Tuesday, January 10, 2012

"Focos rojos" or danger zones for 2012 local elections

A story from El Universal, with an accompanying graphic (click here for hi-resolution PDF) on municipalities particularly in the states of Guerrero, Colima, Jalisco, Sonora, Tabasco that are considered focos rojos given the level of violence and presence of organized crime.
El Universal

Miguel Mancera: Background information

Here's an article from Milenio that gives some background information on Miguel Ángel Mancera Espinosa, who is very likely to become the left's 2012 mayoral candidate for Mexico City, and quite likely to win that election.

One fun fact: Why did he take a law degree (he excelled at school), when he was already a  medicine student?
A traffic accident where he got hurt and thoroughly screwed over - he was made to sign, half-conscious, a waiver where the rich kid whose Mustang ran into his VW Beatle was released from any responsibility.

Guerrero: First stage of human rights investigation

Mexico's national human rights commission (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH) published its first and preliminary report on the killing of two students and an employee in Guerrero past December 12.

The report first and foremost strongly criticizes the police for having brought and used heavy weapons to the student protest in the first place, and suggests that its final report is likely to show state police as responsible for firing the lethal shots.

Yet Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, head of the commission, notably also criticized the students and said their actions as well would be investigated - they have repeatedly stolen vehicles, blocked the Autopista del Sol demanding "contributions" from drivers, and most notoriously, threw Molotov cocktails on a PEMEX gas station which resulted in the death of an employee.

Most recently, students from Ayotzinapa took over 19 buses, threw out the passengers, and drove to Mexico City where they protested outside the Chamber of Deputies. Earlier they broke into four radio stations in Guerrero to broadcast their protests and demand information on the investigations. They then again blocked the Autopista.

These acts may increasingly be counter productive, as there are indications the Guerrero population is getting weary of their ways of protesting: At several occasions the past days, there have been marches in Guerrero protesting their actions, and backing the Guerrero governor.

As one of the students declared during the taking of the radio stations:
It is true that some sectors of society have asked us to change the methods of struggle. We agree, but what we will do this when there is no longer corruption in the political parties, be it the PRI, PAN and PRD.