Mexico & Nafta - March 2011 (ISSN 1741-444X)
NAFTA BRIEFS
US spring break students stay away: On 23 February Ernesto Rodríguez Escalona, the secretary for tourism in the state of Guerrero, admitted that the traditional spring break arrival of US students on Guerrero beaches had not occurred this year. Hotels in the resort say that they expect 1,000 US spring breakers this year down from the usual 13,000. Gang violence in Acapulco, the main resort in Guerrero, explains why some US students avoided the resort this year. Worryingly for Mexico, peaceful resorts, such as Puerta Vallarta in Jalisco, are also reporting a collapse in the number of US students. Puerto Vallarta normally expects to entertain 20,000, but only 800 arrived this year.
US vigilante faces execution for killing migrants: On 22 February a US jury in Tucson, Arizona, convicted and sentenced a former Minuteman vigilante to death for killing two undocumented migrants. Two other US citizens have yet to be tried for their part in the murder of Raúl Flores and his daughter in their home at Arivaca in May 2009. Shawna Forde, who at the time was a member of the 12,000 strong vigilante group, the Minuteman American Defense, was sentenced to death by a jury for her part in the two deaths. The verdict shows that the US courts respect illegal migrants' right to life. The Minutemen wanted to defend the US against illegal migrants with all means possible.
The main prosecution witness against Forde was Flores's wife, Gina González, who only herself escaped being killed in May 2009 by playing dead. Jurors said that her testimony moved them deeply. The Flores family was attacked when Forde and an accomplice pretended to be immigration officials when they went to Flores's house. When Flores asked to see identification the Minutemen started shooting. Arizona last executed a convict in May 2007.
US warns officials against Mexico travel: On 17 February, the US consulate in Monterrey advised US officials to avoid the state of San Luis Potosí (SLP).The decision followed the 15 February attack in SLP of two US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, in which one agent was killed. Oddly, the death toll in SLP to date in 2011 is 40, considerably lower than that of the state of Nuevo León, of which Monterrey is the capital. In Nuevo León, 151 people have been killed in gang related violence so far this year.
The US consulate is also warning US officials to take care when travelling in Zacatecas (24 gang killings so far this year), Aguascalientes (10) and Guanajuato (nine). All these states have previously been classed as comparatively peaceful. Separately, in the state of Veracruz (27 gang deaths from 1 January to 25 February 2011), six headless bodies were dumped outside a police station in the municipality of Pánuco.