The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
The six-month anniversary of the forced disappearance of 43 student protesters in Guerrero was marked by protests throughout Mexico and abroad. In Guadalajara, some 1,000 people marched on the Plaza Liberacion bearing banners calling for the safe return of the students and the resignation of President Enrique Peña Nieto. Similar demonstrations were held in Guerrero and Mexico City.
The Mexico Red Cross’ annual collection, Colecta Annual 2015, kicked off in Jalisco on Monday, March 23, with the state government kicking in a hefty donation of eight million pesos. This year’s fund-raising drive hopes to raise 105 million pesos for Jalisco’s delegations. 
So far this year, the Red Cross has received 16 million pesos in donations, one-quarter of which has come from voluntary 40-peso donations made by car owners renewing their annual registrations.
The Jalisco Red Cross collection runs in tandem with the March 19 to April 31 national program.
Official donations boxes will be marked with the institution’s distinctive red logo.
According to the federal Health Ministry, Red Cross units respond to seven out of every ten emergency calls.
According to some news sources, Mexican officials asked the makers of new James Bond film “Spectre” to make some major script changes in exchange for giving US$14 million in tax cuts to Sony Pictures and MGM Studios. Leaked Sony e-mails suggest the original script included an attempt to murder the Mexico City mayor, but the Mexican government asked for this to be changed. In addition, they wanted a “known Mexican actress” to play one of the Bond girls, while forbidding the writers from including a Mexican villain.
The Mexican government has issued a stark warning to foreign nationals thinking of bringing a weapon into the country by passing a reform that will see unlicensed gun owners receiving hefty fines and sentences of between 3 to 10 years in prison.
The crackdown on the private ownership of weapons is designed to reduce the black market in guns, which has fueled the drug-war violence that has risen in Mexico since 2007.
A recent high-profile case brought Mexico’s strict gun laws into light, when U.S. reserve marine Andrew Tahmooressi was held for seven months in Tijuana on weapons charges. Several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found in Tahmooressi’s vehicle, although the marine insisted he had crossed the border by mistake, not to sell the weapons. His mother, Jill, campaigned on his behalf and several Republican politicians publicly called for his release. Mexican authorities dropped the charges against him on October 31 last year.
The peso hit historic lows on two consecutive days this week, closing Tuesday at 15.62 to the U.S. dollar.
Labor unions and civic organizations protested Mexico’s energy reforms on the 77th anniversary of the nationalization of Mexico’s oil industry, Wednesday, March 18.
Mexico has jumped five places in the “World Tourism Rankings” to reclaim its place in the top ten. The World Tourism Organization, which compiles the annual list of the most popular destinations, has confirmed that Mexico closed the year with almost 30 million visitors. This places Mexico above its closest competitors Thailand, Hong Kong and Austria.
The award-winning host of Mexico’s most popular national news station has been fired in a case many suspect to be a move against freedom of expression.
According to the Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) website, over the last year electricity costs for industrial users have fallen by 25.7 percent, while the decrease for domestic customers on the higher consumption DAC rate was down 7.5 percent.
