A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Germany
Continue reading...Category Archives: Mexico
Prosecutors in Mexico seeking arrest warrants for more than 30 scientists
Scientific community is outraged, saying charges of organised crime are an attempt by Mexico’s president to silence them
Mexico’s scientific community has reacted with outrage after the country’s chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for 31 scientists, researchers and academics on accusations of organised crime, money laundering and embezzlement – charges that could land them alongside drug cartel kingpins in one of the country’s most notorious lockups.
A judge at the maximum security Altiplano prison – from which Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escaped in 2015 – denied granting the arrest warrants on Wednesday. But the federal prosecutor immediately announced plans to pursue arrest warrants for the third time.
Continue reading...Global climate strike: thousands join coordinated action across world
Rally to demand government action on climate crisis is first worldwide since start of pandemic
Hundreds of thousands of people in 99 countries have taken part in a coordinated global climate strike demanding urgent action to tackle the ecological crisis.
The strike on Friday, the first worldwide climate action since the coronavirus pandemic hit, is taking place weeks before the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, UK.
Continue reading...Haitian migrants and refugees cross the Rio Grande – in pictures
In the past few weeks more than 12,000 Haitians have arrived in Del Rio, Texas, gathering in a huge makeshift camp. Many have to cross the Rio Grande from Del Rio to Ciudad Acuña to seek food and supplies in Mexico to bring back to family members waiting in the US. Others are crossing back into Mexico to avoid deportation flights
Continue reading...Ten women and girls killed every day in Mexico, Amnesty report says
Families often left to do their investigations into killings amid widespread indifference by authorities, report claims
At least 10 women and girls are murdered every day in Mexico, according to a new report that says victims’ families are often left to carry out their own homicide investigations.
The scathing report, released on Monday by Amnesty International, documents both the scale of the violence and the disturbing lack of interest on the part of Mexican authorities to prevent or solve the murders.
Continue reading...Texas anti-abortion law shows ‘terrifying’ fragility of women’s rights, say activists
Campaigners fear ban emboldens anti-choice governments as more aggressive opposition, better organised and funded, spreads from US
The new anti-abortion law in Texas is a “terrifying” reminder of the fragility of hard-won rights, pro-choice activists have said, as they warn of a “more aggressive, much better organised [and] better funded” global opposition movement.
Pro-choice campaigners have seen several victories in recent years, including in Ireland, Argentina and, most recently, Mexico, where the supreme court ruled last week that criminalising abortion was unconstitutional. Another is hoped for later this month when the tiny enclave of San Marino, landlocked within Italy, holds a highly charged referendum.
Continue reading...The disappeared in Mexico, Afghan female footballers and a giant puppet: human rights this fortnight in pictures
A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms from Thailand to Texas
Continue reading...Mexico activists celebrate abortion ruling as a sign of culture change
Justices decision to decriminalise abortion was based on human rights arguments and will mean fewer criminal investigations
Activists in Mexico have hailed a supreme court decision to decriminalise abortion, saying it would stop the legal prosecution of women who terminate their pregnancies – and those reported to the authorities after suffering miscarriages.
The decision, handed down unanimously on Tuesday, declared that criminal sanctions for abortion in the northern state of Coahuila were unconstitutional. The decision sets precedent, according to lawyers involved in abortion cases, and will be applicable across the country.
Continue reading...Mexico hit by powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake – video
A powerful earthquake has struck south-west Mexico near the beach resort of Acapulco, killing at least one person who was crushed by a falling post and causing rockfalls and damaging buildings. The 7.0-magnitude quake shook the hillsides around the resort, downing trees and pitching large boulders on to the road
Continue reading...Mexico hit by powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake, killing at least one
A man was killed and buildings were damaged in the resort city of Acapulco, and the quake was also felt in Mexico City
A powerful earthquake has struck south-west Mexico near the beach resort of Acapulco, killing at least one man who was crushed by a falling post, and causing rock falls and damaging buildings.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said a 7.0 magnitude quake struck 11 miles (18km) north-east of the resort of Acapulco, Guerrero, in the early hours of Wednesday sending people running into the street for safety.
Continue reading...Mexico’s supreme court rules criminal penalties for abortion unconstitutional
Court orders Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from criminal code, clearing a path to decriminalisation across Mexico
Mexico’s supreme court has struck down a state abortion law, ruling that criminal penalties for terminating pregnancies are unconstitutional, in a decision which advocates say provides a path to decriminalisation across the country.
In a unanimous 10-0 ruling, the top court ordered the northern state of Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from its criminal code – with several justices arguing the prohibitions on voluntarily interrupting a pregnancy violated women’s rights to control their own bodies.
Continue reading...Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’
Three Texas authors expose the myth that the 1836 battle at a San Antonio mission was about freedom. It was about slavery
As the ancient American struggle over how much truth to tell about the traditional oppression of minorities bubbles over, with arguments over everything from the teaching of Critical Race Theory to the mention of anything gay in the presence of anyone under 18, this engaging new book about the history of the Alamo arrives at the perfect moment.
Related: Our Own Worst Enemy review: a caustic diagnosis of America after Trump
Continue reading...Oxygen firms accused of intimidating Mexican hospitals during pandemic
Hospitals received letters threatening large fines after they installed their own onsite O2 plants in response to shortages
In March 2020, Benjamin Espinoza Zavala saw an entire floor of his small hospital in Guanajuato, central Mexico, converted into Covid-19 wards. The hospital’s need for oxygen soared.
Deliveries from CryoInfra, part of the Grupo Infra group, occasionally slowed to once every couple of days, and he had to buy in extra to cover the sudden gaps in supply. Prices increased.
Continue reading...Supreme court orders Biden to revive Trump’s ‘remain in Mexico’ policy
- Justices deny president’s effort to rescind Trump program
- Blow to Biden as trio of liberal justices dissent in 6-3 ruling
The US supreme court on Tuesday denied Joe Biden’s bid to rescind an immigration policy implemented by his predecessor, Donald Trump, that forced thousands of asylum seekers to stay in Mexico awaiting US hearings.
Related: Breathing wildfire smoke during pregnancy raises risk of premature birth, study finds
Continue reading...‘A focus on quality’: Mexico’s wine industry bears fruit in revival of tradition
Vineyards are blooming in the desert of Coahuila state, but vintners must make do with increasingly scarce water
From the patio of his winery high in the north Mexican desert, David Mendel surveys vineyards spread across a bowl-shaped valley under a scorching afternoon sun.
Related: Salud! Spain’s female winemakers use their intuition to rise to the top
Continue reading...Belarus repression and the Taliban advance: human rights this fortnight – in pictures
A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico
Continue reading...Britons in Mexico tell of dismay after country put on travel red list
Some holidaymakers found about the change when they reconnected to wifi at their arrival airport
British holidaymakers in Mexico have told of their dismay after the country was abruptly put on the government’s red list of travel destinations.
The changes, which were announced on Wednesday night and will come into force at 4am on Sunday, mean that holidaymakers coming from Mexico and other red list countries – including Georgia, La Réunion and Mayotte - will either have to cut their holidays short to beat the restrictions or pay thousands of pounds to stay in a quarantine hotel when they return.
Continue reading...Mexico sues US gunmakers in unprecedented bid to stop weapons crossing border
- Country seeking up to $10bn damages in Massachusetts lawsuit
- US-made weapons used in cartel battles and attacks on civilians
The Mexican government has launched legal action against US gunmakers in an unprecedented attempt to halt the flow of guns across the border, where US-made weapons are routinely used in cartel gun-battles, terror attacks on civilians – and increasingly to challenge the state itself.
The Mexican government is suing six gunmakers in a Massachusetts court, alleging negligence in their failure to control their distributors and that the illegal market in Mexico “has been their economic lifeblood”.
Continue reading...Mexico urges Israel to extradite former investigator in 43 missing students case
Mexico wants Israel to arrest Tomás Zerón, accused of kidnapping, torturing suspects, manipulating evidence and embezzlement
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has urged Israel to cooperate in extraditing a former top investigator wanted in connection with the disappearance of 43 students in 2014.
Mexico wants Israel to arrest Tomás Zerón, who headed the Criminal Investigation Agency, over allegations of serious irregularities in the inquiry into one of the country’s worst human rights tragedies.
Continue reading...Deadly heat: how rising temperatures threaten workers from Nicaragua to Nepal
As scorching temperatures spread, the search for ways to protect against heat stress is becoming ever more urgent
William Martínez, who as a child worked on a sugarcane plantation in rural Nicaragua, learned the hard way what many in the US and Canada are now realising: that rising temperatures are costing lives and livelihoods.
Martínez, along with fellow villagers in La Isla, found himself getting sicker as he worked long, gruelling days in the fields under the beating Nicaraguan sun two decades ago. Workers at the nearby mill, which supplies molasses to alcohol companies, began to suffer kidney failure, and would be forced out of the workforce and into expensive and time-consuming dialysis. His father and uncles, addled with the same affliction, had died when Martínez was a boy, forcing him to join the workforce.
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