Mexico

GUADALAJARA (Mexico), March 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nine people were killed in a bloody confrontation in western Mexico between a criminal gang and agents investigating a suspected kidnapping, officials said.

The dead included two officers and six people believed to have been held captive in a house in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco state, the state prosecutor’s office said.

Another man died on the street.

Jalisco has been hard-hit by violence linked to organized crime, particularly the powerful Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Six months after an acid attack in Mexico, Maria Elena Rios is now speaking out in hopes officials will find and punish her aggressor. Talking through a bandage covering the burns on her face, she has a message for other women: Do not live in fear.

Rios, who believes her ex-boyfriend ordered two men to splash her body with acid last September, is one of many women to have suffered abuse by their romantic partners in Mexico, where femicides have risen 137% in the last five years.

28 February 2020; AFP: One of the murderers of acclaimed journalist and AFP contributor Javier Valdez Cardenas was sentenced Thursday to 14 years and eight months in prison by a Mexican court.

Heriberto Picos Barraza, nicknamed "El Koala", was one of the perpetrators of the crime committed in the northwestern city of Cualiacan in May 2017, according to the prosecution.

He had served as a driver for two men, Juan Francisco Picos Barrueto and Luis Idelfonso Sanchez, who shot Valdez outside his office.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico has returned an ancient bronze sculpture to Nigeria after thwarting an attempt to smuggle it into the country, officials say.

The artefact is from Nigeria’s south-western Ife city, famous for works depicting royalty and deities of the once-powerful Yoruba kingdom.

The sculpture is of a man sitting cross-legged, wearing a head dress and holding an object.

Customs officers seized it at the main airport in Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s economy was weaker than initially estimated in the final three months of 2019, shrinking by 0.1% compared to the previous quarter, prolonging a mild recession, data from the national statistics agency showed on Tuesday.

A preliminary estimate on Jan. 30 showed that when adjusted for seasonal swings, gross domestic product (GDP) was flat in October-December versus the previous quarter.

MEXICO CITY, February 24. / TASS /: A young Russian woman, who disappeared on February 17 in the western Mexican state of Jalisco has been found, the Prosecutor General's Office of the region twitted on Sunday evening.

"A 15-year-old teenager was found," the message says. "Thank you for your cooperation." No details surrounding the incident have been made public.

On February 22, the Russian Embassy in Mexico told TASS that they are aware of the situation and are assisting in the search for the child.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — Foreign investors are looking to increase their investment in Mexico thanks to the ratification of the renovated free trade agreement, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

“In general (foreign investors are) very optimistic about the country’s economic future, and committed to keeping their investment and increasing their investment in Mexico, within the framework of the free trade deal,” Lopez Obrador told reporters at his daily press conference.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Clad in a beige uniform marked “3870,” the captured drug kingpin answered the Mexican prison guard’s questions calmly, barely looking up as he scrubbed black fingerprint ink from his hands.

Alias? “El Chapo.” Occupation? “Farmer.”

The interview is part of a four-year-old video released this week which appears to offer rare footage of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, who is now under lock and key for life at a top-security U.S. prison.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele deployed hundreds of soldiers on Tuesday to fight gangs, days after facing criticism for barging into Congress with the army to pressure lawmakers over his security plan.

The 1,400 soldiers will join about 8,600 already battling crime, an increase of about 16%.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The killing of a 7-year-old girl on the southern outskirts of Mexico City has stoked rising anger over the brutal slayings of women, including one found stabbed to death and skinned earlier this month.

The city prosecutor’s office said Monday that investigators identified a body found over the weekend as that of Fatima, a grade-school student who was taken by a stranger on Feb. 11. By law, prosecutors don’t give the full name of victims.