Female Mayor of Oxocana

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/fight-for-womens-rights-was-a-bitter-one/

In 2014 Elisia Zepeda had a meeting about women in the city having their land confiscated illegally. Once the women were in the city square the mayor and his associate attacked these women with the focus on Zepeda. They both fired shots at Elisa Zepeda while screaming obscenities to her. They hit her in the face with a shotgun and continued to physically abuse her. They kept screaming “ Don’t meddle in the towns affairs”. They showered her in public to show other women what would happen. She managed to survive the beating and stumbled to her house. Once home a group of men made up of police and city trustee’s attacked her once again. They killed her brother and family friend who was a police officer from out of town when they tried to help her. This group burnt down her home and brothers shop. They beat her again and her mother was beaten so badly that she lost an eye. Elisia Zepeda stated that she lost everything she knew and loved for simply fighting for the rights of women. After this incident she used it as motivation to continue fighting for women’s rights. One and a half years later she became mayor of the city of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón, Oaxaca. The city is much more peaceful and people happily approach the mayor without fear. She pioneered womens rights in her city and country.

Continued Violence in Reynosa

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2018/01/24/photos-cartel-gunmen-engage-military-hiding-behind-mexican-border-city-factory-workers/

(Image Credit: Brietbart News)

 

Reynosa, Tamaulipas is a city in Mexico that shares a common border with the US state of Texas. Having a border with the US has been considered a benefit and a curse to the state of Tamaulipas, many American plants are located in Reynosa. This gives Mexican workers employment but the border is a wanted territory by numerous Mexican drug cartels. This gives access to the United States, where they sell their illegal drugs. To hold this territory cartels use extreme violence to battle it out with each other. The death toll was so high that it rivaled the war in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The Mexican central government sent in military units into the state and more specifically Reynosa to eradicate the drug cartels and fix corruption in the area. This move has not stopped these drug cartels. Two cartels are still at war but one cartel has split into different factions. This increases the violence within cartels and then there has been constant military operation on top of it. Last month an incident occurred between a faction of the Gulf Cartel and the military left a military vehicle rolled over where on soldier ending up dying. Another incident lead to a shootout where cartel members hid inside a manufacturing plant. The chaos has only risen in past years with zero solutions in sight.

Security without Violence

‘Security Without War’ Campaign Opposes Militarization in Mexico Because ‘Bullets Are Killing Us, Not Drugs’

When someone thinks of Mexico they may think of high levels of crime and cartel violence. However, compared state to state the levels of violence can differ significantly. Tamaulipas a border state of Mexico is one of the locations that is a hotbed of cartel violence. Throughout the last decade of cartel violence tens of thousands have been left dead or missing.  Two powerful cartels The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas have been murdering each other for the access routes to the US. If their conflict hasn’t been enough, the Mexican government has sent in the military and federal police. This is because of two reasons, first violence is overflowing and the state is officially a war zone. The second is that local and state corruption is rampant. The regional police are considered liaison for the cartels. The public has lost complete face for their law enforcement.

This seems like an obvious solution, send in central government assets to end the violence and restore order. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.  These cartels have gotten so powerful that they rival the military in funding, manpower, and skill set. This not only leads to cartel on cartel violence but also military shootouts with the cartel. Cynthia’s story is one many that have not had a sad story because of a cartel but rater the supposed solution.  The military has taken an aggressive approach since establishing themselves in Tamaulipas, Mexico. This had led to numerous deaths of innocent people and many more bystanders that were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Cythia was heading to the beach with her family when they drove past a Mexican army check point, since they didn’t ask her to stop she didn’t. All of the sudden the army fired multiple rounds at the back of the vehicle. The rounds hit both of her children and both died in her arms.

Since this horrific event she publicized her story and joined a citizen campaign named Seguridad Sin Guerra (Security Without War). This organizations objective is to stop a proposed law that would give more power to Mexico’s military forces. A few things that could be soon be legal is that the military can intervene in peaceful demonstrations, investigate crimes, and arrest suspects. Numerous citizens, organizations, journalists, academics, and victims of violence in Mexico has joined forces in ending this bill.

The main reason why the situation has come to such desperate measures is because of high levels of corruption. The Mexican people have 10% trust in the federal police and 42% in its military. So it was easy for previous President Calderon to utilize the military in such fashion. It would fight the cartel and is best trusted by the people. This choice has lead to many civil rights violations and victims are speaking out.Security

News Source, Mexico

https://www.reforma.com

Reforma is a Mexican newspaper based out of Mexico City. In fact its name “Reforma” is a popular street in the downtown area. This paper is an offshoot of El Norte which is focused on Mexico’s manufacturing capitol, Monterey. Reforma is read by over 250,000 readers within Mexico City and closer to half a million across the country. One reason i selected this paper is that it has all the assets of a full fledge news company. This means they have the ability to get in front of high level personal, because the paper is known and well respected. They also have personal across Mexico. This gives them the capability to have an ear and journalists anywhere in the country of Mexico. Lastly it is a right wing newspaper that is very anti-corruption. This news source is updated multiple times a day through there online edition.

 

https://mexiconewsdaily.com

Mexico News Daily is an internet based newspaper that’s claim to fame is its translation from spanish to english. Started in June of 2014, Mexico News daily is one of the newer news services in the country. The main objective is to share the true issues that plague mexico with Western and more specifically US readers. This includes natural disaster response, corruption, and cartel violence. Unlike other news sources this company is secord source reporting. This means that they take from other news sources and correctly translates it to english. While doing this they also make sure that what they are translating is actually the truth. The downside is that it takes time to do so. However, what you give up in time now reporting you make up for in accuracy and reliability. This website is updated daily.

 

https://elblogdelnarco.com

El Blog del Narco is one of the more interesting sources I will be using. This blog was developed by a person who wanted to report on cartel activity across Mexico. By doing so this blog was created, this is not done by one person but rather a collective group. This group of people are students, activists, journalists and others trying to let people know the darkest of cartel life. Stories appear multiple times a day from all over the country of Mexico.

 

Facebook/Nigrum Scientia

On facebook I am part of a secret group that is titled Nigrum Scientia. This is a group of security specialists that operate is Mexico. A majority of them were born or lived there for a portion of their life. The group has two objectives intelligence gathering and training. First the intelligence gathering is where people of the group post info, photos, or videos of cartel activity. They may even write an analysis of what is taking place in the region. The training portion is made up of tactics to survive in Mexico. This includes anti-kidnapping equipment, medical gear, or improvised weapons.

 

https://www.rand.org/search.html?query=mexico

The Rand corp is a well respected research institute. They focus on international dilemmas and produce objective research results on topics such as poverty, security, or economic issues. Using statistical data they attempt to paint a picture of a situation or region that better helps the end user understand. The Rand Corp has great works published on Mexico and the crisis the country is facing. Studies and papers are produced monthly or even annually.

 

Journalists in Mexico

http://u.osu.edu/garcia.728/2018/01/28/mexican-journali…ay-no-to-silence/

Being a professional in Mexico is a very dangerous job. These professions include non-corrupt law enforcement members, business persons, and political figures. Surprisingly, another profession that is considered highly dangerous as well is reporting. Being a reporter and accurately covering drug cartel activity can cost a reporter their life. This article covers the dangerous life of reporting on the extremely violent cartels of Mexico. The article goes over the high numbers of death rates such as 7 reporters killed within the first 6 months of 2017. The reporters job is not only dangerous but also important because these reporters give far more accurate statistics of the damage done by these cartels than the government. An example of the accuracy of their reports is the Human Rights Program of Universidad Iberoamericana, which had over 1000 mass graves and these graves held over 2000 bodies. The government’s numbers are much lower. This is because they try to give of the appearance that the problem is not as severe as it is. One journalist Javier Valdez spoke out about the danger happening to his fellow colleagues, stating that if he is killed doing his job then let it be. Mr. Valdez was assassinated in May of 2017.

The violent cartels aren’t the only problem these reporters are facing the government goes after these journalists as well. President Nieto wants international investment in Mexico. When reporters speak about the problems of violence and corruption it deviates from the Presidents objective. President Nieto ran his campaign on eliminating the cartels and anti-corruption, yet he calls reporters liars and sweeps claims under the rug when mentioned. The government even spies on these reporters to stop them from speaking to the international community. Mexico is a hostile region of the world and the violence there is steadily increasing.