MEXICO: Parties Stalemated In Flawed Democracy That Still Works.

NYTIMES/MARC LACEY/ ANALYSIS/
      This was Mexico's  first election where drug dealers played a visible role trying to disrupt the process.
"... the clearest messages that voters seemed to send were that no one party rules Mexico anymore and that entrenched party machines no longer have a lock on power. Voters were clearly frustrated with the violence Mexico has experienced, interviews showed, and the fact that they turned out at all in some particularly dangerous areas was noteworthy."
AND"...“Perhaps the greatest takeaway from Sunday’s elections is that democracy is surprisingly healthy in Mexico,” said expert Andrew Selee.

MEXICO: Human Rights Activists Work To Protect Themselves.

NYTIMES/  MARC LACEY/  
  "With a drug war raging around them and an unreliable judicial system in place, Mexico’s human rights activists have their hands full as they grapple with a growing new class of victims: themselves.
I’m not going to be silenced,” insisted Silvia Vázquez Camacho, an activist from Tijuana, who is now in hiding after receiving a series of threats on her life in recent months. Despite her bold declaration, the fear in her voice was palpable, and she acknowledged that she had been forced to take a respite from her activism."
AND...“No one is protecting us,” said Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Contreras, director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights. “Human rights activists should be able to do their jobs. And we don’t just want protection. We want the government to investigate the threats.”
(USATODAY Foto)

HONDURAS: Latin America Still Divided Over Coup.

NYTIMES/ MARC LACEY/
"...a year after one of the most unusual coups in Central American history played out in Honduras, it continues to divide Latin America and pose an unrelenting challenge to the Obama administration’s goals in the region. And despite months of crisis negotiations and halting compromises, the Honduran political standoff will still haunt a meeting of the Organization of American States that opens on Sunday in Peru."

Mexico's Crimes Overwhelm Law Enforcement.

NYTIMES/ Marc Lacey/ Long Feature/
"Mexico has never been particularly adept at bringing criminals to justice, and the drug war has made things worse. Investigators are now swamped with homicides and other drug crimes, most of which they will never crack. On top of the standard obstacles — too little expertise, too much corruption — is one that seems to grow by the day: outright fear of becoming the next body in the street."

When Is a Cartel NOT A Cartel? In Mexico...When Dealing Drugs.

NYTIMES/ECONOMIX/
Some following Mexico’s cartels, like the Tijuana Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and the Beltran Leyva Cartel, acknowledge that the cartels are something else entirely.
“The term drug cartel is inaccurate and improperly used by media, based exclusively on strict economic fundamental theory,’’ Rodolfo Sosa-Garcia, a Mexican economist. He urged reporters to pick a more accurate term, such as “narco-producer."

In Nuevo Laredo: A Calmer Phase of Drug War Emerges

It seems ironic to me that some of the best international stories are published in the NYTimes on Saturdays... the lowest readership day.

Maybe the editors consider these reports...as filler.

I consider them...essential!

Here's an excellent update by Marc Lacey on a new relative calmness... in Nuevo Laredo...once THE hotbed Mexican city...for drug violence and outlaw activity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/world/americas/13laredo.html?hp