Latin America: Week in Review, Mexico
Violent Weekend In Mexico As Drug Violence Spreads Throughout The Country
November 8, 2010 By Staff
Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Today in Latin America
Top Story — Mexico suffered a string of violent episodes over the weekend, as drug cartels continued to destabilize the country.
In the most recent wave of violence, at least 20 people were murdered in the border city of Ciudad Juaréz, according to The Associated Press.
The victims were killed in separate incidents. Ciudad Juárez has been the scene of a violent turf war between the Juárez and Sinoloa cartels.
Police also found a human head in a gift-wrapped box over the weekend in the southern city of Oaxaca. Local reporters said a message at the scene made reference to the Zetas cartel.
On Friday, the Mexican government announced that the brother of a former state attorney general of Chihuahua had been killed, The Los Angeles Times reported. The victim, Mario González, had been kidnapped and was forced to make a video accusing his sister Patricia of committing crimes for drug cartels, Mexican officials said Friday.
Mexican authorities arrested eight suspects in the crime and Federal police commissioner Facundo Rosas said the suspects worked for the Sinaloa cartel.
Patricia González denied any connections to the cartels in an interview with The Los Angeles Times last month. “It hurts my soul that criminals use my brother to punish me,” she said.
Also on Friday, a leader of the Gulf cartel, Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, was shot to death in the border town of Matamoros after a shootout that residents said lasted several hours.
Three suspected gunmen, two marines and a local journalist also died during the gunfight, The BBC reports.
U.S. President Barack Obama voiced support for the Mexican government in its battle against the cartels upon learning of the violence on Friday.
“The president offered his condolences to President Calderón on the death of Mexican officials involved in the operation,” the White House said, according to a report by The BBC.
Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch
- Juan Víctor Fajardo reports on Bolivian President Evo Morales’ struggle to balance environmentalism and the demands of an economy still driven by mineral extraction.
- Argentines came together to remember their former President Néstor Kirchner at his funeral on Monday. Joel Richards sent us this photo essay from Buenos Aires.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- The U.S. federal government is concerned that oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill may be settling on the ocean floor, causing environmental damage where it’s hardest to see.
Caribbean
- The wives and mothers of political prisoners marched in Havana Sunday, demanding the government honor an agreement to release their loved ones by the end of the day.
- Officials in Haiti say a river that has been a source of a cholera epidemic is expected to overflow following heavy rains from Hurricane Tomas.
- The former governor-general of Canada, Haitian born Michaëlle Jean will assume her new role as UNESCO special envoy for Haiti on Monday.
- Dengue fever is at epidemic levels in Puerto Rico, and is the suspected cause of death of surfer Andy Irons, whose had just visited the country.
Central America
- A new Guatemalan army contingent known as the “green battalion” began operations to protect a national park in the Maya Biosphere Reserve.
- President Álvaro Colom vetoed a bill approved last month by the Guatemalan Congress to restore the head of state’s ability to issue pardons.
- At least 19 soldiers were implicated in the theft of a plane from a Honduran air base last week, officials said.
- Nicaragua is asking Google not to change its maps with respect Isla Calero while it continues its border dispute with Costa Rica
Andes
- Facing a wave of criticism from business leaders, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is defending his order for government officials to seize control of residential complexes.
- Peru said nine runners in the marathon through New York’s five boroughs on Sunday wore shirts bearing a message demanding Yale return pre-Columbian artifacts taken nearly 100 years ago from the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.
Southern Cone
- The 82 year-old American owner of CIC Resources, Inc. owns what may be the world’s largest titanium deposit in Paraguay after the Paraguayan government passed new mineral claims legislation at his urging in September.
- Argentines marched in Buenos Aires Saturday in a gay pride parade that drew thousands.
- Rescued Chilean miner Edison Peña successfully completed the New York City marathon Sunday despite a knee injury.
Image: Gobierno Federal @ Flickr.
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