Author: Staff

Drug strategy unclear as Mexico pares back new security force | Reuters

Posted by | Aug 28, 2013 | |

Mexico’s government on Tuesday diluted plans for a new security force to fight drug gangs, as President Enrique Pena Nieto struggles to break with the military-led strategy of his predecessor.Pena Nieto took office in December vowing to take a different tack in Mexico’s raging drug war. Former President Felipe Calderon tried to tame drug bosses with a military assault, but it was widely seen as a failure and more than 70,000 people died in drug-related violence.Pena Nieto originally promised a 40,000-member gendarmerie, or militarized police force, that would take the lead in tackling violent crimes like extortion and kidnapping as the marines and army gradually returned to their barracks.The aim was to move the command away from Mexico’s complex network of poorly paid security forces, which have been easy targets for the cartels to infiltrate and corruptvia Drug strategy unclear as Mexico pares back new security force |...

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Op-Ed: Is Immigration Reform a Reason for Hope – Or Just Dreams? » The Chicago Bureau

Op-Ed: Is Immigration Reform a Reason for Hope – Or Just Dreams? » The Chicago Bureau

Posted by | Aug 26, 2013 | |

In May of 2010 Michelle Obama and the wife of former Mexican leader Felipe Calderon were siting in on a classroom in an elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland, when a second grader cornered the First Lady on the issue of immigration:“My mom … she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn’t have papers,” the girl said. “My mom doesn’t have any papers.”The First Lady responded: “Well, we have to work on that. We have to fix that, and everybody’s got to work together in Congress to make sure that happens.”Despite the plea, the eight-year-old girl’s...

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GAO Report: CBP Unreliable On Border Wait Times | Fronteras Desk

GAO Report: CBP Unreliable On Border Wait Times | Fronteras Desk

Posted by | Aug 23, 2013 | , |

Trade with Mexico, the nation’s third-largest trade partner behind Canada and China, is important to the United States’ economic health, and timely access to Mexican goods is important to both U.S. manufacturers and consumers. The value of goods imported into the United States from Mexico has increased over 30 percent in the last 5 years, and in 2012 imports from Mexico were valued at nearly $278 billion. Most of this trade crosses the border by commercial truck, and in 2012 there were over 5 million truck crossings into the United States from Mexico.via GAO Report: CBP Unreliable On Border...

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Obama administration considers new plan to bolster Mexico’s southern border | Fox News

Obama administration considers new plan to bolster Mexico’s southern border | Fox News

Posted by | Aug 23, 2013 | |

Obama administration and Mexican government officials recently discussed creating a three-tier security system designed to protect Mexico’s southern border from drug and human traffickers, according to U.S. officials.The border control plan calls for U.S. funding and technical support of three security lines extending more than 100 miles north of Mexico’s border with Guatemala and Belize. The border security system would use sensors and intelligence-gathering to counter human trafficking and drug running from the region, a major source of illegal immigration into the United States.According to the officials who discussed the U.S.-Mexican talks on condition of anonymity, the Mexican government...

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Why President Enrique Peña Nieto Is Changing Mexico With Energy Reform – ABC News

Why President Enrique Peña Nieto Is Changing Mexico With Energy Reform – ABC News

Posted by | Aug 17, 2013 | |

While the U.S. Congress has trouble even keeping the lights on, the pace of change in Mexico under the Presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto has surprised even the most optimistic observers.On August 12th Peña Nieto submitted to Congress a bill that would end the state’s 75-year energy monopoly. Bloomberg reports that Peña Nieto’s plan would allow private companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron to pump crude for the first time since 1938 by changing articles 27 and 28 of the constitution. According to Enrique Ochoa, Deputy Energy Minster, the proposed bill would enable companies that invest in Pemex...

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