Veteran journalist Alfredo Corchado accompanied by his parents signs copies of his book Midnight in Mexico. (Gustavo Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

Veteran journalist Alfredo Corchado tells students to learn the basics and embrace their culture

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EL PASO – “July, 2007 was the last time I felt safe in Mexico,” said Alfredo Corchado, the Dallas Morning News Mexico Bureau Chief, when he took the podium as he returned to his alma mater to deliver The University of Texas at El Paso’s Centennial Lecture Thursday. Corchado presented his book Midnight in Mexico – A Reporter’s Journey through a Country’s Descent into Darkness, which will be released at the end of May. He also took the opportunity to do his first ever reading of the book to a full auditorium with his parents sitting in the front row. A 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard and a 2010 Rockefeller Fellow and Woodrow Wilson Scholar, Corchado, native of Durango, Mexico, he won the Maria Moors Cabot award from Columbia Journalism School in 2007 for extraordinary bravery and enterprise. In 2010 he was awarded Colby College’s Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for courageous journalism.

Estudian las comunidades judías, musulmanas y cristianas de la Edad Media en Andalucía

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EL PASO – Un grupo de 29 estudiantes y tres instructores de la Universidad de Texas en El Paso viajaron a España en mayo para explorar de manera directa la historia y la cultura españolas. Educadores y estudiantes desarrollaron un proyecto interdisciplinario original que evalúa la importancia de la tolerancia religiosa en la construcción de una sociedad líder en Europa en los campos de arte y ciencia durante la Edad Media. El grupo viajó por Andalucía durante tres semanas, realizando investigaciones sobre la historia de las comunidades judías, musulmanas, y cristianas en el sur de España. Los resultados de este viaje e investigaciones están cristalizadas en el documental, antología, y exhibición fotográfica titulada Andalucía: Fusión de tres culturas. “Ha sido la más hermosa experiencia de mi vida”, dijo Héctor Enríquez, director del proyecto, en la premier privada del documental en presentada en el Quinn Hall de UTEP aquí el 17 de abril.

On March 6th a man fired seven 45-caliber rounds into the glass doors of El Diario in Ciudad Juárez. (Courtesy of El Diario de Juárez)

Bullets riddled El Diario’s front door, but the newspaper’s spirit is unscathed

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EL PASO – A group of armed men in a grey van approached the premises of El Diario de Ciudad Juárez, the leading newspaper in the city now ranked as the 19th most dangerous in the world, and fired seven bullets through the building’s plate-glass door before dawn on March 6. “There was never a previous threat or any kind of vindictive message. We did not expect it… so far the authorities have not been able to tell us who it was or what was the motive,” said Pedro Torres, Associate Editor of El Diario de Juárez. The early morning attack was not the newspaper’s first encounter with violence. Armando Rodríguez, the lead crime reporter for El Diario, was shot to death in November 2008.

(Gustavo Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

Bi-national task force says border security is better than ever but needs enhancement

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A prominent bi-national task force argued that although the U.S.-Mexico border is tighter than ever, both countries should expand cooperative law-enforcement efforts along the border to enhance security. “As part of our border security recommendations the task force also urges a counterpart to the U.S Border Patrol on the Mexican side of the border,” said Robert Bonner, co-chair of the joint Task Force for the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP) and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI). According to the task force, which met Feb. 27 at the Woodrow Wilson Center  in Washington, D.C., the border is more efficient and secure now than in previous years. “Border relationship has greatly evolved over the last few years,” said Duncan Wood, director of the Woodrow Wilson Mexico Institute.

(Gustavo Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

Actor Steven Seagal stars in a new role as a Doña Ana County Deputy Sheriff

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EL PASO – Speeding west on Interstate 10 with the radio at full blast through the foul smelling dusty air shed by the New Mexican dairy farms, you could be pulled over by a Doña Ana County Sheriff’s cruiser carrying Hollywood tough guy Steven Seagal. In the county where Sheriff Pat Garrett once strutted around after gaining fame for gunning down Billy the Kid, Seagal is the new lawman in town. The 60-year-old, 7th-dan black belt in Aikido was sworn in on January 24 by County Sheriff Todd Garrison at the sheriff’s headquarters in a small ceremony. “When I first heard about this I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke,” said Isel Martinez, a graphic design major at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.

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Narcolimosnas – la caridad de los carteles de la droga infecta la Iglesia Católica mexicana

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EL PASO – La Marina mexicana mató a Heriberto Lazcano, “El Lazca”, líder de los Zetas, uno de los carteles de la droga más violentos y temidos el 7 de octubre. Lazcano había sido relacionado con 30,000 asesinatos. De acuerdo con las autoridades mexicanas, Lazcano poseía un rancho donde solía deshacerse de sus víctimas usándolas como alimentos para sus leones y tigres. Una placa en una pared de la capilla en la villa de Tezontle, HIdalgo, proclama que el edificio fue donado por Heriberto Lazcano. “Señor, escucha mi plegaria; escucha mi clamor por piedad; en tu fidelidad y justicia ven a mi alivio”, se lee en la placa que hace referencia al Salmo 143 de la biblia.

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Narcolimosnas – alms from drug cartels infect the Mexican Catholic church

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EL PASO – The Mexican Navy killed Heriberto Lazcano, “El Lazca,” leader of Los Zetas, one of Mexico’s most feared and violent drug cartels on October 7. He had been connected to some 30,000 murders. According to the Mexican authorities, he owned a ranch where he used to get rid of his victims by feeding them to several lions and tigers. A plaque on a wall of the chapel in the village of Tezontle, Hidalgo, proclaims the building was donated by Heriberto Lazcano. “Lord, hear my prayer; listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief,” reads the plaque referring to Psalm 143 in the bible.