Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

March 23, 2017 By Fausta

U.S., Mexico + 12 other countries to challenge Venezuela

The WSJ reports that, for the first time in twelve years (emphasis added),

Fourteen nations plan to issue a joint statement in coming days calling on the government of President Nicolás Maduro to release political prisoners, return full powers to the National Assembly and set a timetable to hold regional elections that Venezuela has indefinitely postponed, according to Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray.
. . .
The countries expected to sign the letter are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and the U.S. Countries that have refused to sign are Venezuela’s closest allies, including Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

This long-overdue step is a marked departure from the Obama administration’s policy.

As you may recall, Pres. Trump met with Venezuelan dissident Lilian Tintori, who is married to political prisoner Leopoldo López, last month in the White House.

Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately. pic.twitter.com/bt8Xhdo7al

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017

That same week,

the U.S. Treasury Department, following a lengthy investigation, announced that it had identified Maduro’s vice president, Tareck El-Aissami, as a drug kingpin, freezing his assets and barring U.S. entities from engaging in transactions with him.

The new diplomatic approach is not limited to relations with Venezuela; The WSJ also points out (emphasis added),

The diplomatic effort to encourage change in Venezuela has allowed Mexico to work closely with the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on an issue that isn’t related to trade, immigration or a border wall. “It’s not the motivation, but it helps having a common cause,” Mr. Videgaray said.

U.S.-Mexico relations are not as hostile as the propaganda media in both countries would have you believe.

As you may recall, two weeks ago I pointed out that the Trump administration has close enough relations with Mexico’s Foreign Secretary that Videgaray can meet with them directly by simply calling Secretary of State Tillerson the night before.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

UPDATE
Trending at BadBlue.

Share

Filed Under: Communism, Fausta's blog, Latin America, Mexico, Venezuela Tagged With: Lilian Tintori, Luis Videgaray

March 10, 2017 By Fausta

Mexico’s Foreign Secretary meets directly with WH, State Dept employees throw a snit

The Obama appointees threw a snit. How dare any high-ranking foreign official skip the holy shine of State! State employees are ‘left with literally nothing to do’!

Read my post, Mexico’s Foreign Secretary meets directly with WH, State Dept employees throw a snit

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog, Mexico Tagged With: Luis Videgaray, Rex Tillerson, US State Department

February 27, 2017 By Fausta

Mexico: Two policemen arrested for kidnapping migrants

As I have repeatedly posted over the years, migrants from other countries traveling through Mexico to reach the U.S. are frequently vulnerable to kidnapping.

This time the cops were the kidnappers:

Two agents from a special police unit known as Fuerza Coahuila have been arrested for the alleged kidnapping and extortion of a family of Central American migrants who were trying to get to Texas.
The police officers are accused of kidnapping and extorting the family by making promises of crossing them to Texas after a ransom was paid off. The agents had locked up the family at a stash house in this border city.

Sources within the Coahuila Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) confirmed to Breitbart Texas that this week that members of the PGJE Investigative Police Unit carried out a raid at the stash house where the Fuerza Coahuila members had allegedly been holding the family. The operation was kicked off after a Central American woman contacted authorities about the kidnapping of her family, The PGJE investigators arrested the two Fuerza Coahuila officers at the stash house.

Additionally, Mexico Says It Won’t House Non-Mexicans Pending Outcome of Asylum Cases in US

Mexico’s government said on Friday it would not allow the United States to send undocumented migrants of other nationalities back to Mexico to await the outcome of their asylum proceedings in the US.

Many of the undocumented migrants trying to make their way to the US are Central Americans fleeing poverty and violence in their homelands. After making a trek fraught with danger through Mexico, they often request asylum once they reach US soil.

Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray asserted last week that We’ll Go to the U.N. to Defend ‘Human Rights’ of Mexicans in U.S..

Never mind the dismal state of the human rights of foreigners in Mexico; Videgaray would be well advised to look into the state of human rights of his fellow Mexicans. According to Human Rights Watch,

During the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican security forces have been implicated in repeated, serious human rights violations—including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture—in the course of efforts to combat organized crime. The government has made little progress in prosecuting those responsible for recent abuses, let alone the large number of abuses committed by soldiers and police since former President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) initiated Mexico’s “war on drugs.”

HRW’s report touches on (click on link)

  1. Enforced Disappearances
  2. Extrajudicial Executions
  3. Military Abuses and Impunity
  4. Torture
  5. Criminal Justice System
  6. Self-Defense Groups
  7. Attacks on Journalists and Human Rights Defenders
  8. Women’s and Girls’ Rights
  9. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
  10. Palliative Care
  11. Disability Rights
  12. Key International Actors



Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog, human rights report, illegal immigration, immigration, Mexico Tagged With: Luis Videgaray

February 23, 2017 By Fausta

Mexico: Ryan goes to US-Mex border UPDATED with livefeed of Tillerson press conference

House Speaker Paul Ryan is at the border; the WaPo reports,
Ryan makes trip to U.S.-Mexico border as lawmakers mull building Trump’s wall

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan led a delegation of House Republicans on a six-hour tour of the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, seeing firsthand by helicopter, horse and boat the security challenges of keeping out undocumented immigrants President Trump wants to block with a costly wall.

Ryan (R-Wis.), on his first trip to the border, said in a statement afterward that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the ground need “more tools and more support . . . for them to do their jobs effectively.” He said Congress “is committed to securing the border and enforcing our laws” and pledged cooperation with the Trump administration.

Sec. of State Rex Tillerson is in Mexico. The Mexicans are not exactly thrilled

“I want to make it emphatically clear that neither Mexico’s government or the Mexican people have any reason to accept provisions that have been unilaterally imposed by one government on the other,” Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said at a ceremony on Wednesday.

“We won’t accept it because we don’t have to,” he added, in an apparent reference to U.S. plans to return illegal migrants to Mexico, regardless of their nationality.

Videgaray doesn’t seem to remember how Mexico treated Andrew Tahmooressi.

If Videgaray’s name sounds familiar, he’s the guy who quit as Finance Minister after the Peña Nieto-Trump press conference didn’t work the way he expected.

UPDATE

Livefeed of Tillerson press conference in Mexico

[Read more…]

Share

Filed Under: Fausta's blog, illegal immigration, immigration, Mexico Tagged With: Luis Videgaray, Paul Ryan, Rex Tillerson

September 8, 2016 By Fausta

Mexico: Finance minister resigns following Trump visit

Luis Videgaray, Mexico’s Finance Minister Resigns in Wake of Trump Visit.Resignation comes a week after Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Mexico

Donald Trump’s recent visit to Mexico, widely seen in the country as a humiliation, claimed a high-profile political victim on Wednesday with the resignation of Finance Minister Luis Videgaray, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s closest adviser.

Mr. Videgaray, who played a key role in helping orchestrate the Trump trip, was succeeded by José Antonio Meade, the country’s social development minister and former finance chief, Mr. Peña Nieto told a news conference.

When I first heard that Peña Nieto’s had invited both Hillary and The Donald, I imagined that Enrique expected two no-shows. Now I can imagine a conversation in the likes of,

Luis: Let’s get Hillary here so you and her can beat up Trump on immigration.

Enrique: Great idea!

where neither Luis nor Enrique took into account that a. Hillary’s not placing herself into any situation she can not control, b. she’s better off running out the clock until election day, and c. no [Clinton Foundation donation] money, no honey.

But enough daydreaming.

Videgaray’s resignation is not good news, as

The former investment banker was widely seen as the brains behind the Mexican president and the driving force behind a series of high-profile overhauls in the past few years, including opening Mexico’s closed oil industry to private investment for the first time since 1938.

Videgaray’s resignation means the return of Jose Antonio Meade, who served under Felipe Calderón. The WSJ:

On his first full day in office, Mexico’s new finance minister, José Antonio Meade, has the task of presenting Congress with a budget proposal for 2017 that will slash government spending to confront further declines in oil revenue and rein in growing public debt.

Over at the WaPo Aaron Blake writes about Trump’s reply to Matt Lauer’s question in last night’s foreign policy forum,

MATT LAUER: When you’re commander-in-chief, you can spark a conflict, you can destabilize a region, you can put American lives at risk. Can we afford to take that risk with you?

Trump replied with a non-sequitur,

TRUMP: Well, I think absolutely. I think if you saw what happened in Mexico the other day, where I went there, I had great relationships, everything else. I let them know where the United States stands. I mean, we’ve been badly hurt by Mexico, both on the border and with taking all of our jobs or a big percentage of our jobs.

And if you look at what happened, look at the aftermath today, where the people that arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government. That’s how well we did.

Blake posts,

Mostly, though, it’s an odd claim because Trump insinuates very clearly that his goal was to shake up the Mexican government.

Maybe, maybe not. We’ll never know because Lauer didn’t press on the point and went on with other questions on his list.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

Share

Filed Under: elections, Fausta's blog, Mexico Tagged With: Enrique Peña Nieto, José Antonio Meade, Luis Videgaray

Tweets by @Fausta
retirees_raise-2015_300x250

Pages

  • About
  • Email

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Previous Posts

  • Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • You need to unfriend me
  • Go ahead and Kiss the Girl, if you dare
  • Ashamed

Recent Comments

  • John on Mrs. Maisel goes full Alinsky on Mrs. Schlafly
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! – PoliticalWitchDoctor.com on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Today’s hot topics: Democrats’ collusion shift, tax-return rift, Venezuela drift, and more! - AmericanTruthToday on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Did Venezuela’s Minister of Defense Back Out At The Last Minute? on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?
  • Roseanne Not Back, Khan not Invited, Operaman’s back, Jobs back, Fausta’s back (but not here yet) Thoughts under the fedora – Da Tech Guy Blog on Venezuela: Did the Minister of Defense back out at the last minute?

Archives

  • 2019
    • December 2019
    • May 2019
    • January 2019
  • 2018
    • December 2018
    • October 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
  • 2017
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
  • 2016
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
  • 2015
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
  • 2014
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
  • 2013
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
  • 2012
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
  • 2011
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
  • 2010
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
  • 2009
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
  • 2008
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
  • 2007
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
  • 2006
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006
    • June 2006
    • May 2006
    • April 2006
    • March 2006
    • February 2006
    • January 2006
  • 2005
    • December 2005
    • November 2005
    • October 2005
    • September 2005
    • August 2005
    • July 2005
    • June 2005
    • May 2005
    • April 2005
    • March 2005
    • February 2005
    • January 2005
  • 2004
    • December 2004
    • November 2004
    • October 2004
    • September 2004
    • August 2004
    • July 2004
    • June 2004
    • May 2004
    • April 2004
    • March 2004
Content Copyright Fausta's Blog

Site Developed and Managed by 300m.com