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News From Mexico

MEXICO SOLIDARITY NETWORK
WEEKLY NEWS AND ANALYSIS
JUNE 18-24, 2007

4. SUPREME COURT WILL INVESTIGATE OAXACA GOVERNOR AND FORMER PRESIDENT

The Supreme Court will investigate Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz, ex-President Vicente Fox and 15 other federal and state officials for human rights violations and excessive use of force by police during a popular uprising in Oaxaca last year. The investigation will cover May 2006 to January 2007, which could also implicate the Calderon administration. Ruiz tried to derail the court decision at the 11th hour by submitting a statement claiming he complied with recommendations issued by the National Human Rights Commission last year, but judges rejected the appeal as flatly untrue. At least 26 people died at the hands of police and paramilitary forces under the control of Ruiz, more than 200 people were arrested, and an unknown number of people remain disappeared. The Supreme Court initiated a series of special investigations during the past year, including the May 3 and 4, 2006, police actions in Atenco and the arrest of journalist Lydia Cacho by Puebla Governor Mario Marin, leading many experts to question the functionality of a justice system so highly politicized that state and federal Attorneys General are incapable of carrying out investigations that involve political actors.

Meanwhile, the APPO (Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca) and teachers from Section 22 of the SNTE continued their permanent encampment in the historic center of Oaxaca City, recalling events that led to two massive police operations last year that eventually dislodged protestors from the city center. And an international human rights commission condemned recent dramatic increases in arrests of APPO activists.

1. CALDERON PROPOSES TAX REFORM

The Calderon administration offered a tax reform proposal this week that would levy a 2% tariff on all bank deposits over US$1,800 per month, institute a 16% minimum business tax, and significantly increase taxes on gambling and spray paint. The proposal aims to increase overall government income by 1.8% of the gross national product. The proposal immediately came under attack from various sectors. Migrants who send family remittances, small businesses and middle class bank account holders may be affected by the bank tax, forcing many to abandon financial institutions for informal mechanisms of handling money. Only four of Mexico’s twenty largest companies would pay more taxes, while many small and medium size businesses would be more severely affected. In general, the tax proposal targets the 40% of the economy that forms the formal sector, and may force many marginal businesses into the informal sector. Calderon proposed a 50% tax on spray paint, apparently hoping to increase government revenue every time dissidents paint graffiti in public places. Given Calderon’s record so far as President – increased use of the army for law enforcement purposes, a broken justice system, increasing human rights violations, and unemployment at 3.79% in May (extremely high for a country without unemployment insurance) – this may turn out to be a huge source of new government revenue.

2. US INCREASED ARRESTS AFTER IMMIGRATION DEMONSTRATIONS

Non-worksite arrests of undocumented workers jumped 75% in the first half of 2006, and many experts insist the Bush administration was trying to please its right wing base with stronger enforcement measures in the face of massive immigrant rights demonstrations last March, April and May. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials deny any political motivation for the arrests, claiming random sweeps are not part of their enforcement agenda. But officials admit that many people are taken into custody as “suspicious persons” during targeted enforcement measures. In the first three months of 2006, ICE arrested 3,222 people, compared to 2,174 during the same period a year earlier. During the height of the 2006 immigration demonstrations, from April to June, arrests increased to 4,516, compared to 2,234 a year earlier. Worksite arrests increased even more dramatically, from 1,292 in fiscal year 2005 to 4,383 in 2006.

3. MEXICO MAY EXTRADITE FORMER PRI GOVERNOR

Mexico took initial steps on Thursday to extradite former Quintana Roo Governor Mario Villnueva Madrid to the United States, where he is charged in New York City with drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering. Villanueva reportedly was on the payroll of the Juarez cartel in the 1990s. He left Mexico in 1999 shortly before his term as Governor ended, and with it, his blanket immunity from prosecution. Federal police arrested him in 2001 near Cancun, and he has been serving time in a maximum security prison since on a single money laundering charge. But a Mexican federal judge recently found him not guilty of additional drug trafficking and money laundering, essentially the same charges for which he would be extradited. Villanueva reportedly laundered at least US$11 million via an investment manager at Lehman Brothers in New York City. In the first six months of his administration, Calderon extradited 21 drug dealers, including four high level cartel leaders, for prosecution in the US.


5. HUMAN TRAFFICKING A GROWING BUSINESS

Human trafficking between Mexico and the United States generated more than US$2.8 billion dollars in illicit profits, according to the National Institute for Penal Sciences. Human trafficking involves a wide range of criminals, including US Border Patrol officials, coyotes and organized crime syndicates. The business is so lucrative that arrested traffickers are quickly replaced by new recruits. The rapidly increasing costs of border-crossing reflect increased border vigilance on the US side. Last year, immigrants sent more than US$25 billion in family remittances from the US to Mexico, while US officials deported 1.3 million undocumented workers, most of them caught trying to cross the border.

6. ISSSTE DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE in Mexico City

Dissident teachers from the CNTE (National Coordinator of Education Workers) blocked the principal access and the parking lot of the Treasury Secretary Wednesday, demanding negotiations over the recently passed ISSSTE (Institute of Services and Social Security for State Employees) reforms. Teachers have maintained a permanent presence in front of the ISSSTE offices for weeks, but took officials by surprise when they moved out of their encampment and blocked the Treasury offices.



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