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.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A19)
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 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)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Mexico
Go to Mexico 2003