Soldiers hold up closed fists motioning for silence during rescue efforts at the Enrique Rebsamen school in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sept. 21. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Mexico enthralled then furious as earthquake survivor story turns out to be fake

by Jan-Albert Hootsen September 22, 2017

Reports of a girl trapped in the rubble of a collapsed school in Mexico City captured the world’s attention, but the story was created by bad journalistic and government practices.

Lin Barton surveys the damage at the marina in Rockport where he has lived and worked. (Photos by Jan-Albert Hootsen)

Dispatches, Politics & Society

After Harvey, Texas towns try to pick up the pieces

by Jan-Albert Hootsen September 6, 2017

Residents of coastal towns return to find toppled RV’s, convenience stores without roofs and furniture scattered over the road.

Claudio Montes checks a shipping manifest for U.S. manufactured parts heading to assembly plants in Mexico at Freight Dispatch Service Agency LTD in Pharr, Texas in June 2017. The freight service ships parts between the U.S. and Mexico that pass through the border freely due to the North American Free Trade Agreement. (Nathan Lambrecht/The Monitor via AP, File)

Dispatches, Politics & Society

In NAFTA negotiations, Mexico shows cautious optimism

by Jan-Albert Hootsen August 29, 2017

Nafta has been the world’s most valuable trade deal, and its consequences are more deeply felt in Mexico than in the United States or Canada.

Features, Politics & Society

How Bishop Ruiz built the church in Southern Mexico long before Pope Francis spoke of the peripheries

by Jan-Albert Hootsen August 8, 2017

Bishop Ruiz preached “evangelization by the poor,” instructed his priests to study local indigenous languages and trained hundreds of catechists and deacons.

Diana Martinez, who had been deported from the United States, stands on the bridge linking El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, in February 2016. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)

Dispatches, Politics & Society

Deportees from U.S. to Mexico are strangers in a strange land

by Jan-Albert Hootsen August 2, 2017

Many Mexicans who lived most of their lives in the United States have been forced to return to a country they hardly know.

Pemex’s network of pipelines is an easy target for gangs who puncture the ducts and siphon the fuel to sell. (Esdelval/iStock)

Dispatches, Politics & Society

Gasoline theft becomes major criminal enterprise in Mexico

by Jan-Albert Hootsen June 22, 2017

Thieves are puncturing fuel pipelines in Mexico and siphoning profits from the national oil company.

Javier Valdez, a veteran reporter who specialized in covering drug trafficking and organized crime, was slain on May 15, 2017, the latest in a wave of journalist killings in one of the world's most dangerous countries for media workers. (Ríodoce via AP)

Dispatches, Politics & Society

Empathy was his greatest weapon; remembering Mexican journalist Javier Valdez

by Jan-Albert Hootsen May 30, 2017

I regularly report on violence against journalists in Mexico. But Javier’s death came as a personal blow to me.

Dispatches, Politics & Society

Mexico’s runaway governors help a tradition of corruption thrive

by Jan-Albert Hootsen May 3, 2017

Mexicans are no stranger to widespread corruption, which costs the country a staggering $100 billion per year, according to last year’s National Corruption Forum. Governors are especially likely to become involved with graft.

Miroslava Breach Velducea. Photo courtesy of Patricia Mayorga.

Dispatches, Politics & Society

Wave of murders rattles Mexican journalists

by Jan-Albert Hootsen April 24, 2017

Four attacks on reporters in such a short timespan have shocked Mexico, already a country press freedom organizations say is one the most dangerous in the Western Hemisphere for journalists.