By MARK LORENZANA Mexican journalist Jorge Luis Chew Cervantes posted on his official Facebook account that he is safe and sound, after being reported missing since Friday, Sept. 30, in the municipality of Taxco de Alarcón, in the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero. “Given the news of my disappearance, I want to inform my friends and followers who are worried about me
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By MARK LORENZANA Raúl Paz Alonzo, a senator from the Mexican state of Yucatán and member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), has defected to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena). On Tuesday, Sept. 20, Paz Alonzo was received with fanfare by his new Morena colleagues in the Mexican Senate, after accepting a position in
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By MARK LORENZANA Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on the night of Thursday, Sept. 15, led the reenactment of Mexico’s Cry of Dolores, which marked the 212th year of Mexican independence — and the first time in two years that the event was staged at the Zócalo main plaza in downtown Mexico City due to the covid-19 pandemic.
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By MARK LORENZANA The military has long been on the list of untouchables in Mexico. The Mexican National Guard (GN) might soon be added to that list. On Friday, Sept. 9, the Mexican Senate approved a legislation transferring control of the GN to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), a contentious move that has sparked outrage from human rights groups
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By MARK LORENZANA With his popularity dropping, violence growing and the country’s economy crashing, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 1, tried his hardest to put a positive spin on his administration’s shortcomings through his State of the Nation Address (Informe de Gobierno) at the National Palace in Mexico City. The 50-minute speech
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By MARK LORENZANA According to the results of a survey released by Mexican daily newspaper El Universal, which was carried out from Aug. 18 to 23 of this year by the survey firm Buendía and Márquez, the majority of Mexicans support the move to use the armed forces in the fight against organized crime, despite the increased militarization of the
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OPINION By MARK LORENZANA The word democracy is a combination of two Greek words: demos, which means “people” and kratos, which means “rule.” The ancient Greeks, after all, are credited with inventing democracy as a form of government. In Mexico, though, “the rule of the people” has been steadily replaced by the rule of one man — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).
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By MARK LORENZANA Jesuit university rectors in Mexico warned on Thursday, June 23, that the country is experiencing a failed state and a security crisis, and called on citizens to pressure the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) to put an end to the violence. During the annual meeting of the Jesuit University System (SUJ) — a network
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By MARK LORENZANA At least three people were taken at gunpoint from a bar by armed men at dawn on Saturday, June 18, in the municipal seat of Jerez de García Salinas, in Zacatecas, a state in northcentral Mexico. According to local reports, at least six individuals broke into the bar, firing shots, and proceeded to search the tables to
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