Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday approved a reform of the country’s electoral institute, a move that opponents say will undercut democracy but which the president contends will save money and reduce political privileges.

Lawmakers voted 72-50 in favor of the controversial overhaul of the body overseeing Mexico’s elections. Opponents immediately said they will challenge the changes in the supreme court. Protests are planned in multiple cities.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — María Elena Ríos has conflicting feelings about her saxophone: She once blamed the instrument for bringing her to the brink of death — but it also has been her salvation.

Ríos, 29, thought her career as a musician and her devotion to her saxophone were what led her former boyfriend — an influential politician — to hire the men who splashed acid onto her face and body, disfiguring her. Later, she learned he simply couldn’t accept that she had broken off their relationship.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico appeared to have backed down Monday on plans to ban imports of U.S. genetically modified corn for animal feed.

Mexico’s Economy Department said a new decree on the issue was published Monday that drops any date for substituting imports of GM feed corn. Some imported corn is also ground into meal for use in corn chips or other snacks.

After a previous decree, some U.S. growers worried a GM feed corn ban could happen as soon as 2024 or 2025. Mexico argued that GM corn could represent a health risk, but has presented no evidence so far.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 6 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and US congressmen discussed security cooperation issues in Mexico City, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed.    

A press release indicates that the meeting with the legislators of the neighboring country was held at the Foreign Ministry headquarters where they also discussed border situation, reduction of arms and fentanyl trafficking, as well as the current migratory flows in the region.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Hours before sunrise, migrants at one of Mexico’s largest shelters wake up and go online, hoping to secure an appointment to try to seek asylum in the U.S. The daily ritual resembles a race for concert tickets when online sales begin for a major act, as about 100 people glide their thumbs over phone screens.

New appointments are available each day at 6 a.m., but migrants find themselves stymied by error messages from the U.S. government’s CBPOne mobile app that’s been overloaded since the Biden administration introduced it Jan. 12.

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — With threatening phone calls, burned minibuses and at least three drivers shot to death, street gangs more closely associated with Central America are imposing their brand of terror-based extortion on public transportation drivers in southern Mexico.

Organized crime groups including the rival Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs have long maintained a presence along the border between Mexico and Guatemala, but Mexican authorities say their numbers have increased over the past year as El Salvador cracks down on gang members and their criminal enterprises.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Just after sunset on Thursday, February 10th, two men in a white Dodge Ram pickup pulled up in front of Heber Lopez Vasquez's small radio studio in southern Mexico. One man got out, walked inside and shot the 42-year-old journalist dead. Lopez's 12-year-old son Oscar, the only person with him, hid, Lopez's brother told Reuters.

CIUDAD JUAREZ/MEXICO CITY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Migrants on Mexico's northern border on Wednesday began entering the United States using a mobile app designed to facilitate the process of applying for asylum, although several quickly reported difficulties in using the system.

This month, the Biden administration said it would broaden use of the so-called CBP One app to allow asylum seekers to enter their personal information as a pre-screening step for a U.S. appointment to request asylum.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The man who was once Mexico’s top security official and in charge of fighting the drug cartels goes on trial Tuesday on charges he accepted millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for helping the powerful Sinaloa Cartel move drugs and its members avoid capture.

Genaro García Luna was best known as the mumbling, tough-looking former security secretary under ex-President Felipe Calderón who spearheaded the bloody war on cartels between 2006 and 2012.

A failed Republican candidate who authorities said was angry over his defeat and made baseless claims the election last November was “rigged” against him was arrested in connection with a series of drive-by shootings targeting the homes of Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city.

Solomon Pena, 39, was arrested Monday evening, just hours after SWAT officers took him into custody and served search warrants at his home, police said.