NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.
Wednesday, 11/11/09
Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala)
Guatemalan strategy re U.S. immigration reform
Haroldo Rodas, Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Relations, [Sec. of State] yesterday revealed the strategy that the country will utilize in the U.S. so that an eventual migratory reform in the country [the U.S.] might include 11 points which would make it “integral” for fellow citizens, especially for Guatemalans. It deals with a proposal reached in consensus with the networks of Guatemalan migrants in the U.S., which El Salvador joined to give it greater impulse. At a press conference, Rodas revealed that the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is aware of Guatemala’s proposal because he sent her a letter last August containing the 11 issues regarding better treatment of migrants. Among other aspects, it seeks to make the migrants’ special protection mechanisms stronger, more flexible and humane, especially when the return to their country of origin may result in high risk, such as with the Temporary Protection Status program. [ A program granting temporary, renewable, legal status to citizens of certain countries due to political upheavals, including civil war, in their countries of origin, which results in high personal insecurity as a result of that political instability.] Rodas added that with the addition of more countries there would be better possibilities of advancing [the issue]. Besides El Salvador, it is expected that Mexico, Belize and the Dominican Republic will join Guatemala’s initiative, although the country is already lobbying.
Benjamin Monterroso, of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and coordinator of the Guatemalan Work Team for Migratory Reform, expressed optimism about the interest shown by senators and congressmen, such as Luis Gutierrez. Those present agreed that, added to President Barack Obama’s campaign offer to implement that reform, and the naming of Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, to be in charge of following up on the matter, it makes this a “good moment.”
The Chancellor stated that 1.5 million Guatemalans are to be found in the United States and that 60 percent – some 800 thousand – could benefit from the reform. Monterroso explained that if the migratory problem is not resolved before the end of May 2010, it will take three to five years to bring it up again, and he underscored the “279 Votes” campaign, the necessary number to approve the new law, that is to say, 218 congressmen, 60 senators and one president.
Eddy Garrido, of the National Council for Assistance to the Guatemalan Migrant (“Conamigua”), stated that the leaders of the organizations will themselves be the lobbyists who will promote these points in the American Congress.
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La Hora (Quito, Ecuador), La Razon (La Paz, Bolivia) 11/10/09
Press group condemns violence
At the closing assembly of the Inter-American Press Society (“SIP”) there was a unanimous vote of condemnation against governments and criminal organizations because of attacks against press media and journalists. The meeting took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and that country, plus Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela were named as places where the government was the main responsible party for restrictions on the freedom of expression by the press through control of information. “SIP” also condemned the murders this year of 3 journalists in Honduras, 8 in Mexico, 2 in Guatemala and one in El Salvador. “La Razon” added that the “SIP” demanded that Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, “abstain from insults and verbal aggressions” against journalists and communications media.
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Tiempo (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) 11/10/09
Another cocaine load
An abandoned truck which had entered at Las Manos, eastern Honduras, from Nicaragua, was found to have a hidden compartment where 685 kilos of cocaine had been hidden. The load of drugs was covered with a shipment of flour and oats. Police believe part of the cocaine had already been unloaded before they arrived at the scene. There were no arrests.
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La Prensa Grafica (San Salvador, El Salvador) 11/10/09
El Salvador military as police
Salvadorans approved and welcomed the assignment of 2,500 military to assist in combating crime and violence in that country. There have been 54 homicides there between the 1st and 5th of November. Today began with the finding of two more murder victims.
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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 11/10/09
Hanging: a new trend?
The body of a tortured, shot, semi-nude man was found Tuesday morning in Culiacan, Sinaloa state. He had been hung from a highway overpass and his hands had been tied behind him. Firemen called to the scene had the task of removing and bringing down the body.
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La Cronica de Hoy (Mexico City) 11/10/09
Police purge
The mayor of Tlanepantla [in the “Distrito Federal” some dozen miles north of Mexico City] announced that 220 policemen had been let go for “acts of corruption, consumption of drugs, and even taking part in robberies and various crimes.” Members of the Tlanepantla police force are being subjected to drug detection, background and personality exams to detect criminal activity. Another 108 members of that police force were let go last February for the same reasons.
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Norte (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 11/10/09
Keeping score in Juarez
There was the following phrase at the end of an article recounting the events surrounding the latest homicides in Juarez: “According to journalistic records and official figures of the state authorities, these assassinations yesterday bring up to 2,190 the number of victims of homicide this year.”
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