Mexican activist fights for the rights of migrants as town is split

Central American migrants have long passed through Tultitlán on their way north to the United States because the trains on which the migrants ride north pass nearby. The mayor of Tultitlán says the number of migrants arriving has increased over recent months and wants them deported, but local activist Paty Camarena continues to fight for their rights.

Filmmakers document consequences of U.S. immigration raid

Back in May 2008, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials rounded up 389 undocumented workers in the Agriprocessors Inc. kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. The raid was the largest in U.S history.
Two weeks later, filmmakers Jennifer Szymaszek and Greg Brosnan started filming “In the Shadow of the Raid,” a documentary film showing at the [...]

Video: Heavy rains in Mexico can’t beat the drought

Although Mexico is currently in the grip of the worst drought it has suffered since World War Two, houses flooded and streets turned into lakes this week when torrential rainfall lashed down on Mexico City and the neighboring State of Mexico.

Death in El Salvador

The killing of documentary maker Christian Poveda represents a sad loss for a region much in need of greater understanding.

Video: Mexico’s drought leaves city dwellers and countryside high and dry

Crops are wilting in the countryside, and the capital’s water shortage has turned dire as Mexico grapples with its worst drought in more than half a century.

See the Los Angeles Times report here.

Video: ‘I’ve never been afraid’: Director, recently slain, talks about filming El Salvador’s gangs

Photographer and filmmaker Christian Poveda was shot dead in El Salvador Sept. 2, 2009. He spent more than 16 months, every day, with the mara gangs of San Salvador to make the 2009 documentary “La Vida Loca.” This is footage from an interview conducted by the Los Angeles Times’ Deborah Bonello with Poveda a few [...]

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  • Hernandez to ‘tweet’ from Discovery in space

    Hernandez to ‘tweet’ from Discovery in space

    If you want to get the latest developments about the launch of the space shuttle Discovery and the adventures of its crew, specifically Jose Hernandez, the California-born son of Mexican immigrants and now a national hero here in Mexico, you can sign up to follow Hernandez’s Twitter feed.
    Hernandez is already posting updates on the micro-blogging [...]

  • Video: Hairless dogs in competition; meet Mexico’s Xoloitzcuintles

    Video: Hairless dogs in competition; meet Mexico’s Xoloitzcuintles

    Spend any time on the streets of Mexico, and you will eventually see them. Mexico’s hairless brown or red-skinned dogs — the Xoloitzcuintle (pronounced sholo-squint-lay).

  • Mexico City fans practice Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ moves

    Mexico City fans practice Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ moves

    Mexico City’s Michael Jackson fans got together Tuesday morning to practice the recently deceased singer’s famous “Thriller” dance in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes downtown.

  • Video: Mexico City mural makeover

    Video: Mexico City mural makeover

    A government project mobilized more than 1,000 youngsters earlier this month to clean up and repaint a graffiti-covered wall in the south of the city, as part of an urban spruce-up scheme for the summer.

  • Mexico beats U.S in soccer showdown

    Mexico beats U.S in soccer showdown

    A T-shirt for sale outside Mexico City’s Stadium Azteca yesterday afternoon, during a World Cup qualifying match between the U.S and Mexico, which Mexico won 2:1.

  • Human rights hit the big screen in second film festival

    Human rights hit the big screen in second film festival

    Mexico’s second annual human rights film festival, supported by a number of organizations here including the Mexico branch of Amnesty International, the Ambulante documentary film project and Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission, opens at the end of the week.

  • Video: Mexican day laborers are ‘Los Bastardos’ in fictional work

    Video: Mexican day laborers are ‘Los Bastardos’ in fictional work

    At first glance, “Los Bastardos” seems a surprising film for a Mexican director to make.

  • Mexican image of Brazil wins World Press Photo prize

    Mexican image of Brazil wins World Press Photo prize

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    The photo shows a man sleeping, wrapped in a blanket against the cold, outside São Paulo’s elite [...]

  • New buses reform Mexico City’s Reforma

    New buses reform Mexico City’s Reforma

    Avenida de la Reforma is a six-lane traffic artery that cuts all the way across Mexico City and is one of the most-transited roads here, both day and night. But commuters might enjoy a little less traffic, noise and pollution from now on: The city has just introduced 173 new buses that will replace the [...]

  • How funny will Mexicans find ‘Bruno’?

    How funny will Mexicans find ‘Bruno’?

    It will be interesting to see how Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie, Brüno, is received here in Mexico when it launches in cinemas at the end of September.

  • Video: Mexico’s Rivera murals get restoration treatment

    Video: Mexico’s Rivera murals get restoration treatment

    Mexico City’s Diego Rivera murals are undergoing restoration treatment.

  • Mexico suspends diplomatic visa exemption for Canadians

    Mexico suspends diplomatic visa exemption for Canadians

    Mexico’s foreign secretary has announced the suspension of a visa exemption for Canadian diplomats and officials working in Mexico the country.

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    Video: Canadian Embassy besieged by Mexicans

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  • Canada to require visas for Mexicans following surge in refugee claims

    Canada to require visas for Mexicans following surge in refugee claims

    Mexican nationals will now need a visa to travel to Canada, that country’s minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, announced Monday. Canada decided to stiffen the requirements due to what officials said has been a surge in claims for refugee status by Mexicans.
    In a news release, Canadian immigration officials said that for the first 48 hours [...]

  • Mexican band mourns MJ with tribute

    Mexican band mourns MJ with tribute

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  • Blumpi: Annul the Vote?

    Blumpi: Annul the Vote?

    How will you vote this Sunday?
    Jorge Flores-Oliver, Blumpi (1978).
    Mexican freelance illustrator, cartoonist and writer.
    Contributes for Milenio Semanal, La Tempestad and Tierra Adentro.
    Member of the board of Replicante magazine.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/blumpi/
    http://brutalblumpi.blogspot.com/

  • Wives left behind by migrants in Mexico suffer poorer mental health

    Wives left behind by migrants in Mexico suffer poorer mental health

    Mexican women left behind by husbands who migrate to the United States in search of work were one of the focuses of the documentary “Los Que Se Quedan,” or “Those Who Remain,” by Carlos Hagerman and Juan Carlos Rulfo, which we’ve mentioned a number of times here on La Plaza.
    In response to those [...]

  • Money from Mexican migrants to Mexico continues to fall

    Money from Mexican migrants to Mexico continues to fall

    The money that Mexicans living abroad send home to their families here in Mexico fell again in May, in what the Associated Press calls the biggest monthly decline on record.
    “Money sent home by Mexicans working abroad fell by 19.9 percent in May, the biggest monthly decline on record as the U.S. recession slashed jobs.
    “Remittances [...]

  • Foreign ramifications of local drug wars

    Foreign ramifications of local drug wars

    It’s not often you see something in the press that makes you think, Yes! I KNOW! But sometimes it happens, and there were two pieces in the media this morning that gave me that sense.
    The first was this column in the Guardian by George Monbiot, who came back to an issue we touched on here [...]

  • Video: “Tracing Aleida” director on making the film and Mexico’s “dirty war”

    Video: “Tracing Aleida” director on making the film and Mexico’s “dirty war”

    This is a longer version of an edited interview with the director Christiane Burkhard about her documentary film project, “Tracing Aleida”.

  • Journalists reporting, and surviving, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

    Journalists reporting, and surviving, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

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  • Frontline discussion: Narco wars Mexico

    Frontline discussion: Narco wars Mexico

    Broadcast live on Ustream, June 24th 2009
    Moderator: Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor for Channel 4 News
    Panel:Ed Vulliamy, Guardian and Observer journalist and writer
    Alex Tweddle

  • Graphic amusement: What a wonderful country

    Graphic amusement: What a wonderful country

    Blumpi: What a wonderful country

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    Cafe Tacuba Uncut

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  • More jump ship from The News

    More jump ship from The News

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  • Nearly 10,000 migrant kidnappings in Mexico in 6 months

    Nearly 10,000 migrant kidnappings in Mexico in 6 months

    During that period, 9,758 migrants were deprived of their liberty. More than 60 percent of kidnappings involved groups of migrants travelling together. The majority of those kidnapped were from Honduras (67 %). ¡8% oer the victims were from El Salvador and 13% from Guatemala.

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    Jumex Collection owner says architectural choice not `malinchismo’

    It’s not “malinchismo”, no way. I’ve always believed that the internationalization of projects can benefit and nourish the vision of many people in the country where the projects originate as well those who receive the works from abroad.

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