Culpable! On Thursday, December 8, 2005, the Mexican police arrested a couple in a car near Mexico City. The man, Israel Vallarta, was the suspected leader of ”Los Zodiacos,” a gang held responsible for a dozen kidnappings and at least one murder. The police kept both Vallarta and the woman who was with him incarcerated that night despite the fact that the woman had no criminal record. The following day, on Friday, December 9th,...
Introduction: A Disgraced Institution? The School of the Americas is an institution rarely spoken of in a positive light. This less-than-reputable academy was created at the beginning of the Cold War epoch as a U.S. military training facility for Latin America’s armed and police forces. The School of the Americas (SOA) would grow to become a magnet for negative criticism of United States policy and its reliance on local military regimes to keep leftist...
Effectiveness of Violence Against Women Legislation: Ley General De Acceso de las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia (Law for General Access of Women to a Life Free from Violence) An interview was conducted by COHA research fellow Julissa Delgado with Norma Ledezma Ortega, General Coordinator of Justicia para Nuestras Hijas (Justice for our Daughters). Justicia para Nuestras Hijas is an NGO based in Chihuahua, Mexico whose purpose is to seek justice for...
• U.S. drug policy needs to be altered; legalization must be subject to serious debate • Legalization could eliminate illegal demand for Mexican marijuana and curb drug-related violence • Medical dangers of marijuana may be largely exaggerated • Economic costs and benefits should be balanced; legalization could reduce financial burden on the U.S. Few topics of debate are as stigmatizing and polarizing as the legalization of marijuana. For the majority of the U.S. population,...
The enormous segment of Amazonian rainforest that covers over half of the country has always been an issue of contention for Peru due to the number of indigenous tribes that inhabit it. As early as the 16th century, the Peruvian Amazon has been linked to the world market, providing such products as timber, rubber, and quinine to an increasing global market. Ever since the region first became an attractive venue for resource extraction, the...
