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Post by kaima on Jan 25, 2013 14:39:46 GMT -7
Yesterday I was up hiking around Canelo Pass in Arizona, perhaps 20 or 25 miles north of the Mexican border. There is a place where the Arizona Trail, a hiking path comparable to the Appalachian Trail in the Eastern US, runs from Mexico to the Utah border. My first half hour happened to be spoiled with a small aircraft that appeared overhead and buzzed around in a 5 or ten mile circle for half an hour, never long enough to give me a rest from the miserable buzz of the motor. There are some airplanes that sound good to the ear, and this was not one!
This morning when Ileft the ranch B&B I was staying at, there were two Border Patrol trucks with empty horse trailers parked nearby, and as I drove north I must have passed 8 or 9 more Border Patrol truck heading south. Assuming they had a similar concentration of talent on the other side of the mountain pass, I suspect there are some Mexicans (or their American couriers / mules) who re currently in trouble!
It is supposition on my part, but it is nice to see what appears to be an effective interdiction by our protectors.
This is a beautiful part of Arizona. It is a pleasure to be here. I only wish I had remembered to take my ear plugs in the wilderness!
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Post by Nictoshek on Feb 5, 2013 17:46:15 GMT -7
Police patrol in Acapulco, Mexico, a day after gunmen raped six Spanish tourists inside a home. (Bernandino Hernandez / Associated Press / February 5, 2013) Six Spanish tourists raped by gunmen in Mexico, authorities sayBy Tracy Wilkinson February 5, 2013 MEXICO CITY -- Six Spanish tourists on vacation in Acapulco were raped by masked gunmen who burst into their lodgings in the middle of the night, roughed up their companions and made off with cash, laptops and other valuables, authorities said. The attack early Monday on what was in Mexico a long holiday weekend came as the one-time tourist mecca struggles to salvage its reputation. Acapulco, faded gem of Mexico’s Pacific coast, has become one of the deadliest cities in the country as rival drug traffickers fight for control. “This is a very regrettable incident that undoubtedly hurts Acapulco,” Mayor Luis Walton Aburto said at a news conference. Most of the violence has been limited to dicier parts of the city not frequented by tourists. But this attack took place near the beach about six miles south of the so-called Diamond Zone, Acapulco’s newest and most luxurious enclave. Acapulco’s city government press office said the tourists had rented a bungalow on Enchanted Beach south of the city, alongside small four-star hotels that advertise themselves as places for meditation, relaxation and yoga. Walton said at least five gunmen entered the rooms where the tourists were sleeping, beat and tied up six men and raped six Spanish women. A seventh woman, a Mexican national, was unharmed, he said. The nationalities of the male tourists were not disclosed. Walton added that the women were raped despite what he described as “excellent security” beefed up in Acapulco for the holiday weekend. Federal police and the army patrol parts of the city. No arrests have been reported in the case. Against obvious empirical evidence, Angel Aguirre, the governor of Guerrero, the state where Acapulco is located, has repeatedly vowed that the resort is destined to make a comeback and recover its past glory. The drop in tourism is blamed in part for a $33-million deficit in the city’s budget. Killings and kidnappings are so rampant in parts of Guerrero that armed vigilante groups now patrol five villages in the southern part of the state. Operating outside of formal law, they have captured around 50 “suspects” whom they plan to put on a kind of “people’s trial.” Human rights groups as well as the state government are eyeing the developments nervously. A group of the vigilantes opened fire over the weekend on two Mexican tourists headed to the beach who failed to stop at one of their impromptu roadblocks. The pair was injured but survived. The U.S. and Spanish governments last year issued warnings advising extreme caution while traveling in Acapulco. The Mexican foreign ministry Tuesday expressed regrets for the rapes and said Spain’s consul general, based in Mexico City, had traveled to Acapulco to assist the victims.
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Post by karl on Feb 6, 2013 10:49:15 GMT -7
Nictoe
An unfortunate situation of lawlessness to occur in such a high revenue producing tourist area of this, and others. For the tourist dollars are a high priority for not just the local areas of tourist attraction, but for the economy of the country.
Now, it will be to damage control to gain the trust of tourist for such an important industry as leisure and recreation has provided.
Violence in Mexico is an ongoing situation that at least for the present, will continue unabated under currant and present situational aspects. For one, the culture of poverty creates in self, a culture of violence out side of the common good.
Most Mexican people are hard working and honest people, with a seemingly natural generous nature of friendly out look. It is to the few that are the problem and with the large area of police responsibility to cover, it is not difficult to understand the ongoing situation of violence and lawlessness that is currently prevailing.
In this particular incident, it is apparently determined to be a local police problem of local gang members as responsible. In this, would not involve Federal assistance.
Karl
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Post by karl on Feb 6, 2013 11:19:25 GMT -7
The following is an interview with the new President of Mexico and his plans of change. New blood in an old position, with old issues but new views for the present and future. More power to this new leadership with the weapons of youth, education and energy. It may be of note: Mexico City is rated as one of the most dangerous cities world wide. Kidnappings are a common occurrence of officials, people of means and tourist. Many of this kidnappings occurred in public view such as from autos caught up in heavy traffic or whilst parked. It is of such frequency as to over power the means of police intervention and investigation. The above situation though, fosters a new industry of high profits with firms specializing in the private ownership of highly modified armoured autos to those with the means of ownership. 02/06/2013 12:25 PM Mexican President Peña Nieto 'We Have to Crush the Mafia' Enrique Peña Nieto took over as Mexico's president in December. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses his plans to fight poverty and drug violence and why Europe should take advantage of his country's economic boom. SPIEGEL: Mr. President, more than 60,000 Mexicans have lost their lives in the drug war during the last six years. You have been in office for two months now. How do you propose to end the carnage? Peña Nieto: We must fight inequality and poverty if we want to re-establish peace and security. Seven million Mexicans live in extreme poverty, which is why I have launched a crusade against hunger. We also have to improve our educational system and stimulate economic growth. SPIEGEL: Social policy alone will hardly be enough to come to grips with the problem. Peña Nieto: We will strengthen the security forces and the judiciary. Cooperation between the central government and the individual federal states has already improved. We will professionally train and equip the police. And where there is a lack of police officers, we will provide security personnel with military training under civilian supervision. SPIEGEL: The number of murders and kidnappings recently went up in the capital. And in the State of Mexico, your nearby home state, criminal gangs have recently been dumping bodies again. Peña Nieto: The situation won't improve overnight. Mistakes were made in the past, and we have to learn from them. The violence will decline in the medium term. I have made that promise to Mexicans. SPIEGEL: Is it more important to you to reduce violence or track down the drug lords? Peña Nieto: Our top priority is to reduce the number of murders and kidnappings. But we also have to crush the mafia. Many murders happen because the criminals are fighting each other over markets. SPIEGEL: Your predecessor, Felipe Calderón, deployed the military to fight the drug mafia. Will you pull back the troops? Peña Nieto: Only when the security situation improves. At that point, we are obligated under the constitution to withdraw the military. SPIEGEL: Human rights groups accuse soldiers of assaulting innocent people. Will you bring those responsible to justice? Peña Nieto: We have passed a law that awards compensation to the victims of violence and obligates us to clear up the crimes. This will compel the security forces to respect human rights. SPIEGEL: The residents of some regions are now forming militias to protect themselves against gangsters. Hasn't the government already lost control of the country? Peña Nieto: The population in some parts of the country is so frustrated that people are resorting to vigilante justice. We have strengthened the government's presence in these areas. Vigilante justice only leads to more violence. SPIEGEL: The drug cartels also derive their power from the fact that they bribe police officers and mayors. This is especially applicable to your party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Peña Nieto: It has nothing to do with party affiliation. It also affects regional governments headed by the opposition. Some cartels have accumulated enormous amounts of money and weapons. We are now taking action against money laundering and, in doing so, we will cut off the cartels' lifeblood. SPIEGEL: Your predecessor also promised to fight corruption. Why should Mexicans believe that you will succeed this time around? Peña Nieto: It isn't solely the president's responsibility. The regional governments have to cooperate. We are willing to assist them. SPIEGEL: The United States is boosting its military aid to fight organized crime in Mexico. Will you allow American military advisers to be stationed in Mexico? Peña Nieto: We want to expand our cooperation with Washington, but without violation of our sovereignty. Cooperation cannot be limited to the security situation. We want to take advantage of our proximity to the United States to press ahead with economic integration. SPIEGEL: Most of the drug mafia's weapons come from the United States. Peña Nieto: That's why Mexico supports US President Barack Obama, who has come out in favor of stronger controls on the gun trade. The most important thing is to regulate the sale of large-caliber weapons and assault rifles. SPIEGEL: Some US states have relaxed the prohibition of marijuana. Doesn't that deprive the drug war of its credibility? Peña Nieto: It should at least encourage a debate. I'm opposed to legalizing marijuana because it acts as a gateway drug. SPIEGEL: Apparently undeterred by the drug violence, foreign companies are investing in Mexico more than ever before. VW has just opened a new engine plant and plans to produce the new Golf model in Mexico. Audi is also building a new plant. Peña Nieto: Mexico offers a stable economy, the debt is minimal, inflation is below 4 percent, we have almost no budget deficit and we have a thick cushion of foreign currency reserves. This, of course, attracts investors. SPIEGEL: Can Europe learn something from Latin America? Peña Nieto: We want to expedite integration with South America and the Caribbean, so that we can compete more effectively with other economic regions. Mexico can grow at an even stronger rate than financial experts predict. Europe should take advantage of our economic boom. SPIEGEL: Mexico used to play an important role as a mediator in Latin America. Can you help with potential political reforms in Cuba or Venezuela? Peña Nieto: Our foreign policy has lost some of its punch in recent years, partly because of internal problems. In the future, we want to put more of an effort behind the integration of all of Latin America. But we will not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. We want to expand our relations with Cuba. SPIEGEL: Your party ruled Mexico for more than 70 years, until the opposition replaced you in 2000. Mario Vargas Llosa, a winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, once described the PRI's virtually monarchic system of control as "the perfect dictatorship." Does the party's return to power rule out the possibility of democratic reforms? Peña Nieto: Our democracy is stable. My administration has reached an agreement with all of the major opposition parties, the "Pact for Mexico." It calls for reforms and democratization. This process isn't complete yet. SPIEGEL: Why should Mexicans believe that the return of the PRI isn't synonymous with a return of its authoritarian behavior? Peña Nieto: Mexico has changed. There is no room today for the mechanisms of the past. The PRI, like any other party, will submit to the democratic rules of the game. We are part of a pluralistic, critical and informed society. There is no chance that we will fall back into the past. Interview conducted by Jens Glüsing; translated by Christopher Sultan URL: www.spiegel.de/international/world/mexican-president-pena-nieto-on-fighting-crime-and-booming-economy-a-881752.htmlKarl
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Post by Nictoshek on Mar 6, 2013 18:29:58 GMT -7
The Mexican drug cartels are at war... with Mormons. VICE founder Shane Smith went down to Ciudad Juárez, near the US border, to investigate this bizarre story.
Here's our documentary about guns, drugs, murder, and Romneys:
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Post by Nictoshek on Jul 16, 2013 22:33:28 GMT -7
Mourners in Guatemala City in March 2012, at the coffin of one of 193 bodies found in 26 mass graves in northern Mexico the year before. Guatemalan migrants were among the dead Capture of Mexican Crime Boss Appears to End a Brutal ChapterBy RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD and GINGER THOMPSON July 16, 2013 MEXICO CITY — Body parts strewn on highways, etched with the letter Z. Videotaped torture sessions uploaded onto YouTube. Victims placed in barrels and dissolved into a “stew” of violent death. Since the Zetas emerged less than a decade ago as the brutal new figures in the storied history of organized crime here, Mexico has experienced some of its most shocking episodes of violence, and the bloodshed has seeped into other countries throughout the region. Founded by heavily armed former soldiers trained for war, the Zetas did not pioneer sensational acts of violence in Mexico, but they perfected the practice of carnage as message, as they expanded beyond drug trafficking into extortion, migrant smuggling, kidnapping and other crimes. With the arrest on Monday of Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, the Zeta crime boss so greatly feared that many would not dare utter his name in public, Mexico’s long and bloody drug war may have reached a crossroads. Nobody believes that drug trafficking will let up now that the Zetas have been weakened. And an array of ruthless gunmen in and out of the Zetas have no qualms about continuing to kill. But Mr. Treviño’s arrest, the killing of the previous Zeta commander in October and the recent capture of several other lieutenants have rocked the trafficking organizations that did the most to damage Mexico’s image and instill the most fear among the people. Mr. Treviño, who was better known as Z-40, after his radio call sign given by the militaristic group, was captured before dawn on Monday, with $2 million in his pickup truck, after spending time with his newborn child in a rural area near the Texas border. American authorities played a key behind-the-scenes role in his apprehension and, after his arrest, confirmed his identity through biometric and DNA tests, according to officials on both sides of the border, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the case. The relatively quiet denouement of Mr. Treviño’s career belies the mayhem that made his organization stand out. In some ways, analysts said, the Zetas became a victim of perverse success. The organization grew so fast, drew in so much money and hired so many gunmen quick to pull the trigger that it lost the loyalty that other Mexican crime syndicates engendered toward their leaders, while older, more established cartels sought to take down the Young Turks making business tough for everybody. “They broke the rules of the game,” said George W. Grayson, a professor at the College of William and Mary and author of “The Executioner’s Men,” a history of the Zetas. “They wanted to brand themselves, and the brand they chose was the meanest, leanest, most sadistic organization in the Americas. Just mentioning Zetas sparks fear in the hearts of those who hear them.” Where family and community ties bind larger cartels, the Zetas, increasingly run by young recruits trained in remote camps to kill in spectacular fashion, depended on a culture of military discipline and a hierarchy that began to fracture under the pressure exerted by Mexican and American law enforcement. The danger remains that the splintering of the Zetas will leave smaller, dangerous gangs copying their name and tactics as they continue to extort, kidnap and deal drugs. State and local police forces are generally too corrupted, ill prepared or not committed to take them on. But several analysts said the arrest of Mr. Treviño, led by Mexican marines but supported with intelligence from the United States — where he is wanted on drug and gun charges — could be the beginning of the end of the group as a large cartel and, possibly, the large-scale violence it carried out with such bravado. “As a cohesive group there is probably not much left of them,” said Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence officer and now security consultant at a Mexico City research group. “But there will continue to be people who call themselves Zetas, act like Zetas and belong to gangs that use their letter.” International pressure will be a key factor, as arresting a capo is one thing, but taking apart an organization with offshoots in several countries is another, said Alberto Islas, a security expert in Mexico City. In this case, President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office in December promising to reduce the violence, had made clear that Mr. Treviño, who faces organized crime, murder, drug trafficking and torture charges, was a prime target. But, after years of what it saw as too much American involvement in its security agencies, the Mexican government wanted its forces to lead the way. A senior American law enforcement official posted along the border, who was not authorized to speak on the record, described a recent meeting with his counterparts in Mexico City. “What I got from that meeting is that Mexico wants to prove it can handle this fight on its own — or at least on its own terms,” the official said. Still, the Mexicans recognized the need for American help, and the two governments began sharing information on Mr. Treviño several months ago, with the Americans passing along word of the birth of Mr. Treviño’s child a little more than a month ago, the official said. The Americans also shared the information that he appeared to be making trips to visit the baby in the Nuevo Laredo area, near where he was captured, the official said. The authorities traded intelligence gleaned from conversations caught on wiretaps and informants’ tips that led Mexican authorities to Mr. Treviño’s truck, moving before dawn on a highway near the border, the official said. Mexican marines in a helicopter intercepted Mr. Treviño and arrested him and two aides without a shot. Eight guns and $2 million in cash were confiscated. “The reason they caught him without layers of security and without firing a shot,” said Art Fontes, a former F.B.I. official who spent years tracking Mr. Treviño, “is because he had $2 million in the vehicle and he thought he could buy his way out.” While rumors about Mr. Treviño’s capture — including a photograph of him in custody — began appearing on Twitter late Monday morning, American officials said they were not formally notified about the arrest until hours later. Mexican officials have not acknowledged any American role in the operation. Mr. Peña Nieto, the president, congratulated the navy on Tuesday and celebrated the capture as efficient coordination among agencies — Mexican ones. “I send my recognition and congratulation to the Mexican Navy and all the institutions in charge of our nation’s public security for the efficient work they have done,” he said at an event in central Mexico. The Zetas took in substantial sums by running the migrant smuggling business through Mexico but were also known for preying upon those seeking to reach the United States. Mr. Treviño played a role in the death or disappearance of at least 265 of them, including 72 immigrants, mostly from Central America, who were found dead in northeastern Mexico in 2010, Mexican authorities said after his arrest. The Rev. Pedro Pantoja, a Catholic priest in Saltillo, Mexico, who has been working with migrants for 20 years, said he had just returned from Guatemala, where he saw gang members working with the Zetas collecting thousands of dollars from people looking to reach the United States. No matter who is in charge, he said, the system will remain in place as poverty and criminal logistics combine, often with violence used as a way to maintain control. “Organized crime still has all the power, with migrants, with kidnappings and with violence,” he said. “It will continue.” Damien Cave contributed reporting from New York.
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Post by Nictoshek on Sept 11, 2013 13:43:41 GMT -7
Frying molotes, savory pastries, in Puebla. Savoring the Pleasures of Puebla, MexicoBy FRANCINE PROSE September 10, 2013 There are places to which we travel, and imagine staying. Why not just quit our job, rent a little apartment, tell the folks at home we’ll be back when our money runs out? For me, one such place is Puebla. An easy two-hour drive or bus ride southeast of Mexico City, Puebla seems light years away from the pollution and buzz of the capital. With a temperate mountain climate, a relatively prosperous and relaxed atmosphere and the best street food in Mexico (or so Poblanos claim, and why not believe them?), Puebla is also visually beautiful. Its historical center, the centro, contains so many gems of Spanish colonial architecture, such a range of beautiful churches, and so many vintage buildings covered in the colorful, patterned Talavera tiles for which the city is famous, that it has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site. The fantasy of remaining indefinitely in Puebla used to come over me mostly in the Zócalo, the verdant central plaza, where it’s pleasant to sit on a bench in the shade, and where there is always something to see. In mid-July, my visit coincided with graduation — Puebla is an important university town — and it was fun to watch the groups of students in academic gowns, together with their proud families, celebrating and taking photos. Every generation — high school kids, mothers pushing strollers, young lovers, skateboarders, elderly couples — gravitates to the Zócalo, where you can always tell, from the images on the balloons being sold by the vendors, which cartoon figure has captured the popular imagination; this summer, it was definitely Despicable Me. I still love spending time in the Zócalo, but the place where I most often imagined staying in Puebla forever shifted, on this visit, to the rooftop cafe of the Museo Amparo. How wonderful it would be to come here every morning, set up my laptop, sip the cafe’s excellent coffee and look up from my computer to see one of the most beautiful vistas imaginable — the rooftops of Puebla set against the background of the surrounding countryside. Two blocks from the Zócalo, the Museo Amparo houses an impressive collection of pre-Hispanic and colonial art and hosts a series of expertly curated temporary exhibits. For the past several years, the Amparo has been undergoing a major redesign and renovation; the pre-Columbian section will be closed for construction until late fall. But the compensation is the spare, elegant rooftop garden from which you can see the centro, a vista dominated by the dark stone of the monumental cathedral. Begun in the 16th century, the enormous structure was consecrated three-quarters of a century later and completed over several hundred years, during which the interior was furnished with elaborately carved choir stalls and a mammoth pipe organ; the canopy over the central altar was added in the early 19th century. It is said that an angel appeared to help the builders manage the challenging task of installing the eight-and-a-half-ton bell in the south tower. Surrounding the cathedral, visible from the terrace of the Museo Amparo, the domes of nearby churches covered in brightly patterned tile give the roofscape an oddly Middle Eastern appearance. Puebla contains hundreds of churches, ranging in style from the austere San Juan de Letran, decorated with wooden statues depicting (in gory detail) the wounds of Christ and the suffering of the souls in purgatory, to, at the opposite extreme, the Rosary Chapel in the Church of Santo Domingo. Much of the chapel — a masterpiece of Baroque architecture, begun in 1571 and finished in 1659 — is covered in gold leaf; nearly every square inch is adorned with painted panels, statues of angels and saints, onyx pillars, Talavera tile, vines, flowers, swirls and arabesques of exuberant golden tracery. Restored in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the chapel continues to play an important role in the spiritual life of Poblanos, who celebrate weddings and baptisms under its gleaming dome. In fact, the Rosary Chapel was part of the reason I’d come to Puebla this summer: to see my 2-year-old granddaughter, Malena, baptized beneath the golden cherubs and surrounded by the beaming faces of her family. Were Puebla a better-known travel destination, the ceremony might have been interrupted by busloads of tourists trudging through the gorgeous chapel, but this was Puebla, and for the length of the ceremony we had the place to ourselves. It’s strange to think of Mexico’s fourth-largest city as a secret, but that’s how it often seems; it’s rare to see tourists on the streets and rarer still to hear English spoken. When Puebla’s hotels fill up on weekends, and rates rise accordingly, most of the other guests are Mexican, many of whom have driven from Mexico City. Partly they have come to admire Puebla’s cultural treasures; among the most notable is the Biblioteca Palafoxiana, the extensive, handsome library assembled by Juan de Palafox de Mendoza, bishop and later viceroy of Puebla in the 17th century. But Mexicans also come to shop in Puebla’s stores and crafts and antiques markets. It’s enjoyable to walk through the districts of shops conveniently grouped together so Poblanos know where to find a certain item; not far from the Zócalo, Calle 6 Oriente (the numbering of the streets has a logic of its own that takes some getting used to) specializes in the handmade sweets and candies for which Puebla is known throughout the country. On the Avenida Reforma, near the Paseo Bravo, is a block of stores selling cowboy boots and Western shirts. Need to hire a mariachi band? Calle 9 Poniente, east of Calle 16 de Septiembre, is the place to go. And the El Parian market offers textiles, ceramics and crafts from all over Mexico. But it’s on the weekends when the city really comes alive as a place to browse — especially at the diverse (and mostly inexpensive) flea market in the Plazuela de los Sapos, where you can buy old books, religious articles, photos, lucky charms and jewelry. This summer, I bought a retablo, a votive painting traditionally created in gratitude for some miracle and often depicting an act of rescue. The text and the image on mine thanked God for having saved a man from having been discovered in bed with his best friend’s wife. The more established antiques shops around the Plazuela keep somewhat irregular hours, but can be counted on to be open on weekend afternoons. At the top of the Plazuela de los Sapos is one of Puebla’s most beloved institutions — La Pasita, a tiny shop crammed with knickknacks and just large enough for a counter at which you can stand and sample small glasses of the more than a dozen handmade liqueurs. Among the popular favorites are the namesake pasita, distilled from raisins, and rompope, a delicious sort of eggnog, but there are other flavors: almond, pineapple, coconut, and shot glasses banded with drinks of different colors. Watching customers belly up to the bar at La Pasita is a reminder of Puebla’s simultaneously serious and casual approach to food and drink — and the reason so many Mexicans visit Puebla: to eat. The region has many local specialties, many of them labor-intensive, and the city has plenty of first-rate restaurants at which to try them. Because it is a university city, and a rather prosperous one, Puebla has seen the arrival of the sorts of places one might find in a college town anywhere — only more pleasant. Perhaps the most inviting place to meet friends for breakfast or later for drinks is Profetica, a colonial mansion that has been restored and transformed into a cultural center that hosts readings and performances and that has a free lending library, a bookstore that carries some books in English, and an excellent cafe. Puebla gets credit for the invention of mole sauce — that would be mole poblano. The city hosted a mole festival in May 2012 that drew star chefs from north of the border, and in both humble and fancy restaurants, mole regularly appears on meats, over enchiladas and under fried eggs for breakfast. Another delicacy that spread from Puebla outward is pipián sauce, made with pumpkin seeds, and a dish that happens to be my favorite, partly because it’s such an ingenious mixture of savory and sweet and partly because it’s available only at certain times of the year when the ingredients are fresh. That is chiles en nogada, a green chili stuffed with a concoction of meat and dried fruits, topped with a walnut cream sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. But by and large, I prefer the city’s street food, which is not necessarily less elaborate to prepare than the moles and pipiáns but certainly faster to cook — and eat. Hugely popular family restaurants like Las Ranas and La Oriental specialize in what’s essentially a street classic: tacos árabes, made with pork shaved off a rotating hunk of meat and allegedly brought to the country (hence its name) by the wave of Lebanese immigrants who arrived in the 1930s and recreated, on this continent, this Latin-accented version of shawarma. But I’m even more fond of the dishes served in the sorts of places that serve only one thing, places that you have to hunt down, or know someone who lives there, places that seem, like so much in Puebla, like the best sort of open secret. In the Mercado Melchor Ocampo El Carmen, long lines — and I mean long lines — form at lunch for the cemitas that are the pride of Puebla. These overstuffed sandwiches — you can order them with white cheese or with breaded pork cutlets (milanesas), and they’re served on a large white roll with guacamole, pickled onions and chilies — are not only delicious but filling enough to take you through the rest of the afternoon and evening. Except that when I’m in Puebla, I always find myself wanting, and eating, several meals a day. My absolute favorite — the one that feels most secret, and the most like a privilege to eat — are the molotes, the sizzling empanada-like savory pastries made by a group of women who set up their caldrons and get down to some serious deep-frying in an alley off Calle 16 de Septiembre across from the Jardín del Carmen, a block in the direction of the Zócalo. You place your order for molotes with mushrooms or cheese, red or green sauce, then sit on a bench to wait. The ladies hand you a paper plate stacked with pure deliciousness. Surrounded by multigenerational families tucking into the crispy, fragrant fried pastries, I can imagine coming here often in the evenings, after a day of writing on the terrace of the Museo Amparo, and enjoying the flavors and the pleasures of Puebla.
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Post by Nictoshek on Sept 18, 2013 3:04:55 GMT -7
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Post by Nictoshek on Sept 20, 2013 3:12:21 GMT -7
Mexican soldiers work in La Pintada after a rain-driven mudslide swept away residents and homes. (Pedro Pardo / AFP/Getty Images / September 20, 2013) 68 believed buried in Mexico mudslide; storm death toll rises to 97 Rescue efforts continue in La Pintada in hard-hit Guerrero state after a mudslide swept away homes. In Acapulco, anger flares amid evacuation.By Tracy Wilkinson 8:34 PM PDT, September 19, 2013 MEXICO CITY — Rescue teams were searching Thursday for an estimated 68 people believed buried in a mudslide after multiple storms battered large swaths of Mexico, killing nearly 100 people nationwide and leaving thousands stranded or homeless. While much attention was focused on tourists caught in the Pacific resort of Acapulco, grimmer reports emerged from villages in that hard-hit region of Guerrero state, which were largely cut off from aid and may have suffered large-scale devastation. Luis Felipe Puente, the federal Civil Protection coordinator, said in a television interview that the national death toll climbed Thursday to 97 people in nine states. He said authorities were searching the Guerrero town of La Pintada, where at least 58 people were reported missing after a rain-propelled mudslide. Rescue operations have evacuated more than 300 people. Later, authorities said the missing numbered at least 68. "We hope all [the missing] are not" dead, Puente said. "We haven't seen bodies," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said after flying over the region. "But there were two-story houses that are now completely covered. There was a tall church, and now you don't see a church. It disappeared." Some residents, Osorio Chong said, were resisting evacuation. "They say, I won't go until I find my daughter, my sister." If confirmed, the La Pintada landslide will be the single deadliest incident after twin storms assailed opposite coasts of Mexico last weekend, a rare double whammy that officials said they had not seen here in more than half a century. President Enrique Peña Nieto flew to the region Thursday afternoon. "We have had extraordinary rains," Peña Nieto said. In photographs of La Pintada that he and his associates displayed at a news conference, it looked as though someone had taken a giant paintbrush and swiped the verdant green countryside with a wide, harsh red stripe. That was apparently the mudslide that carried away residents, their homes and belongings. Manuel, a tropical storm that hit Guerrero and other parts of the western coast several days ago — as Hurricane Ingrid was pummeling the eastern coast — weakened, then grew to hurricane strength, then weakened again Thursday, meteorological officials said. At its strongest, it aimed Thursday for Sinaloa state, where authorities reported extensive flooding. In Acapulco, meanwhile, an airlift of thousands of stranded tourists, most of them Mexicans, continued. Forty-five flights ferried peopled from Acapulco to Mexico City on Thursday after landslides and a flooded airport isolated the popular resort town on a holiday weekend. Angry that they were not getting sufficient attention, some tourists staged a roadblock protest in Acapulco, stopping military trucks that some believed were helping privileged Mexicans cut the long lines for flights. "We are getting desperate; we have no more money," tourist Alfredo Gonzalez told reporters. "We are signed up for a military flight, but they told us there are thousands and thousands of people ahead of us." Peña Nieto's government was coming under criticism for having failed to give sufficient warning to residents as the storms bore down on the country. Critics said the president, with less than 10 months in office, was more worried about his first performance in annual Independence Day ceremonies and neglected weather realities.
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Post by Nictoshek on Aug 28, 2014 4:35:25 GMT -7
Kia to open $1-billion auto factory in Mexico
By JERRY HIRSCH, DAVID UNDERCOFFLER
South Korean automaker Kia Motors Corp. will open a $1-billion auto plant in northern Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Wednesday.
Kia will join other automakers rushing to build cars in Mexico, where low labor costs and extensive free trade agreements have turned the nation into a manufacturing powerhouse despite its high crime rate.
BMW revealed plans for a $1-billion plant in San Luis Potosi in July, a month after Mercedes-Benz and Nissan announced plans for a joint, $1.4-billion plant in Aguascalientes. Last year, Audi broke ground on a $1.3-billion factory near Puebla.
Honda, Mazda, Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford already assemble vehicles in Mexico.
Peña Nieto lauded the Kia plan, saying, "We celebrate that Kia Motors has decided to join in the success story that we Mexicans are writing," and predicted the auto industry would be at the forefront of the nation's economic expansion.
Mexico is already the world's eighth-largest producer of automobiles, said Mike Jackson, an analyst at IHS Automotive. With the new factories it would move into sixth place, ahead of Brazil and South Korea, by 2020.
"The carmakers are using Mexico to hedge their bets on global sourcing," said James Rubenstein, an auto industry analyst and geography professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. "Mexico has gone from being a closed, high-tariff country to the top of the league for trade. You can ship your products in any direction."
The spending isn't all headed south. Automakers are still investing heavily in the U.S., expanding and updating existing factories.
General Motors on Wednesday said it would pour more than $200 million into two existing U.S. factories, and would move assembly of the next-generation Cadillac SRX from Mexico to Spring Hill, Tenn.
Mexico now accounts for more than 18% of North American auto production. That's expected to jump to 25% or more by 2019 as automakers pour billions of dollars into factories, Jackson said.
Mexico offers a workforce with good engineering and manufacturing skills at a lower price than the U.S., Japan and Europe, said Mark Muro, a policy analyst at the Brookings Institution.
"We could hit a time when more than half of North American auto jobs are in Mexico," Muro said.
But such a milestone would be partly symbolic because auto factories are far less labor intensive than in years past, he said.
High-paying white-collar jobs are likely to remain north of the border, Muro said.
"The high-value design, engineering and innovation technology jobs remain in the U.S. and are clustering even more in places like Detroit and California," Muro said.
The Kia factory will be built in the city of Pesqueria, in the border state of Nuevo Leon, and completed in the first half of 2016, said Hyung-Keun Lee, vice chairman of Kia Motors Corp. It represents the first investment by any South Korean automaker in Mexico.
It will have the capacity to build 300,000 vehicles annually and will alleviate a shortage of cars for the U.S. market that has hampered the growth of Kia and its sister brand Hyundai, which owns 34% of Kia. The companies share the development of engines, transmissions, car platforms and automotive technology.
Kia has grown rapidly in the U.S. in recent years. Its sales this year are on track to reach about 600,000 vehicles, double the volume it sold in 2009.
Kia's sole North American factory is in West Point, Ga., where it builds the Sorrento crossover and Optima sedan, as well as Hyundai's Santa Fe sport utility vehicle. The plant, which also makes parts for Kia and Hyundai vehicles, employs about 3,000 workers.
While Kia hasn't officially said what it will build in its Mexico plant, it's likely that the automaker will focus on small cars, including the Rio subcompact hatchback, the Forte compact sedan and the Soul compact crossover, said Ed Kim, vice president of industry analysis at AutoPacific.
The Soul is Kia's second-most-popular vehicle in the U.S., and the automaker is struggling to keep up with demand. Meanwhile, the Rio's size makes it popular in Latin America.
Kia has lagged in sales in the competitive compact car segment, where it offers the Forte. It's a high-quality car built on the same platform as Hyundai's immensely popular Elantra, yet it doesn't match the Hyundai's sales, Kim said, in part because of supply constraints.
"Building Forte in North America really could go a long way toward increasing that model's presence here," Kim said.
Kia's Pesqueria plant could also be tapped to build various Hyundai vehicles, including the subcompact Hyundai Accent and a planned compact crossover from Hyundai based on the Kia Soul.
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Post by Nictoshek on Jan 13, 2016 9:16:45 GMT -7
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Post by karl on Jan 13, 2016 12:38:25 GMT -7
A very bad situation to say of least. She {Gisela Mota} was very brave and courageous to even consider the Mayor position. And, filled with ambitions to make a difference, this was her mistake in reality.
For her promise to the people, was to pledge to fight organized crime with this, was to shorten her mayership into one and half days plus the cost to her life.
Mexico out side the larger cities is a different life, for their is very little middle class, but primarily poor and the Rich or well to do as it will be. With this, is not just one crime mafia, but various many, some competing against one another for territory whilst others co exist whilst staying out of the others area.
With the above, the police are some things else, for many out side once again the larger cities, are paid out by which ever crime organization that is holding the area and a few are honest. But, in time they do not stay honest for the reason it is not only dangerous but the road to poverty, for they are not paid much to begin with. In the manner of day to day operations, this issue is not a hinderment to their basic duties and not realized to the general public.
In the better neighbourhoods, safety patrols or security patrols as you will, are provided by firms as a service. For the residence subscribing for this service, makes them and the area actually very safe and for a good reason. For the protection from, often is the same people that would be a cause of what they need protection from. With this though, is the reality that other criminal types should by being stupid or other wise do harm or damage in these protected neighourhoods, would soon pay for their folly and if they survive, they with certain would not be once again in the area.
Once again though, in reality, if there were not the customer market north of the border, these various crime groups would simply dry up and spend their time on the farms most came from in the first.
Karl
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