Word: calders
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...NAFTA) took effect. A big fear now is that Mexico's drug cartels, responsible for almost 15,000 killings in the past decade, are lending their resources and firepower to emerging guerrilla groups. If so, their plan may be to sow bicentennial terror and turn Mexicans against President Felipe Calderón's drug-war offensive. This past fall authorities say they seized an arsenal of large guns and grenades allegedly being sent from the Zetas, a vicious drug gang, to José Manuel Hernandez, a purported leader of the rebel group called the Popular Revolutionary Army...
...while many fear the bicentennial year could galvanize that discontent, especially with the symbolic hype surrounding 1810 and 1910, Calderón insists the country will break the ominous century-cycle next year and make 2010 "a moment of peaceful transformation." Last month, he predicted next year will see "Mexico on a different trajectory toward development and progress." Calderón tried to get the ball rolling this month with a major political reform proposal that would allow re-election for Mexican office holders like mayors and legislators, a change he insists will give voters more power. It would still...
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard - a PRD member - has signaled that he will sign the bill into law, ignoring calls from for him to veto it. However, lawmakers from the conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderón say they will challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court, claiming it contravenes constitutional articles on marriage. Indeed, benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples under Mexico's federal constitution (including social security, pension and inheritance rights) will still not apply to same-sex couples who marry in Mexico City...
...critics of Calderón's military approach to the drug war are dubious about whether the dramatic killing will actually help reduce the wanton trafficking and violence in Mexico. "The Beard" may be gone, but he could simply be replaced by one of his even more bloodthirsty lieutenants. There is also concern that the killing may just strengthen the other five cartels vying for power in Mexico. "If this was a conventional war, then this killing of a key general would be a clear victory," says historian and pundit Jose Antonio Crespo. "But in the drug war, this slaying...
There are also questions about how the nature of Beltrán Leyva's end will affect the drug war. Back in the 1980s and '90s, key Mexican kingpins were arrested peacefully by police officers. However, amid the militarization of the conflict under Calderón, the armed forces conduct most major detentions. In the operation to nab Beltrán Leyva, hundreds of marines swept on an apartment building in the spa city of Cuernavaca, an hour's drive from the capital. A two-hour battle ensued, involving grenades and mounted machine guns, before the drug lord, five...