Mexico Archive

A year after 43 rural college students were forcibly disappeared in southern Mexico, human rights activists, teachers unions and university students have again taken to the streets to demand justice. For many, the tragedy—known as Ayotzinapa, after the name of the teachers’ college the students attended—has become symbolic of the violence and impunity afflicting Mexico as a whole. Earlier this month, a long-awaited report by the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights cast doubts on the official version of events and pointed to extraordinary deficiencies in the investigation carried out by the federal government. On Sept. 26, […]

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series on the impact of falling oil and commodities prices on resource-exporting countries. Earlier this month, the Mexican government submitted a budget to cut spending in 2016, including reduced investment in the state oil company Pemex, given the drop in global oil prices. In an email interview, Amb. Antonio Garza, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and currently counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case LLP, discussed Mexico’s economy and the impact of the oil shock. WPR: How have declining oil revenues affected Mexico’s budget and spending power? […]

Global efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change are ramping up ahead of the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as COP21, to be held in Paris later this year. Although Latin America accounts for only 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, many countries in the region have taken leading roles in global mitigation efforts. Brazil was host to the initial 1992 Earth Summit that led to the framework convention, and continues to be a major participant in climate change mitigation efforts, most notably in reducing […]