Mexico begins destroying 79,000 seized guns

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The Mexican army and prosecutors announced Tuesday they have started destroying 79,074 firearms seized a decade or more ago. They will hold on to tens of thousands more weapons seized during the current offensive against drug cartels.

Authorities launched the program by destroying some weapons at a ceremony at a military base in Mexico City.

The weapons being destroyed have all been held at government warehouses for years. The Defense Department said it will retain a total of 35,372 firearms seized since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006, saying those guns are still evidence in criminal investigations.

Mexico says most of the weapons used by drug cartels in violence that has cost more than 11,000 lives since 2006 come from the United States.

Underlining the challenge posed by heavily armed criminals, soldiers in the border city of Tijuana arrested a suspected drug cartel member with a grenade launcher.

Soldiers detained Moises Ruiz Flores and two other men with three vehicles and found the grenade launcher, a pistol and a rifle.

The also found a police-style uniform with an insignia of a skull above crossed crutches, apparently patterned after the logo of the "Jackass" television show and movies. The insignia apparently refers to a cartel operator nicknamed "Muletas," or "Crutches."

The three men are wanted in connection with the killing of a woman in August.

Also Tuesday, federal police arrested a Mexican man in Mexicali based on a U.S. extradition request. Police said Pedro Banda Gaxiola is wanted in California on charges related to drug trafficking. He and two alleged associates were caught in a vehicle containing 4.5 grams of methamphetamines, police said.

Scientists plan to decipher ancient Zapoteca Writing in new Mexico lab

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A team of scientists is all set to test nearly 300 engraved stones in a new laboratory in Mexico, in order to decipher the ancient Zapoteca Writing.

The laboratory will be operating at Monte Alban Archaeological Zone in Oaxaca, Mexico.

According to a report in www.artdaily.org, Nelly Robles Garcia, director of the archaeological site, remarked the importance of this laboratory since “it will promote lecture of Monte Alban stelae in terms of Prehispanic past comprehension, because Zapoteca writing has not been totally deciphered yet”.

In the ancient metropolis and Oaxaca Valley, there is a great amount of engraved stones and stelae fragments dated between 500 BC and 850 AD.

“This writing system goes back to the first stage of Monte Alban, towards 500 BC; Los Danzantes engraved stones are an example of this,” said Robles Garcia.

Tradition continued during the next period, (100BC-100AD), exemplified by Lapidas de Conquista, found in Structure J.

During Late Classic period (650-850 AD), there was an extraordinary development in writing and historical events were written in stelae.

The laboratory will warrantee that engraved stones distributed around the archaeological zone undergo detailed study, in an adequate place for their preservation and storage.

With the support of WMF, experts will be assisted by computers and digital photography equipment, precision measurement devices as well as bibliography and furniture.

“The objective is that researchers count on with specialized tools to observe engravings, this will help them draw, measure and interpret them,” said Robles Garcia.

The laboratory construction will be conducted in a nearby area to the archaeological zone, and it is expected to be functioning by 2010.

Cummins Filtration to Consolidate Some North American Filter Assembly in its San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Facility

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Cummins Filtration, a division of Cummins Inc. today announced that it is consolidating a significant portion of its North American filter assembly operations into its facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, over the next several months in order to keep the business competitive in this region.

Under the consolidation, filter assembly operations at the Cummins Filtration plant in Lake Mills, Iowa, will be moved to San Luis Potosi, beginning in November. The Company also is considering moving additional assembly work from its Filtration plant in Cookeville, Tennessee, but a final decision has not yet been made.

As a result of the consolidation, the Cummins workforce in Lake Mills will be reduced by approximately 400 workers between November 2009 and March 2010. Other operations, which employ approximately 110 people, will remain at the Lake Mills plant.

The consolidation, which involves assembly of oil and fuel filters, is expected to result in significant annual savings to Cummins Filtration after the costs associated with the action are recouped. The move will be seamless to Cummins Filtration customers.

“The filtration industry has become increasingly price sensitive in the past several years, and the recent reduction in demand has heightened the need for us to take decisive action to make our business more cost competitive, both for the present and well into the future,” said Rich Freeland, President of the Components business, which includes Cummins Filtration.

“We have a number of under-used filtration plants in North America and, after considering a full range of factors, it was determined that consolidating much of our filter assembly in San Luis Potosi, which is our most modern and cost-effective facility, offers the business the best chance for long-term success,” added Freeland.

Cummins Filtration currently employs approximately 330 people in San Luis Potosi and assembles the same type of products as those that will be moved to the plant in this consolidation. The Cummins Filtration operation is part of a larger Cummins Inc. manufacturing campus in San Luis Potosi that also includes engine and power generation equipment production.

Cummins has had a wholly-owned manufacturing presence in San Luis Potosi since the early 1980s and employs approximately 2,000 people in the city. Cummins Filtration expects to add additional jobs in San Luis Potosi over the next 10 months as a result of the consolidation.

Cummins Filtration is the largest of four businesses that comprise the Cummins Components group. The Components group has been among the hardest hit of Cummins Inc.’s business segments in recent months, as the recession has resulted in a sharp drop in global demand for diesel engines and related components over the last three quarters.

Components sales were down 41 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2008, and the segment reported a $10 million loss before interest and taxes during the quarter. Cummins Filtration sales declined 37 percent from the same period in 2008.

“The current recession has led to the steepest drop in sales in the 52-year history of Cummins Filtration,” said Cummins Filtration President Joseph Saoud. “Sales have fallen more than 30 percent since November 2008, and we do not expect any meaningful recovery in demand until 2011.

“This was an extremely difficult decision and we realize the job reductions in Lake Mills will have a significant impact on our employees and the community. We had hoped to avoid this kind of job loss, but after exhausting all our initial options for reducing costs, it is clear that further significant action is necessary to remain competitive,” Saoud said.

Cummins is committed to assisting the Lake Mills community during the transition. In addition to offering severance and outplacement services, the Company will help affected workers in receiving Trade Adjustment Assistance from the federal government and will continue to support a number of community organizations in the Lake Mills area.

Ancient Map Offers Key to Mesoamerican History

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A map painted by Mexican Indians in the mid-16th century has become a key document for understanding the migration of Mesoamerican peoples from their land of origin in what is now the U.S. Southwest, according to a scholar at Harvard University Divinity School.

“Five years of research and writing (2002-2007) by 15 scholars of Mesoamerican history show that this document, the Map of Cuauhtinchan 2, with more than 700 pictures in color, is something like a Mesoamerican Iliad and Odyssey,” Dr. David Carrasco told Efe in a telephone interview.

“The map tells sacred stories and speaks of pilgrimages, wars, medicine, plants, marriages, rituals and heroes of the Cuauhtinchan community, which means Place of the Eagle’s Nest (in the present-day Mexican state of Puebla),” he said.

The map, known as MC2, was painted on amate paper made from tree bark probably around 1540, just two decades after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Through images and pictographs, the map recounts the ancestral history of the Mesoamerican people of Chicomoztoc, meaning Place of the Seven Caves, followed by their migration to the sacred city of Cholula and the foundation of Cuauhtinchan, probably in 1174.

The document was apparently meant to resolve a dispute between the indigenous peoples and the conquistadors as to land ownership in Cuauhtinchan and surrounding areas, following the evangelizing process that began in 1527 and was intensified in 1530 with the building of the town’s first convent, which seems to have entailed the dismantling of the Indian temple.

“The history begins in a sacred city under attack and continues with the people of Aztlan coming to the city’s rescue. In compensation they are granted divine authority to travel long distances until they find their own city in the land promised them. Their travels are guided by priests, warriors and divinities,” Carrasco said.

That sacred city and the original land of Aztlan would have been in what is today the Southwestern United States.

MC2 remained in Cuauhtinchan until 1933, the year it was sent to a regional museum and later came into the possession of an architect.

In 2001, philanthropist Espinosa Yglesias acquired the map and shortly afterwards contacted Harvard’s Center of Latin American Studies to ask who could analyze the map. Harvard chose Carrasco.

The result of five years of interdisciplinary studies was the publication of the 479-page book “Cave, City, and Eagle’s Nest: An Interpretive Journey Through the Map of Cuauhtinchan No. 2.”

Carrasco said that in 2010 the University of New Mexico, which published the original version, will edit the version in Spanish.

“This map and the book we published to decipher it have changed our understanding of the Mesoamerican codices and of the sacred lands of that region,” Carrasco said.

That new understanding has political and social significance today.

“This map links the identity and politics of Mexican-Americans, that is, the Chicano people, with the art, rituals and philosophical practices of pre-Colombian Mexicans,” he said.

“The insistence of Mexican-American scholars and activists on using Aztlan as their symbol is strengthened by the history recounted by this map, since it places Mexicans in the United States within a wider history of migration, ethnic interactions, religions and rituals,” the academic said.

MC2, according to Carrasco, links Chicanos “with the lands where the struggle for their freedom and rights took place before the oppression.”

So great is the connection of this map with Chicanos that Colgate University astronomy professor Anthony Aveni and independent journalist Laana Carrasco – David’s daughter – published a children’s book telling the story of 10-year-old Mexican-American twins who “travel in time” and go on pilgrimage with their ancestors 100 years before the Spaniards arrived.

This book “connects many of the concerns and hopes of the present-day Chicano Movement with the cosmology and life of the ancient indigenous Mexicans,” David Carrasco said.

Together with his students and his interdisciplinary team, Carrasco continues to study the sacred objects and numerous plants that appear on the map.

“This map is a treasure for academics because it reveals with artistic splendor and in detail the way of life of an Indian community that told its own story in the midst of a serious social conflict,” he said. EFE

Mexico's VW workers end strike, get 3% raise

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orkers at Volkswagen AG's plant in Mexico — the only one in the world turning out the company's new Beetle — ended a five-day strike today after negotiating a 3% salary increase, the company said.

Workers will get a 2% raise starting this month and an additional 1% in December. The 9,400 workers at the plant in the central city of Puebla will also get a one-time payment of 2,000 pesos ($155), the German carmaker said in a statement.

The company, which employs a total of 14,700 people in Mexico, said that the salary increases "will continue to add to labor costs when the rest of the auto-making industry in Mexico didn't grant any salary raises this year."

"This will force the company to improve its productivity level," it added.

Union leader Victor Cervantes said full production would resume Monday.

Unionized workers, who earn an average of 370 pesos ($29) a day, went on strike Tuesday to demand an 8.25% salary raise.

The strike paralyzed production of 1,500 cars a day.

Mexico's recession has hit the auto industry — the country's biggest manufacturing sector — especially hard.

Car production in the world's No. 10 automaker fell 25% in July compared to the same month last year. Exports fell 26%, while domestic sales of new cars were down 34%.

Volkswagen's car production in Mexico fell nearly 37% between January and July this year compared to the same period in 2008, according to the Mexican Auto Industry Association.

However, the German carmaker said last month it would begin manufacturing a new compact sedan at its Puebla plant in 2010.

The Mexico plant was the last in the world to produce the iconic old Volkswagen "Beetle" Sedan, shutting that assembly line in 2003.

Volkswagen's Mexico workers last went on strike was in 2006.

Mexican Axolotl verges on wild extinction

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The amphibian that never grew up is on the verge of going extinct in the wild.

New survey work suggests that fewer than 1,200 Mexican axolotls remain in its last stronghold, the Xochimilco area of central Mexico.

The axolotl is a type of salamander that uniquely spends its whole life in its larval form.

Its odd lifestyle, features and ability to regenerate body parts make it a popular animal kept in labs, schools and as pets.

But in the wild, the future is bleak for this "Peter Pan" of animals.

Recent surveys suggest that between 700 and 1,200 axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) survive in six reduced and scattered areas within the Xochimilco area of the Mexican Central Valley.

One of these surveys found just a single axolotl in the whole study region.

The long-term survival of the axolotl in the wild has now become critical, and demands urgent action to restore the animal's number and habitat, say scientists monitoring the population.

Forever young

The Mexican axolotl is highly unusual.

Altogether, there are around seven species of salamander belonging to the genus Ambystoma.

All are quite similar and may be called axolotls. Most are capable of retaining their larval forms throughout their whole lives.

But they usually do so in response to their environment, for example, if temperatures are too cold to emerge onto land as an adult salamander, the tadpole larvae may just keep growing underwater instead.

But the Mexican axolotl is the only species that never undergoes metamorphosis.

Instead each generation lives underwater as outsized larvae. Males and females mate underwater and the females lay eggs on nearby structures such as plants.

The Mexican axolotl's odd looks and unusual life history have also made it a favourite pet, and the subject of extensive biological research into its physiology.

Population crash

Though accurate information about the population of wild Mexican axolotls is hard to come by, recent evidence suggests that the population has declined alarmingly in recent decades.

For example, in 1998 there were thought to be around 6,000 axolotls per square kilometre of the Xochimilco.

By 2004 just 1,000 lived in the equivalent area, and by 2008 around 100 animals survived per square kilometre, Dr Luis Zambrano and colleagues at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, based in Mexico City report in the journal Biological Conservation.

That is a ten-fold reduction in four years and a 60-fold reduction in ten years, leading the International Union for Conservation of Nature to classify the species as endangered on its annual Red List of threatened species.

Now "our best estimates using unpublished data, but with two different techniques, sampling and genetic, suggests that the total amount of axolotls in the wild is between 700 and 1,200 animals," says Dr Zambrano.

"We are still analysing the data, so it may change a little bit. But we don't think it will change by an order of magnitude."

The axolotl's range is also highly restricted.

Dr Zambrano's team has surveyed the Xochimilco, a complex water system of artificial channels, small lakes and temporary wetlands that help supply Mexico City, a nearby city of some 18 million people.

As the city has increased in size, it has dramatically reduced the axolotl's natural habitat.

Zambrano's team calculate that the salamander now exists in just six isolated parts of the water system, often near to some of the few remaining natural springs supplying clear, fresh water.

Their most recent work shows that the reduction in water quality is one of the main factors driving the axolotl to extinction in the wild.

Another is the presence of large numbers of introduced carp and tilapia fish, which both compete ecologically with axolotls for food and resource, and also eat axolotl eggs.

Little refuge

While captive colonies of axolotls exist across Mexico, the US, Canada, Germany, the UK and Japan, reintroducing these animals would be a bad idea, say the scientists.

"Reintroduction is not a good idea because it reduces the genetic variability and increases the chances of chytrdiomicosis disease," says Dr Zambrano.

Chytrdiomicosis is an often fatal condition caused by the chytrid fungus, which is decimating amphibian populations around the world.

Dr Zambrano's team are now embarking on a programme to create wild refuges for the Mexican axolotl, in a bid to arrest the decline in its numbers and prevent it going extinct in the wild.

Maya Altar Found in Highway Work Zone was Dismantled

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Maya ceremonial altar recently found at the highway that communicates Merida, Yucatan with Campeche is in custody of Uman municipal authorities, waiting to be relocated where it can be appreciated by the public.

Archaeologist Eunice Uc Gonzalez, researcher at Yucatan INAH Center, commented that the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation are structuring agreements to will determine the place that guarantees its best conservation state.

The specialist in charge of archaeological work at Merida-Campeche highway extension, declared that dismantling the Prehispanic construction, integrated by 200 carved stones, has concluded, and that it presents a good conservation state. “Each stone has been registered, ready at any time when it is decided to rebuild it”.

Among possible locations for the altar, is the traffic island at the highway where it was found, or the beltway that is to be constructed. “I proposed those places because it fits perfectly in any of them”, she recalled.

The structure was located where the highway extension is to go through, and was in danger of being damaged by machinery. “This is why we decided to dismantle it and free the area so highway labor could continue”.

One of the most remarkable features of the Maya altar is that it is one of the few examples in Yucatan of this kind of architecture, which corresponds to Early Classic period (300-600 AD).

“When excavating the Tanil-Xtepen stretch of 180 Highway, the structure was found and named Structure 13 SUB”, pointed out the archaeologist.

These vestiges demonstrate there was a continue occupation from Late Pre Classic Period (250-300 AD) until Late Classic period (600-900 AD).

Archaeologist Eunice Uc explained Structure 13 SUB presents features of a ceremonial altar with architectural characteristics like a baseboard at the bottom, and a banquette on the front façade. It was built with 200 carved stones 10 kilograms each, and the body presents a pronounced batter.

With architectonic data and associated ceramics, the Maya altar has been dated in Early Classic period. Ceramic groups identified for this period were Maxcanu, Oxil and Xanaba.

Other findings are two humans skeletons, in a poor conservation state, a metate (grinder) used as filling to cover the structure on its last stage. Silex, limestone and flint artifacts, as well as mollusks, were also found.

“To present, we work in material analysis, and it’s important to remark results are preliminary”. Vestiges are part of 119 Archaeological Site, registered in the Yucatan Archaeological Atlas. “We are doing mapping and register of the zone”, concluded the archaeologist.

Archaeologists Raul Morales Uh, Fatima Tec Pool, Silvia Estrada Vielma and Eunice Uc Gonzalez, as well as 11 workers from Maxcanu, Yucatan, participate in archaeological salvage.
 

Obama in Guadalajara

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During his whirlwind trip to Guadalajara to meet with, Mexico President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Obama disclosed that his planned action on U.S. immigration reform has now been put off until 2010.

The president had made a similar disclosure last Friday prior to his trip to a roundtable press meeting with Hispanic Link News Service and other reporters covering the Latino beat.

At that time, Obama outlined an immigration reform framework and said preparatory administrative measures were already underway. He cited the FBI's clearing of a background-check backlog, greater use of advanced technologies for processing, and the termination of indiscriminate raids.

In the fall, a bipartisan taskforce of invested parties would begin crafting legislation for introduction in the beginning of the coming year. Republican buy-in is essential to achieve comprehensive reform, he told us.

Obama also pledged to work on Mexico and Canada border issues related to emissions control that contribute to global warming, and to address the drug cartel menace. The United States and Canada have already begun training 9,000 college-educated Mexican federal police officers for that effort.

Earlier, the influential Mexico City news Web site EjeCentral.com summed up the summit as having more discord than producing agreements and that little happened of major substance.

Before the meeting, Calderon was reported to have wanted Harper to back off from the unilateral imposition of a visa requirement on Mexican citizens visiting Canada. Not for now, Harper is reported to have told Calderon.

The visa requirement will remain for the present while Canada formulates a policy addressing people who seek asylum. In turn, Mexico has triggered a retaliatory requirement that Canadians who work in Mexico must now also acquire visas.

EjeCentral.com reported that 69 percent of the Canadian public approves of the measure. Of 225 asylum applications received weekly before the visa requirement, a drop of 17 percent was reported for the week after the measure was applied.

Calderon sought for Obama to cancel the prohibition of Mexican cargo vessels on U.S. highways, a measure running counter to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

U.S. commercial interests, except for the trucking industry, generally favor lifting the embargo because of retaliatory tariffs imposed by Mexico on a large number of products that affect 40 states. Obama has previously disclosed that work is progressing on a measure to go to Congress soon.

Harper meanwhile has expressed displeasure with the United States' ``Buy American" provisions in the stimulus law that Obama signed in February. The package has been interpreted by local and state governments as excluding Canada and Mexico from bidding.

While Obama endorses Calderon's use of the military to combat drug-trafficking cartels, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the powerful chairman of an appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, in an Aug. 6 statement, said it was ``premature" to declare Mexico to have met the requirements for the conditional U.S. funding assistance for its military-led drug war.

Of the $1.4 billion approved in 2007 for the three-year assistance program to disrupt and curb criminal drug organizations, the law requires the administration to withhold 15 percent of the appropriation each year until the U.S. secretary of state submits a report to Congress affirming that Mexico's military and police who violate human rights, are prosecuted in accordance with Mexican and international law.

An unnamed White House spokesman said Obama brought up the matter with Calderon during their direct talks.

Preparations and emergency measures concerning the H1N1 (formerly referred to as swine flu) virus was a topic where there was general agreement about public health measures to take.

``The North American Leaders' Summit," as the meeting was billed, is the annual gathering of the North American leaders to do collaborative work on issues of mutual concern, such as border security, immigration reform and economic recovery.

At the press meeting with Hispanic Link and nine other reporters prior to his Guadalajara trip, Obama delineated a difference between NAFTA, the trade agreement, and this summit on interests between the North American heads of state.

Obama has previously met twice with Calderon and Harper. The Canadian prime minister is scheduled to arrive in Washington for further talks in September.

America tops Cruz Azul 3-2 in Mexico City derby

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Daniel Marquez came off the bench to score a goal in the final minute to give America a 3-2 win over Cruz Azul in Mexico City's derby match.

Pavel Pardo crossed a free kick to Marquez, on as a substitute for Angel Reyna, and the striker deflected the ball past Cruz Azul's goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona for the winner in the fifth round of the Mexican Apertura on Saturday.

Paraguayan international striker Salvador Cabanas converted a penalty kick in the third minute and added a second goal in the 44th as the Eagles won three matches in a row for the first time since the Clausura 2007.

"Cruz Azul played well, they were a tough opponent, but we played well and were able to keep our streak alive, now we need to keep working hard," Pardo said.

Argentine striker Emanuel Villa in the 41st, and Rogelio Chavez in the 81st, scored for Cruz Azul, who lost their second straight match.

America now has 10 points after five rounds, three behind tournament leader Morelia, who beat Atlas 2-0 on Saturday as striker Miguel Sabah scored twice.

Toluca, who on Sunday beat Santos 3-0, has the second best record with 12 points.

On Friday night, Argentine striker Bruno Marioni's hat-trick gave the Guadalajara Estudiantes a 3-0 win over the Pumas, who set a new record for the worst start to a season by a defending champion.

Marioni, who with 18 goals led the Pumas to the Clausura 2004 championship, scored in the 16th, 32nd and 57th to send his former team to a fifth straight loss.

"We can say a lot of things...but I'm not going to look for excuses, the fault is all mine," said Pumas manager Ricardo Ferreti.

In other results it was: Tigres 1, Monterrey 2; Atlante 3, Chivas 1; Queretaro 2, Jaguares 2; Ciudad Juarez 1, San Luis 1; Pachuca 1, Puebla 2.

Mexico win knocks out Hastings

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Raul Rojas hit three doubles and scored three runs, and Mexico took advantage of seven errors by Germany in a 13-0 win at the Little League World Series on Monday.

The Mexico win eliminates Canadian representative Hastings (0-2) from moving on in the tournament. Hastings, a community all-star team from East Vancouver, plays its final pool game today against Germany.

Starting pitcher Oscar Noguera allowed one hit and had two hits for undefeated Mexico, which clinched a berth in the next round.

The game ended after four innings because of the 10-run rule.

Mexico scored six runs in the first two innings, including one run following a single and two errors.

Rojas had the second of his three doubles in the second inning, driving in Brando Flores to give Mexico a 4-0 lead.

Cody Prince's single was the only hit for Germany, a team comprised of children of U.S. soldiers or employees at Ramstein Air Force Base.

Earlier Monday, Japan beat Venezuela 5-4 in a thriller, while undefeated Warner Robins, Ga., edged Mercer Island, Wash., 3-2.

MOTORSPORT: F1 BACK IN MONTREAL?

MONTREAL -- An Internet report has Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix restored to the F1 calendar for 2010.

A report on a motorsport website based in France announced that F1 commercial rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone had a copy of the 2010 provisional schedule during the weekend in Valencia, Spain, site of the European Grand Prix.

That schedule, it was reported, includes a race on Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which lost its date this summer over a disagreement on money owed to Ecclestone. No date was provided for next year's race.

The 2010 calendar is said to include 18 events, one more than this year.

The provisional schedule has not yet been announced by the FIA. And any word of a restored date likely would come with a joint statement by the city of Montreal and the provincial and federal governments, which have been working in recent months to bring F1 racing back to the Ile Notre Dame circuit.

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