Tag: Mexico; North America

The Impact of the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico and Central America and How We Can Change It

December 22, 2023

Mira director Laura Carlsen offers a close-up of the impacts of U.S. policy in Mexico and Central America. Juan González, of the Great Cities Institute and Democracy Now!, examines immigration, US policy and the links between forced immigration and sanctions, and Gimena Sánchez of WOLA looks at policy in Colombia and the Andean region. Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research discussed the history and the impact of U.S. economic sanctions.

Let’s talk about militarization

January 9, 2023

Militarization, now institutionalized in the Constitution and in practice, extended for the next six years and quite possibly forever, is not just the latest bone of contention between political parties. It is an issue that has profound implications for Mexican society, democracy, security, gender equality and human rights. It has to be analyzed within the framework of these considerations, beyond the false and hypocritical positions of the political parties.

THE BRIDGE OF STONES: A MIGRANT CHRISTMAS STORY

January 9, 2023

Carefully treading a crossing of slippery stones strung across the shallow Rio Grande between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, trickles of migrants climbed up the embankment on the U.S. side.

Joining with others who had crossed from down river, the asylum seekers waited peacefully to surrender to U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. Watching the evolving ritual were a gaggle of Mexican journalists and local residents. A young man from Venezuela with one leg hopped around on crutches while a pair of municipal cops observed the drama from a parked truck. Standing atop the Mexican embankment, a young girl gazed across the narrow river at the forming line of asylum seekers of all ages, tears welling up in her sad eyes.

Mexican Workers Fight for their Lives on the Border

April 30, 2020

As the COVID-19 coronavirus began walloping Mexico, wildcat strikes by assembly plant workers concerned about their health and their futures rippled across the country during March and April.

Can Women’s Grassroots Organizing Stop the Rise in Violence Against Women?

March 16, 2020

When four thousand women from forty-nine countries met in a Zapatista community to find ways to end violence against women, we knew what we were up against. Many, if not most, of the women brought with them the scars of gender violence. We also knew we were meeting at a critical and contradictory point in the history of women’s movements–a point when an all-time high in public attention and mobilization coincides with a rise in the violence the movements aim to stop.

The Power of the Mothers

January 10, 2020

In its fifteenth year, the Caravan of Central American mothers brought together six families. In total, the caravan has chalked up 315 reunions. Along the way it empowers women and challenges a system that considers their loved ones expendable.

Mexico’s Refugees

October 23, 2019

For the past year, Ciudad Juarez has been a flashpoint of the migrant and refugee humanitarian crisis gripping the U.S.-Mexico border. Now hundreds of other people-mainly women and children-are camped out at the international bridge, but this latest group of refugees is Mexican.

AMLO’s State of the Union Address: Rhetoric Meets Reality

September 12, 2019

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador delivered his first state of the union address on September 1 from a position of strength, in spite of the fact that the first nine months in office have failed to produce results in several key areas.

What if We Stopped Fighting Drugs and Started Caring for People?

July 23, 2019

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador recently made two announcements that could finally close the bloodiest chapter in the history of the United States’ global war on drugs. He called for ending the Merida Initiative—the 3 billion-dollar US counternarcotics aid package that has fueled Mexico’s drug war—and announced a pivot from prohibition.