General News

In a press conference on Tuesday that was supposed to revitalize Enrique Peña Nieto’s tarnished image, the Mexican president committed a major gaffe, overshadowing any favorable coverage of the event.

After announcing that he was appointing a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of “conflicts of interest” in his administration, including a housing scandal involving him and his wife, the president stepped away from the podium. 

There was no applause from the reporters in attendance and he jokily complained: “I knew they wouldn’t clap.”

The news spread like wildfire on social media. The phrase generated a new hashtag. Within a couple of hours, #YaSeQueNoAplauden (“I knew they wouldn’t clap”) was all over the internet. 

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“Breaking: Enrique Peña Nieto proposes National Commission for Applauses,” said Jose Aurelio Vargas.

A picture showing the president dressed as Lady Gaga circulated online, under a caption referencing the pop star’s hit single “I Live for the Applause.” 

This is not the first time an off-the-cuff remark from the Enrique Peña Nieto administration has generated a storm of negative online content.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam caused a similar reaction after complaining: “Ya me cansé” (I’m tired) at a November press conference on the investigation of the kidnapping of 43 students.

The phrase became a battle cry for frustrated Mexicans looking for an end to violence and corruption. “Ya me cansé” is emblazoned on the banners of protesting students and was top trending topic on Mexican twitter for weeks. 

It received considerable international attention and spawned a counterpart from north of the border: “#UStired2.”

The latest unfortunate remark has only added

to an atmosphere of cynicism concerning the president’s announcement at the event.

Outside of Mexico, Peña Nieto’s decision to open himself up to investigation was widely reported as a bold and surprising move. Yet most domestic commentators agree that the new special prosecutor Virgilio Andrade would gain little from damaging his own boss’ reputation. Instead, an independent investigation is seen as necessary.

The press conference reeked of political theater and did little to reassure the public, as Andrade was brought on stage to hug the very man he is supposed to be impartially judging.  

El Semanario expressed the paradox nicely: “Virgilio Andrade has a conflict of interest in his investigation of conflicts of interest.”

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Major events are planned in Mexico and the United Kingdom in 2015 as the two nations mark “the Year of the U.K. in Mexico” and “the Year of Mexico in the U.K.”
The dual celebration kicked off January 15 with the opening of a photographic exhibition at London’s City Hall titled “Mexico invisible, imagines a traces de los sentidos.” The show features images taken by Mexicans with visual incapacities, and is sponsored by the charity founded by Gina Badenoch, who in 2014 was honored with an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II for her altruistic work.

Forget the high rises, industrial parks, hotels and office buildings going up. A multitude of city, state and federally financed construction projects for the metro area worth billions of pesos are either already in progress or programed to begin in 2015, and may cause mayhem to your daily routine. 

More than 1,000 people took to the streets of Guadalajara to mark four months since the forced disappearance of least 43 student protestors in the town of Iguala, Guerrero state. Demonstrators took up the familiar cry of “They took them alive! We want them back alive!” as they marched down Avenida Juarez on Monday, January 26.

Over 15 million guns are circulating in Mexico, of which 13 million are illegally owned, and represent an arsenal capable of arming one in three adult males in the country.
The report by the Center for Social and Public Opinion Studies, a research arm of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, said that guns were used in more than half of the 120,000 homicides committed in Mexico between 2007 and 2012.

Parliamentary Investigator Jose de Jesus Gonzalez Rodriguez says that U.S. gun policy is partly responsible for the wave of drug violence.
“In Mexico it’s almost impossible to legally buy a gun, but in the U.S. border states there are more than 8,000 gun traders and Mexican drug cartels can easily acquire firearms through associates.” 

Experts estimate that around 2,000 guns are illegally smuggled into Mexico every day, which counts toward a total of 730,000 per year.
Border traffic has increased dramatically since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994, and with almost 30,000 trucks crossing every day, there is plenty of space to smuggle arms. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has announced plans to expand its program to combat corruption in foreign countries. Roughly 30 agents will be assigned to offices in New York, Washington and Los Angeles, and given the sole task of detecting situations in which foreign governments are bribed by U.S. companies.

Two fishermen survived 24 days lost at sea before being rescued by a cargo boat off the coast of Guerrero, Southern Mexico.

The high-profile Governor of Chiapas Manuel Velasco has offered a “sincere apology” for slapping his assistant in the face at the rehearsal of his annual report last December.

The video was released online, forcing the Governor to offer an apology for what he described as an “unfortunate accidental incident.” 

Velasco invited his secretary on stage at a publicity event and the governor offered his own cheek to be smacked. His aide returned the slap, once lightly and a second time with more force.

With his youthful looks and actress fiancé, Velasco has been held up as a possible successor to President Enrique Peña Nieto. Posters with his face and name have been put up in Mexico City, despite the fact that Velasco is based in Chiapas and is not involved in policy making in the capital.