Timeline Mexico 1998-2002
Return to home
1998 Jan 2,
Judge Maria Claudia Campuzano freed 5 suspects who were held in
connection with the Dec 15 murder of John Peter Zarate. The judge
claimed conflicting evidence as grounds for the release.
(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 5, Francisco Labastida
took over as the chief of internal security after Emilio Chuayffet
resigned under pressure from the Chiapas massacre.
(SFC, 1/5/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 7, Chiapas Gov. Julio
Cesar Ruiz Ferro submitted his resignation due to the massacre in
Acteal.
(SFC, 1/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jan 12, Chiapas state
police opened fire on stone-throwing Indian protestors and 1 woman
was killed and 2 others wounded. The government said the army
arrested 27 state police at the site of the shooting near Ocosingo.
Separately Chiapas state police commander Felipe Vazquez Espinosa
was indicted for helping arm the paramilitary gunmen of the Acteal
massacre.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 24, Former Gen’l.
Jorge Maldonado Vega was arrested for allegedly trying to arrange a
pact between two of the largest drug cartels. Captain Rigoberto
Silva Ortega was also charged.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.B12)
1998 Jan 28, Rubicel Ruiz
Gamboa, a peasant organizer in Ocosingo, was gunned down in an
ambush.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A22)
1998 Jan 28, Federal police in
Guerrero came upon the anti-kidnapping squad of Morelos with the
tortured body of a 17-year-old member of a kidnapping gang. They
suspected that the body was to be dumped and arrested the state
officers that included Armando Martinez Salgado, chief of the squad.
(SFC, 2/10/98, p.A10)
1998 Jan 31, Three Indian
villagers were found hanged in the Chiapas town of Ocosingo. Also
Antonio Gomez Flores, an Ocosingo peasant leader, died when a truck
smashed into his car as he left the funeral of Rubicel Ruiz Gamboa.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A22)
1998 Feb 9, It was reported
that flash floods in Tijuana killed at least 13 people.
(WSJ, 2/9/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb, In Guadalajara Moises
Padilla (33) was kidnapped and tortured with knives. He was left
naked and bleeding with 68 wounds and told to "Stop saying bad
things about the Servant of God." Padilla was a principal witness in
charges against Samuel Joaquin Flores and his evangelical group the
Light of the World."
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A8,10)
1998 Feb 26, The US certified
Mexico as a fully cooperating partner in the war on drugs.
(SFC, 2/27/98, p.A18)
1998 Feb, Rodolfo Montiel and
Bautista Martinez helped form the Organization of Peasant Ecologists
of the Sierra of Petatlan and Coyuca de Catalan to stop logging and
prevent consequent erosion.
(SFC, 6/1/00, p.C4)
1998 Mar 3, Senator Layda
Sansores discovered a government spy center in Campeche. 22 similar
operations throughout the country were indicated by the records
found.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A11)
1998 Mar 5, In Chiapas 46
prison inmates escaped after a labor group of taxi drivers marched
into the Ocosingo jail in a protest demanding the release of some
inmates and the withdrawal of government troops.
(SFC, 3/6/98, p.A13)
1998 Mar 14, The book "Utopia
Unarmed: The Latin American Left After the Cold War" by Mexican
scholar Jorge Castaneda was mentioned in connection with the recent
death of Manuel Pineiro, spymaster of Cuba.
(SFC, 3/14/98, p.A19)
1998 Mar 20, A new law, the
Nationality Act, went into effect that allowed Mexican-born
Americans and their children to hold Mexican nationality and US
citizenship. The law permitted dual nationality but not dual
citizenship.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A10)
1998 Mar 22, In Tijuana the
national independent union, STIMAHCS, representing the workers of
the Han Young auto parts factory, warned the company of a pending
strike if negotiations were not fruitful.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A10)
1998 Mar 26, A mob in Huejutla
lynched 2 suspected kidnappers after a judge ordered the 2 men freed
on $600 bail. 30 residents were arrested in the lynching.
(SFC, 3/27/98, p.A14)
1998 Mar 27, Adrian Carrera
Fuentes, former director of the Federal Judicial Police, was
arrested on charges of being on the payroll of the Arellano Felix
drug gang.
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.A9)
1998 Mar 29, Carol Janet
Schlosberg, an American artist, was raped and beaten at Puerto
Escondido. She was tossed into the Pacific and drowned. In 1999
Cirilo Olivera Lopez and Rosendo Marquez Gutierrez were convicted
and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.C2)
1998 Mar, Pres. Zedillo issued
a revised proposal of the 1996 San Andres Larrainzar accord on
autonomy for indigenous people.
(SFC, 5/11/98, p.A8)
1998 Mar, Saudi Arabia,
Venezuela and Mexico began talking to reduce oil output. They
pledged to take 2-3% of the world’s oil production off the market in
what came to be called the Riyadh Pact.
(WSJ, 6/23/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 12, Authorities
expelled 12 foreigners from Chiapas state saying they had engaged in
activity in support of the Zapatista rebels. Two int’l. news
photographers were beaten and police attempted to confiscate their
film as they boarded a plane for Mexico City. The expelled group
reported that they had witnessed a military operation to shut down a
town council in Taniperlas, that was raided the previous day by 750
police and troops.
(SFC, 4/13/98, p.A10)(SFC, 4/14/98, p.C12)
1998 Apr 19, Octavio Paz (84),
poet and essayist, died of cancer. His work included "The Labyrinth
of Solitude" and the poem "Sun Stone."
(SFC, 4/20/98, p.A17)(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A12)
1998 Apr 25, It was reported
that an average of 20 tourists were attacked each day in Mexico
City.
(SFC, 4/25/98, p.A8)
1998 May 5, A forest fire
killed 19 firefighters and left 12 missing.
(WSJ, 5/6/98, p.A1)
1998 May 8, Immigration
authorities put a limit on human rights delegations to Chiapas.
Groups of 10 people would only be allowed to stay 10 days.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 11, Mexico expelled 40
Italian human-rights activists, labeled as professional
provocateurs, who spent 9 days in Chiapas and banned them from
returning.
(WSJ, 5/12/98, p.A1)
1998 May 13, Impeachment
procedures began for Jorge Carrillo Olea, governor of Morelos state.
(SFEC, 5/17/98, p.A22)
1998 May 17, Mexico continued
to suffer in its worst drought in 70 years. Some 50 people were
reported to have died fighting fires caused by peasants clearing
their fields.
(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A10)
1998 May 18, The US Customs
Service ended a 3-year sting operation with the indictment of 3
Mexican banks and 107 people on charges of laundering millions of
dollars for drug-smuggling cartels.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A1)
1998 May 21, In Cuernavaca,
Mexico, police arrested the wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law
of kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi Lopez. He was wanted for carrying out
at least 18 bold and brutal kidnappings since 1996.
(SFEC, 5/31/98, p.A24)
1998 May 22, In Tijuana the
workers of the Han Young auto parts factory went on strike. An
attempted strike break and political maneuverings by the company
were unsuccessful and the case was to be put before a judge.
(SFC, 6/2/98, p.A10)
1998 May, The CFC began an
investigation of the entire cement industry and after more than a
year reported no absolute monopolistic behavior. Cement prices in
Mexico were higher than in any other major global market.
(WSJ, 4/21/02, p.A12)
1998 Jun 2, The military leader
of an anti-narcotics investigation was kidnapped and beaten by
henchmen of Ramon Alcides Magana, aka El Metro. At the same time his
office was robbed of evidence linking Yucatan Gov. Mario Villanueva
Madrid to El Metro.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 3, Mexico announced
that it would prosecute US customs officials for breaking numerous
Mexican laws in the undercover Casablanca operation that was
announced May 18.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A3)
1998 Jun 3, Chiapas Gov.
Roberto Albores ordered a thousand police officers and soldiers into
the town of Nicolas Ruiz where 141 people were arrested for
supporting Zapatista rebels.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 4, Mexico, Saudi
Arabia and Venezuela agreed to cuts in oil production and exports
for the 2nd time this year in order to raise prices.
(WSJ, 6/5/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun 5, In Matamoros
Salvador Gomez, a former policeman and drug cartel leader, was
arrested.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 7, Army troops killed
11 leftist rebels of the EPR near Ayutla in Guerrero state. Another
5 were wounded and 21 were arrested. Erika Zamora Pardo, an EPR
member, later testified that the guerrillas were shot when they
surrendered with their hands up and that 12 were killed. She also
testified that civilians trapped in a schoolhouse also tried to
surrender, but that soldiers threw a fragmentation grenade in their
midst.
(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 8, Catholic Bishop
Samuel Ruiz resigned as chief mediator in peace negotiations with
the Zapatista guerrillas. The committee that he led also resigned
and accused the government of standing in the way of peace.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 10, In Mexico 9 people
were killed in Chiapas when the army tried to retake control of El
Bosque. 52 people were arrested.
(SFC, 6/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 19, In Mexico the 37th
annual US-Mexico Parliamentary Session opened.
(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun, Adrian Carrera
Fuentes, former director of the Federal Judicial Police, was allowed
to travel to the US to testify. In Houston he told a grand jury that
he had collected nearly $2 million in drug bribes in 1993-1994 and
turned the money over to Mario Ruiz Massieu, who fled Mexico in
1995.
(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A8)
1998 Jul 5, Voters in Mexico
elected governors in 10 states. The PRI won in Chihuahua with
Patricio Martinez Garcia and in Durango. The PRD won in Zacatecas
with Ricardo Monreal.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.A8)(SFC, 7/7/98, p.A9)
1998 Jul 7, Mexican courts
ordered the attorney general’s office to rehire more than half the
826 agents dismissed 6 months ago for failed drug tests and alleged
corruption.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A16)
1998 Jul 13, In Chiapas a
technical junior high school in Oventic was inaugurated by
Comandante Ezequiel and Peter Brown of the US. Brown was deported 2
weeks later for violating Mexican laws, i.e. building a school on a
tourist visa.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 23, Three girls
escaped capture by police in Mexico City. They had been held for 4
days and the two youngest were repeatedly raped. Sixteen officers
were later arrested.
(SFC, 7/28/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 2, Felipe Gonzalez of
the National Action (PAN) led the lections in Aguascalientes.
(SFC, 8/3/98, p.A8)
1998 Aug 3, It was reported
that Mexico’s bill for preventing the collapse of its banking system
in 1995 was up to $65 billion.
(SFC, 8/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 12, Vincente Fox,
governor of Guanajuato, announced plans to run for president in the
year 2000 and to have every one of his state’s 4,500 communities
provided with potable water, sewers, electricity, telephones and
health services within a half hour for everyone.
(SFC, 8/14/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 18, Near Mexico City
police nabbed Daniel Arizmendi (39) and 9 others. Arizmendi was the
leader of a kidnapping gang that sent the ears of victims to their
families to pressure for ransom.
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Aug 22, Elena Garro (b.
1920), novelist, playwright and former wife of Octavio Paz, died at
age 77. Her foremost novel was "Recuerdos del Porvenir"
(Remembrances of the Future).
(SFEC, 8/23/98, p.D4)
1998 Aug 24, Tropical Storm
Charley dropped a foot of rain on South Texas and northern Mexico
and left at least 14 people dead and over 60 missing.
(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug, The Tequila Express
Train began running between Guadalajara and Tequila with a $40 round
trip charge with complementary drinks.
(WSJ, 5/12/99, p.A1)
1998 Sep 8, In Mexico a flood
in Chiapas left 25 people dead and Gov. Roberto Albores Guillen
declared a disaster zone along the Pacific Coast. 6 other people
were confirmed dead from flooding in Veracruz and Jalisco.
(SFC, 9/9/98, p.A9)
1998 Sep 11, The death toll in
Chiapas reached over 100 as 20,000 people were forced from their
homes due to the flooding from Tropical Storm Javier. the toll grew
to 162 and 450,000 were left homeless.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.A2,C18)(SFC, 9/18/98, p.A13)
1998 Sep 17, In Ensenada,
Mexico, 20 people were shot and 18 were killed by gunmen. The
victims included 8 children. Fermin Castro (38), aka "The Ice Man,"
was the principal target and leader of one of 6 gangs linked to the
Arellano Felix drug cartel. Castro, a native Pai Pai Indian, was
tortured before being shot and was in a coma. In Dec. Tijuana police
arrested Hector Flores Esquivias and Cruz Medina Perez, the wife of
gang leader Marinez Gonzalez. In 2008 US immigration officials in
Los Angeles arrested Jesus Ruben Moncada (33), believed to be one of
the Ensenada gunmen, and turned him over to Mexican authorities.
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.A1)(SFC, 9/18/98, p.A1)(SFC,
10/17/98, p.A12)(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A13)(SFC, 8/25/08, p.A3)
1998 Sep 18, A secret, 269 page
Swiss report asserted that Raul Salinas assumed control of
practically all drug shipments in Mexico in 1988 when his brother
became president.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 28, In central Mexico
heavy rains caused mudslides in Mexico City that left 6 people dead
in the squatter hillsides south of the city.
(SFC, 9/29/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 1, In central Mexico a
flooded irrigation canal killed 12 people when it washed away tin
and cardboard homes along its banks.
(SFC, 10/2/98, p.B3)
1998 Oct 4, In Mexico the
Indians of San Juan Chamula in Chiapas boycotted the elections in
protest for the jailing of 5 men accused of murder. They were jailed
a year ago during a dispute between Catholic and Protestant
converts.
(SFC, 10/5/98, p.a10)(SFC, 10/6/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 4, Hector Teran,
governor of Baja California and leader of the opposition National
Action Party, died at age 67.
(SFC, 10/5/98, p.A17)
1998 Oct 10, Gustavo Petricioli
Iturbe, a former treasury secretary and ambassador to the US, died
at age 70.
(SFEC, 10/11/98, p.D10)
1998 Oct 13, A gas explosion in
Tultepec killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens. The blast was
related to the manufacture of illegal fireworks.
(SFC, 10/14/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 18, The Zapatista
rebels called for talks with the Cocopa group, a multi-party peace
commission set up in 1994.
(SFC, 10/19/98, p.A14)
1998 Oct 20, In Switzerland
officials announced that they seized over $90 million from Raul
Salinas after an investigations revealed that the money was received
for protecting drug shipments. Swiss authorities requested that
Britain seize an additional $23.4 million deposited in England.
(SFC, 10/21/98, p.A10)
1998 Oct 12, A protest was
planned at the Mexican border against plans to put low-level
radioactive waste at Sierra Blanca in Texas, 16 miles from the
border. This appeared to be in violation of the 1983 La Paz Treaty
in which the US and Mexico agreed to reduce pollution within 60
miles of their common frontier.
(SFC, 10/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Oct 22-1998 Nov 9,
Hurricane Mitch was one of the Caribbean's deadliest storms ever
causing at least at least 9,000 deaths in Central America. The storm
hit Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama,
Jamaica, and Costa Rica. Later reports put the death toll in
Honduras to 6,076. In Nicaragua the deaths reached 4,000, in
Guatemala it was157, and in El Salvador it was 222. The storm parked
over Honduras and rain poured for 6 days straight. Aid of $66
mil was ordered from the US, $8 mil from the EU, $11.6 mil from
Spain along with pledges from other countries and private
organizations.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.A9)(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A14)(AP,
9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1998 Nov 8, The PRI led
gubernatorial elections in Puebla and Sinaloa but lost in Tlaxcala
Alfonso Sanchez Anaya of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party.
(SFC, 11/10/98, p.A12)
1998 Nov 11, Carlos Cabal
Peniche (42), accused of making some $700 million in loans from his
banks to companies he owned, was arrested in Melbourne, Australia.
He had vanished in 1994 just days before his Grupo Financiera
Cremi-Union was seized by the government for fraud and
mismanagement.
(SFC, 11/12/98, p.C18)
1998 Nov 18, Frederick McPhail
(27), a graduate student from NYU, was found dead in a car in Mexico
City. In 1999 13 current and former police officers were arrested as
suspects in a gang that robbed and kidnapped tourists. In 2000 6
former police officers received sentences as long as 98 years for
the death of McPhail, whom they robbed and forced to drink a bottle
of alcohol.
(SFC, 2/1/99, p.A7)
1998 Nov 21, It was reported
that hundreds of people had been evacuated from villages near Volcan
de Fuego, which threatened to erupt within days.
(SFC, 11/21/98, p.A6)
1998 Nov 23, In Mexico City
detectives arrested 44 city officers on charges that included,
murder, rape, extortion and abuse of power under orders by Police
Chief Alejandro Gertz Manero, who took office in August.
(SFC, 11/24/98, p.A12)
1998 Dec 14, In Mexico the
Senate approved a new law that ended restrictions limiting foreign
ownership of the nation’s top banks.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 14, In Chiapas 11
former officials were barred from holding public office for 10 years
for failing to stop the Dec 1997 massacre of 45 unarmed Indians.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 16, Philip True (50),
a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, was found dead in a
remote mountain range between Jalisco and Nayarit states in Mexico.
He went hiking the area Nov 29 to photograph and write about the
Huichol Indians and apparently fell into a deep ravine. A coroner’s
report later indicated that he had been strangled and dropped into
the ravine. In 2002 an appeals court overturned the acquittal of 2
Huichol Indians, who were arrested with True’s camera and backpack.
In 2005 Robert Rivard authored “Trail of Feathers: Searching for
Philip True.”
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.D6)(SFC, 5/31/02, p.A22)(SSFC,
12/11/05, p.M2)
1998 Dec 18, Fifty military
officers marched in Mexico City decrying corruption and injustice
and attempted to present Pres. Zedillo a letter calling for reform.
The officers called themselves the Patriotic Command to Raise the
Consciousness of the People.
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A11)
1998 Dec 27, In Mexico 2
Huichol Indians, Juan Chivarrer Lopez and Miguel Hernandez de la
Cruz, were arrested for the murder of reporter Philip True.
(SFC, 12/28/98, p.B1)
1998 Aline Hernandez, former
wife of Sergio Andrade, published "To Glory Through Hell," an
account of public accusations of sexual abuse of young starlets
against pop music star Gloria Trevi and her manager Sergio Andrade.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A9)
1998 Chilean poet Gonzalo Rojas
won the Mexican Octavio Paz Prize for poetry and essay writing.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.E5)
1998 High lead levels amongst
children living near the Met-Mex Penoles silver refinery at Torreon
were found. Met-Mex dispatched cleaning equipment and set up a
mobile clinic and agreed to put $6.6 million in a trust fund for
cleanup and medical costs. The 5,000-worker plant is the world's
largest producer of refined silver.
(SFEC, 5/30/99, p.A24)
1999 Jan 6, In Mexico police
chief Alejandro Gertz fired 6 of his top 8 subordinates for failing
to reduce crime and corruption.
(SFC, 1/7/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 8, In Mexico City 5
dissident army officers of the Patriotic Command to Raise the
People's Consciousness were arrested. They had tried to present
Pres. Zedillo with a letter on Dec. 18 complaining of abuses of
soldiers by army commanders.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)(SFC, 1/18/99, p.A11)
1999 Jan 14, Mexican officials
authorized the first extradition of a major drug suspect to the US.
Jesus Amezcua faced federal indictments for methamphetamine
smuggling in California. His brother Adan Amezcua was released from
prison on May 19 after a judge found he had committed no crime.
(SFC, 1/15/99, p.A15)(SFC, 5/20/99, p.A13)
1999 Jan 21, Raul Salinas de
Gortari was convicted and sentenced to 50 years for the 1994
assassination of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 22, Pope John Paul II
began a 5-day pilgrimage to Mexico and St. Louis. He was greeted by
Pres. Zedillo some 2 dozen official sponsors who would help defray
the $2 million costs of the 4-day visit.
(SFC, 1/22/99, p.A1)(SFC, 1/23/99, p.A10)
1999 Jan 25, Abecnego Monje
Ortiz (18) was shot in the back by a DEA agent as he crossed the Rio
Grande in an inner tube with 14 others near Eagle Pass, Texas. In
2001 the DEA agreed to pay Ortiz $1.75 million to help pay medical
costs. The DEA agent was sentenced in 2000 to 15 years in prison.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A14)
1999 Jan 27, In Mexico Jorge
Aguirre Meza (39), president of the Sinaloa state bar and a human
rights activist, was shot to death in Novalato.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 1, Hector Alejandro
Galindo, film director, died at age 93. He directed or scripted over
70 films and won at least 8 Ariels, the Mexican equivalent of the
Oscar.
(SFC, 2/11/99, p.A25)
1999 Feb 2, Gov. Gray Davis on
a visit to Mexico disclosed an agreement to get Mexico's leading
telecommunications firm to relocate its US headquarters from Houston
to San Diego. He negotiated the deal with Telmex chairman Carlos
Slim Helu.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 3, Gov. Davis met with
Fernando Canales Clariond, governor of Nuevo Leon, and witnessed a
"Direct Line" meeting between the governor and citizens seeking
direct action.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A2)
1999 Feb 4, The Mexican
government revealed a new high-tech strategy against drug
trafficking.
(SFC, 2/5/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 7, The state
governorship election in Baja California Sur elected Leonel Cota of
the PRD to a landslide victory. The PRD lost in Guerrero and clamed
fraud and campaign spending violations.
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A8)(WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 10, In Mexico 4 armed
seized teacher Roberto Mejia Guzman from a classroom at San Pedro
Petlacala and killed him.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A18)
1999 Feb 14, Pres. Clinton
traveled to Merida, Mexico, for talks with Pres. Ernesto Zedillo.
(SFC, 2/15/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 15, President Clinton
continued his whirlwind visit to Mexico, where he conferred with
President Ernesto Zedillo. Clinton and Pres. Zedillo signed several
accords on economic measures and the drug war.
(AP, 2/15/04)(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 17, In Mexico armed
men kidnapped Alvaro Campos, the father of soccer star Jorge Campos,
near Acapulco. Campos was released after 6 days.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A15)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 22, Governor elections
in Quintana Roo, Mexico, were held to replace Gov. Mario Villanueva,
whose term was scheduled to end Apr 5. Federal authorities wished to
charge the governor with drug money laundering, but he was immune
while holding office. His Swiss bank account was said to hold $73
million. The PRI won the statehouse with just over 43% of the vote.
In Hidalgo the PRI took the governorship with a 50% of the vote.
Joaquin Hendricks won the election in Quintana Roo.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A23)(SFC, 2/23/99, p.A14)(SFC,
4/1/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 22, From Mexico it was
reported that fisherman found 9 dead gray whales in the Magdalena
Bay.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 26, Mexico was
certified as a US partner in the drug war by Pres. Clinton.
(WSJ, 3/1/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 27, Brazilian poet
Haraldo de Campos (b.1929) won the Mexican Octavio Paz Prize for
poetry and essay writing. His major works include "Chess Game of the
Stars" and "The Education of the Five Senses."
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.E5)
1999 Mar 3, The PRI announced
that it would elect its candidate for year 2000 in a primary instead
of the traditional "dedazo," i.e. presidential appointment.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.C5)
1999 Mar 10, In Mexico a power
failure at the Penitas hydroelectric plant cause a blackout across
the Yucatan for several hours.
(SFC, 3/11/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 12, The Mexican
environmental Group of 100 reported a record number of dead gray
whales near the Baha California peninsula. The ESSA salt works, a
Mitsubishi-Mexican partnership, was blamed. Government officials
proposed other reasons.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 14, The PRD held party
elections, which were later revoked due to vote-rigging and
corruption.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A4)
1999 Mar 19, Jaime Sabines
(72), poet and politician, died. He served as a congressman for the
PRI from 1976-1979 and in 1988.
(SFC, 3/20/99, p.A21)
1999 Mar 24, Fernando Hernandez
Leyva was arrested near Cuernavaca for the suspected murders of some
137 people, 6 kidnappings and robberies. He was later sentenced to
30 years in prison for the murder of a former police officer.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C2)
1999 Mar 27, Quintana Roo Gov.
Mario Villanueva vanished 9 days before he was to leave office. In
May 2001 he was arrested by Mexican police in Cancun.
(WSJ, 11/28/01, p.A1,8)
1999 Mar 29, Two of the largest
banks agreed to plead guilty to laundering millions of dollars for
the Cali and Juarez drug cartels. Bancomer will pay $9.9 million in
fines while Banca Serfin will pay $4.7 million.
(SFC, 3/30/99, p.F2)
1999 Mar 29, Quintana Roo Gov.
Mario Villanueva failed to appear before anti-drug authorities in
Mexico City and it was suspected that he had gone into hiding.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.C2)(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A14)
1999 Mar, Five Juarez bus
drivers were charged with the murders of some 20 women. They all
confessed but most later retracted their statements saying they were
tortured by police.
(SFC, 2/23/01, p.A17)
1999 Apr 1, Effective on this
day the midday break, siesta, for government was eliminated.
Electricity savings were estimated to be $192 million.
(SFC, 3/17/99, p.C2)
1999 Apr 1, In Chilpancingo,
Guerrero, Rene Juarez was sworn into office as governor while
thousands protested that he won by fraud.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.D2)
1999 Apr 6, Jorge Madrazo,
Attorney Gen'l. of Mexico, called for the arrest of former Gov.
Mario Villanueva and over 100 public officials in Quintana Roo for
narcotics corruption with the Juarez cartel.
(SFC, 4/8/99, p.A12)
1999 Apr 20, Students at the
National Univ. in Mexico City (UNAM) went on strike to protest a
proposed increase in the cost of education from 2 cents to $200 per
year. The majority of students did not support the strike but
radical students forced the closure of classes and increased their
demands with a call for the return of an 'Automatic promotion" rule
that would give Univ. access regardless of academic performance.
(WSJ, 6/11/99, p.A19)
1999 Apr 23, A truck with 55
passengers plunged into a ravine killing 46 people, 28 of them
children from the hamlet of Chiquixvil in Chiapas.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, p.A9)
1999 May 2, Rodolfo Montiel, a
peasant leader in a struggle to protect the forests of the southern
Sierra Madre, was arrested, tortured and jailed on trumped-up drug
and weapons charges for his battle against US and local logging
companies. Teodoro Cabrera was also arrested. Pres. Fox ordered the
release of Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera on Nov 8, 2001.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A16)(SFC, 11/9/01, p.A20)
1999 May 12, It was reported
that a drought in northern Mexico was entering its 5th year and the
governor of Sonora said that his state had only a 25 day supply of
water.
(SFC, 5/15/99, p.A11)
1999 May 17, The PRI approved
new party rules to select its presidential candidate in primary
elections.
(SFC, 5/18/99, p.A1,11)
1999 May 18, Pres. Zedillo of
Mexico planned a 3-day visit to California.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1)
1999 May 21, The northern
states of Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango and Sinaloa were
declared disaster areas due to the ongoing drought.
(SFC, 5/22/99, p.A16)
1999 May, Jorge Castenada
published "The Inheritance," an account of how the last 5 Mexican
presidents named their successors.
(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.A21)
1999 May, Altos Hornos de
Mexico SA (Ahmsa) faced $2.4 billion in debt and filed for
bankruptcy. The large steel maker company was taken private in 1991
by Alonso Ancira and Xavier Autrey. Ahmsa employed 17,000 people and
accounted for almost 30% of the business activity in Coahuila state.
(WSJ, 6/16/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 1, Mexico planned to
introduce a $15 per person entry fee for travel into the country
beyond the border.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.A21)
1999 Jun 7, In Mexico City
Francisco "Paco" Stanley Albaitero (56), a popular TV and radio
personality, was shot to death after leaving a restaurant. A parking
attendant was also killed and 3 people were wounded by unknown
gunmen. Traces of cocaine were later found in Stanley's car. Stanley
was later reported to be in big debt to drug lord Luis Ignacio
Amezcua Contreras, who ordered his murder. Stanley's sidekick, Mario
Rodriguez Bezares, was indicted for the murder along with Contreras
and Paola Durante (23), an aspiring actress.
(SFC, 6/8/99, p.A10)(SFC, 6/9/99, p.C2)(SFEC,
8/29/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/22/00, p.A1)
1999 Jun 15, A 6.7 earthquake
killed at least 12 people in Puebla. The death toll rose to 19 and
4,000 people were forced from their homes.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.A1)(SFC, 6/17/99, p.A12)(SFC,
6/18/99, p.D3)
1999 Jun 29, In Mexico City
armed gunmen stole a $50,000 military payroll and killed an army
colonel and a lieutenant 2 blocks from the residence of Pres.
Zedillo.
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 4, In Mexico City
elections for governor were scheduled. Arturo Montiel (55), a PRI
former congressman, faced Jose Luis Duran (38), a PAN mayor of
Naucalpan. PRI candidate Arturo Montiel defeated Jose Luis Duran of
the National Action Party. In Nayarit Antonuio Echeverria, a
coalition candidate, led a victory over the PRI.
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A12)(SFC, 7/5/99, p.A8)
1999 Jul 6, It was reported
that Angel Salvador "El Chava" Gomez, leader of the Gulf drug
cartel, was killed execution style.
(SFC, 7/7/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 16, A judge cut the 50
year prison sentence of Raul Salinas in half and a Swiss court
overturned the seizure of his stashed fortune, though the money
remained frozen pending further investigation.
(SFC, 7/17/99, p.A11)
1999 Aug 27, US prosecutors
detailed a 25-count narcotics and money laundering indictment
against former deputy attorney general Mario Ruiz Massieu.
(SFC, 8/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 15, In New Jersey
Mario Ruiz Massieu (48), former Mexican official indicted on drug
charges, committed suicide. He left a suicide note that implicated
Pres. Zedillo in the 1994 killing of his brother and presidential
candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.
(SFC, 9/16/99, p.A12)(WSJ, 9/17/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 22, The FBI hit a big
Mexican drug ring, formerly run by Amado Carillo Fuentes, with 93
arrests in the US and the Dominican Republic.
(WSJ, 9/23/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 25, From Mexico it was
reported that assaults on trucks had increased from 350 in 1993 to
an estimated 40,000 a year.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 26, In Mexico 63
people were killed in a series of explosions in the city of Celaya,
120 miles northwest of Mexico City. Powder from fireworks was
blamed. Three government officials were later arrested for abetting
illegal sales of fireworks and officials seized some 14 tons of
gunpowder. 6 government officials and 7 business owners were later
arrested in connection with the explosion.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A16)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.D14)(SFC,
10/13/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 26, In Coahuila PRI
candidate Enrique Martinez won 60% of the vote and PRI mayors won in
the cities of Saltillo, Torreon, Piedras Negras and Monclova.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.C16)
1999 Sep 28, Cuauhtemoc
Cardenas stepped down as mayor of Mexico City to launch his 3rd bid
for the presidency.
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.A10)
1999 Sep 29, Rosario Robles was
sworn in as the first female mayor of Mexico City.
(SFC, 9/30/99, p.D14)
1999 Sep 30, A 7.5 slab
earthquake was centered in Oaxaca state and killed 12 people. The
death toll rose to 20 and 3,850 buildings were reported damaged.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.A14)(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A12)(SFC,
1/18/01, p.A15)
1999 Oct 5, Flooding from
Tropical Depression No. 11 killed at least 83 people in ten states
including 42 in Puebla after 7 rivers overflowed following heavy
rains. The death toll soon reached at least 342. A large mudslide in
Teziutlan left 72 confirmed dead and 30 people missing. The Catholic
Church expected the toll to reach near 600.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A16)(SFC, 10/7/99, p.A15)(SFC,
10/8/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/9/99, p.A10)(SFC, 10/11/99, p.A12)(SFC,
10/12/99, p.A11)
1999 Oct 7, The Nahuatl village
of Acalana was buried under a collapsed mountain killing all but 30
people. As many as 200 people had lived there.
(SFC, 10/12/99, p.A11)
1999 Oct 18, In Nuevo Laredo,
Mexico, an explosion in a candy store that sold illegal fireworks
killed at least 5 people.
(SFC, 10/20/99, p.B3)
1999 Oct 22, Police arrested
Jacobo Silva Nogales (41), aka Comandante Antonio, leader of the
Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent People, ERPI.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B2)
1999 Oct 23, The first monarch
butterflies arrived at sanctuaries in Michoacan in their annual
migration.
(SFC, 11/6/99, p.A24)
1999 Oct 24, In Guadalajara
Victor Castaneda Casas was detained for his alleged role in the
kidnapping of an 18-year-old. He died in the attorney general's
office after receiving 40 blows to the head, 2 broken ribs and a
burst lung. Police denied any torture.
(SFC, 12/7/99, p.B3)
1999 Oct 30, Police reported
that Juan Jose Quintero Payan (57), a Juarez Cartel boss, was
arrested in Guadalajara.
(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A13)
1999 Nov 1, Mexico announced
plans to increase its border deposit for US registered vehicles from
$11 to as much as $800 for new models for travel beyond the 15-mile
border zone.
(SFC, 10/30/99, p.A1)
1999 Nov 7, Francisco
Labastida, the PRI candidate, led the presidential primary elections
far ahead of Roberto Madrazo. Labastida (57) won 272 of the 300
districts.
(SFC, 11/8/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/9/99, p.A12)
1999 Nov 9, A TAESA DC-9 jet
exploded in flight near Uruapan and all 18 people onboard were
killed.
(SFC, 11/10/99, p.A14)
1999 Nov 23, Mexico suspended
the operations of Taesa Airline.
(SFC, 11/24/99, p.C5)
1999 Nov 24, Mexico and the EU
agreed on terms for a free trade treaty.
(SFC, 11/25/99, p.A14)
1999 Nov 29, Authorities worked
with a US FBI team to unearth as many as 100 bodies of disappeared
Mexicans and Americans near Ciudad Juarez. Drug traffickers were
believed responsible. By Dec 7 eight bodies were recovered. Nine
bodies were discovered after 3 weeks and initial estimates were
deemed in error. In 2000 Vicente Carillo Fuentes, believed to be in
charge of all drug trafficking in Ciudad Juarez, was charged with
killing 10 people in the area.
(SFC, 11/30/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/8/99, p.A16)(SFC,
12/18/99, p.A16)(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A18)
1999 Dec 1, Border deposits of
as much as $800 for US registered cars began.
(SFC, 11/27/99, p.A18)
1999 Dec 2, Pres. Zedillo
suspended the controversial border car-deposit program under angry
opposition.
(SFC, 12/3/99, p.D5)
1999 Dec 10, Masked men with
guns attacked a prison in Chiapas and 44 of 239 inmates fled and a
5-month old child, whose mother was visiting her husband, was
killed.
(SFC, 12/11/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 14, A passenger bus
collided head-on with a gas truck and at least 26 people were killed
near Salvatierra in Guanajuato.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B3)
1999 Ricardo Salinas Pliego
used Mexico’s TV Azteca to fund cellphone start-up Unefon SA,
despite assuring shareholders that he would not use the company to
fund outside ventures.
(WSJ, 12/8/05, p.A11)
2000 Jan 13, In Brazil Mexican
singer Gloria Trevi was arrested with her manager Sergio Andrade and
Maria Raquenal Portillo on Mexican charges of corrupting Karina
Yapor (17). Trevi became pregnant in May and rape was suspected.
Brasilia federal police chief Paulo Magalhaes was removed from his
post in October.
(SFC, 1/15/00, p.A10)(SFC, 10/18/01, p.C2)
1999 Manuel Gonzales published
"Mexicanos: A History of Mexicans in the United States."
(SFEC, 8/22/99, BR p.10)
1999 The documentary film "A
Place Called Chiapas" was directed by Canadian Nettie Wild.
(SFC, 6/10/99, p.E3)
2000 Jan 5, A student takeover
of the El Mexe Rural Teachers College began in Tepatepec, Hidalgo.
(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A10)
2000 Jan 20, It was reported
that the TV soap "The Candidate" used significant political events
of the day as part of its show segments.
(SFC, 1/20/00, p.A12)
2000 Jan-Mar, Some 2,300 head
of cattle died on 92 ranches in Chiapas from rabies due to vampire
bats.
(SFC, 4/5/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 1, In Mexico 171
radical students were arrested in a skirmish with anti-strike
students and security forces at a university-affiliated high school
in Mexico City.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.D5)
2000 Feb 1, In Chiapas 3
supporters of the Zapatista rebels were killed in an ambush at
Chavajebal. Paramilitary supporters of the government were
suspected.
(SFC, 2/4/00, p.D8)
2000 Feb 6, In Mexico City
police raided the main campus of the university and arrested some
632 striking students including 8 student leaders.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A14)(WSJ, 2/7/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 19, People in
Tepatepec, Hidalgo, captured at least 65 policemen after state
police raided the El Mexe Rural Teachers College. The police
were later freed after the release of hundreds of students and
supporters.
(SFC, 2/21/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 21, Nicolas Caletri
(44), kidnapping mastermind, was captured in southern Oaxaca.
(SFC, 2/26/00, p.C1)
2000 Feb 27, In Tijuana
municipal police chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez (49) was shot to
death by assassins who sprayed his car with over 100 bullets.
(SFC, 2/28/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 8, Police announced
that 6 suspects were arrested for the slaying of a police chief in
Tijuana and 14 other people. The suspects were reported to be acting
as hit men under orders from Vicente Zambada Niebla, the son of a
drug trafficker in Sinaloa.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.A11)
2000 Mar 8, Juan Manuel Izabal,
a top aide to the attorney general, was found dead from suicide. A
stash of $700,000 was also found.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
2000 Mar 12, Police captured
Jesus Labra, leader of the Arellano Felix drug organization at a
soccer game in Tijuana.
(SFC, 3/13/00, p.11)
2000 Mar 15, Gustavo Galvez
Reyes (32), the lawyer for Jesus Labra, was found slain in southern
Mexico City. Labra, a Tijuana businessman and uncle of the Arellano
Felix brothers, was in jail on narcotics charges.
(SFC, 3/18/00, p.C1)
2000 Apr 5, Rodolfo Montiel, an
imprisoned peasant leader, was awarded the $125,000 Goldman
Environmental Prize for his efforts to protect the forests of the
Sierra Madre.
(SFC, 4/6/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 13, In Mexico 7 people
died in a train carrying illegal immigrants from Central America in
a bid to enter the US. 46 people were hospitalized from suffocating
conditions.
(WSJ, 4/14/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr, The population
reached 100 million this year.
(SFC, 4/27/00, p.A10)
2000 Apr, Three Mexican special
agents, probing the Arellano Felix cartel, were found killed along
the Rumorosa Highway between Tijuana and Mexicali. In October 3
former federal police officers were arrested for the killing.
(SFC, 10/4/00, p.A12)
2000 May 3, Police arrested
Ismael Higuera Guerrero, a senior member of the Arellano Felix drug
gang, along with his son (15) and 8 others near Ensenada.
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.A15)
2000 May 11, Mexico reached a
free-trade agreement with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
(SFC, 5/12/00, p.D2)
2000 Jun 15, US federal agents
made over 170 arrests in the breakup of a Mexican heroin ring based
in Nayarit state. The US-based ringleader, Oscar Hernandez (35), and
his wife, Maria Lopez (39), were arrested in Panorama City.
Operation Tar Pit began last October in San Diego.
(SFC, 6/16/00, p.A5)
2000 Jun 16, American
expatriates Norris (67) and Nancy (62) Price were found shot to
death in Ajijic near Guadalajara. A land dispute was suspected.
(SFC, 6/17/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun, In the weeks before
the presidential elections Pemex illegally gave $120 million to its
union which in turn turned it over to the PRI to help finance the
campaign. It was later suspected that some or all of the money was
diverted to private pockets.
(WSJ, 2/15/02, p.A17)
2000 Jul 2, In Mexico Vincente
Fox (58) and his national Action Party (PAN) claimed victory over
the ruling PRI. This ended the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s
71-year reign. In 2004 Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon authored
"Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy."
(SFC, 7/3/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 7/3/00, p.A8)(AP,
7/2/01)(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.M1)
2000 Jul 3, The elections
showed 42.7% for Vincente Fox, 35.8% for Labastida, and 16.5% for
Cardenas.
(SFC, 7/4/00, p.A11)
2000 Jul 4, President-elect
Vincente Fox promised to fight corruption, to restart talks with the
Zapatista rebels, and to strip the Interior Ministry of all
functions but those involving political relations between the
federal and state governments.
(SFC, 7/5/00, p.A4)
2000 Jul 10, In Mexico Augustin
Vasquez Mendoza was arrested in Tehuacan. In 2005 he was extradited
from Mexico to the United States to stand trial for his role in the
murder of DEA Special Agent Richard Fass in Glendale, Arizona, on
June 30, 1994.
(SFC, 7/11/00,
p.A10)(http://crime.about.com/b/a/145527.htm)
2000 Jul 22, Mexican women
staged a one-day strike, more symbolic than massive, over housework.
(SFEC, 7/23/00, p.B16)
2000 Jul 31, Aides of Vincente
Fox announced plans to transform the police and judiciary and to
demilitarize the anti-narcotics programs.
(SFC, 8/1/00, p.A8)
2000 Aug 4, Ildefonso Salido
Ibarra, owner of the El Debate newspaper, was kidnapped in Sinaloa
state. He was released after 4 days.
(SFEC, 11/12/00,
p.A19)(http://tinyurl.com/25oh9b)
2000 Aug 18, Fifteen people
were killed when violence broke out during the inauguration of Mayor
Jesus Tolentino in Chimalhuacan, a suburb of Mexico City and part of
the area known as the misery belt. Tolentino defeated Guadalupe
Buendia a PRI cacique (power broker). Buendia supporters battled
with Antorcha Popular (Popular Torch), widely regarded as a
paramilitary movement. [see Aug 27]
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A9)(WSJ, 8/28/00, p.A1)(SFEC,
9/3/00, p.A20)
2000 Aug 20, In Chiapas Pablo
Salazar, an ally of Vincente Fox, was elected governor over Sami
David of the PRI 57% to 42%.
(SFC, 8/21/00, p.A8)
2000 Aug 24, Pres. Clinton met
with Pres.-elect Vincente Fox of Mexico. Fox promoted his ideas on
an open border.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 27, Guadalupe Buendia,
the defeated PRI mayor of Chimalhuacan known as the "She Wolf," was
arrested for the earlier attack on a rival faction that killed 15
people. She had also reportedly emptied the city treasury. Buendia
was the founder of the Organizacion de Pueblos y Colonias (OPC), an
organization of villages and neighborhoods, and drew support from
thousands of housewives and municipal workers.
(WSJ, 8/28/00, p.A1)(SFEC, 9/3/00, p.A20)
2000 Aug 28, Rodolfo Montiel,
winner of a 2000 Goldman environmental prize for fighting rampant
deforestation, was convicted on drugs and weapons charges and
sentenced to 6 years and 8 months in jail. Human rights groups
allege that he was tortured and that the charges were trumped up.
(SFC, 8/29/00, p.A1)
2000 Aug 31, Retired Gen.
Francisco Hermosillo and Brig. Gen. Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro
were arrested for collaborating with the Juarez drug cartel.
(SFC, 9/2/00, p.A14)
2000 Sep 1, Pres. Zedillo gave
his last State of the Nation address.
(SFC, 9/2/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 5, Cuco Sanchez,
singer, actor and composer, died at age 79.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.D5)
2000 Oct 6, In Reynosa, Mexico,
a DC932 plane with 83 passengers overran a runway and crashed into a
group of homes and then a canal. 6 people walking along the canal
were killed.
(SFC, 10/7/00, p.A12)
2000 Oct 20, In Mexico City a
fire at the Lohobombo salsa club killed at least 19 people.
(SFC, 10/21/00, p.A13)
2000 Oct 22, Manuel Andrade
(PRI) was declared the winner of the governor’s race in Tabasco by
8,000 votes over Raul Ojeda. A federal court overturned the victory.
New elections were held in 2001.
(SFC, 10/24/00, p.A16)(SFC, 8/6/01, p.A8)
2000 Nov, Some 50,000 unionized
sugar-mill workers went on a nation-wide strike. The industry was
antiquated and in deep debt following years of PRI subsidies.
(WSJ, 11/30/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 1, Pres. Vicente Fox
assumed office.
(WSJ, 12/1/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 2, In Chiapas
Subcommander Marcos announced that he would begin talks with the
government in Mexico City in Feb.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 5, Adolfo Aguilar
Zinser, the new chief of the national security council, vowed to end
illegal wiretapping.
(SFC, 12/6/00, p.C3)
2000 Dec 5, In Mexico City
Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador took office as mayor and vowed to
delegate power and resources down to the 1,352 neighborhood
governments. Obrador appointed women to 9 of his 15 cabinet seats.
(SFC, 12/6/00, p.C3)
2000 Dec 6, Pres. Fox submitted
a tight $142 billion budget.
(SFC, 12/7/00, p.C9)
2000 Dec 15, Pres. Fox planned
to be at border crossings to receive Mexicans returning home for the
holidays. He planned to reduce or eliminate blackmailing and
cheating by border guards.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
2000 Dec 17, Thousands were
ordered to evacuate the area around the Popocatepetl volcano due to
the formation of a lava dome.
(WSJ, 12/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 18, Popocatepetl
volcano began spraying hot rock and ashes in its biggest eruption in
1200 years.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.A22)
2000 Dec 19, In Mexico over
30,000 people were evacuated from the area of the Popocatepetl
volcano as the volcano resumed activity.
(SFC, 12/20/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 22, In Mexico the army
closed a base in Chiapas and continued to pull troops from the
region.
(SFC, 12/23/00, p.A14)
2000 Dec 28, Congress voted to
register millions of 2nd hand vehicles imported illegally in past
years.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.B3)
2000 Dec 29, Congress approved
a $140 million budget.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)
2000 Dec 29, A court ruled
that the governor’s race in Tabasco was fatally marred and called
for new elections.
(SFC, 12/30/00, p.A8)
2000 Dec 30, In Chiapas the
head prosecutor freed 17 jailed Zapatista rebels.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A18)
2000 Dec 30, The legislature of
Tabasco state amended the state constitution to delay the elections
for 18 months.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.A18)
2000 Dec 31, Pres. Fox ordered
a 2nd military base closed in Chiapas.
(SFC, 1/1/01, p.A12)
2000 Dec 31, The outgoing
Tabasco state Congress named Enrique Priego as acting governor.
(SFC, 1/1/01, p.A12)
2000 Dec, In Oaxaca state
dozens of hooded men dressed in black stormed into the town of
Nazareno de Etla and announced a "New Revolution." They called
themselves the Armed Forces of the People’s Revolution (FARP).
(SFC, 1/5/01, p.A16)
2000 Carlos Fuentes authored
his novel "The Years with Laura Diaz," a chronicle of the 20th
century through the eyes of a Mexican woman.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, BR p.3)
2000 Carlos Salinas, a former
president, authored "Mexico: A Difficult Step Toward Modernity."
Salinas blamed his successor Ernesto Zedillo, for Mexico’s
1995 financial crises.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A12)
2000 Imprisoned Gen. Jose
Francisco Gallardo contributed several chapters to the book "Always
Near, Always Far: The Armed Forces in Mexico," which included
proposed military reforms.
(SFC, 9/1/00, p.D3)
2000 Pernod Ricard SA acquired
the Mexican tequila producer Viuda de Romero.
(WSJ, 9/7/05, p.B2)
2001 Jan 1, In Tabasco
opposition legislators from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party
rejected the interim governor chosen the previous day by the
outgoing legislature with a violent brawl.
(SFC, 1/2/01, p.A10)
2001 Jan 1, In Mexico rebels
soon called for the closure all 7 military bases near rebel
strongholds.
(SFC, 1/2/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 1, In Acapulco 8 armed
men charged into the home of journalist Jorge Torres Palacios and
killed his father, brother and cousin. Police sought Abel Arizmendi
Flores, the top elected official from the reporter’s village.
(SFC, 1/2/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 2, In Tabasco
opposition legislators elected a 2nd interim governor, Adan Lopez,
sec.-gen. of the state PRI.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A10)
2001 Jan 10, The government
shut down a 3rd military base in Chiapas.
(SFC, 1/11/01, p.A14)
2001 Jan 11, In Tabasco Adan
Augusto Lopez stepped aside as governor and agreed to recognize
rival Enrique Priego.
(SFC, 1/12/01, p.A18)
2001 Jan 17, Chihuahua Gov.
Patricio Martinez was wounded by a shot from Victoria Loya, a former
police officer.
(SFC, 1/18/01, p.A16)
2001 Jan 18, The Supreme Court
ruled 10-1 to allow the extradition to the US of 2 drug traffickers.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A10)
2001 Jan 19, Joaquin Guzman
Loera, aka "El Chapo," escaped from the maximum-security prison in
Jalisco state. Leonardo Beltran, the prison director, and 30
officers were detained for possible involvement in the cocaine
trafficker’s escape. 78 people were later implicated.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D4)(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 30, Rodolfo Morales,
Oaxacan artist, died at age 75.
(SFC, 2/2/01, p.D7)
2001 Feb 2, Mexico agreed to
sell a small amount of power to California.
(SFC, 2/3/01, p.A8)
2001 Feb 3, Mexico followed
Canada and the US in a ban on beef from Brazil due to fears of mad
cow disease.
(WSJ, 2/5/01, p.A17)
2001 Feb 6, A trade tribunal
ordered the US to allow Mexican trucks to cross the border following
a NAFTA arbitration process.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A3)
2001 Feb 9, Pres. Fox
inaugurated a $50 million aid plan for Chiapas. Yucatan’s PRI Gov.
Victor Cervera refused to accept a state electoral commission.
(SFC, 2/10/01, p.A10)(WSJ, 2/12/01, p.A18)
2001 Feb 15, Hooded gunmen shot
and killed 12 villagers in the village of Limoncito de Ayala in
Sinaloa state.
(SFC, 2/16/01, p.D2)
2001 Feb 16, Pres. Bush met
with Pres. Fox in Mexico. They announced a joint agenda to expand
trade, protect immigrant rights and reduce drug trafficking.
(SFC, 2/17/01, p.A1)
2001 Feb 22, Jose Juarez
Rosales (24) was arrested in Dallas for alleged multiple sexual
assaults and murders in Ciudad Juarez.
(SFC, 2/23/01, p.A17)
2000 Feb 24, Zapatista rebel
leader Subcommander Marcos began a 2,000-mile caravan to Mexico City
to lobby for Indian rights.
(SSFC, 2/25/01, p.A14)
2001 Feb 27, Some 30 protesters
were injured and another 30 arrested near the meeting of the World
Economic Forum in Cancun.
(SFC, 2/28/01, p.A10)
2001 Feb, It was reported that
millions of monarch butterflies had died at a hilltop reserve in
Michoacan. Insecticides were suspected while officials blamed cold
weather.
(SSFC, 4/8/01, p.C6)
2001 Mar 11, Some 100,000
supporters filled the square of Mexico City as the Zapatista rebels
arrived. "We are here to shout for and to demand democracy, liberty
and justice."
(SFC, 3/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 12, The Fox
administration announced its " Plan Puebla-Panama," an effort to
close the economic gap between the north and poorer south.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A16)
2001 Mar 12, Zapatista rebels
invaded the Naha nature preserve in southern Chiapas, home of
Lacandon Indians, and took over some 250 acres of the 7,500-acre
preserve.
(SFC, 3/13/01, p.A16)
2001 Mar 21, Pres. Vicente Fox
arrived in California for his 1st foreign trip as President of
Mexico. He appealed to Gov. Davis to allow Mexicans in California
greater access to doors of opportunity.
(SFC, 3/21/01, p.A1)(SFC, 3/22/01, p.A1)
2001 Mar 22, The Chamber of
Deputies voted to allow Zapatista leaders to speak before an
informal session of Congress.
(SFC, 3/23/01, p.D2)
2001 Mar 28, Zapatistas told
the Mexican legislature that the military phase of their struggle
was over and that political efforts would take precedence.
(SFC, 3/29/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 3, US agents seized
over 7 tons of marijuana from a tractor-trailer at the Tijuana
border. It was believed to be the largest seizure along the
US-Mexican border and was valued at $12.1 million.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A4)
2001 Apr 5, Brig. Gen. Ricardo
Martinez was arrested with aides Capt. Pedro Maya and Lt. Javier
Quevedo on drug trafficking charges.
(SFC, 4/7/01, p.A14)
2001 Apr 19, There was an
execution style slaying of 8 peasants of the Fray Bartolome Alliance
in the Chiapas village of Canalucum. [see Jun 25]
(SFC, 6/26/01, p.C2)
2001 Apr 21, Humberto Iribe
Monroy (26) was arrested as a suspect in the Tijuana slayings of 2
US citizens, a 1998 killing of an American investigator, and the
July murder of the son of singer Beatriz Adriana Flores.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr 28, The Congress
approved broad constitutional reforms granting autonomy and other
rights to millions of indigenous people.
(SSFC, 4/29/01, p.A16)
2001 Apr 30, Zapatista rebels
broke off contact with the government due to the watered down Indian
rights legislation.
(SFC, 5/1/01, p.A9)
2001 May 3, Pres. Bush met with
Pres. Fox of Mexico and discussed temporary visas for Mexican
workers and plans for long-range energy development.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.D3)
2001 May 4, In Putla, Oaxaca,
Fidel Bautista Guerrero (33), a Mixtec Indian, was shot to death. He
had organized Indian farmers to conserve forests. The killers were
pursued to the ranch of timber baron Efrain Cruz Bruno and 8 men
with AK 47s and other rifles were arrested.
(SFC, 7/5/01, p.A10)
2001 May 17, It was reported
that the Mexican government would provide survival kits to citizens
planning to cross into the US illegally.
(SFC, 5/17/01, p.A1)
2001 May 23, In Arizona 12
illegal Mexican immigrants were found dead due to dehydration. 2
more were found dead the next day. In 2002 Jesus Lopez-Ramos, one of
3 smugglers, was sentenced to 16 years in prison. In 2004 Luis
Alberto Urrea authored "The Devil's Highway: A True Story," about
the ill-fated crossing.
(SFC, 5/24/01, p.A3)(SFC, 5/25/01, p.A3)(SFC,
2/23/02, p.A5)(SSFC, 4/11/04, p.M2)
2001 May 27, In gubernatorial
elections in Yucatan Patricio Patron of the National Action Party
led Orlando Paredes of the PRI.
(SFC, 5/28/01, p.B12)
2001 May 29, In Mexico City
Jesus Ignacio Carrola Gutierrez, a former director of the judicial
police, was found slain execution-style with his 2 brothers. Carrola
had resigned in 1997 under pressure of alleged links to drug
traffickers and human rights abuses by police under his command.
(SFC, 5/30/01, p.A12)
2001 May, Mexican police in
Cancun arrested former Quintana Roo Gov. Mario Villanueva, who had
vanished in 1999 just prior to the end of his term.
(WSJ, 11/28/01, p.A1,8)
2001 Jun 12, Alcides Ramon
Magana, former federal police officer and drug kingpin, was arrested
in Villahermosa.
(SFC, 6/14/01, p.C3)
2001 Jun 15, Mexico’s Pres. Fox
launched his Plan Puebla-Panama aimed at helping the poorer south
and the poor countries of Central America. The program was launched
June 15, but by 2007 only $4.5 billion of a projected $50 billion
had been invested. In 2007 Pres. Calderon re-launched the program.
(Econ, 4/14/07,
p.41)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Puebla_Panama)
2001 Jun 22, The US and Mexico
unveiled a new border safety pact with measures to prevent migrants
from crossing at deadly transit points and planned to equip US
agents with nonlethal weapons.
(SFC, 6/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Jun 22, Ron Lavender (75),
an Iowa-born real estate agent, was kidnapped in Acapulco. A ransom
of $2.5 million was demanded. Lavender was released Oct 16 and
refused to file a criminal complaint.
(SFC, 10/18/01, p.C2)
2001 Jun 25, In Chiapas some
300 police officers arrested 13 members of the leftist House of the
People. They were suspected to be connected to the Apr 19 slaying of
8 peasants of the Fray Bartolome Alliance.
(SFC, 6/26/01, p.C2)
2001 Jul 2, Mexican President
Vicente Fox married his spokeswoman and long-time love, Martha
Sahagun, a year to the day after his election victory.
(AP, 7/2/02)
2001 Jul 5, The Security
Ministry reported that Mexico’s police solved only 8% of the
nation’s crimes.
(WSJ, 7/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Jul 18, Congress gave
final approval to an Indian rights law that was opposed by many
Indian organizations.
(SFC, 7/20/01, p.A17)
2001 Jul 25, Carlos Pacheco
Beltran was lynched in the Magdalena Petlacalpo neighborhood of
Mexico City after trying to steal from the neighborhood church.
(SFC, 8/1/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 2, Carlos Natividad
Garibay (21), a suspected thief, died of skull injuries In
Guadalajara after being beaten by shopkeepers.
(SFC, 8/4/01, p.A10)
2001 Aug 3, Banamex was
acquired by Citigroup in a $12.5 billion deal.
(SFC, 8/9/01, p.A9)
2001 Aug 5, New governor
elections were held in Tabasco with Manuel Andrade facing Raul
Ojeda. Early results gave the victory to Andrade of the PRI.
(SFC, 8/6/01, p.A8)(SFC, 8/7/01, p.A6)
2001 Aug 8, In Mexico City
branches of Banamex were bombed. Police later arrested 5 alleged
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People (FARP).
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 22, Maria A. Caraveo
of Brownsville was found shot to death with her 3 children, aged
9-13, outside Guadalajara. Police searched for Benito Martin Mar,
Caraveo’s husband.
(SFC, 8/24/01, p.D2)
2001 Aug 30, On the Int’l. Day
of the Disappeared relatives of some of the 500 people who
disappeared from 1970 to 2000 filed a criminal complaint against the
last 5 presidents.
(SFC, 8/31/01, p.D6)
2001 Sep 1, Pres. Fox gave his
1st state-of-the-union address. He asked for more time to live up to
promises and appealed to Congress for help.
(SSFC, 9/2/01, p.A12)
2001 Sep 3, The government
announced the expropriation of 27 of 60 privately owned sugar mills
from some $110 million. All were on the brink of bankruptcy.
(SFC, 9/4/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 4, The US and Mexico
agreed on small measures to improve food safety, enhance law
enforcement and fight money laundering as Pres. Fox came to visit
with Pres. Bush.
(SFC, 9/5/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 5, Maria de los
Angeles Tames, attorney and daughter of a former senator, was
killed. On Mar 5, 2002, Juan Antonio Dominguez, mayor of Atizapan,
was arrested in connection with the slaying of the city council
member, who had planned to reveal evidence of corruption and drug
trafficking. On Apr 10, 2002 Dominguez and his former chief of staff
Daniel Garcia were charged with masterminding the murder.
(SFC, 3/7/02, p.A7)(WSJ, 4/12/02, p.A1)
2001 Sep 12, In Mexico a
twin-engine LET 410 plane crashed in the Yucatan and all 19 people
aboard were killed. The 16 passengers were all Seattle-area tourists
on a Holland America cruise.
(SFC, 9/13/01, p.C3)(SFC, 9/14/01, p.A32)
2001 Oct 19, Digna Ochoa (38),
a prominent human rights lawyer, was found shot to death in Mexico
City. She was shot once in the left leg and again in the head. In
2003 a prosecutor said her death was a probable suicide.
(SSFC, 10/21/01, p.A22)(AP, 7/19/03)
2001 Oct 22, The government
selected a site in the lake Texcoco area for a new $2.3 billion
airport for Mexico City. The decision had been deferred since 1968.
(SFC, 10/23/01, p.A13)
2001 Oct 30, Felipe Santander
(68), playwright, died in Ocotepec. His work included "El
Extensionista."
(SFC, 11/1/01, p.A23)
2001 Oct, Mexico's Supreme
Court ruled that life in prison, or any term without guaranteed
parole, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the
constitution.
(SSFC, 8/10/03, p.A1)
2001 Nov 6, Authorities in
Ciudad Juarez found the bodies of 3 young women. 5 more bodies were
found the next day. Mexican authorities later built a somber
memorial of concrete benches, a circular water fountain also made of
concrete and a cement plaque with the names of the eight victims.
The families of three of the women appealed in 2003 for the court,
which is a body of the Organization of American States, to take up
the case. On Nov 7, 2011, Mexico's government publicly apologized
for failing to prevent the killings of the three women and for the
negligence of officials in investigating the crimes.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A19)(AP, 11/7/11)
2001 Nov 11, Lazaro Cardena of
the leftist PRD won 42% of the votes for governor in Michoacan state
vs. 37% Alfredo Anaya of the PRI.
(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A14)
2001 Nov 27, The Nat’l. Human
Rights Commission issued a 3,000 page report that acknowledged at
least 275 leftists disappeared while in government hands during the
1970s. The names of 74 officials implicated in the forced
disappearances were not made public.
(SFC, 11/28/01, p.A4)
2001 Dec 3, Gov. Davis of
California met with Pres. Fox and Mexican legislators in Mexico City
to discuss economic solutions on mutual interests.
(SFC, 12/4/01, p.A3)
2001 Dec 3, Juan Jose Arreola
(83), nationalist author, died. His work included "La Feria" (1962).
(SFC, 12/5/01, p.A23)
2001 Jorge Emilio Gonzalez took
over leadership of Mexico’s Green Party from his father.
(WSJ, 7/8/04, p.A10)
2002 Jan 3, Juan Garcia
Esquivel, pianist and composer, died at age 83. He turned out 10
albums in the US from 1957-1963.
(SFC, 1/10/02, p.A16)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported
that Mexico had a national service program that required
participation by all university graduates and that medical students
were required to work in disadvantaged communities for one year
before being licensed.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 12, Amparo Montes
(Amparo Meza Cruz), boleros singer, died in Mexico City. She was
77-81 years old.
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.B5)
2002 Jan 12-13, A rain storm
was followed by a freeze and as many as 270 million monarch
butterflies were killed at the Rosario and Sierra Chincua colonies
in Michoacan state.
(SFC, 2/12/02, p.A4)(SFC, 2/18/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 18, Feliz Alonso
Fernandez Garcia, editor of the weekly Nueva Opcion magazine, was
shot and killed after filing a report that linked former mayor Raul
Rodriguez Barrera and drug traffickers.
(SFC, 1/24/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 19, Federal officials
froze the bank accounts 9 current and former executive of Petroleos
Mexicano in a $120 million corruption scheme tied to the PRI.
(SFC, 1/22/02, p.A8)
2002 Feb 3, In Cuba Fidel
Castro met with Pres. Fox of Mexico.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.A4)
2002 Feb 4, In Havana Pres. Fox
of Mexico met with 7 prominent dissidents.
(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A7)
2002 Feb 10, Sinaloa state
police reportedly shot and killed drug boss Ramon Felix Arellano
(37).
(SFC, 2/23/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 24, In Mexico City the
PRI held its 1st ever open election for party leadership.
(SFC, 2/25/02, p.A7)
2002 Mar 4, The PRI named
Roberto Madrazo, former gov. of Tabasco, as its new leader.
(WSJ, 3/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 8, In Mexico Ines
Fernandez and Valentina Rosendo, two indigenous Me'phaa women from
the state of Guerrero, reported that they had been raped and
tortured by members of the Mexican Army. Since then, they have been
subject to a constant stream of threats to keep them from speaking
about the incidents. On Dec 15, 2011, Interior Secretary Alejandro
Poire offered what he called "the most sincere of apologies" to
Valentina Rosendo.
(http://tinyurl.com/7bdvlyk)(AP, 12/16/11)
2002 Mar 9, In Pueblo police
arrested Benjamin Arellano Felix, head of the Tijuana drug cartel.
(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Mar 13, Manuel Herrera
Barraza, a senior member of the Arellano Felix gang, was arrested.
(SFC, 3/15/02, p.A12)
2002 Mar 21, A UN meeting on
poverty, despair and violence opened in Mexico City.
(SFC, 3/22/02, p.A13)
2002 Mar 22, Pres. Bush
addressed the UN meeting in Monterey, Mexico, and called on wealthy
nations to link foreign aid to economic reform.
(SFC, 3/23/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 24, Rosario Robles,
former mayor of Mexico City, was declared head of the Democratic
Revolution Party.
(SFC, 3/25/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 8, Pres. Fox and the
Maquila and Export Industry Council signed an agreement to improve
working conditions for female factory workers.
(SFC, 4/9/02, p.A9)
2002 Apr 9, In Mexico the
Senate voted 71-41 to deny Pres. Fox permission to travel to the US
and Canada next week. They wanted him to spend more time on domestic
concerns.
(SFC, 4/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Apr 10, In Mexico 41 state
and city police from Tijuana and Tecate were arrested in Baja on
charges of corruption and smuggling during a meeting at the state
police academy.
(SFC, 4/11/02, p.A10)(SFC, 4/12/02, p.A9)
2002 May 6, Jose Luis Nieto
(56) raced his pickup into a crowd of toddlers in Ecatepec, near
Mexico City, and killed 2 children aged 2 and 3. A daily school
ceremony had blocked access to his house.
(SFC, 5/7/02, p.A12)
2002 May 10, Masked gunmen
killed 11 people at a Mother’s Day party in Santiago de la Ajoya, 40
miles north of Mazatlan.
(SSFC, 5/12/02, p.A11)
2002 May 10, A truck with 8
tons of sodium cyanide was hijacked in central Mexico. The truck was
later found but 76 drums of the chemical were missing. Most of the
drums were found dumped near the village of Honey following an
18-day search. All the drums were later recovered.
(SFC, 5/28/02, p.A7)(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A8)(SFC,
5/31/02, p.A11)
2002 May 13, Two police
officers were killed in a shootout with suspected ERP rebels at a
water treatment plant in Buena Vista de Cuellar, Guerrero state.
(SFC, 5/14/02, p.A13)
2002 May 24, In Mexico Pres.
Fox announced that all of Mexico’s waters are a preserve for whales
and off-limits to whale hunting.
(SFC, 5/25/02, p.A13)
2002 May 26, In Veracruz police
arrested Jesus Albino Quintero Meraz along with 6 associates and a
federal police officer for cocaine trafficking.
(SFC, 5/28/02, p.A9)
2002 May 31, In southern Mexico
gunmen ambushed a truckload of people and killed 26 in Agua Fria.
The dead were all from Santiago Xochiltepec and were victims of a
land dispute. 16 suspects were later arrested.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.A12)(SFC, 6/3/02, p.A3)
2002 Jun 9, A farmer and his
two grown children were hacked to death with machetes by their
relatives in a family dispute over a plot of land in southern Oaxaca
state.
(AP, 6/9/02)
2002 Jun 10, President Vicente
Fox signed Mexico's first freedom of information law on Monday,
exposing the government and its records to greater public scrutiny.
(AP, 6/10/02)
2002 Jun 19, President Vicente
Fox is releasing nearly 80 million secret intelligence files
collected over decades, vowing that Mexico's government will never
again use spying and violence against its critics.
(AP, 6/19/02)
2002 Jun 28, In Mexico City
gunmen with assault rifles tried to hold up an armored car, killing
three guards and wounding two others, but getting no money.
(AP, 6/28/02)
2002 Jul 3, In western Mexico 5
people returning from a political rally, among them a 101-year-old
man, were ambushed and shot to death.
(AP, 7/3/02)
2002 Jul 3, Brazil and Mexico
signed a trade agreement that reduced import duties on some 800
products.
(WSJ, 7/5/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 5, In Mexico Katy
Jurado (78), the actress who played a sultry wildcat in some of the
top American films of the 1950s and gained an Academy Award
nomination, died.
(AP, 7/5/02)
2002 Jul 12, In Mexico farmers
desperate to keep their land from being seized for a new Mexico City
airport threatened to kill about a dozen hostages and spark
uprisings across the country.
(AP, 7/12/02)
2002 Jul 14, Mexican state
officials freed 10 prisoners in hopes of winning freedom for
hostages held by farmers protesting construction of a new Mexico
City airport.
(AP, 7/15/02)
2002 Jul 15, In Mexico farmers
ended their protest of a proposed new airport for Mexico City and
released 19 hostages after the government promised to reconsider
construction terms.
(SFC, 7/16/02, p.A5)
2002 Jul 26, Jose Juan Palafox,
a regional director of Mexico's main intelligence agency was slain
in the border city of Tijuana, the 11th person killed this week in
what authorities say is an escalating drug war.
(AP, 7/27/02)
2002 Jul 30, Pope John Paul II
began a three-day visit to Mexico to canonize Juan Diego, the first
Indian saint. He arrived from Guatemala to a greeting by President
Vicente Fox and tens of thousands of people lining Mexico City's
streets.
(AP, 7/30/02)
2002 Jul 31, Pope John Paul II
canonized Juan Diego, an Indian peasant to whom church tradition
says the Virgin Mary appeared 500 years ago, in a ceremony in Mexico
that drew more than 1 million believers into the streets.
(AP, 8/1/02)
2002 Jul 31, In Mexico 6 masked
gunmen kidnapped a federal congressman from a town in the Pacific
coast state of Guerrero.
(AP, 8/1/02)
2002 Aug 1, In Mexico the
government decided to yield to protests by machete-wielding farmers
and radicals and cancelled plans to build a new international
airport on the eastern outskirts of Mexico City.
(AP, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 6, In western Mexico
the brakes apparently failed on a 26-year-old bus before it plowed
through a highway toll booth and slammed into a concrete wall,
killing at least 33 people, 10 of them children, headed for a
re-enactment of the Last Supper. About 20 people were injured.
(AP, 8/6/02)
2002 Aug 10, In northwestern
Mexico a bus crashed through a railing and into a shallow river near
Hermosillo, killing 16 passengers and injuring two dozen others.
(AP, 8/12/02)
2002 Aug 14, Mexican President
Vicente Fox angrily canceled a scheduled meeting with President Bush
hours after Texas executed a Mexican national for killing a Dallas
police officer despite pleas from the Mexican leadership. Javier
Suarez Medina, a Mexican national, was never told he could contact
the Mexican consulate for help after his 1988 arrest, a violation of
the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations.
(AP, 8/14/03)(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 14, Texas Gov. Rick
Perry denied a reprieve for Javier Suarez Medina and authorities in
Huntsville gave Suarez a lethal injection as he sang the hymn
"Amazing Grace."
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 15, Heavy rains caused
the San Luis Potosi and Los Dolores dams to burst, sending a wave of
floodwaters roaring over villages in central Mexico, where
authorities said at least eight people were killed and six others
were missing and feared dead.
(AP, 8/16/02)
2002 Aug 15, A train in
Tlaxcala, Mexico, struck and killed six young people (13-25) as they
were walking along railroad tracks during a religious procession.
(AP, 8/15/02)
2002 Aug 17, In Mexico 8 men
and a woman were lined up against a wall and gunned down with
assault rifles and pistols at a ranch in the western state of
Michoacan in what reports said may have been a drug-related
massacre.
(AP, 8/18/02)
2002 Aug 31, It was reported
that Mexican police had arrested Juan Heriberto Carrillo Olivas, a
Mexican citizen, headed a gang in El Paso, Texas, that used a fleet
of tractor-trailers to transport cocaine to other U.S. cities.
(AP, 8/31/02)
2002 Sep 6, Mexico said it was
withdrawing from the 1947 Inter-American Reciprocal Defense Treaty
designed to protect the Americas against communism, a year after
President Vicente Fox called the agreement obsolete.
(AP, 9/6/02)
2002 Sep 10, Radical farmers in
San Salvador, Mexico, have declared this town outside Mexico City to
be autonomous, two months after they forced the government to
abandon plans for a new airport.
(AP, 9/11/02)
2002 Sep 23, Hurricane Isidore
left two dead and 300,000 homeless in Mexico’s Yucatan and moved
toward the U.S. Gulf coast.
(AP, 9/24/02)
2002 Sep 26, In Mexico Martha
Sahagun de Fox launched a conference of first ladies of the Americas
with a promise to forge creative answers to the problem of child
poverty.
(AP, 9/26/02)
2002 Sep 27, A Mexican military
court charged three army officers (Gen. Francisco Quiros Hermosillo,
Brig. Gen. Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro and Maj. Francisco
Barquin) with homicide in the killings of 143 leftist
activists and revolutionaries, the first prosecution of soldiers for
crimes committed during the so-called "dirty war" of the 1970s.
(AP, 9/27/02)(SFC, 9/28/02, p.A6)
2002 Oct 14, In New Mexico VP
Cheney met with representatives of Bajagua, a start-up waste
processing firm targeting waste water in Tijuana, Mexico. Waste from
Tijuana flowed into San Diego County and its Tijuana River estuary.
Bajagua spent $585,000 in lobbying efforts from 2001-2006. Estimates
of costs to the US ranged from $580-780 million. A 1999
environmental impact statement called the Bajagua plan not feasible.
(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.A15)
2002 Oct 15, Former New York
City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will be paid $4.3 million plus expenses
for a one-year contract to advise Mexico City's mayor on reducing
crime.
(AP, 10/15/02)
2002 Oct 19, In Mexico Manuel
Alvarez Bravo (100), a photographer whose remarkable 80-year
portfolio contained everything from mystical portraits of a bygone
era to the striking realism of murdered laborers, died.
(AP, 10/20/02)
2002 Oct 21, In Mexico
officials said 25 people were arrested who had infiltrated the army,
police and attorney general’s office on behalf of drug kingpins.
(SFC, 10/22/02, p.A11)
2002 Oct 25, Hurricane Kenna
hit Mexico’s Pacific coast and over 150 people were injured in the
states of Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa. 3 people were later reported
killed. Damages were estimated in tens of millions.
(SFC, 10/26/02, p.A7)(SSFC, 10/27/02, p.A20)
2002 Nov 16, In Mexico
unidentified assailants killed a family of five, including two
children aged 8 and 14 and two of the family's servants, by slitting
their throats or shooting them.
(AP, 11/17/02)
2002 Nov 22, In Mexico City
thousands of teachers marched to protest the deaths and
disappearances of some 152 teachers over the last 10 years.
(SFC, 11/23/02, p.A10)
2002 Nov 26, About 2,000
members of Mexico's former ruling party seized government buildings
in two Guerrero state towns, claiming fraud in the recent election
of the towns' mayors.
(AP, 11/27/02)
2002 Nov, Pres. Bush approved
the annual US entry of some 30,000 Mexican trucks beyond the current
20-mile border zone. On Jan 16, 2003, a federal appeals court halted
the plan for environmental reviews.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.A5)
2002 Dec 5, In Mexico City an
angry mob beat to death two of three youths who allegedly tried to
rob a taxi driver.
(AP, 12/6/02)
2002 Dec 11, Bank of America
agreed to pay $1.6 billion for a 25% stake in Grupo Financiero
Santander Serfin, one of Mexico’s largest banks.
(WSJ, 12/12/02, p.A1)
2002 Dec 31, Mexico City's only
English-language newspaper, The News, shut down along with its
sister Spanish-language publication, Novedades, after more than 50
years in operation.
(AP, 12/31/02)
2002 Dec 31, In Mexico illegal
fireworks stands ignited in the port city of Veracruz as revelers
thronged a marketplace to buy New Year's supplies. The blaze quickly
engulfed an entire city block and killed at least 28 people.
(AP, 1/1/03)
2002 Dec, Gunmen hired by
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, owner of TV Azteca, took control of a small
UHF TV station in Mexico City.
(WSJ, 2/27/04, p.A1)
2002 Carlos Fuentes published
his novel “La silla del aguila,” in Mexico. In 2006 an English
translation by Kristina Cordero was published as “The Eagle’s
Throne.”
(SSFC, 5/27/06, p.M1)
2002 Mexico ended its visa
requirement for Brazilians as both countries liberalized their trade
regimes. Illegal immigration of Brazilians to the US via Mexico
quickly increased.
(WSJ, 1/24/05, p.A16)
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2003