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Mexico mayor apologises
for botched police action
Mexico City 24 July 2008: Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard apologised on behalf of his administration for the mistakes made during a raid on a discotheque, which left 12 young people dead. The mayor said he felt deep sorrow for the relatives and friends of the victims and also acknowledged that the police arrested many young people arbitrary. Ebrard promised a thorough investigation and said that legal action would be taken against anybody found to have acted unlawfully.

While Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission welcomed the mayor’s apology, it’s President Emilio Alvarez Icaza thought it should have been offered at a public event with all the relatives of the victims present. “Mayor Ebrard’s apology was not enough,” he added.

Meanwhile, the mayor has been requested to appear in from of the City Senate and explain the police action. A Senate spokesman pointed out the Human Rights Commission has questioned the full legality of the raid and recommended the suspension of Unipol - the police section that carried out the raid – until it was issued with full and precise guidelines.

Mexico City mayor refuses
to resign over police raid
Mexico City, 13 July 2008: Pressure is mounting on Mexico City’s Mayor, Marcelo Ebrard to resign after a police raid on a discotheque, which left 12 people dead. The police action on 20 June, which has been described as heavy-handed, caused a stampede during which nine young people, three of them under-aged juveniles, and three police officer died. At the time of the raid, some 500 young people were celebrating the end of school term in an afternoon party.

The special section of the police, which carried out the raid, was set up in May as a permanent commission and tasked with preventing public order offences, illicit activities and to instigate crime prevention measures. The commission, Unipol, is headed Mayor Ebrard. According to reports, the police went to the discotheque to catch drug dealers and prevent the sale of alcohol to under-aged students. Eyewitnesses accused the police of having blocked doorways, which caused the people inside the club to panic as they tried to evade police officers.

Earlier this month in a special report, the President of the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City, Emilio Álvarez Icaza, accused the police of having treated the young people as criminals rather than victims of crime. “Their rights were severely violated and in spite of the deaths, they were marked with a number on their arm and taken in buses to police stations,” the report says. Emilio Álvarez Icaza also accused the authorities of having threatened an inspector of the Human Rights Commission and relatives of some of the victims.

Guillermo Zayas, Regional Director of the Public Security Department of the Federal District of Mexico city who led the raid, was at first suspended and is now held in custody and charged with murder. Mr. Zayas has claimed to have been made a scapegoat, to have been threatened, isolated and warned not to talk to the media.

Following pressure from the Human rights Commission, those immediately responsible for the police raid resigned. However, Mexico City’s mayor said in a TV interview that, while he accepted that serious errors were made during the raid, he would not resign because he had not personally ordered the action by the police. The mayor has now apologised for the raid. (Report by Adriana Maciel)



Most prominent Venezuelan
mayor barred from election
Caracas, 1 July 2008: Leopoldo López, mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao and a prominent critic of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, has been banned from contesting the forthcoming local elections by an electoral tribunal alongside 371 other candidates.  López, a lawyer, has vowed to fight the ban, imposed by the Chavez-dominated national elections council on the grounds of untried charges of maladministration, on the basis that it violates the country's constitution. López is short-listed for the 2008 World Mayor Award.

The two-term district mayor, who currently enjoys high opinion poll ratings in the capital's mayoral race against his Chavez-backed United Socialist Party opponent, has pledged widespread protest: "None of us are legally disqualified. We will fight on the streets to make sure Venezuelans have the right to choose who they want." López even took his case to the US, where he addressed the recent US Conference of Mayors gathering and was able to put his case to Barack Obama, to the annoyance of the Venezuelan media.  Opponents allege Chavez has borrowed tactics from ally Iran, who pulled off a similar move in recent elections to prevent reformist candidates from gaining office.

November's elections will prove crucial to Chavez' hopes of amending the constitution to allow him to stand for a third term of office.  He recently accused the country's opposition of being "backed by North American imperialism, our true enemy" and of promoting Bolivian-style secessionism to "divide the country into pieces".  Cuba's Prensa Latina press agency backed the disqualifications and accused the debarred candidates of having misused public funds, but denied their political rights had been abridged as they could still vote.

Nicaragua bars political parties
from running in local elections
Managua, 15 June 2008: Nicaragua's government has barred two political parties from running in this year’s municipal elections scheduled for 9 November. The country's electoral agency justified its decision by saying that the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) had failed to meet a deadline for naming party representatives in all of the country's electoral districts.The party broke away from the ruling Sandinista Front in the 1990s.

The small Conservative Party (PC) was also barred on the same grounds. MRS leader Dora Maria Tellez, who is on a indefinite hunger strike to demand her party's return to the race, told reporters that the government move was politically motivated. “President Daniel Ortega is intend on eliminating political opposition.” Nicaragua has authorized 17 other parties to run on the November ballot. The two barred parties were expected to be contenders for many key mayoral posts.

Tellez’ protest has inspired hundreds of mostly young Nicaraguans to take to the streets in support of democracy and in protest of the Ortega government. Former Sandinista directorate leader and MRS head legislator, Víctor Hugo Tinoco, told the press that Téllez's protest has “removed the people's fear” of Ortega. He said that the struggle that was mounting on the streets is similar to the early stages of the uprising against the Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s. Though Tinoco said the MRS will exhaust all its legal channels, he said the fight will be won “in the streets.” (Report by Nicaragua Daily News and local reporters)

Mexican mayor killed
in front of his family
Mexico City, 3 June 2008: A Mexican mayor was shot dead in what police believe was a drug-related killing. Marcelo Ibarra, Mayor of Villa Madero in Michoacan State, was murdered as he drove home with his family. The mayor’s wife and two children escaped unhurt. A spokesman for state attorney’s office said that drug gangs were probably behind the killing but armed robbery was not ruled out.

Witnesses told reporters that the vehicle of Mayor Marcelo Ibarra, of the opposition Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), was stopped by several people who shot at the man. He tried to escape the shots by hiding under the SUV, but he was injured and died on the way to hospital.

Brazilian parties discuss
local election coalitions
Belo Horizonte, 7 May 2008: Ahead of this autumn's Brazilian municipal races, tough negotiations lie ahead between the parties to determine their candidates ahead of the 2010 presidential elections which rely on similar horse-trading. The races of São Paulo and Belo Horizonte are likely to prove decisive in determining which parties align behind the frontrunners to succeed President Lula in 2010, while in Rio de Janeiro the two putative successors have clashed over same sex marriage and abortion.

Rio de Janeiro's mayor Cesar Maia is term limited and will stand down in November at the end of his third term. The two frontrunners to succeed the right-wing Democrat mayor are Green Party congressman Fernando Gabreia and former state gubernatorial candidate Senator Marcello Crivela of the clericalist Brazilian Republicans. Though both candidates' campaigns are yet to get off the ground, the two have clashed on a range of moral issues, including same sex marriage, abortion and legalising marijuana. The Rio race is not likely to feature strong campaigns by the otherwise dominant Workers' Party (PT) or Social Democrats (PSDB).

Former São Paulo mayor Marta Suplicy, defeated by Jose Serra in 2004, is most likely to contest the mayoralty on behalf of President Lula's PT. Her principal opponent would ordinarily be former state governor and 2006 presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin of the PSDB but the race appears to be shaping up as a fight between the PSDB and incumbent Democrat mayor Gilberto Kassab, who was appointed following José Serra's elevation to the state governorship. The electoral coalition building process, on which victory depends in a highly fragmented party system, is complicated by likely alliances for the 2010 presidential elections.

In Belo Horizonte the spats between the PSDB and the Democrats at national level is also played out locally with a likely coalition emerging between PT mayor Fernando Pimentel and the PSDB, in exchange for the PT's support nationally for the presidential candidacy of Aécio Neves in 2010. While the PT nationally are content to back the PSDB, not least as no viable successor to Lula has emerged within its ranks and it claims to have no say in the municipal races this autumn, the São Paulo state party are angered by the deals made in its name that may resonate locally. (Reporting by Guy Burton in Brazil)

Brazilian police
arrest 16 mayors
Belo Horizonte, 11 April 2008: Brazilian police arrested more than 50 people and charged them with embezzling money from a government fund. Among those charged were 16 mayors, nine lawyers and a federal judge. Of the 16 mayors, 14 were from the state of Minas Gerais and two from Bahia. The arrests also included four municipal attorneys, four employees of the judiciary, the manager of a government bank and a lobbyist. According to investigations, which started eight months ago, the arrested embezzled at least 200 million reais (119 million US dollars) from the municipalities' share in the revenues from the income tax and the tax on industry products, both levied by the federal government.

Mexican mayor on drug
charges in New York City
New York City, 4 April 2008: Rubén Gil, newly elected mayor of the Mexican town of Izucar de Matamoros, Puebla appeared in a federal court in New York City after being arrested In Los Angeles. He is accused of being in charge of the supply of cocaine to dealers in New York City from 2005 to at least 2007. In November of last year Gil was elected mayor. He is also president of a haulage company with depots in Los Angeles and New York.

According to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Gil, together with a co-defendant, participated in a far-reaching narcotics trafficking conspiracy, in which he arranged for the transportation and delivery of cocaine to co-conspirators in the New York metropolitan area. In November 2007, GIL arranged for the delivery of approximately 11 kilograms of cocaine to the New York metropolitan area. This followed a 22-kilogram cocaine delivery to the New York metropolitan area in June 2006.

Rubén Gil, also known as "Gavilan" or "Padrino," made his first court appearance on 3 April in New York City. If convicted, the mayor faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the council of Izucar de Matamoros has appointed Rubén Gil's brother-in-law as interim mayor.

Trinidad opposition alliance
calls for July local elections
Port-of-Spain, 28 March 2008: Trinidad and Tobago’s opposition UNC Alliance has spoken out against any move to postpone the local government election scheduled for mid-July. Party leader Basdeo Panday said the government had a habit of ‘re-scheduling’ elections in which it feared to perform poorly. “We learned that government is contemplating the postponement, but we will oppose all and every measure if government brings such a motion to Parliament." Local government elections were last held in 2003. It has been postponed on three occasions since. The ministry for local government was not available for comment.

Panday also confirmed to reporters that the Alliance would be contesting the election along the same lines as it did in last year's general election. “That meant, it was pointed out that each unit of the Alliance would be submitting candidates for selection by the party. The Alliance consists of the UNC and several smaller parties.

Mexican soldiers sent
to disarm local police
Mexico City, 30 January 2008: Mexico’s regular troops were sent to three cities bordering the US to disarm local police officers, who were suspected to have links to drug traffickers. Federal soldiers searched police stations in Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa. Since assuming office, President Calderon has sent troops to several states to break the drug cartels who often intimidate local authorities.

According to government sources, a number of drug-trafficking organisations are fighting each other for control of Nuevo Laredo and its border crossings. Local people say it is no secret that some police officers cooperate the traffickers.

Mexico’s Attorney General, Eduardo Medina Mora, told reporters that there were municipal police forces that had collapsed and that functioned more as support staff to organized crime rather than as guardians of public safety. Meanwhile in Matamoros, some 600 police officers are reported to be confined to stations and being questioned by federal authorities.

Guayaquil mayor leads protest
against Ecuadorian government
Guayaquil, 26 January 2008: Led by Mayor Jaime Nebot thousands of people marched through Ecuador’s largest city Guayaquil to protest against government plans for constitutional reform. The mayor said President Rafael Correa was seeking too much power. One in six Ecuadoreans live in Guayaquil, the country's richest city.

The mayor told his followers he had no presidential ambitions but would run again for mayor. "If the government does something good I do not oppose that, but if they seek to destroy Guayaquil and if the president wants to become an emperor then I will fiercely oppose that," he said.

The mayor warned the government that he would seek autonomy for Guayaquil. "I'm willing to give you the rest of my life, my life for Guayaquil, for an Ecuador without misery, for an Ecuador which employs, for a rebel and autonomous Guayaquil within the unity of an Ecuador that works," he warned.

Last week, President Correa gathered a similar crowd of about 40,000 supporters in Guayaquil, his native city, to mark his first year in office. Mayor Jaime Nebot has been short-listed for this year's World Mayor Award.