Latin America: Week in Review, Mexico
Brother Of Murdered Mexican Gubernatorial Candiate Rodolfo Torre Cantú Will Run In His Place
July 1, 2010 By Staff
Mexican President Felipe Calderón.
Today in Latin America
Top Story — The brother of a murdered Mexican gubernatorial candidate was named Wednesday his replacement in this weekend’s upcoming election.
Rodolfo Torre Cantú’s brother, Egidio Torre, said that he asked his family before agreeing to take up his slain brothers candidacy as the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s candidate for governor of Tamaulipas state.
“I have accepted to be the substitute candidate for governor of the state of Tamaulipas despite the profound pain,” Torre said at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. “I’m inspired by my brother’s death.”
Rodolfo Torre Cantú, 46, was killed along with at least four supporters when gunmen opened fire on his motorcade, which was on its way to a campaign event.
Egidio Torre, the older brother of Rodolfo, is 53 and works as an engineer and real state developer, but has little experience in politics.
The death of Rodolfo Torre marked a rise in election-related violence leading up to Sunday’s elections in 14 states, including 12 for governors. Mexican President Felipe Calderón asked political parties Tuesday to unite against drug traffickers.
“United, Mexicans can and will overcome a common enemy that today threatens to destroy not only our tranquility but our democratic institutions,” Calderón said, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Critics of Calderón blame his offensive against the drug cartels for the increase in violence, with almost 25,500 people dead in drug-related violence in Mexico over the past three and a half years.
Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch
- Alison Bowen takes a look at what President Obama will discuss at his speech on immigration expected today, at Beyond Borders.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- Hurricane Alex began moving toward landfall on Mexico’s gulf coast Wednesday, as winds increased to around 90 mph.
- A 6.2 magnitude struck southern Mexico Wednesday, killing at least one person and rattling buildings as far as Mexico City.
Caribbean
- Human rights group Amnesty International issued a report stating that the Cuban government’s rules governing political dissent have created a “climate of fear” and asking the government to release 53 political prisoners.
- Haitian President René Préval announced on Wednesday that his administration will reject most of the recently released U.S. Senate recommendations to address the country’s political problems.
- A demonstration against Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño’s policies, including proposed budget cuts, turned violent on Wednesday, when protesters attempted to enter the territory’s legislature.
Central America
- Despite a string of recent murders, the Guatemalan government said that it will not loosen prison rules to give in to gang demands.
- Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla made a trip to Panama earlier this week to discuss foreign investment opportunities and restoring Honduras to Central America’s organization.
- Nicaragua has proposed a new immigration law that is allegedly similar to Arizona’s controversial law.
- A French prosecutor is asking judges to sentence former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to 10 years prison and freeze some of his assets.
Andes
- A Colombian court handed down its first sentences to paramilitary leaders who demobilized under a peace pact with President Álvaro Uribe’s government.
- The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, said in a speech Wednesday that he believes that President Hugo Chávez’s government has an agenda that opposes the United States.
- The fossilized skull and jaw of a 12 to 13 million-year-old sperm whale was found by scientists in Peru.
Southern Cone
- Paraguayan model Larissa Riquelme said Wednesday she will run naked through the capital of Asunción if her country wins the World Cup, matching a similar claim from Argentine coach Diego Maradona.
- Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue was reinaugurated Wednesday after a $4 million renovation that had kept the work of art cloaked in scaffolding for the last four months.
- Chilean industrial output increased in May for the first time since a devastating earthquake in February.
- Former Argentine dictator Rafael Videla and ex-army chief Luciano Benjamín Menéndez will go on trial this week on charges of human rights abuses committed during the country’s last military dictatorship.
- The United States deported Uruguayan citizen Rodolfo Wanseele Paciello after he was convicted of acting as an unlicensed foreign agent in connection with an alleged $800,000 campaign contribution to Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Image: Gobierno Federal @ Flickr.
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