New Mexico Mercury

Women’s Murders, Justice and Corruption in New Mexico

Since 2009, Frontera NorteSur has followed the story of 11 murdered women and girls found in a common burial site on the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 2 marked the fifth anniversary of the discovery. Although there has been much talk and speculation about who is responsible for the killings, the crimes remain mired in impunity.

What’s more, women with profiles similar to the West Mesa victims are still missing, prompting further speculation of another clandestine graveyard somewhere out there...

The Deportee Chronicles: The Girl from Guajajalmiton

More than 768,000  people were deported from the United States during 2012 and  2013  alone.  While mass media coverage of the ongoing immigration debate focuses on events in Washington and other parts of the United States, little attention has been paid to the lives of people in Mexico and other counties who have already been deported.

A large group of people who were largely invisible on this side of the border are now in the same condition on the other side of the line.  In an effort to help fill the media gap,  Frontera NorteSur begins an occasional series on the faces, the lives and the dreams of deportees now residing in Mexico. Today's article is the story of one young woman who was suddenly ordered out of a country she called home...

The New Free Trade Fever

20 years after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect, little interest has been shown until now by the governments of the signatory countries for reopening the trade pact. But a similar agreement between Mexico and the European Union, signed in 1997 and enacted in 2000, is under review and could be expanded.  

Three working groups from the European Commission are expected to be in Mexico February 11-13 for discussions that could lead to changes in the current agreement, especially as they pertain to the energy, agricultural, financial services and telecommunications sectors...

Farming in the New Age of Drought

“Record rainfall in September brought most us nearly up to ‘normal’ annual precipitation levels, greened up the rangeland, but the rain came so hard and fast that much of it ran off,” reads part of the introduction to the upcoming New Mexico Organic Farming Conference.

“Acequias were damaged and fields were buried in sediment.  And we’re still desperately short of water in the rivers and dams.  Without good snowpack this winter, we face exceptional irrigation shortages in 2014.”

The above words set the tone for the 2014 conference, which is scheduled for the weekend of February 14-15 at the Marriott Pyramid North hotel in Albuquerque...

Mexico: The Politics of a State Meltdown

As a massive federal police and military deployment gains momentum in the Mexican state of Michoacan, polemics and debate shroud the first major such operation undertaken by the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto.

At stake in the campaign is not only the reassertion of state power, but also the strategic control of the Pacific coastal port of Lazaro Cardenas, one of the key portals of the Asia/NAFTA economy, as well as the productive mountains and farmlands whose products and people travel a network of highways leading across Mexico and into the United States...

Reviewing NAFTA and the Environment

As possible, new trade agreements stir debate on the world stage, a North American citizen advisory panel is urging that a new emphasis be placed on the ecological costs of increased trade and money flows.

In a statement issued shortly before Christmas, the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC), a trinational group consisting of representatives from the three member nations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), called on the leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico to demonstrate a “revival of political will” and undertake a “new mission” with enhanced public involvement in trade and environmental matters...

Crimes Against Humanity Don’t Disappear

Albuquerque's West Side murders and the ongoing killing of women in Ciudad Juarez expose systematic injustices related to class and social power when dealing with femicide.

Immigrant Women Rise Against Domestic Violence

Off a busy Albuquerque boulevard, one of the city’s most vital services goes on quietly with its work.  Now 13 years old, Enlace Comunitario, or Community Link, works non-stop to prevent and resolve domestic violence among the Duke City’s large, Spanish-speaking immigrant population.

Beginning with a handful of visionary founders, Enlace Comunitario now employs a fulltime staff of 31 and many volunteers who educate the community about the varied manifestations of domestic violence, as well as channels assistance and resources to victims...

Old Chemical Weapons to New Mexico?

The Panamanian government announced an agreement November 21 between the United States and Panama that could involve the disposal of old chemical weapons in the state of New Mexico. Panamanian Chancellor Fernando Nunez Fabrega told the international press that old weapons will be removed from San Jose Island and buried in the desert of New Mexico in 2014...

High Stakes, Low Turnout Elections

Local politics was overshadowed by non-stop Washington dramas this fall, but important trends emerged and decisions were made in New Mexico and the Paso del Norte borderland that will chart the identity and destiny of the region for years to come. Yet in various contests, it was a distinct minority of the electorate that shaped future courses...