Pope Francis Visits Mexico: Many Agendas — The Pope’s visit [which begins Friday, Feb. 12] has produced many varied expectations, of which more than one will not be met. Two things are guaranteed: festivals and the economic and political exploitation of this visit. However, in this case there is a third element, one which makes this papal visit just that little bit more distinctive: Pope Francis’s own agenda. His now famous pastoral discourse on frontiers [Evangelii gaudium (English: The Joy of the Gospel)], along with the statements made this past week, foretell of a visit that will not be all sunshine and rainbows for the government or the Church.
Tajamar Mangrove: Environmentalists Wrest Victory Amid Devastation — Cancún's environmentalists had the feeling of being the planet's least effective. For decades, Mexico's Caribbean Coastline has been replaced by hotel megaprojects, exclusive residential areas, shopping centers and water parks. Now they could chain themselves to all the palm trees that remain, residents recount. But it is with 148 acres of wetland where they have gathered the courage to get a victory. The Tajamar mangrove, or what remains of it, is still there. After months of struggle, a court order has proved them right.
Tierra Blanca, Veracruz: Almost 3,000 Fragments of Human Remains Found on Ranch — Rancho El Limón [The Lime Ranch] in Veracruz, where the remains of two of the five students who were disappeared on January 11 were discovered, was used by organized crime, with the possible complicity of security forces, to disappear the bodies of hundreds of people taken hostage over several years. That is the initial determination of the investigation being carried out by state and federal authorities after the discovery of nearly three thousand fragments belonging to hundreds of bodies on the ranch, located in Tlalixcoyan, Veracruz.
Veracruz State Prosecutor Criminalizes Murdered Journalist to Cover Up Forced Disappearance by Army — Anabel Flores Salazar, the reporter murdered between Monday and Tuesday, witnessed what appears to have been the forced disappearance of three persons by members of the Mexican Army in August of 2014. This put the Army at risk and should be one of the main lines of investigation to be followed by the State Attorney General. But, as he has in each and every one of the 16 cases of journalists killed under the government of Javier Duarte, the Prosecutor opted for criminalizing her: in a press statement, he reported that he will investigate as a possible motive for the crime whether Flores Salazar had criminal ties.
Topo Chico Prison Brawl Bloodiest in Recent Years — The confrontation in Topo Chico Prison [on Thursday] [Monterrey, Nuevo León] has been the bloodiest that has occurred in Mexico's prisons: 49 dead, five of them burned; and four seriously injured. The previous high in deaths from brawls, riots or escapes in prisons occurred on February 19, 2012, at Apodaca Prison, also in Nuevo León, when 44 prisoners belonging to the Gulf Cartel were killed by gunmen from the rival Los Zetas cartel.