An AP report portrays President Felipe Calderón's decision to open talks with Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) as part of his push to open the oil industry to private partnerships—given the guerillas' attacks on pipelines last year. "The government wanting to negotiate is a prudent move and a solid move," said George Baker, a Houston, Texas-based analyst who follows Mexico's state-owned oil company, Pemex. "But it's not a move out of strength, but out of weakness. The prospect of a military defense of these pipelines is not something any government or any company wants to contemplate."

On a visit to Mexico City April 29, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress to approve the pending $500 million anti-drug program for Mexico, telling reporters, "Failure to do so would be a real slap at Mexico and would be very disappointing and it clearly would make it more difficult for us to help Mexican armed forces and their civilian agencies deal with this difficult problem."

On April 25, Mexican federal legislators of the three political parties that make up the Broad Progressive Front (FAP) ended their 16-day occupation of the congressional chambers after a deal was worked out with representatives of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) over proposed legislation to reform the state oil company, Pemex. FAP leaders claimed victory, telling the press that they had prevented the reform package submitted by President Felipe Calderón from being "fast tracked." The new deal allows for 71 days of national debate before lawmakers can resume discussion and move to vote on the measures. Some FAP leaders, however, are insisting on a popular "ratification referendum" following the vote by the legislature.

A series of early-morning gun battles between presumed narco-gangsters in the busy streets of Tijuana—including one outside a hospital—left 15 dead and seven wounded April 26. Authorities are not releasing any of the names of the dead, but the local media are full of speculation. The national daily El Universal reported that the Sinaloa Cartel was to blame. Several newspapers reported that among the dead was Luis Alfonso Velarde (AKA El Muletas or "Crutches"), a reputed local drug lord with a handful of YouTube video tributes to his name. Another, even bigger local cartel operative nicknamed "Mr. Three Letters" might be dead too, along with "La Perra" (said to be a former city cop), reported El Sol de Tijuana. And they may all have been ambushed by another cartel leader known as "El Cholo." (LAT, AP, April 28)

George Bush, Felipe Calderón and Stephen Harper, in their statement emanating from New Orleans Summit on the Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreeement (dubbed the "Three Amigos" Summit) said they are "committed to democratic government, the rule of law and respect for individual freedoms," and that the US, Mexico and Canada "have shared interests in keeping North America secure, prosperous, and competitive in today’s global environment." The three leaders moved to extend the Security and Prosperity Partnership, as they did at the Montebello summit last year. (PEJ.org, April 24)

After an eight-month strike, the Grupo Mexico mining company has started to shut down its San Martin copper, silver and zinc mine in Sombrerete municipality in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas, according to Jesus Jiménez, a delegate in Zacatecas and Jalisco for the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM). Jiménez said the company has already terminated 100 of the mine's 450 workers on a claim that the mining operation was unsustainable. The workers went on strike on July 30, 2007, as part of a strike over safety conditions that included the huge copper mine in Cananea, Sonora, and a mine in Taxco, Guerrero. Grupo Mexico has reportedly lost $120 million in revenues at San Martin since the strike began. (La Jornada, April 18)

Which is worse: that Absolut vodka is commodifying Mexico's claim to its lost northern territories (Aztlan), or the predictable uptight gringo backlash? From the Daily 49er, the Cal State Long Beach student newspaper, April 15:

Mexican booze ad not intoxicating to U.S. buyers
A recent Absolut Vodka ad running in Mexico City has shaken, not stirred, some of the American public. With its recent advertising campaign strategy, Absolut attempts to tap into some very real nationalistic sentiment of Mexico.

James McKinley reports for the New York Times April 16 that cartel wars for control of Ciudad Juárez are reaping a "Wild West Blood Bath" in the border city, with more than 210 lives lost in the first three months of this year. The number of homicides this year is more than twice the total number for the same period last year. Mass graves hiding a total of 36 bodies have been discovered in the backyards of two raided cartel safe-houses. At the height of the violence, around Easter, bodies were turning up every morning—at a rate of nearly 12 a week. Mayor José Reyes Ferriz and Chihuahua state authorities have asked the federal government to intervene. "Neither the municipal government, nor the state government, is capable of taking on organized crime," Reyes Ferriz said. In late March, President Felipe Calderón sent in 2,000 soldiers and 425 federal agents, who patrol in convoys of Humvees and pickup trucks, wearing ski masks to hide their faces.