by the El Reportero’s news services
MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s self-proclaimed “Grand Warlock” says the United States will pull troops out of Iraq in 2009 and send them to the border with Mexico in an attempt to expand its territory.
The prediction from Antonio Vazquez comes with a word of warning though: his record of projecting the future is spotty at best.
Also in Mexico City, Mexican agents are accused of migrant abuse.
Mexican immigration agents allegedly locked a group of Central American migrants in a trailer after they refused to pay a bribe, the country’s National Human
Rights Commission said Wednesday.
The commission is asking for a government investigation into the alleged abuse committed Feb. 14, 2007, against 10 Guatemalans and two Salvadorans, including a minor.
The commission said in a statement that the agents demanded each migrant pay $110 in exchange for being allowed to continue their illegal journey to the United States.
When the migrants refused,the agents allegedly locked them in a tractor-trailer for six hours. The commission said many were at the point of passing out.
Immigration officials could not be reached for comment.
Mexico’s Interior Secretary, which oversees the National Immigration Institute, promised to investigate and take action against the agents if necessary.
Mexico Zapatista leader slams Obama over Gaza silence.
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AFP) – Mexico’s Zapatista rebel leader “Subcomandante” Marcos slammed U.S. president-elect Barack Obama for failing to speak out on Israel’s bombing of Gaza, in a speech on Friday marking the 15th anniver
sary of his rebellion.
The masked leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation — which rose up in arms in Chiapas,southeast Mexico, on January 1, 1994 — also critized Obama’s support for “the use of force” against Palestinian people. Obama has kept a low profile on the Gaza confl ict, stressing that there is only one president at a time ahead of his inauguration on January 20.
Marcos also criticized Mexican President Calderon for his clampdown on drug violence, with the deploy ment of more than 36,000 soldiers countrywide so far failing to stop more than 5,300 deaths in drug-related attacks last year.
Funes in pole position to claim historic win in El Salvador.
The presidential candidate for the left-wing opposition Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), Mau- ricio Funes, holds a commanding lead over his rival from the Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena),Rodrigo Avila, with only three months to go until the presidential elections.
The FMLN has never been in such a good position since it took shape as a political party in 1992 shortly after the end of the civil war. Two separate polls released in mid December show Funes winning the presidential elections on 15 March by a comfortable margin.
Raul Castro says hopes too high for Obama.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has awakened “excessive hopes”that the United States will change, Cuban President Raul Castro said in a television interview, reported Reuters.
Obama has said he wants to ease the 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and meet with Cuban leaders as fi rst steps toward normalizing relations with the Communistrun island 90 miles off U.S.shores.
“Because even if he’s an honest man – and I believe he is — a sincere man — and I believe he is — one man alone cannot change the destiny of a country and much less the United States,” said Castro.
