Mexico Travel Guide and Destinations

Ernesto Portillo Jr. : Mexico might want candidate who stands taller against Bush

In the drive toward a new U.S. immigration policy, theres a lot of political pandering and posturing going on across the country.

Its a dance in which the participants want to capture the attention of voters for the fall mid-term election and the 2008 presidential race.

From President Bush trying to save whats left of his vaunted political capital to Gov. Janet Napolitano seeking a second term, Republicans and Democrats are shaping a new immigration policy that will decide future electoral outcomes.

But theres another election our immigration policy will likely affect — the Mexican presidential election on July 2.

Angry U.S. rhetoric about Mexico and Mexican undocumented immigrants, and the push to build fences and deploy troops on the border, is being interpreted south of the border as Mexican-bashing, said Edward Williams, University of Arizona emeritus professor in political science and a leading expert on U.S.-Mexico relations.

More: azstarnet.com

Mexico Calls for Probe in Border Shooting

The Mexican government called for an investigation Friday into a shooting by two federal agents that left one person dead at the worlds busiest border crossing. A union representing the Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting defended the officers conduct.

The shooting took place Thursday afternoon after U.S. agents surrounded a sport utility vehicle that was under surveillance on suspicion of immigrant smuggling, police said.

The driver refused to get out, and when agents smashed the vehicles window with a baton, he accelerated in the direction of five U.S. agents blocking his path and nearly pinned an agent standing next to the vehicle, said San Diego police Lt. Jeff Sferra.

More: forbes.com

Fox Optimistic U.S. Will Adopt Compromise Plan on Mexico Border

Mexican President Vicente Fox said hes optimistic the U.S. Congress will adopt a compromise immigration plan and reject the xenophobia of ultra-right wingers.

Fox criticized President George W. Bushs plan to slow Mexican migrants – who cross at a pace of about 1,400 a day – by manning the border with 6,000 National Guard troops. Fox said a Senate plan endorsed by Bush to build a 350-mile wall along the border would be a waste of money.

If were going to reach an accord, the National Guard isnt necessary, Fox, 63, said in an interview on his presidential airplane yesterday. The 21st century is the century of immigration.

Fox is seeking to defuse criticism from opponents in Mexico including presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who say he hasnt reacted forcefully enough to the U.S. position.

More: bloomberg.com

Mexicos Cablemas Postpones IPO Amid Tumble in Global Markets

Cablemas SA, Mexicos second-biggest cable company, postponed an initial public offering as a plunge in global stock markets eroded demand for the shares, a banker involved in the transaction said.

The company and shareholders decided not to take the company public at this time, said Pablo Pena, head of investment banking at Vector Casa de Bolsa SA, one of nine banks managing the transaction. He said Cablemas intended to raise as much as $247 million in the sale.

Mexicos benchmark Bolsa stock index has fallen 6.8 percent in the past seven days as rising U.S. interest rates lured money away from riskier emerging-market assets. A 9.8 percent drop in Brazils Bovespa index over that time also led to the postponing of the sale because bankers were setting Cablemass IPO price off of share prices on Brazilian cable companies, Pena said.

More: quote.bloomberg.com

Mexicos Economy Hits 6-Year High Note

Mexicos economy expanded at the fastest clip in six years in the first three months of 2006, a performance that analysts say could help boost the electoral chances of the ruling conservative party.

The nations economic output grew 5.5% from the January-March period last year, the Treasury Ministry said Wednesday. Construction activity grew at a blistering 8.3% pace, thanks to a government-led housing push, and the factory sector accelerated 7.1% on revved-up auto production. Those are the two main drivers of industrial activity, which expanded 7%. Mexicos service sector also extended its solid run with 5.4% growth.

The results were the best showing under the waning six-year term of President Vicente Fox, who hasnt made good on campaign promises to deliver millions of new jobs and robust economic growth.

More: latimes.com

Senate Votes for Fence Along U.S.-Mexico Border

Today conservatives had their first victory in the immigration debate taking place this week on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

The Senate voted 83-16 to build a 350-mile, triple-layered fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and to add a 500-mile vehicle barrier on top of it.

The bill was an amendment to the current immigration reform bill (S. 2611) being considered by the Senate. The bills sponsor, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.), said that by passing my amendment, we are sending a signal that we are serious about stopping the flow of illegal immigrants over the border.

If we continue to send signals like this, that the open border days are over, people will know that it makes more sense to apply and come into our country legally, according to our laws, rather than trying to come in illegally.

More: humaneventsonline.com

Mexico criticised over lack of human rights progress

Mexican President Vicente Foxs record on human rights has been disappointing in spite of pledges to put the issue at the top of the governments agenda, a rights group said on Wednesday.

Under Mr Fox, whose six-year term ends in December, Mexico has yet to establish accountability for past atrocities or to make serious progress in curbing the abuses that continue to be committed on a regular basis, said US-based Human Rights Watch in a report.

The findings are almost certain to upset Mr Fox, who in 2000 ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) and promised to place human rights at the centre of government policy.

They could also provide ammunition for opposition parties contesting the presidential election on July 2. An influential poll this week put Felipe Calderón, of Mr Foxs centre-right National Action party (PAN) in the lead with 39 per cent of the vote.

More: news.ft.com

Mexico, Cdn police discuss murder of Ont. couple as family waits for news

The son of an Ontario couple brutally slain in Mexico three months ago is waiting for a progress report from Canadian and Mexican investigators, but holding out little hope of hearing anything conclusive.

Anthony Ianiero said he was hoping to get an update from meetings taking place in Ottawa this week between the RCMP and senior Mexican police officers, probing the deaths of his parents Dominic and Nancy Ianiero.

Im not really going to be very hopeful about what theyve talked about, Ianiero said in an interview Tuesday from his home in Woodbridge, Ont., north of Toronto.

So far, nothing has really gone good through this whole thing. Im not expecting it to start now.

More: canada.com

Bush gets tough down Mexico way

The President of the United States, having noticed that the illegal-immigrant issue has rent asunder both the nation at large and his own core constituency, proposes now to dispatch 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, thereat to provide temporary backup to an overwhelmed Border Patrol in stanching the flow of interlopers currently interloping unchecked.

Millions of Americans approve and applaud, as they surely will also cheer the rest of the border-tightening plans Bush outlined in prime time last night: a bigger civilian Border Patrol to allow the troops to resume other duties, security fences to seal the line, high-tech sensors and surveillance, a tamper-proof ID card for legal immigrants, assistance for local law enforcement in border states. Excellent ideas, and high time for a President to put them forth.

If such get-tough measures placate conservative fire-breathers who are demanding border security first and foremost into dropping their objections to Mr. Bushs guest worker plan - well, all the better. For the President made it clear that a congressional signoff on his guest worker program is exactly what he wants to see in an immigration reform bill - along with provisions that offer legalization opportunities to millions of illegals who are firmly planted here.

More: nydailynews.com

Forest fire damages Yucatan ruins in Mexico

Forest fire in Mexico has charred 5,800 hectares in the state of Yucatan on Mexicos Caribbean coast, damaging the ancient cities of Chichen Itza and Oxtankah, the countrys National History and Anthropology Institute (INAH) said on Sunday.

The INAH chief, Federica Sodi Miranda, said that the agency had already begun work to establish the fires impact on the ancient buildings. She said that in Chichen Itza, which is 180 km west of tourist resort Cancun, fires had damaged a fourth century building which had not been completely excavated, where INAH anthropologists and archeologists had been working.

Fires also hit Oxtancah, the fourth century Mayan market city, around 9 km from Chichen Itza, damaging a building in the northern area.

More: english.people.com.cn