Before taking over the reins as governor of Jalisco on March 1, Aristotoles Sandoval began spouting fresh ideas for restructuring the state government. Innovations in public administration that include the creation, elimination and fusion of various agencies are now well under way, with the deepest changes noted in branches related to law and order.

Jalisco law enforcement agencies are facing criticism for not taking the disappearance of women seriously and for acting too slowly when reports of missing persons are filed.

“It’s a theme that no one seems to be talking about,” said Guadalupe Ramos Ponce, coordinator of the state branch of the Latin American Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights.

More than 1,180 women are currently reported as missing in the state of Jalisco.

Ramos told the Informador newspaper that evidence suggests that many cases of women going missing in Jalisco are not linked to their domestic and social situations but to crime.

“We don’t know if the disappearances have to do with human trafficking, prostitution or sexual violence.  So it’s up to authorities to investigate.”

After Quebec last year, the Gallic flavor of the annual Festival Cultural de Mayo (May Festival) will continue as a host of talented performers are trucked in by invited guest country France.

After 12 years as the voice and face of Guadalajara’s prestigious American School, Janet Heinze is set to retire this July. The personable general director bubbles with pride about the school, which boasts a student body that is 80 percent Mexican (15 percent American, 5 percent “other”), and a curriculum that is predominantly and unwaveringly English.

Having been elected earlier this year, Tonatiuh Bravo Padilla was formally sworn in as rector of the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) on April 1.

My article in last week’s Reporter described how the flow of the Lerma River to Lake Chapala had been reduced by 90 percent or more from 1930 to 2001. This was due primarily to a grossly excessive commitment to irrigation in the Lerma River basin, and the construction of over 500 dams and reservoirs that could store the river’s entire flow.  Despite 40 years of discussions and hundreds of pages of studies and rules, no solution has been executed. The key factor is this: for each one percent saved of the 80 percent of the river’s flow that is now used for irrigation, it will be possible to provide domestic water for 400,000 persons.