Mexicans heroes
Helping Mexico succeed
Helping Mexico succeed
News in TJ
Morning Report
Voice of San Diego
March 14, 2011
...One Tijuana chef has designs on not only revitalizing Tijuana's food
scene but the city itself, says The New York Times in a profile [below] of
Javier Plascenia.
The chef had fled to San Diego and opened Romesco in Bonita but now
is turning his focus back on the city where his family has long been a
fixture of the food scene.
"As a culinary destination, Tijuana is perhaps best known for its street food,
especially mariscos, birria and tacos of all stripes," the NYT says. "But it also
has a long tradition of fine dining, and Mr. Plascencia's family has been at the
center of it for nearly three decades."
· Our friends at TijuanaPress.com have a cool new feature: An
English-language week-in-review video of Tijuana news. This week's touches
on the latest spates of drug violence, Tijuana's famed police chief heading to
Cuidad Juarez and an interview with USD border guru David Shirk...
Morning Report
Voice of San Diego
March 14, 2011
...One Tijuana chef has designs on not only revitalizing Tijuana's food
scene but the city itself, says The New York Times in a profile [below] of
Javier Plascenia.
The chef had fled to San Diego and opened Romesco in Bonita but now
is turning his focus back on the city where his family has long been a
fixture of the food scene.
"As a culinary destination, Tijuana is perhaps best known for its street food,
especially mariscos, birria and tacos of all stripes," the NYT says. "But it also
has a long tradition of fine dining, and Mr. Plascencia's family has been at the
center of it for nearly three decades."
· Our friends at TijuanaPress.com have a cool new feature: An
English-language week-in-review video of Tijuana news. This week's touches
on the latest spates of drug violence, Tijuana's famed police chief heading to
Cuidad Juarez and an interview with USD border guru David Shirk...
Profile of Javier Plascenia: Master of a New
Tijuana
By JOSH KUN
Published: March 8, 2011
Sandy Huffaker
The New York Times
NO matter where you sit in Mision 19, it’s impossible to forget where you are.
The restaurant, perched on the second floor of a sleek office building, is a
handsome study in concrete, wood and glass, wrapped in floor-to-ceiling
windows. Tijuana confronts you from all sides.
“I am proud of being from Tijuana,” said Javier Plascencia, the restaurant’s chef
and one of its owners, sitting behind a wall of wine bottles at his private chef’s
table. Nearby, waiters in dark coats and ties gracefully maneuvered among
tables of women in suits and men with sweaters tied over their shoulders. Hints
of cologne mixed with musky wafts of mesquite and charcoal.
“I want there to be no mistake,” he continued. “This is a Tijuana restaurant. This
is what Tijuana can be.”
Mr. Plascencia is determined to use Mision 19, which he opened in the heart of
this city’s Zona Río business district in January, to help revitalize not only
Tijuana’s food scene, but also the city itself. Scarred in recent years from waves
of drug violence, Tijuana, just south of the United States border, has gone from
being one of Mexico’s most visited cities to one of its most feared, a significant
blow to an economy that depends on tourism.
The kidnappings and killings that scared away visitors also encouraged many
well-heeled Tijuana locals to flee north. For a time, Mr. Plascencia, 43, was one
of them. In 2006, his family opened Romesco in Bonita, Calif., in part to give the
community of Tijuana exiles living there a taste of home.
“In the ’90s, we all knew who the drug dealers were,” he said. “They came to our
restaurants, we cooked at their baptism parties, but they didn’t mess with
anyone. They respected who we were. But then that started to change, and you
didn’t know who people were and how they would react. Suddenly there were no
rules anymore.”
There was even a period when he took a bodyguard with him to work after his
brother was threatened by kidnappers, he said.
Rafa Saavedra, a local writer and cultural critic, said that while “the general
perception of Tijuana is that it’s a violent and dangerous city,” he believes that
the city is undergoing a “new creative boom” led by young entrepreneurs like
Mr. Plascencia.
“They are not just looking to make money,” Mr. Saavedra said. “They are
looking to invest in the future of the city and its people.”...
Tijuana
By JOSH KUN
Published: March 8, 2011
Sandy Huffaker
The New York Times
NO matter where you sit in Mision 19, it’s impossible to forget where you are.
The restaurant, perched on the second floor of a sleek office building, is a
handsome study in concrete, wood and glass, wrapped in floor-to-ceiling
windows. Tijuana confronts you from all sides.
“I am proud of being from Tijuana,” said Javier Plascencia, the restaurant’s chef
and one of its owners, sitting behind a wall of wine bottles at his private chef’s
table. Nearby, waiters in dark coats and ties gracefully maneuvered among
tables of women in suits and men with sweaters tied over their shoulders. Hints
of cologne mixed with musky wafts of mesquite and charcoal.
“I want there to be no mistake,” he continued. “This is a Tijuana restaurant. This
is what Tijuana can be.”
Mr. Plascencia is determined to use Mision 19, which he opened in the heart of
this city’s Zona Río business district in January, to help revitalize not only
Tijuana’s food scene, but also the city itself. Scarred in recent years from waves
of drug violence, Tijuana, just south of the United States border, has gone from
being one of Mexico’s most visited cities to one of its most feared, a significant
blow to an economy that depends on tourism.
The kidnappings and killings that scared away visitors also encouraged many
well-heeled Tijuana locals to flee north. For a time, Mr. Plascencia, 43, was one
of them. In 2006, his family opened Romesco in Bonita, Calif., in part to give the
community of Tijuana exiles living there a taste of home.
“In the ’90s, we all knew who the drug dealers were,” he said. “They came to our
restaurants, we cooked at their baptism parties, but they didn’t mess with
anyone. They respected who we were. But then that started to change, and you
didn’t know who people were and how they would react. Suddenly there were no
rules anymore.”
There was even a period when he took a bodyguard with him to work after his
brother was threatened by kidnappers, he said.
Rafa Saavedra, a local writer and cultural critic, said that while “the general
perception of Tijuana is that it’s a violent and dangerous city,” he believes that
the city is undergoing a “new creative boom” led by young entrepreneurs like
Mr. Plascencia.
“They are not just looking to make money,” Mr. Saavedra said. “They are
looking to invest in the future of the city and its people.”...
San Diego
Education Report
Education Report
16 Mexico police officers held, accused of aiding
cartels in massacres
The federal attorney general's office identifies the 16 as municipal police in the
Tamaulipas town of San Fernando, near where more than 120 bodies have
been found in the last week in mass graves.
April 14, 2011|
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times
Sixteen police officers have been arrested for allegedly providing cover to
drug-cartel gangsters suspected in the grisly slaying of more than 120 people
whose bodies are being pulled from mass graves in northeastern Mexico.
The federal attorney general's office, in a statement, identified the 16 as
members of the municipal police force in the town of San Fernando, near where
the bodies were found.
On Thursday, officials in the border state of Tamaulipas said the number of
dead who have been extracted from several pits about 90 miles south of
Brownsville, Texas, had risen to 126. Digging continued in search of additional
victims, the officials said.
Previously, federal authorities had arrested 17 other suspects in the slayings.
Atty. Gen. Marisela Morales identified them as hit men from the notorious Zeta
drug cartel. She announced a reward equivalent to $2.5 million for information
leading to the capture of four additional suspected Zeta gunmen.
The discovery of the Tamaulipas graves over the last week has horrified
Mexicans already reeling from years of drug-war bloodshed. Many of these
latest victims are thought to be Mexicans who were pulled from buses that
traverse the busy roadways to the United States. San Fernando was also the
site last summer of a massacre of 72 mostly Central American migrants believed
slain by the Zetas.
"San Fernando has become the reference point for a region without any law,
other than that of organized crime and impunity," Joaquin Lopez-Doriga,
Mexico's leading television news anchor, wrote in a scathing column Thursday.
"The commission of crimes and criminals of incomprehensible magnitude can
only happen in the atmosphere of a failed state" like Tamaulipas.
Early Thursday, a refrigerated truck with a federal police escort transported
between 70 and 76 of the bodies to Mexico City, where forensic specialists will
attempt to identify them. There were conflicting reports on the exact number
transported.
At least one of the detained Zeta suspects reportedly confessed to kidnapping
bus passengers in late March and killing and burying 43 of them.
Thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico in the nearly 41/2 years
since the drug war intensified. Increasingly their bodies are turning up in
clandestine graves. In some cases they are snatched for forced labor for the
drug gangs; sometimes they are held to extract ransom from relatives. Some
are simply robbed and killed.
cartels in massacres
The federal attorney general's office identifies the 16 as municipal police in the
Tamaulipas town of San Fernando, near where more than 120 bodies have
been found in the last week in mass graves.
April 14, 2011|
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times
Sixteen police officers have been arrested for allegedly providing cover to
drug-cartel gangsters suspected in the grisly slaying of more than 120 people
whose bodies are being pulled from mass graves in northeastern Mexico.
The federal attorney general's office, in a statement, identified the 16 as
members of the municipal police force in the town of San Fernando, near where
the bodies were found.
On Thursday, officials in the border state of Tamaulipas said the number of
dead who have been extracted from several pits about 90 miles south of
Brownsville, Texas, had risen to 126. Digging continued in search of additional
victims, the officials said.
Previously, federal authorities had arrested 17 other suspects in the slayings.
Atty. Gen. Marisela Morales identified them as hit men from the notorious Zeta
drug cartel. She announced a reward equivalent to $2.5 million for information
leading to the capture of four additional suspected Zeta gunmen.
The discovery of the Tamaulipas graves over the last week has horrified
Mexicans already reeling from years of drug-war bloodshed. Many of these
latest victims are thought to be Mexicans who were pulled from buses that
traverse the busy roadways to the United States. San Fernando was also the
site last summer of a massacre of 72 mostly Central American migrants believed
slain by the Zetas.
"San Fernando has become the reference point for a region without any law,
other than that of organized crime and impunity," Joaquin Lopez-Doriga,
Mexico's leading television news anchor, wrote in a scathing column Thursday.
"The commission of crimes and criminals of incomprehensible magnitude can
only happen in the atmosphere of a failed state" like Tamaulipas.
Early Thursday, a refrigerated truck with a federal police escort transported
between 70 and 76 of the bodies to Mexico City, where forensic specialists will
attempt to identify them. There were conflicting reports on the exact number
transported.
At least one of the detained Zeta suspects reportedly confessed to kidnapping
bus passengers in late March and killing and burying 43 of them.
Thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico in the nearly 41/2 years
since the drug war intensified. Increasingly their bodies are turning up in
clandestine graves. In some cases they are snatched for forced labor for the
drug gangs; sometimes they are held to extract ransom from relatives. Some
are simply robbed and killed.
"We cannot ask of
the North, what we
are not doing in the
South"
Racism is a problem in
Mexico as well as in the
United States, as anyone who
has flipped through the TV
channels and come across a
Mexican news program
knows. (The anchors tend to
be lily-white. You're much
more likely to see American
reporters with brown or black
skin.)
Years ago, researchers sent
Mexican Indians to ask for
rooms in Mexico City hotels. If
they were wearing western
clothing, they got rooms. If
they were wearing Indian
clothing (which, ironically, is
worth more than the average
western outfit, due to the
extensive embroidery on the
women's huipiles), they were
usually denied a room.
Enrique Morones of Border
Angels writes that he's
"...Teaching tolerance at High
Tech and will also continue
organizing with USC...Then
head to Chiapas "we cannot
ask of the North, what we are
not doing in the South" will be
joined by fellow National
Human Rights Winner Olga
Sanchez..."
I'm glad to hear it. I've often
wondered why
Mexican-Americans so rarely
take an interest in fixing the
elitist system that controls
Mexico and its government.
It's appropriate to work to
change the oppressive
system that forces so many
individuals to leave home in
order to obtain the basic
necessities of life.
the North, what we
are not doing in the
South"
Racism is a problem in
Mexico as well as in the
United States, as anyone who
has flipped through the TV
channels and come across a
Mexican news program
knows. (The anchors tend to
be lily-white. You're much
more likely to see American
reporters with brown or black
skin.)
Years ago, researchers sent
Mexican Indians to ask for
rooms in Mexico City hotels. If
they were wearing western
clothing, they got rooms. If
they were wearing Indian
clothing (which, ironically, is
worth more than the average
western outfit, due to the
extensive embroidery on the
women's huipiles), they were
usually denied a room.
Enrique Morones of Border
Angels writes that he's
"...Teaching tolerance at High
Tech and will also continue
organizing with USC...Then
head to Chiapas "we cannot
ask of the North, what we are
not doing in the South" will be
joined by fellow National
Human Rights Winner Olga
Sanchez..."
I'm glad to hear it. I've often
wondered why
Mexican-Americans so rarely
take an interest in fixing the
elitist system that controls
Mexico and its government.
It's appropriate to work to
change the oppressive
system that forces so many
individuals to leave home in
order to obtain the basic
necessities of life.
16 Mexico police officers held, accused of aiding
cartels in massacres
The federal attorney general's office identifies the 16 as municipal police in the
Tamaulipas town of San Fernando, near where more than 120 bodies have
been found in the last week in mass graves.
April 14, 2011
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times
Sixteen police officers have been arrested for allegedly providing cover to
drug-cartel gangsters suspected in the grisly slaying of more than 120 people
whose bodies are being pulled from mass graves in northeastern Mexico.
The federal attorney general's office, in a statement, identified the 16 as
members of the municipal police force in the town of San Fernando, near where
the bodies were found.
On Thursday, officials in the border state of Tamaulipas said the number of
dead who have been extracted from several pits about 90 miles south of
Brownsville, Texas, had risen to 126. Digging continued in search of additional
victims, the officials said.
Previously, federal authorities had arrested 17 other suspects in the slayings.
Atty. Gen. Marisela Morales identified them as hit men from the notorious Zeta
drug cartel. She announced a reward equivalent to $2.5 million for information
leading to the capture of four additional suspected Zeta gunmen.
The discovery of the Tamaulipas graves over the last week has horrified
Mexicans already reeling from years of drug-war bloodshed. Many of these
latest victims are thought to be Mexicans who were pulled from buses that
traverse the busy roadways to the United States. San Fernando was also the
site last summer of a massacre of 72 mostly Central American migrants
believed slain by the Zetas.
"San Fernando has become the reference point for a region without any law,
other than that of organized crime and impunity," Joaquin Lopez-Doriga,
Mexico's leading television news anchor, wrote in a scathing column Thursday.
"The commission of crimes and criminals of incomprehensible magnitude can
only happen in the atmosphere of a failed state" like Tamaulipas.
Early Thursday, a refrigerated truck with a federal police escort transported
between 70 and 76 of the bodies to Mexico City, where forensic specialists will
attempt to identify them. There were conflicting reports on the exact number
transported.
At least one of the detained Zeta suspects reportedly confessed to kidnapping
bus passengers in late March and killing and burying 43 of them.
Thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico in the nearly 41/2 years
since the drug war intensified. Increasingly their bodies are turning up in
clandestine graves. In some cases they are snatched for forced labor for the
drug gangs; sometimes they are held to extract ransom from relatives. Some
are simply robbed and killed.
cartels in massacres
The federal attorney general's office identifies the 16 as municipal police in the
Tamaulipas town of San Fernando, near where more than 120 bodies have
been found in the last week in mass graves.
April 14, 2011
By Tracy Wilkinson
Los Angeles Times
Sixteen police officers have been arrested for allegedly providing cover to
drug-cartel gangsters suspected in the grisly slaying of more than 120 people
whose bodies are being pulled from mass graves in northeastern Mexico.
The federal attorney general's office, in a statement, identified the 16 as
members of the municipal police force in the town of San Fernando, near where
the bodies were found.
On Thursday, officials in the border state of Tamaulipas said the number of
dead who have been extracted from several pits about 90 miles south of
Brownsville, Texas, had risen to 126. Digging continued in search of additional
victims, the officials said.
Previously, federal authorities had arrested 17 other suspects in the slayings.
Atty. Gen. Marisela Morales identified them as hit men from the notorious Zeta
drug cartel. She announced a reward equivalent to $2.5 million for information
leading to the capture of four additional suspected Zeta gunmen.
The discovery of the Tamaulipas graves over the last week has horrified
Mexicans already reeling from years of drug-war bloodshed. Many of these
latest victims are thought to be Mexicans who were pulled from buses that
traverse the busy roadways to the United States. San Fernando was also the
site last summer of a massacre of 72 mostly Central American migrants
believed slain by the Zetas.
"San Fernando has become the reference point for a region without any law,
other than that of organized crime and impunity," Joaquin Lopez-Doriga,
Mexico's leading television news anchor, wrote in a scathing column Thursday.
"The commission of crimes and criminals of incomprehensible magnitude can
only happen in the atmosphere of a failed state" like Tamaulipas.
Early Thursday, a refrigerated truck with a federal police escort transported
between 70 and 76 of the bodies to Mexico City, where forensic specialists will
attempt to identify them. There were conflicting reports on the exact number
transported.
At least one of the detained Zeta suspects reportedly confessed to kidnapping
bus passengers in late March and killing and burying 43 of them.
Thousands of people have gone missing in Mexico in the nearly 41/2 years
since the drug war intensified. Increasingly their bodies are turning up in
clandestine graves. In some cases they are snatched for forced labor for the
drug gangs; sometimes they are held to extract ransom from relatives. Some
are simply robbed and killed.
Central American migrants are being kidnapped
in Mexico
August 1, 2011
Coatzacoalcos, Mexico
"Stop the spilling of migrants' blood"
“No more deaths! No more massacres! Everyone has a right to migrate!” The
crowd of over 400 Central American migrants, migrant family members, and
human rights activists marched through the streets of Coatzacoalcos in the
state of Veracruz, Mexico. Waving banners and singing songs, the protesters
made clear their demand that Mexican authorities take definitive action to end
the violence and abuse that is being carried out against migrants in the
country.
Migrants who travel through Mexico, headed northward and to the United
States along the common migration routes, face a slew of dangers. Abuses,
assault, robberies, and rapes have become common parts of the trip for many
migrants, as thieves, gangs, and corrupt officials take advantage of the
vulnerable situation of migrants in the country in order to seek personal gain.
The number of kidnappings of migrants has grown particularly alarming in
recent years, with estimates from the Mexican Human Rights Commission
(CNDH) running from 20,000 to 50,000 cases per year. Sometimes, these
kidnappings end in death, such as occurred in the massacre of 72 migrants in
Tamaulipas last year.
Caravana Paso a Paso hacia la Paz
July 28, 2011
Already, only a few days into the Caravana, two central american mothers
have news about their lost children. They both are alive and in Mexico!
in Mexico
August 1, 2011
Coatzacoalcos, Mexico
"Stop the spilling of migrants' blood"
“No more deaths! No more massacres! Everyone has a right to migrate!” The
crowd of over 400 Central American migrants, migrant family members, and
human rights activists marched through the streets of Coatzacoalcos in the
state of Veracruz, Mexico. Waving banners and singing songs, the protesters
made clear their demand that Mexican authorities take definitive action to end
the violence and abuse that is being carried out against migrants in the
country.
Migrants who travel through Mexico, headed northward and to the United
States along the common migration routes, face a slew of dangers. Abuses,
assault, robberies, and rapes have become common parts of the trip for many
migrants, as thieves, gangs, and corrupt officials take advantage of the
vulnerable situation of migrants in the country in order to seek personal gain.
The number of kidnappings of migrants has grown particularly alarming in
recent years, with estimates from the Mexican Human Rights Commission
(CNDH) running from 20,000 to 50,000 cases per year. Sometimes, these
kidnappings end in death, such as occurred in the massacre of 72 migrants in
Tamaulipas last year.
Caravana Paso a Paso hacia la Paz
July 28, 2011
Already, only a few days into the Caravana, two central american mothers
have news about their lost children. They both are alive and in Mexico!