Majority of Mexicans think life would be better in the U.S., survey finds

Most Mexicans think their lives would be better in the United States, and one in three said they'd move to the U.S. if they could, according to the latest findings on Mexican attitudes from the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

Half of those who said they'd migrate north of the border said they would do so without permission, although recent data on immigration suggests that the flow of Mexicans north is slowing.

President Felipe Calderon's military-led campaign against the country's drug lords and organized-crime networks is "overwhelmingly endorsed" by the majority of Mexicans, although large majorities describe crime (81%) and illegal drugs (73%) as very big problems, according to the study.

Calderon's offensive against organized crime is now in its third year amid rising drug-related violence, but the Pew project reports that most Mexicans believe those anti-crime efforts are effective.

A hefty majority, 66%, say the army is making progress against the traffickers, while only 15% think it is losing ground. Calderon also is well regarded.

The popularity of the tough stance against drug gangs seems to be bolstering support for Calderon. Roughly two-thirds (68%) have a favorable opinion of the president, while only 29% express an unfavorable view.

You can read the report in its entirety on the project's website or download it.

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 1,000 adults in Mexico between May 26 and June 2, 2009, for the Pew report.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Mexico City's central plaza, or Zocalo. Credit: Deborah Bonello / For The Times

Cartoonists take on illegal immigration

"The now-infamous Capitol shout-out from South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson was blogged, scribed, tubed and 'tooned to death, but precious little commentary actually dealt with illegal immigration, the spark that lit his short fuse. Steve Sack took a shot at needling irrational nationalists taking needless shots. John Branch signed off on a huge multibillion-dollar border checkpoint. And Matt Bors used borderline taste in his verbose abortion piece.(Guess that Bors dude is sick and un-American.)"

-- Joel Pett

Joel Pett is the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky. His cartoons also appear in USA Today.

See more here.

Cartoon: Steve Sack / Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho seeks protection from new threats

Journalist Lydia Cacho, who exposed a child pornography network in Cancun, Mexico, that involved business leaders, says she received new death threats last week, reports the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas blog.

"The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted cautionary protective measures for the journalist, her family, and staff of the Center for Attention to Women (CIAM, in Spanish) of Cancún," the AFP news agency reports.

"The IACHR also asked the Mexican government to take action to protect Cacho," EFE adds.

"Cacho has received several death threats on her blog and recently noted that several unknown people took photos of her home," says the magazine Proceso.

Cacho published a book in 2006 that alleged the existence of a child sex ring in the southern Mexican city of Cancun, after which she was illegally arrested and harassed by some of the powerful men she implicated in "Los Demonios del Eden" (see more details of the case here).

She shot into the spotlight when she challenged her aggressors by going public and filing a legal action against them -- although it was ultimately unsuccessful.

Since then, Cacho has become something of a symbol for the issues of freedom of expression in Mexico and the repression of journalists. Her last book, "Memories of a Disgrace (Memorias de una Infamia)," detailed the events that unfolded after the publication of "Los Demonios del Eden."

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Grupo Televisa's Azcarraga Jean has a life like a telenovela

Practically since the day he was born, in 1968, Emilio Azcarraga Jean has owned one of the most famous names in Mexico.

That's because his father, Emilio Azcarraga Milmo, also known as "El Tigre" (The Tiger), was among the hemisphere's richest men and head of a sprawling media empire, write Reed Johnson and Yvonne Villarreal.

Today, Azcarraga Jean heads Mexico's dominant television broadcaster, and is sometimes described as the Latin American Rupert Murdoch.

Read the rest of this report here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Grupo Televisa Chief Executive Emilio Azcarraga Jean at the Getty Center last week in Los Angeles, where he was attending a conference. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Mexico political deal is the stuff of drama

His emblem is a headband dyed the red, green and white of Mexico's flag and emblazoned with his one-word stage name, "Juanito." From the working-class streets where he peddles used clothing and holiday decorations, he muses about running for president.

If anyone has spiced up the drab aftermath of Mexico's July 5 legislative elections, it is Rafael Acosta, an exuberant hawker-turned-activist-turned-politician-turned-spoiler who may end up in charge of Mexico City's most populous borough, which has more people than metropolitan Las Vegas.

For two months, Acosta has been the lead character in an odd political drama that has made Juanito a household name, while providing enough cautionary lessons to rival Aesop's fables.

Read more of this report by Ken Ellingwood here. Meanwhile, you can see a clip of "Juanito" in action in the video, by Televisa, below.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Mexico: heavy rains can't beat the drought

Although Mexico is in the grip of the worst drought it has suffered since World War II, houses flooded and streets turned into lakes this week when torrential rainfall lashed Mexico City and the neighboring state of Mexico.

Speaking to El Universal, Ramón Aguirre, director of Mexico City's water system, said the heavy rains wouldn't be enough to replenish reserves, and that ongoing water rationing would continue.

See the video for more.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Video: Mexico: heavy rains can’t beat the drought. Credit: Deborah Bonello

Fighting over Frida Kahlo

In Mexico, the emergence of work said to be made by the artist has led to a very public debate about its authenticity. The Times' art critic has seen the pieces.

Policing the legacy of artists can be a tough business. Nowhere is it tougher than in Mexico, where the magnetic, self-mythologizing painter Frida Kahlo (1907-54) shot from relative obscurity to iconic status only in the last quarter-century.

Now, a festering dispute over a little-known archive of ephemera attributed to Kahlo has erupted into open warfare. Despite the tantalizing possibility that some or maybe even all the material is authentic, a sharp line has been drawn in the art historical sand, writes Christopher Knight.

Read more here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

E-mails on illegal immigration are eye-opening

The e-mail that popped into my inbox started with an insult and included an attachment full of "facts," writes Hector Tobar.

After calling me a "crybaby" for writing a sympathetic story about Mexican immigrants, the sender insisted I read a series of statistics on the effects of illegal immigration on Los Angeles and California. Hospitals, law enforcement and other public services, he said, are being overwhelmed.

At first, because of the sender's tone, I ignored the attachment. Then it arrived again, this time forwarded by a friendly reader. He didn't believe the e-mail, he said, but wanted me to know that three friends had sent it to him. And 10 of its facts were said to have originated in this newspaper.

I started reading the chain letter, which carried the title "Just One State." It asked me to forward its message to at least two other people. "If this doesn't open your eyes," it declared, "nothing will."

I'm all in favor of having my eyes opened -- and then making sure my eyes don't deceive me. So I took the 10 "stats" and focused a little light on them. I waded deep into The Times' archive with the help of our librarian Scott Wilson, and made a few phone calls too.

What did I find? A stew made up for the most part of meaty exaggerations and spicy conjecture, mixed in with some giblets of truth. Two of the "stats" are the musings of a conservative op-ed writer. Another takes its information from a government "report" that is, in fact, a work of fiction.

Read the rest of this article here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Hurricane Jimena in photos

These photos were sent to us by Tracy Ehrenberg and Glenn Ehrenberg, who live on the southern tip of Baja California in Cabo San Lucas. They photographed Hurricane Jimena unfolding yesterday.

 

Photos from top: The surf at Cabo Falso late afternoon Tuesday as Hurricane Jimena passes; 50 mph winds and stronger gusts whip the Pacific side Cabo San Lucas. Credit: Tracy and Glenn Ehrenberg

Hector Tobar learns some lessons in Tijuana

A vacation trip through Tijuana affords the opportunity to pass along some lessons about the fence that divides the U.S. and Mexico. But the teacher becomes the student, writes columnist Hector Tobar. 

I tried to give my kids a "teachable moment" when we drove through Tijuana this summer. But in the end, I was the one who got schooled.

I figured it's a dad's responsibility to pass on certain lessons about the way the world works. So I showed my boys, ages 10 and 12, the fence that divides the United States from Mexico.

Read the rest of Tobar's column here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Image: The fence that divides the United States and Mexico makes a potent statement. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)