Mexican journalists' sons killed in northern city

Published May 05, 2013

Associated Press

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico –  Authorities in a northern Mexico border state say two sons of a well-known journalism couple have been assassinated.

The Chihuahua state prosecutor's office says 21-year-old David Paramo and 23-year-old Alejandro Paramo were followed by gunmen, intercepted at an intersection and shot as they were driving home about 4 a.m. Saturday in the state capital.

They were the sons of financial journalist David Paramo of TV Azteca and Martha Gonzalez Nicholson, who is editor of the newspaper Peso de Chihuahua.

Prosecutor's spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said Sunday that the killing had nothing to do with the parents' work as journalists. He gave no specifics on possible motives, saying only that the office was following "other lines of investigation."

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Mexican teachers attack political party offices

Published April 24, 2013

Associated Press

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  A teacher gives the thumb down sign as he holds a photograph of Mexico's President Enrique Pena Niet outside of the office of the Secretary of Educations after they attacked the building causing significant damage in Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday April 24, 2013. Protesting against President Enrique Pena Nieto's education reform project, thousands of elementary and high school teachers in Guerrero, one of the country's poorest and worst-educated states, walked out more than a month ago, turning hundreds of thousands of children out of class and since have launched an increasingly disruptive string of protests. (AP Photo/Alejandrino Gonzalez)The Associated Press

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  Protesting teachers attack the regional offices of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, PRI, after they attacked the building causing significant damage in Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday April 24, 2013. Protesting against President Enrique Pena Nieto's education reform project, thousands of elementary and high school teachers in Guerrero, one of the country's poorest and worst-educated states, walked out more than a month ago, turning hundreds of thousands of children out of class and since have launched an increasingly disruptive string of protests. (AP Photo/Alejandrino Gonzalez)The Associated Press

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  Protesting teachers stand outside of the regional offices of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, PRI, after they attacked the building causing significant damage in Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Protesting against President Enrique Pena Nieto's education reform project, thousands of elementary and high school teachers in Guerrero, one of the country's poorest and worst-educated states, walked out more than a month ago, turning hundreds of thousands of children out of class and since have launched an increasingly disruptive string of protests. (AP Photo/Alejandrino Gonzalez)The Associated Press

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  Protesting teachers stand outside of the regional offices of the Revolutionary Institutional Party, PRI, after they attacked the building causing significant damage in Chilpancingo, Mexico, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Protesting against President Enrique Pena Nieto's education reform project, thousands of elementary and high school teachers in Guerrero, one of the country's poorest and worst-educated states, walked out more than a month ago, turning hundreds of thousands of children out of class and since have launched an increasingly disruptive string of protests. (AP Photo/Alejandrino Gonzalez)The Associated Press

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ACAPULCO, Mexico –  Striking teachers in Mexico's Guerrero state have attacked the offices of four major political parties and a building of the state's education department.

They destroyed computers and furniture and set fire to two buildings in anger over legislators rejecting their strike demands.

Teachers in the state capital of Chilpancingo marched Wednesday to each of the five buildings, breaking windows and vandalizing offices. They set fire to the state headquarters of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and another building. No injuries have been reported.

The 20,000-member group went on strike shortly after President Enrique Pena Nieto signed into a law a sweeping education reform two months ago. Its members have since staged increasingly disruptive protests.

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Prosecutors drop charges against Mexican general

Published April 17, 2013

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY –  A Mexican official says federal prosecutors have dropped organized crime charges against a retired army general accused of aiding a drug cartel after determining that the witness testimony was not enough to sustain their case.

The official says retired Gen. Tomas Angeles Dauahare will be released from a maximum security prison in Mexico state, where he has been held since his arrest last year.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to discuss the case.

He said Wednesday that Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam studied the case begun during former President Felipe Calderon's administration and concluded that "witness testimony didn't prove guilt."

Angeles Dauahare was charged with protecting members of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

He was Assistant Defense Secretary from 2006 to 2008.

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First Mexican extradited to US under new president

SAN DIEGO –  U.S. authorities say a man accused of drug trafficking has been extradited from Mexico to face charges in San Diego that he oversaw efforts to bring methamphetamine into the United States.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy says Cesar Alfredo Meza Garcia on Thursday became the first person to be extradited under Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto.

U.S. authorities say the 36-year-old was a leading figure in Mexico's Tijuana cartel until he was arrested nearly six months ago in the Mexican border city.

Meza Garcia is the top target arrested in a nearly two-year investigation that resulted in seizures of more than 200 pounds of methamphetamine and 100 pounds of cocaine. The drugs were hidden in cars and trucks and strapped to bodies at San Diego border crossings.

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Mexican drug lord dropped from billionaires' list

MEXICO CITY –  Top Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has dropped off Forbes magazine's billionaires' list after four years on it.

Guzman is the fugitive leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel. He first made the list in 2009, with a fortune listed at about $1 billion.

Forbes senior wealth editor Luisa Kroll said the decision to drop Guzman was based on suspicions that "an increasing chunk of money is going to protect him and his family."

Kroll said in a statement Monday that Guzman is "no longer someone we are confident enough to call a billionaire," and that he could not be reached to verify figures on his wealth.

Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim continues to head the list, with a fortune estimated at $73 billion.

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Mexican president signs education reform

Published February 25, 2013

Associated Press

MEXICO –  President Enrique Pena Nieto has signed Mexico's most sweeping education reform in seven decades, a change widely expected to weaken the country's powerful teacher's union.

Pena Nieto signed the reform Monday after it was approved by Mexico's congress and the majority of state legislatures. The legislation creates a system of uniform standards for teacher hiring and promotion, in place of a system that critics said placed excessive power in the hands of the union, even allowing teachers' positions to be sold and inherited.

The reform also will allow the first census of schools, teachers and students. Until now, there has been no official count of the Mexican education system.

The reform was a plank of a pact signed between Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party and the two main opposition parties.

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2 Mexican police charged with raping Italian woman

Published February 21, 2013

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY –  Prosecutors in Mexico say they have charged two policemen with raping an Italian woman in a Caribbean beach town where she lives.

Prosecutors in the state of Quintana Roo say the municipal police officers were arrested over the weekend in Playa de Carmen.

The officers allegedly raped the woman after she refused their demands for money. Prosecutors say the officers had demanded 3,000 pesos ($235) to let the victim and a companion off from possible charges for public urination.

The officers face abuse of authority and rape charges. They have no lawyer of record.

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