On Jan. 21 United Nations high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay called on the Mexican government to determine whether there was complicity by the military, the police or other officials in the mass kidnapping of some 40 Central American immigrants by an armed gang in the southern state of Oaxaca on Dec. 16. The incident, which brought protests from Mexican human rights activists, took place as some 250 immigrants were riding on a freight train operated by Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuántepec, a company owned by the federal government. Mexican police, soldiers and immigration officers detained some of the immigrants but let the rest proceed. The train operator then tried to extort money from the immigrants but wasn't satisfied with the amount they offered. A short while later, an armed group entered the train, robbed and beat the immigrants, and abducted about 40. The whereabouts of the victims are still unknown. (New York Times, Jan. 22)

Some 7,000 Mexicans have participated in a program through which the Colombian government trains Mexican soldiers and police in techniques for fighting drug cartels, according to an article in the Jan. 22 Washington Post. The administration of US president Barack Obama is encouraging this effort, and the US is paying part of the costs. Washington's share so far is $800,000, according to the article.

On Jan. 9, members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to La Parota Dam (CECOP), representing some 20 communities, reinstalled the blockade they had maintained for nearly five years in the community of Parotillas, to prevent access of the Federal Electrical Commission (CFE) to the land where the dam project is to be built. CECOP demanded that Manuel Añorve Baños, gubernatorial candidate of the coalition Better Times for Guerrero (led by the Institutional Revolutionary Party-PRI), remove his TV spot promoting the dam, charging that it is inciting confrontation and will be responsible for "what may happen." CECOP leader Nemesio Valeriano Moreno said the intent is not to block the passage of all vehicles, but only those of the CFE. He added that the blockade will remain indefinitely. (SIPAZ blog, Jan. 13)

Mexican Federal District authorities announced late last month the detainment of David Romo Guillén, leader of the "Traditional Catholic Church" that is also known as Santa Muerte, or "Saint Death." Romo was arrested with eight other members, including his wife Ivón Cortés, on charges of kidnapping and extortion in Mexico City. Prosecutors claim Romo and his accomplices disguised themselves as members of Los Zetas narco-gang to kidnap two elderly people for ransom. All nine were placed under a form of house arrest for 30 days pending investigation.

After seven months in captivity, Mexican politician Diego Fernández de Cevallos was released last month, saying after his reappearance that he was well but giving no indication of who his captors were. During his captivity, his apparent abductors issued three statements, calling themselves "The Mysterious Kidnappers" and later the "Network for Global Transformation," demanding money in exchange for the release of the former senator. A week after his release, on Jan. 1—anniversary of the 1994 uprising by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in southern Chiapas state—a fourth statement was issued purporting to be from the abductors. Entitled "The ex-Mysterious Kidnappers: The truth comes to light," the communique was signed by "el Guerrero Balam," a "faithful member of the insurgent forces of the EZLN," subordinated to "Subcomandante Marcos and the wise Mayan Zapatistas." The writer said that Fernández de Cevallos is "one of the main enemies of our project," an apparent reference to the EZLN's demand for indigenous autonomy.

Mexican activists, local residents and state authorities committed themselves to working for the rights of Central American immigrants at the Jan. 8 conclusion of a caravan from Arriaga in the southwestern state of Chiapas to the nearby town of Chahuites in Oaxaca. Oaxaca governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo met with the caravan's members at the Chahuites municipal auditorium while local residents, mostly members of the Zapotec indigenous group, carried signs with slogans welcoming "brother and sister migrants" and telling them to "feel at home" in the town. "What we're clear about is that in this state's territory the human rights of Oaxacans and of other people, wherever they come from, will be maintained," the governor promised. (El Universal, Mexico, Jan. 9)

Mexican president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa has been trying to "repair" relations with Venezuela, according to an Oct. 27, 2008 US diplomatic cable obtained by the WikiLeaks group and posted by the Spanish daily El País on Dec. 18, but there are tensions because the two countries are both "looking to assert [their] leadership in the region, particularly in Central America."

Mexican human rights activist Marisela Escobedo Ortiz was buried in Ciudad Juárez in the northern state of Chihuahua on Dec. 18, two days after she was shot dead by an unidentified man as she was protesting in front of the main government office in the state capital, also named Chihuahua. Police provided security for the funeral, which was originally planned for Dec. 21 but was rescheduled after a group of at least 10 men burned down the lumberyard belonging to Escobedo's husband, José Monge Marroquín, earlier on Dec. 18 and kidnapped his brother.