Salon.com > E. Eduardo Castillo

Mexico town fires young police chief

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:01:00 +0000

A young woman who made international headlines when she accepted the job as police chief in a violent Mexican border town was fired Monday for apparently abandoning her post after receiving death threats.

Marisol Valles Garcia was granted a leave of absence from March 2-7 to travel to the United States for personal matters but failed to return to Praxedis G. Guerrero as agreed, city officials said in a statement.

"In the absence of (Valles Garcia's) presence on the agreed-upon day, and since there was no notification of a need to extend the period of her absence, the mayor has decided to remove her from office," the statement read.

A local official accompanied Valles Garcia last week to the international bridge connecting El Porvenir to Fort Hancock, Texas, said Human Rights Commission official Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson.

Local news media have since reported that she was seeking asylum in the United States, but there has been no confirmation of that and her precise whereabouts were not clear.

Over the weekend, as speculation increased that she was seeking refuge, officials tried to contact Valles Garcia by cell phone but were unable to reach her.

Car bomb explodes in Mexico where 72 bodies found

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:53:58 +0000

A car exploded early Friday in front of the offices of a major Mexican television station in a northern state where officials are investigating the massacre of 72 Central and South American migrants.

The Televisa network reported that the explosion damaged its building and knocked out its signal for several hours in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the drug gang-plagued state of Tamaulipas. It said none of its employees was hurt in the explosion, which was felt for several blocks.

Soldiers were blocking access to the building, Televisa said.

The network described the explosion as a car bomb, but city, state and federal officials could not immediately be reached to confirm that. The press office at the Defense Department said it had no information.

If confirmed, it would be the third car bomb in Mexico this year -- a new and frightening tactic in the country's escalating drug war.

The first exploded July 5 in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing a federal police officer and two other people. The second, which caused no injuries, happened just two weeks ago in front of police headquarters in Ciudad Victoria.

Mexico seeks extradition of ex-”Survivor” producer

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:04:00 +0000

Mexico has formally requested the extradition of American reality TV producer Bruce Beresford-Redman on charges of killing his wife at a Cancun resort, an official said Wednesday.

The Foreign Relations Department official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the case. He said Mexico has submitted its request to U.S. authorities, but for the moment there were no more details.

A spokesman for Richard Hirsch, Beresford-Redman's attorney in California, said nothing formal had been received and he could not comment on the official's statement.

A Mexican judge issued an arrest warrant for Beresford-Redman in the April 8 killing of his wife, Monica, whose body was found in a sewer of a luxury Cancun resort. Investigators have said her body showed signs of asphyxiation and evidence of a heavy blow to the right temple.

The former "Survivor" producer and co-creator of "Pimp My Ride" reported her missing two days before the body was found. Beresford-Redman, 38, says he is innocent.

He returned to Southern California in May even though Mexican authorities had confiscated his passport. He had not been charged at the time, however, and was not barred from leaving the country. It is not clear where he crossed the border or how he did so without his passport.

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Associated Press Writer Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

U.S. to change strategy for war on drugs in Mexico

Wed, 26 May 2010 20:01:00 +0000

The Obama Administration wants to shift U.S. aid in Mexico away from high-priced helicopters and airplanes and toward reforming Mexico's corrupt law enforcement, courts and politicians.

Most of the $310 million that the Obama Administration seeks for Mexico in its 2011 budget request is aimed at judicial reforms and good governance programs in Mexico rather than on hardware for law enforcement.

Deputy U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobsen outlines the shift in testimony prepared for a Congressional subcommittee hearing on Thursday.

The proposals seem to mark a fundamental change in the way the United States has waged its war on drugs for four decades.

“Survivor” producer suspect in wife’s death

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:10:00 +0000

A Mexican official says "Survivor" producer Bruce Beresford-Redman is a suspect in his wife's death after reporting her missing in the resort city of Cancun.

The official says the body of Monica Beresford-Redman was found Thursday in a gutter at the swanky Moon Palace resort where they were on a family vacation.

The official at the attorney general's office in Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the case.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A Mexican official says the wife of "Survivor" producer Bruce Beresford-Redman is missing in Cancun.

The official says Beresford-Redman told police his wife Monica left the Moon Palace Hotel on Monday and has not returned.

The official at the attorney general's office in Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the case.