgarian Murder in Mexico Goes Unpunished for 2 Years
The murder of Bulgaria-descended Marika Dimitrova, who was shot dead in the Mexican city of Leon at the end of 2003, has remained unpunished for two years already, the Mexican online edition "A.M." reported.
The incident took place near the school where the woman was teaching French and Spanish. Dimitrova was just about to get out of her car when a passing-by motorcyclist shot at her December 17 2003.
Two years after the murder the Mexican prosecutor's office has failed to arrest the killer.
Initially there have been speculations that the perpetrator
MEXICO Ex-consul freed in setback for prosecutors
A judge has freed and cleared a former Mexican consul accused of participating in a ring that smuggled hundreds of Lebanese migrants into the United States, another setback for the Mexican attorney general's office.
The release of Imelda Ortiz Abdala, consul to Lebanon from 1999-2001, suggested that Mexican officials may have overreached as they went after a smuggling ring first prosecuted in the U.S.
The attorney general's office, which did not respond to requests for comment, has been embarrassed by bad arrests recently but often has blamed U.S. intelligence.
This month, officials arrested a Mexico City architect
Mexico to return Denver murder suspect
A Mexican suspect in the shooting death of a Denver detective has not appealed his extradition and will be sent back from his Mexico City jail cell.
Raul Gomez-Garcia, 20, did not appeal the Mexican government`s extradition decision issued on Thanksgiving Day, and the 15-day appeal period has passed, the Denver Post reported.
Gomez-Garcia is charged with second-degree murder in Donald Young`s death and with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Detective John Bishop. He is accused of ambushing the two uniformed off-duty detectives while they provided security at a party at a social hall
Miners file murder charges against Grupo Mexico
A Mexican union has filed murder charges against mining company Grupo Mexico and the government after 65 miners were killed last month in an explosion at a coal mine.
Mexico's miners' and metalworkers' union said late on Thursday it formally accused Grupo Mexico, Labor Minister Francisco Salazar and two mine inspectors of homicide.
The workers died after a methane explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine in the northern state of Coahuila on Feb. 19.
Union leaders say Grupo Mexico , the world's No. 3 copper miner, ignored safety concerns but the company has denied negligence.
Co-workers gave
FBI arrests man wanted for murder in Mexico
An illegal immigrant residing in Watertown who was arrested last week in the murder of a Mexican police officer was turned over to Mexican authorities Tuesday, according to a federal immigration spokeswoman.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said Hector Cepeda-Vargas, 38, was placed on a government flight from Chicago, Ill., to El Paso, Texas, on Friday and was walked across the border and turned over to Mexican authorities Tuesday.
Montenegro said Cepeda-Vargas had fled Mexico and was living at 133 Dewey Ave. in Watertown under the alias Daniel de Dioz-Lopez. She
Mexico raids kidnapping ring that filmed victims in cages
Mexican authorities raided a kidnapping ring that filmed its victims being held inside a cage and beaten, federal authorities said Saturday. An abducted businessman was freed and five people were arrested.
Police also confiscated an iron cage in the raid Friday at two houses on the outskirts of Mexico City that led to the arrests of five men ages 18 to 31, the federal attorney general's office said.
The man freed had been held for ransom since May 19 by the group, which was known for filming its victims inside a cage
For migrants passing through Mexico, full detention centers often mean they are set free
After two months of dodging thieves and thundering trains during the perilous journey from Honduras, Marco Antonio Vasquez has finally reached the Rio Grande.
Now plotting his next move, the 26-year-old displaced factory worker sits on the steps of a Reynosa church and worries aloud that, if the Border Patrol catches him, he'll be deported and his hopes of finding a job in Houston will be dashed.
What he may or may not realize is that he would likely be freed in Texas, even after American agents stop
New lead denied in Mexico slayings
Federal prosecutors in Mexico deny they are following the trail of a hotel security guard allegedly linked to the murder of a Canadian couple in Mexico, contradicting state authorities investigating the case.
For months, the state prosecutor in charge of the investigation has said federal officials are trying to locate Blas Ismael Delgado Fajardo, believed to be in the U.S.
Delgado Fajardo was working as a security guard in the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort where Domenic and Nancy Ianiero were found with their throats slashed on Feb. 20. He left his job the same day.
