Mexico City Mexico

Looking for La Santa Muerte

The Aspen Times | Aspen Times | Posted 11.22.2009 | Home


MEXICO CITY - "I may be big but I'm very scared," Jorge says as we work our way through a series of narrow streets near the historic Zcalo p...

Vigilante Justice Spreads Across Mexico

Global Post | Ioan Grillo | Posted 10.28.2009 | World


By Ioan Grillo MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- The five teenage boys slump against the wall of a dark house and eye the camcorder nervously. Suddenly, a fis...

Castro's sister says she collaborated with CIA

AP | LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ | Posted 10.26.2009 | Home


MIAMI — One of Fidel Castro's sisters says in a memoir released Monday that she collaborated with the CIA against her brother, starting shortly after the United States' failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.

Juanita Castro, 76, initially supported her brother's 1959 overthrow of the Batista dictatorship but quickly grew disillusioned. In a Spanish-language memoir published by Santillana USA and co-written by journalist Maria Antonieta Collins, she says the wife of the Brazilian ambassador to Cuba persuaded her to meet a CIA officer during a trip to Mexico in 1961.

By then, her house had already become a sanctuary for anti-communists, and Fidel Castro had warned her about getting involved with the "gusanos," or worms, as those who opposed the revolution were called.

Castro said in the book, "My Brothers Fidel and Raul. The Secret Story," that she traveled to Mexico City under the pretense of visiting her younger sister Enma. There she also secretly met a CIA officer who identified himself as "Enrique" at the elegant Camino Real hotel.

A spokesman for the CIA in Langley, Va., declined to comment on Castro's account.

Hurricane Rick weakens to Category 3, blamed in death at Baja California resort

Fox 31 | Fox 31 | Posted 10.19.2009 | Home


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Rick was still more than a day away from the resorts of Baja California on Monday but the 13-foot (4-meter) waves i...

Teller: Didn't think Texas mayor would break law

AP | CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN | Posted 10.13.2009 | Home


BROWNSVILLE, Texas — The outspoken mayor of a U.S.-Mexico border city deposited a $26,000 check from the city to a vendor in his personal account last year and attempted to discredit the investigation when it came to light, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada, who is on trial for a variety of charges including theft, spent more than $5,000 over three weeks after putting the check into his account, authorities said.

During that time, prosecutor Luis Saenz told jurors, "nobody knows anything except the defendant," and then when it was revealed "Patricio Ahumada engages in a campaign to discredit the investigation."

Ahumada initially said he did not remember depositing the check. When the bank notified him three weeks after the deposit he asked the bank to investigate because he believed political enemies could be setting him up.

It was "an innocent mistake" by a busy mayor on his way to Mexico on city business, his attorney Ed Cyganiewicz said Tuesday.

Apocalypse not? Mayans say 2012 isn't the end of the world

Fox 31 | Fox 31 | Posted 10.11.2009 | Home


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly "running out" ...

'Housewives' actress Eva Longoria back to school

AP | Posted 11.23.2009 | Home


Eva Longoria Parker says she is going back to school to learn about her Mexican roots.

The 34-year-old "Desperate Housewives" actress says she will enroll in a master's program in Chicano studies and political science.

In its Mexico edition released Wednesday, Hola magazine quoted Longoria as saying that she wants to "learn more about the history of the country we come from." She didn't say what university she will attend.

Longoria says she also is polishing her Spanish. The Texas native's family is originally from the northern Mexican city of Monterrey.

The actress was in Mexico City last month to take on a Spanish-speaking role for the first time in a Mexican film about kidnapping titled "Days of Grace."

'Housewives' actress Eva Longoria back to school

AP | Posted 11.23.2009 | Home


Eva Longoria Parker says she is going back to school to learn about her Mexican roots.

The 34-year-old "Desperate Housewives" actress says she will enroll in a master's program in Chicano studies and political science.

In its Mexico edition released Wednesday, Hola magazine quoted Longoria as saying that she wants to "learn more about the history of the country we come from." She didn't say what university she will attend.

Longoria says she also is polishing her Spanish. The Texas native's family is originally from the northern Mexican city of Monterrey.

The actress was in Mexico City last month to take on a Spanish-speaking role for the first time in a Mexican film about kidnapping titled "Days of Grace."

Rio carrying Olympic hopes of entire continent

AP | TALES AZZONI | Posted 11.23.2009 | Home


South America has never hosted a Summer Olympics. If Rio de Janeiro breaks that streak and gets the 2016 games, the setting could hardly be more spectacular.

Brazilians are promising to transform the region and captivate the world with a well-organized Olympics played out near the city's stunning beaches and famous landmarks.

Rio anxiously awaits the Oct. 2 host-city vote in Copenhagen, especially after gaining front-runner status following a positive evaluation by the International Olympic Committee in its final report on the four finalists for 2016.

Thousands of Cariocas, as Rio citizens are known, are expected to make it to Copacabana beach to watch the IOC announcement, hoping for a big celebration by the Sugar Loaf mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue.

Competing against Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, the city gained IOC praise for having strong public support, financial guarantees from all levels of government and experience from successfully hosting the Olympic-style Pan American Games in 2007. Brazil also will host the 2014 World Cup.

British Museum seeks to remake Montezuma's image

AP | GREGORY KATZ | Posted 11.23.2009 | Home


The world-famous British Museum, home of the contested Elgin Marbles sought by Greece, is leaping into another controversy with a special exhibit re-examining the life of Montezuma, the doomed last ruler of the Aztecs.

The Montezuma exhibit that opens Thursday is the fourth and final British Museum show devoted to the use of political and military power throughout the ages. Earlier exhibits dealt with the first emperor of China, the Roman emperor Hadrian, and the Iranian ruler Shah Abbas.

It was Montezuma, who reigned over the sprawling Aztec empire from 1502 to 1520, who let Hernando Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors into the Aztec capital, giving them jewels and other gifts while they plotted to murder him and subjugate his people. Cortes destroyed the Aztec capital and built what would become Mexico City there, ushering in a new era in the Americas.

Now museum curators want viewers to realize that much of what they know about this flawed ruler – including the claim that he was killed by his own people – may be based on versions told by the Spanish, making it in effect history as written by the victors.

"A lot of the perceptions of Montezuma and these tumultuous events of the Spanish Conquest are seen through a Western lens," said curator Colin MacEwan. "The challenge is to try to tell the side of the story that isn't usually told. It's personalizing history and establishing a more direct connection with one person's footprint in history."

Mexico City Earthquake Hits 5.7 On Richter Scale

AP | JULIE WATSON | Posted 06.22.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake swayed skyscrapers in Mexico City and rattled colonial buildings in neighboring Puebla state Friday, sending f...

Mexico Anti-Abortion Laws On The Rise

Inter Press Service | Diego Cevallos | Posted 06.22.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY, May 22 (IPS) - In the last 13 months, 12 of Mexico's 32 states have approved amendments to their state constitutions defining a fertil...

Mexico Prison Break: 53 Walk Out While Guards Do Nothing

AP | JULIE WATSON | Posted 06.21.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — Security camera footage shows that guards at a Mexican prison nonchalantly stood by as 53 dangerous inmates walked out _ and didn'...

Mexico Confirms Two More Swine Flu Deaths, Toll At 66

AP | Posted 06.15.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — Mexico has confirmed two more deaths from swine flu, bringing the death toll to 66, the health secretary said Friday. Tests have ...

H1N1 in Mexico - Lessons Learned

Richard P. Wenzel | Posted 06.12.2009 | World


Richard P. Wenzel

We can applaud the Mexican health authorities and learn from their remarkable encounters with H1N1.

Swine Flu Masks Take Over Mexico -- But Effectiveness Questioned

AP | PAUL HAVEN | Posted 05.30.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — The cloth patches in green, blue and white are everywhere, clamped tight over the mouth and nose of teachers, toddlers, policemen ...

When a Superbug Strikes Close to Home, How Can You Deal With it?

Matthew Stein | Posted 05.29.2009 | Living


Matthew Stein

Imagine a Hurricane Katrina-sized catastrophe occurring in 50 major U.S. cities at the same time, and you have some idea of the worst-case scenario for a crippling global pandemic.

"Wolverine's" Mexico Premiere Postponed Due To Swine Flu

people.com | Brenda Rodriguez | Posted 05.28.2009 | Entertainment


Not even a superhero is immune to the swine flu virus. Twentieth Century Fox has decided to postpone the premiere of X-Men Origins: Wolverine set f...

Mexico Earthquake: Felt In Mexico City, Centered Near Chilpancingo

AP | PAUL HAVEN | Posted 05.28.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake struck central Mexico on Monday, swaying tall buildings in the capital and rattling nerves in a city already t...

SWINE FLU: World gov'ts race to contain outbreak

AP | LAURAN NEERGAARD | Posted 05.28.2009 | World


WASHINGTON — Governments are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu around the globe, seeking to stem both the threat of a pandemic and...

Swine Flu Death Toll Exceeds 100 as Pandemic Fears Grow

Dygest.net | Dygest.net | Posted 05.28.2009 | Home


Governments around the world are hurrying to contain the spread of a new swine flu virus after outbreaks were reported in Mexico, the US and Canada. T...

Swine Flu - Don't Panic

Barbara Dehn | Posted 05.27.2009 | Living


Barbara Dehn

Be well, and try not to panic. The Swine Flu can be a very serious infection, but there are few cases in the US and all of the people infected have recovered or are recovering. Stay safe by taking precautions.

Swine Flu Outbreak -- Nature Biting Back at Industrial Animal Production?

David Kirby | Posted 05.26.2009 | World


David Kirby

A deadly new influenza virus has managed to jump from pigs to people in a previously unseen mutated form that can readily spread among humans. How could this happen? There are several plausible explanations.

Mexico City Flu Epidemic Shuts Down Schools

AP | MARK STEVENSON | Posted 05.25.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — Mexico City closed schools across the metropolis of 20 million Friday after at least 16 people died and more than 900 others fall ...

Ocotepec: Rape Accusation Riles Indian-Ruled Town Near Mexico City

AP | MARK STEVENSON | Posted 05.24.2009 | World


MEXICO CITY — An accusation that a woman was gang-raped by traditional authorities has rattled a Mexican town still ruled by ancient Indian cust...