International
Mexico’s southern border becomes the most insecure area in the country
The main city on Mexico’s southern border, Tapachula, has become the municipality with the highest perception of insecurity in the country, in the midst of the organized crime dispute over the control of drug trafficking and people from South America, activists tell EFE.
Nine out of 10 inhabitants of this city, 91.9%, perceive that this city is unsafe, which places it in first national place in the National Survey of Urban Public Security (ENSU) published this week by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEgi).
Roberto Alejandro García, representative of the entrepreneurs of the Pedestrian Trail in Tapachula, assured EFE that the municipality is one of the most unsafe in the country for the last three years in the face of crime and the lack of control of migrants on the southern border.
The business leader said that “lately they kill people even in the center, either with bullets, machetes, stabs, and not only in the center, but in all the surroundings and colonies (neighborhos).”
“Now, currently, there are deaths every day in Tapachula, because the authorities are not able to cover Tapachula. We have 20 years with the same amount of elements that monitor, that is an irresponsibility of the state and federal government,” he said.
Between a ‘war’ and the high flow of migrants
Tapachula is the second largest city in Chiapas, a state on the southern border where the National Indigenous Congress (CNI) warned on Monday in a statement of a “civil war” scenario due to forced displacement, homicides and forced disappearances that occur in the face of organized crime disputes.
On the other hand, the mayor of Tapachula, Yamil Melgar Bravo, said last week that the municipality concentrates 60% of migrants in Mexico, where irregular migration rose by 193% year-on-year in the first half of the year to exceed 712,000 people nationwide, according to the Government’s Migration Policy Unit.
Teodoro Vázquez Castillo, general secretary of the Revolutionary Workers Federation of the State of Chiapas, regretted that all citizens are worried because they perceive “horrible” security.
“One of the factors is migration and the rest, I don’t know if with it, brings the boom of drugs, smuggling of women, of migrants who are extorted. All the northern gangs came to operate in Tapachula, I don’t know if there is no authority that marks a stop,” he said.
Promise of attention at the southern border of Mexico
The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, denied on Tuesday that there is an atmosphere of “war” in Chiapas, where she said that her government is working so that “there are no displacements and pacify and avoid extortion and crimes that are occurring.”
But the director of the Center for Human Dignity (CDH), Luis Rey García Villagrán, pointed out that the southern border faces a crisis of insecurity and human rights, since citizens do not have confidence in any of the police corps, the streets are in dim and the surveillance cameras never work.
“The robberies of passers-by, extortion, executions, shootings, mass kidnappings, express kidnappings that did not exist, there are many canteens, drug sales,” he said.
The activist said that in Tapachula there is a fluctuating population of 70,000 unregistered people of more than 20 nationalities, so “corrupt” policemen, he denounced, take advantage of migrants.
The director of the ‘Belén’ shelter, César Augusto Cañaveral, asked for security for the migrant shelter, which also fears being a victim of organized crime.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
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