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☆ ‘Time, Patience, Cold Blood’: Mexico Prepares for a Potential Trump Win
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

They’re studying his interviews, bracing for mass deportations and preparing policy proposals to bring to the negotiating table. As Mexico heads toward its presidential election next month, government officials and campaign aides are also girding for a different vote: one in the United States that could return Donald Trump to the presidency. The last time Mr. Trump took office, his win surprised many of America’s allies, and his threat-filled diplomacy forced them to adapt on the go. Now, they have time to anticipate how Mr. Trump’s victory would transform relations that President Biden has tried to normalize — and they’re furiously preparing for an upheaval. For some, the memory of negotiating with Mr. Trump the last time he was in office, when he used extreme threats against Mexico, looms large.

Persons: They’re, Donald Trump, Trump, Trump’s, Biden, they’re Organizations: Mr Locations: Mexico, United States

Ecuador was once famous for sheltering a man on the lam: For seven years it allowed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to hole up in its embassy in London, invoking an international treaty that makes diplomatic premises places of refuge. Then, last week, the South American nation appeared to tear that treaty to shreds, sending the police into the Mexican Embassy in Quito — over Mexico’s protests — where they arrested a former vice president accused of corruption. President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador defended the decision to detain the former vice president, Jorge Glas, calling him a criminal and citing the country’s growing security crisis to justify the move. But his critics said it one of the most egregious violations of the treaty since its creation in 1961. They saw a more personal motive: Mr. Noboa’s political agenda.

Persons: Julian Assange, Daniel Noboa, Jorge Glas Organizations: Quito — Locations: Ecuador, London, American, Mexican, Quito

Migrants were streaming across the U.S. southern border in record numbers, international rail bridges were abruptly shut down and official ports of entry closed. Desperate for help in December, President Biden called President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, who told him to quickly send a delegation to the Mexican capital, according to several U.S. officials. The White House rushed to do so. Illegal border crossings into the United States plummeted by January. As immigration moves to the forefront of the U.S. presidential campaign, Mexico has emerged as a key player on an issue with the potential to sway the election, and the White House has worked hard to preserve Mr. López Obrador’s cooperation.

Persons: Biden, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López Organizations: White, U.S Locations: U.S, Mexico, United

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Even as gangs terrorized Haiti, kidnapped civilians en masse and killed at will, the country’s embattled prime minister held on to power for years. In the midst of political upheaval not seen since the country’s president was assassinated in 2021, Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, agreed to step down. What made this moment different, experts say: The gangs united, forcing the country’s leader to relinquish power. “Prime Minister Ariel resigned not because of politics, not because of the massive street demonstrations against him over the years, but because of the violence gangs have carried out,” said Judes Jonathas, a Haitian consultant who has worked for years in aid delivery. “The situation totally changed now, because the gangs are now working together.”

Persons: Ariel Henry, Ariel, ”, Judes Jonathas Organizations: “ Locations: Haiti, Haitian

☆ How a ‘Body Farm’ Might Help Tackle Fentanyl Abuse
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-03 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Meridith Kohut | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The two women lifted a stiff corpse from the ground, revealing a squirming bug in the dirt. “That one is a live larva!” said Alex Smith, the lab manager of Colorado Mesa University’s Forensic Investigation Research Station, plucking the larva off the ground and stuffing it into a glass tube. Maggots aren’t just maggots, Mr. Smith explained — they’re potential evidence. “You can actually test the larvae and pupa casings for drugs,” he said, excitedly. The Mexican forensic specialists came to learn about testing cadavers for fentanyl, which is how they wound up in a field of corpses, observing as a researcher foraged in the dirt for maggots.

Persons: Alex Smith, Smith, —, ”, foraged Organizations: Colorado Mesa University’s Forensic, Research Locations: Colorado, ”

☆ EE. UU. indagó acusaciones de vínculos del narco con aliados del presidente de México
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Alan Feuer | Natalie Kitroeff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Mexico’s President Faces Inquiry for Disclosing Phone Number of Times Journalist
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Simon Romero | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mexico’s freedom of information institute, a government agency, said Thursday that it would start an investigation into the president’s disclosure on national television of the personal cellphone number of a journalist for The New York Times. At least 128 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2006, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. During the news conference, Mr. López Obrador read aloud from an email from Natalie Kitroeff, The New York Times’s bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. She had requested comment for an article revealing that U.S. law enforcement officials had for years been looking into claims that allies of Mr. López Obrador met with and took millions of dollars from drug cartels. In addition to railing against Ms. Kitroeff and identifying her by name, Mr. López Obrador publicly recited her phone number.

Persons: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López Obrador, Natalie Kitroeff Organizations: The New York Times, Protect Journalists Locations: Mexico, The, York, Central America, Caribbean

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicEl Salvador has experienced a remarkable transformation. What had once been one of the most violent countries in the world has become incredibly safe. Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, discusses the cost of that transformation to the people of El Salvador, and the man at the center of it, the newly re-elected President Nayib Bukele.

Persons: Natalie Kitroeff, Nayib Bukele Organizations: Spotify, El, New York Times Locations: El Salvador, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean

☆ El Salvador’s President Expected to Win Big, Despite Concerns Over Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Gabriel Labrador | Natalie Kitroeff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nayib Bukele, the millennial president who reshaped El Salvador by cracking down on both gangs and civil liberties, looked poised to win another five years in office after polls closed on Sunday. The electoral authorities had not released official results by Sunday night, but Mr. Bukele claimed victory in a post on X, saying he had won more than 85 percent of the vote. Legal scholars say Mr. Bukele violated the Constitution of El Salvador by seeking a second consecutive term, but most Salvadorans don’t seem to care. Since imposing a state of emergency in the spring of 2022. the Bukele government has arrested tens of thousands of people with no due process, filled the streets with soldiers and suspended key civil liberties. But the gangs that once ruled over much of the country have been decimated — making the 42-year-old leader enormously popular.

Persons: Nayib Bukele, Bukele Locations: El Salvador

☆ El Salvador’s Strongman Is Set to Ride a Landslide Past Checks and Balances
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Fred Ramos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

El Salvador’s government has jailed thousands of innocent people, suspended key civil liberties indefinitely and flooded the streets with soldiers. Now the president overseeing it all, Nayib Bukele, is being accused of violating the constitution by seeking re-election. And even his vice-presidential running mate admits their goal is “eliminating” what he sees as the broken democracy of the past. But polls show most Salvadorans support Mr. Bukele, often not in spite of his strongman tactics — but because of them. In elections on Sunday, voters are expected to hand Mr. Bukele and his New Ideas party a resounding victory, cementing the millennial president’s control over every branch of government.

Persons: Nayib, Bukele Organizations: El, Sunday

The Nicaraguan authorities said on Sunday that they had released 19 clergymen who had been jailed and handed them over to the Vatican, the latest development in the autocratic government’s longstanding persecution of the Roman Catholic Church. Among those set free was Bishop Rolando Álvarez, one of the most prominent critics of the government left in Nicaragua, who had been convicted of treason and sentenced to 26 years in prison last February. Another bishop, Isidoro Mora, 15 priests and two seminarians were also released. Silvio Báez, a Nicaraguan bishop in exile in the United States, celebrated the news in a Sunday Mass in Miami on Sunday, saying that “the criminal Sandinista dictatorship” of President Daniel Ortega “has not been able to overcome the power of God.”The release came after Pope Francis drew attention to the attacks on the church in his New Year’s Day address, telling the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square that he was “following with concern what is happening in Nicaragua, where bishops and priests have been deprived of their freedom.”

Persons: Bishop Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, Silvio Báez, Daniel Ortega “, Pope Francis, ” Organizations: Roman Catholic Church, Sandinista Locations: Nicaragua, Nicaraguan, United States, Miami, St

It’s a list that includes powerful members of Mexico’s government. And, court records show, they were all recently under surveillance by the Mexico City attorney general’s office. At least 14 written orders reviewed by The New York Times show that the attorney general directed Mexico’s largest telecommunications company to hand over the phone and text records, as well as location data, of more than a dozen prominent Mexican officials and politicians. Telcel, the telecommunications company, acknowledged in a court filing reviewed by The Times that it had received the orders and handed over the records, which spanned from 2021 until earlier this year. The surveillance included both opponents of the governing Morena party and its allies.

Organizations: The New York Times, The Times, Morena Locations: It’s, Mexico City

☆ What’s in Our Queue? Rebecca Donner and More
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

I have to admit that Jon Batiste is married to one of my best friends, so I am biased. But this song is earwormy while also reminding you to hydrate, and who could say no to that combo? You listen to the song, you get it stuck in your head, you drink water.

Persons: Jon Batiste

☆ ‘Es una revelación’: miles de mensajes de texto dan nuevas pistas del caso Ayotzinapa
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Map highlighting the city of Iguala in the Mexican state of Guerrero where college students on a bus trip to Mexico City were kidnapped, and many killed. Also located is the nearby city of Cocula where remains of some of the students were found, as well as Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero. 100 miles Mexico City MEXICO Iguala Cocula GUERRERO Chilpancingo Pacific Ocean Acapulco U.S. Gulf of Mexico MEXICO Pacific Ocean Detail area 400 miles

Persons: Cocula GUERRERO Organizations: Mexico City Locations: Iguala, Mexican, Guerrero, Mexico, Cocula, Mexico City MEXICO, Acapulco, Gulf of Mexico MEXICO

Several miles away, more police officers stopped another bus of students, used tear gas to get them off, then snatched them away. One of the police commanders asked him “who he should hand over the ‘packages’” to, referring to the hostages. A cartel assassin also called, asking who was bringing him “the packages,” according to his sworn statement. According to one cartel member whose testimony has become key to the case, some of the students were taken to a house, killed and dismembered. Machete hacks left gashes in the floor, the witness said, and the students’ remains were later burned in the crematory owned by the coroner’s family.

Persons: “, Machete Locations: Mexican

“Barbie” is premiering this weekend and is trying to pull off a seemingly impossible task: taking a doll best known for reinforcing conventional stereotypes of women and rebranding it as a symbol of feminism, all without coming off as a shameless ad for the doll’s maker, Mattel. Willa Paskin, a journalist and host of Slate’s Decoder Ring podcast, recounts her conversation with the film’s director, Greta Gerwig, about how she approached the challenge.

Persons: “ Barbie ”, Willa Paskin, Greta Gerwig Organizations: Mattel

Last week, for the first time in U.S. history, federal regulators approved the sale of a birth control pill without a prescription. Pam Belluck, a health and science correspondent for The Times, explains why, after decades of brutal battles over contraception, this decision played out so differently.

Persons: Pam Belluck Organizations: The Times

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the second Black justice to sit on the court after Thurgood Marshall, has spent years opposing affirmative action. When the high court struck down the policy last month, Justice Thomas was one of the most influential figures behind the ruling. Abbie VanSickle, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains the impact affirmative action has had on Justice Thomas’s life and how he helped to bring about its demise.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Thurgood Marshall, Thomas, Abbie VanSickle Organizations: The Times

Tens of millions of Americans changed jobs over the past two years, a rare moment of worker power as employees demanded higher pay, and as employers, short on staff, often gave it to them. The tidal wave of quitting became known as the “great resignation.” Now, as the phenomenon seems to have fizzled out, the Times economic writer Ben Casselman discusses whether there have been any lasting benefits for American workers.

Persons: ”, Ben Casselman

Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, released Threads, a social media platform to compete with Twitter. In just 16 hours, Threads was downloaded more than 30 million times. Mike Isaac, who covers tech companies and Silicon Valley for The Times, explains how Twitter became so vulnerable and discusses the challenges Meta faces to create a less toxic alternative.

Persons: Mike Isaac, Twitter Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Twitter, The Times Locations: Silicon Valley

Last week, the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s sweeping plan to cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt. Stacy Cowley, a finance reporter for The New York Times, explains what the decision means for borrowers now facing their first payments since a coronavirus pandemic-related pause and how an alternative plan could still ease their burden.

Persons: Biden’s, Stacy Cowley Organizations: The New York Times

A Guatemalan judge walked into a meeting at the American Embassy last spring and pulled out a large quantity of cash: The money, she said, was a bribe from one of the president’s closest allies. The judge, Blanca Alfaro, helps lead the authority that oversees the country’s elections. She claimed the money had been given to her to gain influence over the electoral agency, according to a U.S. official briefed on the encounter and a person who was present and requested anonymity to discuss the details of a private meeting. American diplomats were shocked by the brazenness of the episode, but not by the allegations. In the volatile political climate consuming Guatemala in the run-up to presidential elections on Sunday, there has been one constant: a steady drumbeat of attacks on democratic institutions by those in power.

Persons: Blanca Alfaro Organizations: American Embassy, U.S Locations: Guatemala

☆ El espionaje en México cobra una nueva víctima: un aliado del presidente
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Spying in Mexico Strikes a New Victim: the President’s Ally
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Natalie Kitroeff | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He is a longtime friend of the president, a close political ally for decades who is now the government’s top human rights official. And he has been spied on, repeatedly. Mexico has long been shaken by spying scandals. The attacks on Mr. Encinas, which have not been reported previously, seriously undercut President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s pledge to end what he has called the “illegal” spying of the past. They’re also a clear sign of how freewheeling the surveillance in Mexico has become, when no one, not even the president’s allies, appears to be off limits.

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