Latin America: Week in Review, Mexico
Mexico Attorney General Charges 111 Aides with Corruption
July 22, 2011 By Staff
Today in Latin America
Top Story — 111 officials in Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office have been charged with fraud, embezzlement and abuse of power, while another 192 were fired for fouling up investigations. Inspector General César Alejandro Chávez said that the office is also investigating dozens of other agents and prosecutors on criminal charges in what is the largest purge at the agency since President Felipe Calderón declared war on Mexico’s drug cartels in 2006. The fired officials are accused of receiving bribes, freeing suspects and carrying out illegal raids. The investigations began back in April, when Calderón appointed Marisela Morales as attorney general. Morales promised to fight corruption, as well as combating Mexico’s ubiquitous drug trade.
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- Pro-Chávez community organizations in New York’s South Bronx that once received generous grants from the Venezuelan government have seen their funding dry up — and they want to know why. Juan Fajardo reports.
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- The Mexican army seized over 800 tons of chemicals used for making methamphetamine during a raid in the industrial area in Queretaro, about 125 miles north of Mexico City.
- A court interpreter from Texas, who was kidnapped earlier this month, was found dead in Mexico after relatives failed to pay a $10,000 ransom.
- Poet Javier Sicilia and a group of protesters demanded the immediate passage of a political reform bill that has remained stagnant in Mexico’s Congress during its recess.
- The American Civil Liberties Union filed an injunction with a federal judge to block Alabama’s strict anti-immigration law.
Caribbean
- Disappointed by the slow pace of reconstruction since Haiti’s horrific earthquake 18 months ago, President Michel Martelly plans to announce a major shake-up Friday of the commission charged with the country’s recovery.
- Washington tried and failed to control Haiti after an armed revolt forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile, cables released by WikiLeaks indicate.
- Cuba’s education sector will close out the 2010-2011 academic year with a reduction of about 15,000 jobs as part of the government’s policy to trim bloated state payrolls, the official Prensa Latina news agency said Thursday.
Central America
- El Salvador’s Special Unit for Organized Crime said that kidnapping was down 50 percent in the country compared to the previous 12-month period.
- The Canadian government released the names of 30 individuals wanted for war crimes, including one man who was born in Honduras.
- A 40-foot deep sinkhole formed under the bed of woman living in Guatemala City, coming over a year after the 2010 sinkhole that toppled a three-story building and a house in the city.
- According to the country’s central bank, Costa Rica’s economy will expand 4.5 percent this year as foreign companies invest in telecommunications and outsourcing.
- The Panama Canal Authority and the Port of Tampa renewed their cooperative agreement in an effort to bolster trade.
Andes
- At least seven inmates were killed and dozens injured in brawls at two Venezuelan prisons, security officials said, just a week after authorities put down the deadliest jail uprising in the nation’s history.
- Indigenous tribes in Colombia are demanding government military and guerrilla armed forces remove their bases from their land, officials said.
- A ban on sales of loose cigarettes and tobacco advertising went into effect Thursday in Colombia, the health ministry said.
- An Ecuadorian judge has ordered three executives and a former columnist from one of the country’s major newspapers, each to be jailed for three years and, along with the daily, to pay President Rafael Correa a total of $40 million for defamation, a ruling that critics called an assault on free speech.
- Leftist president-elect Ollanta Humala dispelled most remaining doubts that he will try to continue Peru’s current business-friendly economic policies by naming a host of establishment political figures officials to key cabinet positions.
Southern Cone
- The Brazilian sports minister promised that the construction and renovation of the 12 stadiums scheduled to host matches at the World Cup will be finished by late 2013.
- The Chilean government declared a “catastrophe” in eight southern districts after heavy snowfall left an estimated 6,500 people isolated.
- Paraguay defeated Venezuela in the Copa America semi-finals, advancing to face rival Southern Cone nation Uruguay in Sunday’s final.
Image: World Economic Forum @ Flickr.
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