Marcos does Mexico… pornographers unite!
I don’t particularly trust Marcos (Rafael Guillén, I mean. I always thought the “man of mystery” thing was a bit of dramatic overkill). Jo Tuckman of the Guardian (UK) seems to be charmed... at least by the news that “There’s no politics in [the book he’s now working on]. Just sex. Pure pornography.”
Sure. Ok. I admit that the theatrical and playful aspects of the Zapatista propaganda machine has its uses, but it’s the Mexican right that’s benefitted from the Zapatista movement. It was their abstention campaign that cost Lopez Obradór a margin of victory too large to steal in the last presidential campaign, and their political activity has strengthened only PAN.
Tuckman thinks Marcos is an odd sort of “Marxist-Leninist”. But didn’t Lenin say that things had to go to hell to set the stage for a revolution?
The former orthodox Marxist-Leninist turned anti-globalisation guru, who is not himself indigenous, predicts that the subconscious power of the year 2010 – the 200th anniversary of the war of independence and the 100th of Mexico’s revolution – will ignite a fuse laid by American efforts to secure the bilateral border, leaving millions unable to escape to jobs in the north. “Mexico will turn into a pressure cooker,” he says. “And, believe me, it will explode.”
Marcos says that Mexico’s politicians, the media, and even earnest leftwing academics are oblivious to the radicalisation he sees bubbling just under the surface.
I don’t think people are oblivious to it. Yes, there is a huge demand for social and political change (see Oaxaca… see gay marriage in Coahuala… see abortion rights in the Federal District) . True, the political class hasn’t dealt effectively with globalization and its discontents, but Marcos does not have the support he thinks. The Zapatistas, for the most part are communities happy to be left alone. They couldn’t sustain a long-term revolt if they wanted to. I might object on progressive grounds to the San Andreas Accords (which gives COMMUNITIES rights that negate individual rights), but if they’re left alone, they’re happy.
Within Mexico, Marcos and the Zapatistas get a respectable hearing, and some sympathy (and practical support), but the unrest that’s been claimed by Marcos has been minor things like the Flower riot in Texcoco. Emiliano Zapata, as valuable as he was to the 1910-20 Revolution, never cared much about anything but local issues. Eventually, his concerns were included in the new state, but to claim the Zapatistas WERE the revolution is nonsense.
It seems to me that Marcosistas (as opposed to the real Zapatistas, who are, like the original Zapata, just fighting for their own lands and traditional – i.e. reactionary – way of life) either romanticize Revolution, or are foreigners, who look foreward to Mexican unrest to provide them with an object lesson for their own pet theories – or entertainment. Much the same as American conservatives and the “war on drugs/terror” they expect the Mexicans to do the fighting and dying for their political theories.
Speaking of the “War on Drugs”: An article on Felipe Calderón’s “anti-drug war” in Blogotitlan questions whether or not the “war” isn’t being waged to excuse anti-consititutional behavior, and even to justify a suspension of consitutional rights. Sort of like we use the “War on Terror”. If, as the author suggests, Calderón’s intention is to stifle dissent, then you really could see urban unrest. And that’s more likely to spark the 2010 Revolution than any porn novel by the masked marvel.
Jesus, and Uncle Joe, both say to give to the Mex Files…
This isn’t meant to apply to just Canadians. Gringos are apt to behave in the same way, though a lot of us (U.S. us’s) are in Mexico visiting relatives or acquaintances. Proportionately, more Canadians are package tourists and “springbreaker” tourists than we are, but a drunk is a drunk is a drunk.
Sami”, in a comment on my post about the latest Canadian death, and the coverage in that country’s media , made a good point:
In Mexico, being drunk in public is a big no no, something that will get locals and foreigners into trouble. I see so many tourists coming for cheap drinks and hookups… wandering around obnoxiously and throwing up in the bushes. The way a lot of tourists act in Mexico is not how they would conduct themselves in Canada.
A Canadian commentator on the Thorn Tree Message Board writes:
I also think it’s a miracle more Canadians don’t get seriously injured or killed in Mexico. The common denominator in a lot of these incidents is booze. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say they were going to Mexico, and the first thing they intend to do is get drunk. We as Canadians don’t seem to regard any other tourist destination this way. Mexico means cheap booze and no rules to many of us, and it’s a recipe for disaster. Sadly, a lot of the resorts seem to promote this behaviour. A while back, my wife and I were on a beach in Mazatlan, and were next to a large group of young people from Calgary. It was two o’clock in the afternoon, and they were just so terribly drunk. They were rude, obnoxious, guzzling tequila on a public beach and directing racial slurs toward the vendors selling things on the beach. They could not walk a straight line, but were swimming at a place with a fairly strong undertow. Several had sunburns that probably would require medical attention. I was embarrassed by their behaviour, hopefully they stayed close to their hotel, and didn’t inflict themselves on the rest of the city. Most places in the world acting this way in public would have unwelcome consequences, so why do so many Canadians think they can get away with it in Mexico?
Todd Babiak of the Edmonton (Alberta) Journal writes:
Talk to Mexicans about Canadians and you’ll hear two stories. They love Canadians. Thank you, friends, for coming to our country! Talk a little longer and you’ll hear the second story, and it isn’t pleasant. Canadians, who like to think of themselves as a mild and friendly people, do not enjoy an enviable reputation in these tourist towns. We’re famous for drinking to excess, for patronizing and insulting Mexicans, for treating their country like the site of a giant frat party.
Indeed, certain parts of Mexico have an extraordinarily high crime rate. In the past seven years, there have been 172 reports of violence against Canadians in the country. But 172 out of seven million isn’t a particularly high number, considering the way many of us act in Mexico. If we were to parade drunkenly up and down Whyte Avenue in Edmonton or 17th Avenue in Calgary, drinks in hand, shouting at women, we would be inviting violence. It’s no different in Acapulco or Cancun.
I’ve hinted at the Mexican distaste for drunks before. Of course Mexican get drunk and act like assholes like anybody else, but they do it in their own country, behind closed doors (even in towns where shop doors are always open, cantinas have louvered “saloon doors” — and usually a wall before you get to the barroom — so the public is spared the sight of what goes on in there.
I was talking about “race” and class, but I once saw a drunk called every filthy name in the book for … well… acting like a drunk (he pooped his pants). What made the occasion remarkable among the many times I’ve seen drunks berated in public in Mexico was that he was “güero” and that among the insults used by the very “Aztec-nosed” brown Mexicans, the called the guy a “dirty Indian”. Otherwise, the sight of ordinary Mexicans expressing open contempt for a drunk wouldn’t have been anything I would have noticed. It’s the way things are.
Also, along the lines of “race” and class… I’ve noticed that the white foreigners (I’ve never heard this from persons of color) sometimes say the “Mexicans hate us.” However, when I think about it, the folks who say this are the ones who spend an inordinate amount of time in those off-the-street cantinas.
Or bars that cater to foreigners and the well-heeled. Though I don’t drink, I’ve been in my share of clubs. Fresas and nacos both get shit-faced, of course, but are usually with a bunch of friends that pull them out before they get kicked out. And, they know better than to hit on someone else’s significant other. They know the rules. The foreigners don’t. OK, in the tourist bars, Mexicans act like tourists, but the folks who go to the resorts in places like Cancún or Acapulco are either Fresas (and dickheads by definition), or playing big-shot for a couple of days, and again, probably with friends who know the social rules and will keep them out of trouble. IF they do get into trouble, no body is going to claim it was some elaborate plot, anyway.
Back in 2004, I’d written that William S. Burroughs thought he was seducing Mexican cops with liquor and drugs (and sex), when the reality was that back in those days, only a junkie or drunkie would take a job that made a person a social pariah in the 1940s.
I’d warned people in my little Mexico City guidebook too:
…public drunkenness is not much tolerated outside of tourist areas like the Zona Rosa. I have seen drunks publicly berated and nearly attacked outside of these areas.
And did I mention Pancho Villa, who was a teetotaller, had drunks in his army shot as cowards and traitors? Plutarco Elias Calles — when he was Revolutionary Governor of Sonora — dealt with public intox by putting drunks in front of the firing squad. But, then Plutarco was the son of an alcoholic and I’m told children of alcoholics can be pretty hard-core.
Sorry, folks… but the Hollywood image of the drunken happy Mexican is just in the movies.
The Mex Files is skinny, sober and… we hope… kinda on the ball. But being broke is no way to go though life…
I’m posting the entire story from today’s Laredo Morning Times, not so much because I really care about gangsters rubbing out their rivals, but because I want people to understand what border reporting entails, and what this means to Mexico and the U.S.
Notice the story is unsigned. It’s great reporting, and if the reporter is sending out clips, they’d be sure to include it. But, it’s not worth getting tortured and murdered for your career. The author is going to remain anonymous. And alive. He (or she) has enough information in there to piss off either the Gulf or Sinaloa cartel. The only officials named are people like the coroner… and those whose names are public records, like the guys who were arrested. And, you’ll notice, they’re not being held locally.
The killers dumped the bodies, but the crimes occured somewhere else. Those not connected in some way (like policemen and reporters) weren’t at any immediate risk from the Zetas. This is the kind of incident that’s used to claim Mexico is dangerous to visit, but I don’t see how tourists figure in here at all.
The army uniforms could be stolen, or for that matter, purchased in any army surplus store in Mexico. There’s plenty of them. It’s very troubling that gangsters are likely to impersonate the army, but the wacky stories you sometimes read about the army “protecting” drug smugglers, or smuggling drugs themselves, or some covert “Mexican invasion” are just that… wacky.
The guns didn’t come from Mexico. As the reporter noted, this is a “war for control of the lucrative drug-trafficking routes on the border” and these mercenaries are being supplied by those who want the drugs. While we’re focused on the theoretical possibility of “weapons of mass destruction” coming from south to north, the weapons of (selective) destruction are flowing south. I’ve said before, if you are bothered by Mexican gangland violence, don’t do drugs.
The people being killed are Mexicans. Mexican soldiers, Mexican prosecutors, Mexican reporters… in our drug war. These executions were allegedly in retaliation for attacks on the gangsters by military units, but the arrests were a police operation. There are serious problems with using military forces for police work (besides getting soldiers killed needlessly) and serious questions being asked throughout Mexico if the “war on the cartels” isn’t like our “war on terror”, a convenient way of also cracking down on dissent, and of justifying hard-line extralegal remedies for social problems.
I don’t see any mention of drug users. How long the Mexicans will put up with OUR drug habits causing deaths in their country (and scaring off the tourists, as well as making life difficult for ordinary people in towns like Nuevo Laredo) is an open question. Probably dealing with the narco-leaders is necessary, but whether the military will continue to be involved is questionable.
Finally, notice that this is local news from Laredo’s “sister city”. Why should ordinary people in Nuevo Laredo put up with the danger and inconvenience of drug dealers, and cops and soldiers? Why should their businesses (and Laredo’s) be destroyed because of because of somebody else’s bad habits? They did not create the problem, and can’t be blamed for OUR bad habits.
I complain about the military folks on my side of the border who are here to keep the rest of the country’s conservatives safe from brown people. I don’t appreciate the extra state control, and the folks on the other side of the border want to get on with their lives too.
The GOOD NEWS is that this was a state police operation. Yeah, the cops in Mexico are crappy, but it’s a good sign when they are going after real criminals.
They get it in Lubbock
Perry Dorrel, aka PDiddie, from Lubbock writes:
Were it not for uncontrolled European immigration, the North American continent (from Mexico to Canada, just to be clear) would be populated with the people indigenous to it — brown people. Were it not for the slave trade by those same European immigrants, there would likely be millions fewer Africans calling themselves Americans.
And that’s exactly the way many of the conservative Europeans would like it to be.
It will never happen. There is nothing anyone can do to stem the surge of people of all races who will come to America for a chance at a better life, legally or not.
Their choices are to keep raging against the tide, or learn a little tolerance.
Don’t count on any intellectual breakthroughs from either the Republican base nor those who wish to lead them.
As if it were necessary, Brains and Eggs, shows that the real “progressives” in this country are not found on the A-list blogs. They’re found in places like Lubbock or Alpine.
We don’t attract the big contributors, but we’re not interested in what Howie said about Lou regarding Marcos, either. Nor are the machinations of the two U.S. political parties the beginning and end of the world. We’re interested in “pet issues” like how people live, and how the the United States’ largest neighbor — and foreign oil, mineral and labor supplier — is doing. You know. The real world.
We can only expect the small contributors who are as generous as they can be. Thanks to all who’ve contributed so far, but the Mex Files is still $300 behind this month.
Abortion: Ahí es un detalle…
Although first trimester abortions are to be be legal in the Federal District, whether the District’s health facilities will be able to meet the expected demand is a question. Most health facilities in Mexico are not run by the federal government, including the National Women’s Hospital, where the Secretary of Health spoke on Mothers Day:
Health Secretary José Ángel Córdova Villalobos warned that any doctor who performs a voluntary abortion in a federal health facility will be guilty of a crime and punished.
“The Federal Penal Code is clear,” said Córdova Villalobos, speaking at the Mother´s Day re-inauguration of the refurbished Women´s Hospital (Hospital de la Mujer) in Mexico City. “The sanctions are prison time, fines and a suspension of his or her medical license, which can be for several years.”
The District claims it has enough facilities of its own to meet local demand, but the crunch is going from women travelling to the capital for health care needs, including abortions.
The private clinic where I had a health-card (it was pretty much like an HMO… you paid a set annual price and then a small payment for any specialist’s visit) was owned by a group connected with the Sisters of Mercy. For things they really weren’t supposed to know about they sent you to the specialist outside the clinic. It’s a hassle and I expect doctors themselves will be doing a lot of referrals and there will be a lot of administrators looking the other way or writing up the abortions as somehow medically necessary until the Secretary comes to his senses.
Córdova Villalobos is a surgeon from Guadelajara, chosen for his political activities within PAN, not a public health specialist. Given the importance and acceptability of birth control in Mexico, I think he’s fighting a losing battle, and one that’s not going to help his party, or public health.
This is political posturing, and Mexico’s public health system has made too many advances to fall back. Interesting that in Yucatan, where first trimester abortions have been legal for women who already have three children and can plead poverty, are performed in federal facilities. But what happens in Yucatan stays in Yucatan. What happens in DF happens in the Capital and makes the front page of even the foreign press.
THE Queen (Friday Nite Video)
No… NOT the lady from England who George W. Bush implied was over 200 years old (damn, din’t that boy’s momma ever teach him manners?). She’s old… but not THAT old.
Nah… I mean THE QUEEN.
For the matriarch of an inbred white family living in public housing, the English lady probably deserves a lot of credit for still showing up for her government “make work” job at her age. But THE QUEEN was still working well past normal retirement age at something much more strenuous than cutting ribbons.
Yeah, I know the 128 million or so people in the Commonwealth THINK this welfare mom is who people mean when they talk about the Queen, but for 160 million Latin Americans… and Latin Americanists… there is only THE QUEEN
Celia Cruz may have died in 2003, but as she herself said, Yo viveré. If the Mex Files is to survive, it needs your donations:
Pity the poor foreign journalist in Mexico, who has to write about Cinco de Mayo. There ain’t a whole lot to say about a holiday with maybe the same importance as Flag Day in the U.S. They get a little testy explaining that.
Enterprising reporter Therese Margolis of the Mexico City Herald deserves a lot of credit then. She managed to track down a Mexico City Cinco de Mayo celebration…
The Association of Resident Ecuadorians in Mexico (Ecuarmex) and the Ecuadorian chancellery celebrated that country´s 1822 Battle of Pichincha with a fundraising kermesse (bazaar) in the garden of their nation´s embassy here on Sunday, May 5.
Nearly 400 people turned out to enjoy live cumbias performed by renowned Ecuadorian singer Julian Jaramillo and savor homemade fritada (steamed pork with hominy and onions), guatita (sweet tripe stew with corn and coriander) and hayacas (banana flour tamales stuffed with ground chicken and vegetables).
And as a special treat, Cecilia Suárez de Galarza, wife of Ecuadorian Ambassador to Mexico Galo Galarza Dávila, personally prepared a batch of llapingachos (corn cakes in a spicy peanut sauce) in accordance with an old family recipe.
By the way, the Battle of Pinincha was on 24 de Mayo 1822. Hey, can we throw another party on the 24th?
In Oaxaca, they blow away high prices
Here’s something I never heard of. I don’t know if this is just one of those ingenious solutions to an immediate problem or a world-wide trend I wouldn’t have seen if I didn’t read such scintillating literature as the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports (Mexican Food and Drink Report Q1 2007) in an Irish business publication.
Supermarkets are expanding into the Mexican campo. Energy costs are going up, and are a huge portion of supermarket overhead. So, look what Soriana’s up to
…the start of the year has been characterized by retailers taking dramatic steps to lower costs, implying that the increasing competition in the sector is putting margins under pressure. The way was led, in January, by second-largest retailer Soriana – with estimated sales of US$4.8bn in 2006, and still largely family owned – when it announced that it intends to invest, along with four partners, US$300mn to construct a wind-farm with a generating capacity of up to 396 megawatts in San Dionisio de Mar, in the southern state of Oaxaca. Wind speeds in Oaxaca reach up to 70kph. The plant is due to be operational ‘sometime in the second half of 2009’.
With electricity prices now representing 15% of Soriana’s overall operational costs, and with the price of electricity continuing to climb above inflation, the percentage could rise to almost 20% by the end of the decade. This would cause even more food and drink price rises than Soriana says it was forced to implement in 2006. Soriana’s partners in the project are Vientos de Istmo, based in Oaxaca, Spanish firm Preneal, the consulting group IG Expansiòn, and German financial services group Deutsche Bank. The author understands that Walmex, not to be outdone, is about to announce the construction of a wind-farm in the southern state of Oaxaca as well, with a capacity of 67.5 megawatts.
Windmills on the supermarkets for lower meat prices? Who’d have thought Oaxaca was ahead of the curve?
You know what also blows? My electric bill is $152 this month, and the Mex Files has to depend on contributions to keep the lights on and the computer humming…
American Exiles
Laura Fernandez’ One Step Closer probably won’t get picked up by the “A-list bloggers” in the U.S. who think any issue outside their purview is a “pet issue” not worthy of their notice. Since it isn’t a hot topic with their favored Democratic Party candidates, they just don’t care.
Well, I hope they don’t start asking the American who live abroad for campaign donations, or to donate to their “pet issues.” Laura, and the other Laura, and Gulf War Marine veteran José Luis Negrete are not looking at moving out of the United States for their pets. They are United States Citizens married (or became engaged to) people who overstayed their visa, or didn’t acquire a green card in time, or had other violations:
Most Americans take it for granted that if a foreigner marries a U.S. citizen, that person will likely be welcomed with legal residency. This hasn’t been true since 2001, when federal statutes adopted in 1996 began kicking in.
Now, if a U.S. citizen or legal resident wants to sponsor a spouse or other close relative for legal residency, the process could end up banishing the sponsored relative.
To seek a green card, or legal residency, foreign relatives who entered the United States without permission must return to their home country to submit to an interview at a U.S. consulate.
Then, they must disclose if they spent any time in this country without proper documentation.
Penalties are steep. Undocumented immigrants who lived in the U.S. for one year before marrying are barred from re-entry for 10 years. Those who spent between 6 months and a year here illegally are barred from returning to the U.S. for five years.
We’re talking about spouses and children of American citizens, not cats and dogs. For people like Laura and Laura and José Luis… this means either a long separation, or leaving the country of their birth — not by choice, but exiled.
The “A-listers” like to complain that much of the writing from us peasants in the boondocks, those of us who see or write about these issues daily, is “speculative and anecdotal”
No speculation about it. And, yeah, but the anecdotes have a hell of a lot more to do with the reality of immigration policy than some polling data on how some politician’s image on immigration plays in opinion polls.
Article 15
- Everyone has the right to a nationality.
- No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16
- Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
- Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
- The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Awwww.. poor wittle minutemen
Before they started picketing the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana California, the Minutemen should have scoped the place ahead of time. Oh well, they’re not the mas piquante habaneros in the salsa, but they should have know the folks across the street might be a danger to their operation…
… It’s “very disturbing.” according to “lonewacko” — but then, maybe that’s why he’s alone (besides being a wacko, I mean).
The latest “Canadian killed in Mexico” story making the rounds has another guy beaten to death after leaving a disco, this time (for a little variation) in Cancún:
Canadian beaten into a coma in Mexico
Bill Mah, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 09, 2007
A Canadian vacationing in Mexico is clinging to life in hospital after he was apparently attacked in a Cancun resort.
Jeff Toews, 34, of Grande Prairie, Alta., was hospitalized with serious head and back injuries Monday after he was found by security guards on the grounds of the Moon Palace Resort.
“It’s not good, it’s not good,” said Jeff’s father Don Toews from the Hospital De La Americas in Cancun where Jeff is in an induced coma.
“It’s such a mess going on with this Mexican Moon Palace Resort,” said Murray Toews from his brother’s bedside.
“It’s disappointing that they’re trying to cover up right here.”
A spokesman for the family said Jeff Toews, who was vacationing with his wife Natalie and nine other couples from northern Alberta, received serious injuries to his head and back.
He said Toews was at a nightclub at the resort and was attacked while walking outside.
Having heard the SAME story a couple of times before, I was a little dubious. Especially when you consider that even the most implausible tales of anti-Canadian acts turn out to be completely bogus. Or the Canadian press spins “normal” crimes into some deep, dark anti-Canadian conspiracy.
It’s more like an anti-Mexican conspiracy:
Embassy of Mexico in Canada
1000-45 O’Connor Street Ottawa, ON K1P 1A4
Ph: (613) 233-8988 Fax: (613) 235-9123
Press Release 04/2007
Ottawa, May 9, 2007
The Embassy of Mexico wishes to inform about the circumstances of the accident suffered by the Canadian national Jeffrey Toews in Cancun on May 7, 2007, based on the information gathered and provided by the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Quintana Roo.
1. On May 7, 2007, Preliminary Investigation AP/ZN/CAN/01/01/2195/5-2007 was initiated upon receiving notification by fax from the Hospital de las Americas, in Cancun, reporting that a patient by the name of Jeffrey Toews had arrived in an ambulance of the Mexican Red Cross, proceeding from the Moon Palace Hotel; the patient had arrived in cardio-respiratory arrest, with possible severe craneo-encephalic trauma and blunt abdominal trauma.
2. On the same date, at 7:46 pm, Mr. Toews’ wife, Ms. Natalie Ivonne Campbell, appeared, assisted by interpreter Ángel Prieto Palmeros. Ms. Campbell stated that the victim and she had been in the company of some friends at the disco of the Moon Palace Hotel, hanging out and drinking alcoholic beverages until approximately 1:30 am, when one of the security guards came up to her husband and told him that he should leave the disco, since he had drunk too much. Therefore the couple decided to head to their room with a hotel security guard following them until they entered their room. Ms. Campbell stated that as she had also been drinking alcohol, she fell deeply asleep.
3. According to the statement of one of the friends travelling with the couple, at approximately 1:50 am, Mr. Toews showed up again at the disco, which is why the friend told the rest of the group that he would accompany Mr. Toews back to his room so that he would not have problems with the hotel. When he turned around again Mr. Toews was gone, so he left looking for him, heading toward his room to see if he was there. When he arrived at Mr. Toews’ room, Mr. Toews was closing the door and said goodnight, so both the friend and a security guard left, heading for the restaurant since the friend’s wife and other companions were there. The aforementioned friend stated that at about 2:20 am, Mr. Toews showed up again and sat down at the table, leaving again two minutes later at the urging of the rest of the companions.
4. According to the statement of one of the security guards, he was on the grounds of the hotel working at approximately 3:00 am and noticed that about forty meters from where he was standing, a male in underwear was standing inside the balcony of a room. Since he had caught the security guard’s attention, the guard stopped to see what the individual would do. This same person climbed over the glass balcony onto the grass, outside the boundaries of his room. The individual took a step and then suddenly took off running toward the building to his left (Toronja building).
5. An other security guard and a bell boy travelling in a golf cart near the Toronja building saw that a guest was running along the second story of the building near the elevators, so the guard told the bell boy to stop, and they both got out of the cart. The guard told the bell boy that he was going to check to see who this individual was. He climbed the stairs to the second floor of the Toronja building, looked down the hall and saw no one. He walked in the direction in which he had seen the person run, and seconds later, from distance of twenty or thirty metres, he heard a loud thud. When he reached the stairs he descended to the first floor, this being at the opposite side of the same building, and upon reaching the bottom looked right and left but saw no one. When he turned around partially, however, he saw a guest, who turned out to be Mr. Toews, lying on the floor, bleeding from the head, and immediately radioed the security guards’ control room to have them call an ambulance.
6. On May 8, 2007, the Director of the Hospital de las Americas was instructed to provide the Attorney General’s Office with a copy of the clinical file of Jeffrey Toews.
SUGGESTION TO THE CANADIAN PRESS: Hire some reporters in Mexico. There are shitloads of Canadians in Mexico. At least two of them can write a credible news story (one being low-rent, the other covers half the unknown world).
SUGGESTION TO CANADIAN TOURISTS: Stop blaming others. Maybe in a police state like Cuba you’re “safe” (basically, you’re watched over by the secret police), but Mexico is a free country. You can get drunk and stupid if you want, but you are responsible for your own actions. And making shit up is not a sign of good health.
The 13-year solution: this is an improvement?
From the Laredo Morning Times
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and key senators are working on a deal that would delay a sweeping immigration overhaul until the border is fortified and leave illegal immigrants waiting up to 13 more years to gain legal status. Officials familiar with the discussions say that despite a series of concessions by both Republicans and Democrats, a final agreement may not come before the Senate opens debate on the issue next week.
Still, the outlines of a possible deal have taken shape in almost daily secret talks involving two members of President Bush’s Cabinet. As contemplated, the proposal would delay the process of giving legal status to undocumented immigrants and guest worker visas to new arrivals until the administration beefs up border security and implements a high-tech identification system for temporary workers. Such measures are expected to take up to two years.
Even then, officials said it would take up to 13 years, along with large fines and a trip to their home country, before the 12 million men, women and children estimated to be in the U.S. illegally could get permanent legal status, or green cards. The government would spend eight years clearing visa backlogs for immigrants currently waiting in line, and then spend about five years processing those here illegally.
(more at LMT)
What part of “fucked up” don’t “our fuck-up legislators” not understand?
mexfiles.net 