Mexican judges learn U.S. justice system in L.A.

This article from the Los Angeles Times is about Mexican judges coming to LA to sit in on courtroom proceedings to learn about the American Justice system. By 2016, all of the 31 mexican states are expected to have switched to an American style judicial system. In Mexico, one person is the judge and the jury. Witnesses don't take the stand, and trials aren't public. The judge just looks over reports of defense and prosecutions and makes a decision. This would make it very easy to bribe a judge. The judges from Mexico were amazed at the transparency of the trials.

This relates to the comparative government concept of institutions. Mexico is trying to change an instituition by modeling it after that of another country.

Mexico's Felipe Calderon vows to defeat violent gangs

This article by BBC recounts Felipe Calderon's address to Congress. In a joint session of the US Congress, Calderon voiced his grievances of the Drug War in Mexico and of new American immigration laws.

In order to quell the Drug War, President Calderon called on the US to halt the flow of weapons across the border into Mexico. Calderon stated that increased violence between the drug cartels coincided with the "2004 lapse of a US assault weapons ban" while reminding Congress that "80% of recently seized guns could be traced to the US."

On the issue of immigration, Calderon admired Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. and promised to help secure their rights even though they are abroad. Felipe Calderon also voiced his regret that so many Mexicans leave the country to go north of the border and promised to create more economic opportunities within the country. Calderon also called on Congress to reform the US immigration policy. "The time has come to reduce the causes of migration and turn this into a legal, orderly and secure flow of workers and visitors," Calderon said. President Calderon then voiced his discontent with the recent Arizona immigration laws which he describes as "a terrible idea using racial profiling." President Obama had made immigration reform one of his top priorities, but with recent change over in the seats in Congress, analysts find it unlikely the legislation will hold any weight.

In terms with our Comparative Government class this article is important as it further emphasizes the symbiotic role between Mexico and the US. It demonstrates Mexico's further reliance on the US to help quell the Drug War with Calderon appealing to Congress for help. However, a cleavage between American and Mexican immigration policy is apparent as Calderon voices his obvious discontent for the US policies.

This article from the Economist talks about President Calderon's visit to Washington D.C. and his meeting with President Obama. The article touches on the main topics concerning the two presidents, including the drug war, immigration, elections/politics and the violence that is causing the Mexican people to lose faith in Mr. Calderon and the government.
The meeting between President Obama and President Calderon was called by Obama to show "that the two neighbours have become friends" and to increase cooperation between the two countries. But, even tough Obama has shown his disagreement with the new Arizona law, there has still been an increase in tension between the United States and Mexico. "The governors of Mexico’s border states said they would boycott a routine meeting with their American counterparts in Phoenix." Meetings such as these have helped improve cooperation between American and Mexican official when dealing with drug traffickers, and some people are worried that the boycott of these meetings will have a negative effect on the communication that has recently been improving, "diplomats from both countries note that their daily collaboration has improved". Some of the cooperation between the countries includes "The Mérida initiative, a scheme under which the United States has offered Mexico modest anti-drug aid, has been extended and tweaked to emphasise strengthening institutions, such as the judiciary", the fact that Mexico is allowing the United States to have such a huge role in strengthening institutions shows how desperate Mexico has become for help and how much influence the United States has over Mexico.
The article also talks about domestic politics and how President Calderon is no longer being trusted by the Mexican people to fix the countries many problems, "polls suggest that Mexicans are becoming sceptical of Mr Calderón’s insistence that he is beating the drug gangs." The kidnapping of Mr. Fernendez de Cevallos also hurts the legitimacy of Mexico's government since he was such an influential (PAN) party member and well known in Mexican politics.
This article is important because it addresses the legitimacy of the Mexican government and the dependency of Mexico on the United States and the importance for the two countries to keep close relations.

This article from the L.A. Times is about Monterrey, Mexico and the drug war. Monterrey is one of Mexico's wealthiest cities and has two times the national GDP per capita. Some of Mexico's best schools are in the city and it is the economic center of the country. For some time it has been untouched by the violence and corruption that is plaguing the rest of the country, but just now has that violence been seeping into the country. The wealth and affluence has made Monterrey an easy place for criminals to launder money, and the authorities in the city have began to lose control. Many think that this increase in crime is because Monterrey has turned a blind eye to the drug crime that has been going on in the city. This has to do with transparency because a city's money as able to shield it from crime and corruption

In this New York Times, opinion editorial column, author Friedman analyzes the strong connection between the U.S. and Mexico with what he calls "Narcos, No’s and Nafta." Mexico and the U.S. have a truly unique relationship that is becoming even more important. Friedman believes that the Drug Wars in Mexico are fueled by the market for drugs in America and the American bought guns that are smuggled into Mexico in order to arm cartels. U.S. travel advisories dissuading citizens to traveling to Mexico have been followed by Mexico's recent travel advisory dissuading Mexicans to travel to Arizona because of recent immigration policy. Friedman then discusses what he sees as the two middle classes in Mexico. Friedman's first group, which he describes as the middle class that "lives off the oil pumped and exported by the state oil company Pemex, which funds 40 percent of the government’s budget", stands as the primary opposition force to privatizing state-owned companies or opening industries to foreign investment or domestic opposition as they advocate the status-qu0. However the other middle class group, described as "the people who came from the countryside to work in new industries spawned by NAFTA", who seemed to have been instilled with an American Dream type of dogma. Friedman predicts that this new emerging bourgeois will eclipse the current middle class and demand new social and economic reforms that are currently hampered.

"'Signs of Violence' found as Ex-Candidate is Missing in Mexico"

This article from the New York Times addresses the apparent, but unconfirmed, kidnapping of Diego Fernendez de Cevallos; a former presidential candidate and important broker of Mexico's National Action Party. Diego Fernendez de Cevallos ran for president of Mexico in 1994, when the first televised national electoral debates occurred. Fernendez ran against the PRI while they were still in power, and even though he was not able to win the presidency, he stayed with his party and has been an influential leader of the National Action Party ever sense.

Diego Fernendez is 69, and his car was found near his ranch in central Queretaro. All of his belongings were still inside along with unspecified
(besides a "small pair of scissors with traces of blood on the ground near the car") "'signs of violence'". the former candidate has not been seen and his family says that they have not been contacted for "ransom" and the mystery behind the disapearence of Diego Fernendez de Cavallos continues.

This article is important to look at in Comparative Government because it has to do with the stability of the government. It is never good when an important political official goes missing, especially when the case involves violence, but during these unstable times in Mexico, the foul play suspected behind Diego Fernendez's disappearance leads to an even more devastating effect on the countries moral and beleif that the government can handle the violent situation in Mexico.

This article by Bloomberg Businessweek, is about the the Mexican peso's recent rapid rise in value. It rose 2.4% to 12.568 pesos per dollar last Friday. This rises came after the governments of the 16 countries that use the Euro loaned as much a 750 million Euros to countries under attack from speculation.

This relates to political and economic change because European nations cause a country's currency to rise in value.