New Mexico Mercury

Border Farmers’ Market a Year-Round Hit

Estela Flores is an earth artist. On Saturday mornings, you can find her work, courtesy of Mother Earth, on display at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing Farmers’ Market in Sunland Park, New Mexico.

Flores’ stand offers an inspiring inventory of garden art and potted plants ready for the backyard or front porch. Visitors behold herbs, native landscape plants, organic vegetables, succulents, and a garden dragon fly fashioned from wrought iron and embodied with peat moss and soil...

The Clock in Albuquerque Strikes Midnight

Years of frustration by concerned citizens and family members of those killed by APD culminated in the takeover of the Albuquerque City Council this week. Answers and accountability are the themes in the latest chapter of a city in crisis. 

Life, Death and Struggle on New Mexico’s Mean Streets

Questions about the death of 19 year old Mary Hawkes remain unanswered while the impassioned cries of Albuquerque's downtrodden reverberate.  The latest chapter of a city on edge. 

A Great Test of Democracy in Albuquerque

The uproar over shootings by the Albuquerque Police Department is transforming into a broader struggle over governance.  Defining moments in democratic rule, government transparency and official accountability and impunity are playing out in Albuquerque.

The New Rebellion of Albuquerque

In an unprecedented Albuquerque City Council meeting on Monday night, the public expressed outrage at ongoing APD misconduct and the lack of accountability by local and state officials. 

Cesar is not a Museum Piece

As the life of Cesar Chavez hit the big screen in recent days, the media rediscovered the man who has become a symbol for the Chicano movement, non-violence and labor rights.  And while the complexities of Chavez’s celebrated life were revisited by the pundits, the annual Cesar Chavez day events began unfolding across the land.

At a well-attended March 29 gathering in Albuquerque, New Mexico, another legendary farm labor leader and former colleague of Chavez had a message:

“Don’t put that cause in the museum. It doesn’t belong there. It belongs on the streets"...

Albuquerque Erupts

Frontera Norte Sur's on-the-ground account of Sunday's Albuquerque APD protests.

Is New Mexico Justice Crisis at a Tipping Point?

The recent killing of a homeless camper by APD is just the latest in a long list of egregious violations of public trust by local and state law enforcement authorities that erupted in Albuquerque protests on Tuesday.

The ACLU’s Border Checkpoint

Driving on 1-25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, motorists are forced to detour through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint set up to enforce immigration and drug laws.  Often, a friendly agent will ask the vehicle occupant (s) to affirm U.S. citizenship status before sending the traveler on his or her way.  Occasionally, agents will simply peer into a car and wave travelers on without first asking questions. Other times, drivers are asked to pull over for a vehicle search that might include a go-over by a dope-sniffing dog.

On Wednesday, March 19, travelers heading north on 1-25 encountered another checkpoint for the first time ever: the “Know your Rights Checkpoint” organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)...

The Deportee Chronicles: Life After Diesel Therapy

Fernando Santos’ life these days doesn’t exactly fit his old nickname:“Drifter.” Instead of wandering the land, the former U.S. resident takes care of others who answer the call of the road at the budget hotel he manages in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

An easy-going man with a stocky build and a ready laugh to boot, Santos says he could never imagine how his life would eventually turn out when he was a young man gangbanging on the streets of Los Angeles and Denver...