Salem-News.com New Mexico articles Page 5

Lingering Questions Haunt Old Border Smelter

The legacy of lead, arsenic and other metals contamination in a tri-state region traced to Asarco has long been documented, but questions linger over the complete nature and extent of the pollution.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - In a few months, the skyline of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez is set for a dramatic transformation.

For generations the smokestacks of the American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) have towered hundreds of feet over the Rio Grande, first exemplifying and then symbolizing a bygone industrial economy powered by mineral and metals production.

Occupy Wall Street Movement Breaks Borders

Amid many fluttering American flags, a Che Guevara banner was draped across a bank fence while a nearby sign quoted the late comedian George Carlin on the American Dream.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - An unprecedented wave of protest against the international financial elite and prevailing economic policies swept the globe on October 15.

And New Mexico, Mexico and the greater US-borderlands were no exceptions. Protests were chalked up in San Diego, Tijuana, Las Cruces, Ciudad Juarez and Mexico City, among many other places. In El Paso, an encampment was announced beginning Monday, October 17, in the city’s downtown San Jacinto Plaza.

The Other End of the Heroin Trail

“We’re trying to drive home the reality of what our community is facing in terms of opiate addiction,” - Jennifer Weiss, non-profit Heroin Awareness Committee

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - In the mountains of Mexico, opium poppies flourish under the embracing rays of the sun and the blinking eyes of the state.

The Three Centuries of San Miguel

Whether old-timer or newcomer, the residents of San Miguel take pride in their annual fiesta in honor of St. Michael.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - An old rural town just south of Las Cruces, San Miguel is a small community that could be overlooked by drivers headed elsewhere.

Yet a stop in the town reveals a treasured past that tucks in varied cultural influences, distinct waves of migration and epochs of economic growth and contraction. The following story is part of Frontera NorteSur’s special Centennial of New Mexico Statehood series and is made possible in part by grants from the New Mexico Humanities Council and the McCune Charitable Foundation.

The Crisis in New Mexico Law Enforcement

Apart from immigration, the bountiful stories involving different New Mexico police forces draw the most numerous and stinging commentaries on Internet news sites.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - Barely a week goes by without a scandal involving a New Mexico law enforcement officer making the headlines.

Mata Zetas - Has Los Zetas Cartel Met its Own Murderous Match?

Five masked men; one says they're called the "Mata Zetas," or Zeta Killers, an "extermination" force.

(SALEM, Ore.) - A group in Mexico says they are putting an end to the terror streak inflicted on the population by 'Los Zetas' cartel by giving them a dose of their own medicine.

The vigilantism is getting mixed reviews and the Mexican government rejects it. It also doesn't help matters if the group calling itself, "Mata Zetas," or Zetas Killers - is actually linked to the rival Sinaloa cartel...

A Story about the System

U.S. Special Forces at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, initially trained members of the Los Zeta’s Cartel - before they separated from the Mexican Army.

(SAN DIEGO) - Normal functioning humans, working for any government bureaucracy, often undergo a mystical transformation upon entering their workplace. They change into dysfunctional beings. “The system” makes this occur randomly or all the time.

Security Breakdown Turns into Education Crisis

Teachers in Mexico are told to hand over part of their pay to violent cartels, several dozen are currently missing.

(ACAPULCO) - For three weeks, thousands of students in the old Mexican resort of Acapulco have gone without classes. Their schools remain shut down by an atypical teacher strike that’s ground much of the educational system to a halt. Instead of striking for higher wages, better working conditions and fair treatment by supervisors, the teachers are demanding basic guarantees of life and limb.

Mexican Government Denied Information on ATF `Gun Walker` Operation

It's become a wild west world of Mexican mercenaries hired to save the populace from deadly cartels.

(SALEM, Ore.) - The United States govt. is continuing to frustrate Mexican officials, who have been battling extremely violent drug cartels in their country for the last three decades.

Mexico through diplomatic channels, has recently asked the United States to share with them all the available information and documentation concerning covert operations being conducted in their country by US military personal.

Court Pleadings Point to CIA Role in Alleged `Cartel` Immunity Deal

Mexican Narco-Trafficker’s Revelations in Criminal Case Force US Government to Invoke National Security Claims

(COLUMBUS, N.M. The Narcosphere) - The fingerprints of the CIA have surfaced in a controversial federal criminal case pending in Chicago against Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, an alleged kingpin in the Sinaloa “drug cartel.”

US government prosecutors filed pleadings in the case late last week seeking to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), a measure designed to assure national security information does not surface in public court proceedings.