The US government released the first $197 million of the $400 million "Plan Mexico" aid package Dec. 3. At a signing ceremony in Mexico City, US Ambassador Tony Garza called the package "the most significant effort ever undertaken" by the US and Mexico to fight drugs. "The governments of the United States and Mexico will continue fighting against the scourge of drugs and drug trafficking, but to be successful we will need support from people on both sides of the border," Garza told reporters. Carlos Rico, Mexico's undersecretary for North American affairs, expressed his confidence that the Barack Obama administration will remain committed to the program, and that any human rights concerns can be resolved.

Tijuana's Public Security Secretary Alberto Capella was ousted Dec. 1 and replaced by his second-in-command, army Lt. Col. Julian Leyzaola, following three days of violence that left 37 people dead in the border city. Another army officer, Capt. Gustavo Huerta, has been appointed the new number two on the city's police force. Mayor Jorge Ramos' office said that putting army officers in charge will help "regain security" in Tijuana. Among the 37 killed over the weekend were two children aged four and 13—and nine headless corpses dumped in a patch of wasteland. More than 200 people have been killed in the past month in Tijuana. (AP, The Guardian, Milenio, Dec. 2)

As protests by teachers continued in several southern and central Mexican states, on Nov. 28 the State Institute of Public Education of Oaxaca (IEEPO) announced plans to work with Section 22 of the National Education Workers Union (SNTE) to produce an alternative to the government's new Alliance for Quality Education (ACE). The alternative program will be carried out "in accordance with the characteristics of the state," IEEPO director Abel Trejo Gonzalez said. This is first time a state government has distanced itself from the ACE, which is promoted by Mexican president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and SNTE national president Elba Esther Gordillo Morales. Teachers have protested against the ACE since August, calling it an opening to privatization. A strike by Section 22 set off a major uprising in 2006 that paralyzed much of the state for five months. (Mexico Solidarity Network Weekly News and Analysis, Nov. 30; La Jornada, Nov. 29)

Mexican President Felipe Calderón, speaking at last week's APEC summit in Lima, warned US President-elect Barack Obama against following through on his campaign pledge to consider revising the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it would send more Mexicans across US borders. "If you eliminate the benefits of free trade, you eliminate many of the opportunities for jobs and for growth for both Americans and Mexicans," Calderón told reporters. "If you get rid of the trade and job opportunities, one of the effects, which no-one wants, would be an increase in emigration from Mexico."

Twenty people were killed in apparent narco-violence Nov. 28—mostly in the border cities of Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana. The single bloodiest incident occurred when a group of hooded gunmen opened raided on a party at Juárez seafood restaurant, singling out and killing eight diners. Nov. 25 was one of the most violent days Ciudad Juárez has seen this year, with 17 assassinated in 15 hours, seven of whom were tortured and left just a few meters from a school. Ciudad Juárez is now Mexico's most violent city, accounting for more than 1,000 of the nearly 5,000 drug-related homicides registered nationwide this year. (EFE, Nov. 28; El Diaro, Juárez, Nov. 26)

Mexican authorities detained the country's former Drug Czar—officially the Special Investigative Sub-Prosecutor for Organized Delinquency (SIEDO)—Noé Ramírez Mandujano Nov. 20, a day after he voluntarily spoke to investigators. Ramírez was named to the post in December 2006 when President Felipe Calderón took office. He submitted his resignation in July at the request of the Prosecutor General of the Republic (PGR).

A veteran crime reporter in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez was fatally shot as he left his home Nov. 13. The reporter, Armando Rodríguez Carreon, worked for the newspaper El Diario. He was in a car with his young daughter when he was shot at least eight times, authorities said. The gunmen fled. Rodríguez, 40, had extensively covered the narco-violence wracking the city. (NYT, Nov. 13)

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe predicted that his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderón's controversial efforts to combat the drug cartels with the military will be successful. "When you live in a country like Colombia that has already faced that intense fight against crime, one is very happy to see efforts like those of President Calderón," Uribe told business leaders in the Mexican industrial city of Monterrey Nov. 9.