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 Editorials | At Issue
Protesters Found in Database
 Walter Pincus
A Defense Department database devoted to gathering information on potential threats to military facilities and personnel, known as Talon, had 13,000 entries as of a year ago - including 2,821 reports involving American citizens, according to an internal Pentagon memo to be released today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Terrorists Training in South America Threaten US National Security
 Jim Kouri
As Americans remember the horror of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington more than five years ago, the US borders are practically as porous as ever. Yet Americans get few answers during the heated debate.
Mexico's Multi-Front War on Drugs
 Denise Dresser
Clad in military fatigues, at the helm of an increasingly active and visible army, Calderon has declared an all-out war against Mexico's two main scourges: drug trafficking and the organized crime networks it has spawned.
Some Question Mexican Leader's Public Alignment with Military
 Laurence Iliff
In a nation where civilian leaders have mostly kept the military at arm's length, Mr. Calderón has embraced it, inviting generals to media events and lavishing praise on the armed services, which have effectively replaced the police as the nation's bulwark against the growing power of drug cartels.
U.S. Guns Pour into Mexico
 Chris Hawley & Sergio Solache
Combat-style rifles are pouring into Mexico, aided by the end of the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban in 2004 and an arms race among several Mexican cartels battling for control of lucrative drug routes.
Maya Culpa? 'Apocalypto' Reaches Latin America
 Mark Stevenson
Mayan Indians were having mixed reactions to Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" prior to Monday's screening of the movie in Mexico City after viewing bootleg copies of the bloody, pre-Columbian epic set in a Mexican jungle.
Despite Arrests, Deaths, Tijuana Cartel Still Strong
 El Universal
Despite the arrest and deaths of a number of its members during the last six years, the Tijuana Cartel remains largely intact. In fact, the organization that controls drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States along the Pacific has perhaps emerged strengthened.
Killings Abroad Go Unsolved
 Curtis Rush
More than 250 Canadians have been slain outside the country since 2000, the Star has found. Many cases remain unsolved. Relatives say Canada isn't doing enough to protect its citizens.
Mexican Press Under Siege
 Tina Rosenberg
The north of Mexico is under siege. Gang wars for control of the drug market and cocaine routes to the United States took at least 2,000 lives in Mexico last year, most of them in border states.
Military Is Expanding Its Intelligence Role in US
 Eric Lichtblau & Mark Mazzetti
The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering.
GPS Plan Well-Intentioned
 Hernan Rozemberg
If approved, a proposed project would offer would-be border crossers satellite-tracking devices to use if stranded or injured. The signal could be picked up by U.S. border agents and Mexican consular officials to coordinate a rescue.
Breaking Ranks: US Troops Call for Iraq Withdrawal
 Charles E. Anderson
The Appeal for Redress of Grievances, which relies on whistleblower protection laws, calls for "the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq" and represents the first organized active-duty military movement to oppose the war and occupation of Iraq since Vietnam.
Mexican Government Condemns Fatal Shooting
 Jonathan Clark
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat on Saturday condemned the shooting of a Mexican man by a Border Patrol agent near Naco on Friday and said it had instructed its officials in Douglas and Washington to investigate the incident.
On the Take - and On Camera in Mexico
 Héctor Tobar
Across Mexico, activists and a small number of reform-minded officials are working to use relatively simple record-keeping and monitoring methods to improve government efficiency and make the country's notoriously byzantine bureaucracy more accountable.
"The Most Dangerous Foreign Policy Blunder Since Vietnam"
 Marc Pitzke
George W. Bush's last attempt to win the war in Iraq is meeting with strong resistance. His own party is criticizing him with brutal openness, calling his new ideas for Iraq a disaster. Bush is almost completely isolated - like Richard Nixon during his final days in office.
A Living Wage?
 Domenico Maceri
“Sí se puede” chanted the hotel workers in a recent meeting at the Los Angeles City Council. Workers were applauding the council’s vote, which will require hotels near Los Angeles International Airport to pay a “living wage” of at least $10.64 an hour.
Lawmakers Look to Limit Mexican ID Cards, Wire Transfers
 Mike Sunnucks
Arizona State lawmakers are pushing a number of measures aimed at illegal immigrants and employers who unlawfully hire them. The get-tough proposals are sponsored by Republicans including State Rep. Russell Pearce, a leading conservative immigration hawk.
Southwest Pizza Chain Paying for Move to Accept Mexican Pesos
 Jeff Carlton
A Dallas pizza chain has been hit with death threats and hate mail after offering to accept Mexican pesos, a practice that is becoming another flashpoint in the nation's debate over immigrants.
Where Covering a Wedding Can Bring Death Threats
 Tina Rosenberg
Working as a reporter has become a very dangerous job in Mexico. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, seven Mexican reporters were killed last year, their work the confirmed or suspected reason.
US Activists Campaign to Block Iraq Troop Increase
 Andy Sullivan
Anti-war activists took to the streets of US cities on Thursday for the first of what organisers promised would be thousands of protests against President Bush's plan to send more US troops to Iraq.
DEA Seeks to Increase Its Presence in Mexico
 James Pinkerton
With Mexico's new president launching another anti-drug crackdown, U.S. agents hope to expand their presence to three Mexican border cities where narcotics-trafficking runs rampant.
Study: 744,000 Are Homeless in US
 Stephen Ohlemacher
There were 744,000 homeless people in the United States in 2005, according to the first national estimate in a decade. A little more than half were living in shelters, and nearly a quarter were chronically homeless, according to the report Wednesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group.
AP's Oaxaca Correspondent in Conflict-of-Interest
 narconews.com
Associated Press correspondent in Oaxaca, Rebeca Romero, spent much of 2006 distorting the story of the Popular Assembly movement in Oaxaca to protect that state's disgraced governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.
Rallies Across the U.S. Urge President Bush to Pardon Heroic Mexican-American Border Patrol Agents
 USNewswire
Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean have risked their lives to protect our borders from terrorists, drug smugglers and other illegal crossers. Instead of being praised for finding a smuggler's truck filled with drugs and attempting to apprehend the smuggler, they were convicted of assault and sentenced to at least 11 years in prison.
Priests Ask Vatican to Punish Mexican Cleric Accused of Child Abuse
 Associated Press
Several Roman Catholic priests in the central Mexican state of Puebla have asked the Vatican to strip a fellow cleric accused of child abuse of his priestly privileges, church officials said Tuesday.
In First TV Show, Mexican Ex-Presidential Candidate Proposes New Law, Criticizes Government
 Istra Pacheco
Ex-presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has refused to accept his slim loss to President Felipe Calderon in last July's election, launched a weekly TV show early Tuesday mocking the current government's battle against crime and unemployment and promising to promote a law targeting Mexico's monopolies.
Calderon's Crusade on Drugs in Mexico Rises Above Rest
 Carlos Luken
After only a month in office, corruption and incompetence among local police authorities encouraged Calderon to increase Mexico's military budget by a momentous 20 percent, and to use 3,000 soldiers, marines and federal police officers to make good on his campaign promise to restore law and order to his crime stricken country.
Stopping the Surge
 Scot Lehigh
Ted Kennedy thinks George W. Bush is dead wrong on a troop surge for Iraq - and while some other Democrats have reacted diffidently, he is determined to force the issue.
Mexican Gunmen in Arizona Border Incident
 Heidi
The excursion into U.S. territory last week by "Mexican gunmen" was not a chance confrontation between the Arizona National Guard and untrained illegal immigrants, but a deliberate "perimeter probe" by an infantry-trained, uniformed Mexican force, officials say.
In Mexico, 'People Do Really Want to Stay'
 Peter S. Goodman
Pedro Martin worries that life in the central Mexican state of Jalisco is about to be shaken by globalization. Already much of Mexico's farm country has been overwhelmed by an influx of crops from the United States in the years following the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Jalisco, Mexico: Open Closets, Skeletons Rattle Out
 Mark in Mexico
As new municipal and state governments took office in early December and this month, the many and various mayors and their staffs began taking inventories of what they had inherited from their preceeding municipal governments. It is apparently not a pretty picture.
Bush Making A Bid to Turn Around His Flagging Presidency
 Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Over the next three weeks, beginning this week with a prime-time address to the nation on what he calls the way forward in Iraq, continuing with the State of the Union address later in January and concluding with the release of his 2008 budget on Feb. 5, Bush will set a blueprint for the rest of his presidency.
Residents Pleased with Disarmed Police
 Richard Marosi, Sam Enriquez & Héctor Tobar
Disarmed municipal police patrolled alongside armed state police last week, a sight that brought some comfort to many in this border city where municipal police are often equated with corruption and a plague of drug-fueled violence.
State of Mexico Sees Increase in Femicides
 Fernando Martínez
The majority of the victims are young girls from the municipalities bordering Mexico City - Chimalhuacán, Ecatepec, Nezahualcóyotl, Naucalpan and Valle de Chalco. Most were strangled and sexual assault was the primary motive.
Conduct Charges Might Help Watada's Defense
 Christian Hill
Army prosecutors might have unwittingly aided the defense of the Fort Lewis officer they're trying for his refusal to deploy to Iraq. Attorneys for 1st Lt. Ehren Watada want his jury to hear next month from experts that the war violated U.S. and international law in their effort to win his acquittal.
Shipwreck Survivors: Three Men in a Boat
 Adam Jacques
They claim to have survived for 289 days at sea, but, four months on, the awe-inspiring tale of the Mexican fishermen looks less like a miracle and more like an elaborate hoax.
Goodbye to a Year of Ironies
 William Fisher
One needs a well-honed sense of irony to truly appreciate 2006. Some of these ironies were funny. Some were embarrassing. A lot were downright tragic. Before we finally consign the old year to the historians, let us recount some of them.
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney Makes the Case for Impeachment
 David Swanson
As some people learned from the minimal and abusive media coverage, on December 8, 2006, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney introduced Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush, making him the 10th president of the United States to face such action.
Court Reinstates Mexican Transsexual’s Bid for Asylum
 Kenneth Ofgang
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider its order that a Mexican transsexual be removed to her native country, where she says she is likely to be physically abused because of her sex change.
A New Theory for Mass Deaths Under Spanish Conquest Stirs Heated Debate in Mexico
 Mark Stevenson
Mexicans have long been taught to blame diseases brought by the Spaniards for wiping out most of their Indian ancestors. But recent research suggests things may not be that simple.
Bush Speaks Latinos’ Language
 Domenico Maceri
“Quiero sus botas” (I want your boots) said George W. Bush to a group of Latinos in the presidential election of 2000. Bush meant to say “votos” (votes) instead of “botas,” his mistake reflecting a weak knowledge of the Spanish language.
Fence In The Sky - Border Wall Cuts Through Native Land
 Russell Morse
Cultural and ecological concerns about the proposed 700 mile fence across the southern border of the United States are not lost on indigenous peoples and environmental activists along the busiest route for smuggling and migration in southern Arizona.
Calderón Prepares Troops for Long Offensive
 Kelly Arthur Garrett
Sounding increasingly like a war president in his second month in office, President Calderón rallied federal troops Wednesday, urging them "not to lose heart" in what he said could be a drawn-out offensive against organized drug traffickers.
A Gathering of Fugitives
 PVNN
Diana Anhalt’s book, "A Gathering of Fugitives," which tells the story of more than sixty American families who sought refuge in Mexico during the so-called McCarthy era, and has been out-of-print for some time, is now available as a free e-book.
For South Africa's Gold Pirates, the Underground Life Holds Risks and Rewards
 Craig Timberg
Thousands of disgruntled mineworkers laid down their tools one Wednesday night in March 2005, and in the eight days they were on strike, one of the darkest secrets of South Africa's gold mining industry spilled into the light.
America's Holy Warriors
 Chris Hedges
The former New York Times Mideast Bureau chief warns that the radical Christian right is coming dangerously close to its goal of co-opting the country's military and law enforcement.
9,000 Deaths Over Six Years
 El Universal
Drug traffickers were responsible for almost 9,000 murders during the six years of the Fox administration. From 2001 through November 30 of 2006, the number of "narco-executions" averaged over 1,000 per year, soaring to 2,100 in the first 11 months of 2006.
Phone Extortion Coming from Behind Bars in Mexico
 Marion Lloyd
Mexico now rivals Colombia as the hemisphere's kidnapping capital, with an average 1,200 abductions a year, according to the government. Mexico's fastest growing crime racket is being run out of the big house.
Can Calderon Boost Mexico’s Tourism Industry?
 Allan Wall
One of Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s promises is to stimulate the tourist industry, a great strategy insofar as tourism is already important to the Mexican economy. In fact some regions depend upon it.
What's In the Cards for 2007?
 Anita Manning
The new year promises an end to political divisiveness, a new shift toward cultural civility and a shoring up of America's image abroad, one prognosticator believes. But the news isn't all good.
Time to Reflect as Iraq Toll Hits 3,000
 Allen G. Breed
Perhaps no place illustrates the toll of the Iraq war more vividly than Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. In this "garden of stone," in ruler-straight rows, rest one-tenth of the Iraq war's American dead, whose number has reached 3,000.
Immigration Debate Blazed in 2006
 Edward Sifuentes
2006 arguably could be summed up as the year of immigration. Whether on the streets of Southern California or in the halls of Congress, immigration reform seemed to be on the tip of almost everyone's tongue.
On the Gallows, Curses for US and "Traitors"
 Marc Santora
Saddam Hussein never bowed his head, until his neck snapped. His last words were equally defiant. "Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians."
Life in a Gilded Cage
 Carol Rosenberg
A peek behind the walls and into the gated communities of the nation’s elite, here in Mexico City, offers a look at children leading a rarefied life of exclusive schools and gloriously manicured country clubs, weekend homes and far-flung travel.
Mexican Commission Denounces Oaxaca Deaths
 Prensa Latina
The International Commission for Human Rights Observation denounced the absence of investigation of 17 deaths during seven months of clashes in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
A New Era of Lending Dawns for Mexico's Bankless Millions
 Augusta Dwyer
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s plan to open banks here next year may presage a new era in the stormy history of Mexico's commercial banking sector.
Bush Reaching Out to Latin America
 Pablo Bachelet
The Bush administration has refused to talk to foes like Iran, North Korea and Cuba, but it has no such qualms about some of its sternest critics in Latin America, including President Hugo Chavez.
America's Dopey Drug War
 Alan Burkhart
Since 2001, the phrase "War on Terror" has become a part of the English language. That we are a nation at war and at risk, there can be no doubt. This is not the first time the United States has entered into a war with a shadowy, ill-defined opponent.
Better Schools is Part of Solution
 Tyler Cowen
Poorly functioning Mexican and Latino educational systems are a central problem behind current immigration dilemmas, and the United States is partly responsible. If the United States took in a higher ratio of legal immigrants, and required more education, the entire North American region would be better off.
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