Posts Tagged ‘Mexico City’
Mexico City government official: 1,619 rapes is nothing
7:42 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia|mexico|Women · Comments Off
7 Feb 2007
1,619 rapes per year in Mexico City is apparently not such a big deal for the head of the Woman’s Institute (Instituto de las Mujeres del Distrito Federal), the city government entity that promotes programs for women and supposedly defends their rights. Nothing in comparison, she says (yes, she) to the number of busines robberies there are per year in the Mexican capital. These words were pronounced before an assembly of representatives from the Equality and Gender Commission (Comisión de Equidad y Género).
According to Mexican daily La Jornada, when pressed by a politician from the PRD who emphasized the grave problem of women being raped on the city’s public transportation systems, the head of the Institute, Martha Lucía Micher Camarena, rectified her statement by saying “…even if there were only one (rape) it would warrant our work.” Media then got wind of the statement:
Mexico City government to help emigrants
4:48 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration|mexico · Comments Off
15 Jan 2007
The municipal government in Mexico City is responding to the plight of paisanos who emigrate to the U.S. and Canada by setting up a support center to handle questions and issues:
The capital government will, in tandem with 40 organizations in the U.S. and Canada, create a support center for migrants and their families which provides information about their rights and the programs available to them.The center is planned to start functioning in February and will provide, via toll-free number, legal counsel, help with documents emitted by the city government, re-routing to government and NGOs that promote immigrant rights, and tracing and reuniting of family members.
According to Mexico City daily La Jornada, this initiative is part of a new government entity to be called Secretary of Equity for Ethnic Communities and Immigrants (Secretaría de Equidad para las Comunidades Etnicas y del Migrante), which will also focus on helping Mexico City’s indigenous populations.
Mexico City backs Same-sex Civil Unions
8:41 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · GLBT|mexico · 3 Comments
10 Nov 2006
The assembly of Mexico City passed a law clearing the way for recognizing civil unions between same-sex couples. While this is in no way a gay marriage law, it certainly is groundbreaking legislation in the morally conservative capital city of Mexico. Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas is widely expected to ratify the law.
Under the law, Mexico City’s gay couples who register their union with civil authorities will gain access to inheritance and pension rights.
Unmarried heterosexual couples can also register under the same law.
A similar bill is being debated by lawmakers in Mexico’s northern state of Coahuila, bordering Texas.
As the law was being passed inside, outside many protested calling the law legalizing unnatural acts.
Via / BBC News
Literature lessons for cops in Mexico
12:08 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture|Education|literature|mexico · Comments Off
27 Oct 2006
Mexico City police officers are infamous for their laissez-faire attitude towards crime (some call it lazi-ness) their corruption (I once got out of being taken in by feeding this corruption myself and giving the officer what he asked for: “dos pesos pa’ un chesco”) and their overall “lack of culture”.
With officers earning about 400 USD per month, it’s easy to see why money for a Coke might be more worth their time than taking me down to the station or running after some thief. And with that salary, I probably wouldn’t be taking any trips to the symphony or the ballet myself.
The police force of Ciudad Neza – perhaps Mexico D.F.’s most infamous suburb — wants to change all that. And the first step that they are taking is to make their officers read and write, through a program called “Literatura Siempre Alerta”:
“The principle is that a police officer who is cultured is in a better position to be a better police officer,” says José Jorge Amador, Nezahualcoyotl’s head of public security.The experiment began early in 2005 with reading and writing classes. It has since mushroomed into an entire literature course with its own constantly expanding editorial series, called Literature On Alert. All the 1,200 officers of the municipal force are now required to attend fortnightly book groups – while off duty – if they are to have any hope of promotion.
Mexico Elections: Still no clear winner
1:55 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · mexico|Politics · 1 Comment
3 Jul 2006
It’s nearly 11:00 pm on the west coast of the U.S. and after much angustia it seems there is still no clear victory in the Mexican electiosn. Fellow bloggers on the Latin Americanist blog have been following election day blow by blow and most recently had both candidates declaring victoria:
12:30am- Now FC just spoke publicly from his campaign headquarters and he cited individual exit polls that show him as the winner “from the time the first poll was redacted until now”. Like AMLO, he has declared himself as the winner.Here’s hoping this doesn’t get as ugly as the mudslinging during the campaign
12:25am- AMLO just finished speaking at a news conference and declared himself the winner based on the results from exit polls.CNN reports a tense tie. The BBC too. I guess we won’t know until we wake up tomorrow, and hopefully for sure then. After literally years of speculation, it will be nice to finally have an outcome, no matter what it is. My biased last wish tonight is that Mexico lean left (though whatever happens, the PRD’s apparent victory in DF is good news).
For up to the minute results, keep your eye on Mexican press such as El Universal. I’m loving the “throw your hands in the air” photo (above) they are using on their web site to illustrate the dual declaration of victory.
Via / The Latin Americanist
Jesus Christ in Mexico City
12:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · mexico|Religion · Comments Off
10 Apr 2006
Everyone knows that Semana Santa — Holy Week, celebrated this week — is a holiday that is commemorated with some very unique practices throughout the Spanish-speaking world (or wherever Spaniards have treaded; the Philippines actually has one of the most shocking displays of self-flagellation in honor of Semana Santa in the world).
We’ve all seen imagery of the Via Crucis, but have you ever seen J.C. up close and personal, hanging on a cross in a working class neighborhood? The people of Mexico City have, as each year the Iztapalapa neighborhood puts on a spectacle to rival any other. The excellent Mexico City blog Chilanga Banda has a post to bring the unfamiliar up to speed:
The representation of the Passion of Christ has been done in Iztapalapa for over a century and a half to fulfill a promise made by the inhabitants of the area to el Señor de la Cuevita, as a gesture of gratitude for having erradicated a deadly cholera that struck the population in 1833.
Study: Most Livable Cities in Mexico
27 Sep 2005
Over the past couple of years Mexican agency Cofemer has been conducting a study to find Mexico’s most livable cities. They used 38 measures, including: geographic location, crime, education services, health care, and job market.
The winners are: Querétaro, Monterrey, Chihuahua, Saltillo, and Mexico City.
This Vivirlatino writer has lived in 3 of those 5 cities, and has visited all but one. I have to agree that these are some great cities, and besides Mexico City (a.k.a.: DF) itself, are some great alternatives to the monstrous capital.
Mexico has quite a bit of land, most of it very sparsely populated. In order to find work, people must go to one of maybe just 20 cities or so that are of significant size. That’s why there are so many people in Mexico City; but there are more and more options arising as companies and families are trying to escape the traffic and pollution of DF.
As time goes on, we will continue to see the population of cities such as Querétaro, Saltillo and Monterrey continue to grow by huge numbers every year.
Hola!
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