Sealed with a kiss: Chile celebrates first same-sex weddings

Yahoo – AFP, March 10, 2022 

Jaime Nazar (L) and Javier Silva became the firs same-sex couple to legally
tie the knot in Chile (AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)

Two same-sex couples became the first Thursday to legally tie the knot in Chile, which joined a handful of countries in majority Catholic Latin America to allow LGBTQ couples to marry. 

Under a law approved by Congress in December and signed by outgoing President Sebastian Pinera, they can also now adopt children. 

"We never imagined we would experience this moment in Chile," Jaime Nazar, 39, declared proudly after marrying his partner of seven years Javier Silva, 38, in a Santiago suburb. 

The pair's two young children were there for the historic event. 

"Now, yes, we can say we are a family," said Silva. 

"Our children have the same conditions (as those of straight couples) and will have a better future without discrimination for having two dads who love each other," he added. 

Silva carried the couple's 18-month-old son in his arms, while Nazar bore their daughter of four months. 

The children are the product of surrogate pregnancies abroad that used the sperm of one of the couple. Until now, they had only one legally recognized father -- the biological donor. 

'Super proud' 

From 2015 until Thursday, same-sex couples wishing to formalize their relationship had only the option of civil union agreements, which confer most of the same rights that marriage does, but without the possibility of legal adoption. 

Jaime Nazar (L) and Javier Silva became the firs same-sex couple to legally tie
the knot in Chile (AFP/CLAUDIO REYES)

"This is a very important step for the country. We feel super proud, privileged to be here," said Nazar, who is a dentist. 

Consuelo Morales and Pabla Heuser, both 38, said they decided to get married mainly for their two-year-old daughter Josefa. 

"Today Josefa ceases to be an illegitimate daughter," said Morales. Heuser, who carried the child in her womb, had been the girl's sole legal parent until now. 

In total, three same-sex weddings took place in Chile Thursday -- the day the law took effect. 

It came on the eve of the swearing-in of leftist Gabriel Boric as Chile's youngest-ever president. 

Chile had been awaiting the passage of the marriage bill since then-president Michelle Bachelet sent it to Congress in 2017. 

In a surprise move, her conservative successor Pinera announced last year he would seek the urgent passage of the bill -- supported by a majority of Chileans -- through Congress. 

Pinera signed it into law just two days after lawmakers gave the green light ahead of presidential elections in which Boric and his far-right rival Jose Antonio Kast polled neck-and neck. 

Kast vehemently opposed broadening access to marriage rights, unlike Boric who supported the move. 

Chile is now one of 30 countries in the world that allow same-sex marriage, and seven in Latin America along with Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and some states in Mexico.

AMLO's 'Maya Train' wins in landslide in Mexico

Yahoo – AFP, December 16, 2019

A citizen marks his ballot during a referendum on building a "Maya Train", in Felipe
Carrillo Puerto, Champoton, Campeche state, Mexico, on December 15, 2019
(AFP Photo/Lexie Harrison-Cripps)

Mexico City (AFP) - Indigenous communities in southern Mexico voted overwhelmingly to approve President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's pet project to build a regional railroad aimed at boosting tourism and economic development, the government said Monday.

The $6.2-billion "Maya Train" is meant to link Caribbean resorts such as Cancun and Playa del Carmen with ancient Mayan archaeological sites such as Palenque and Chichen Itza, passing through the impoverished interior of southeastern Mexico along the way.

Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist widely known as "AMLO", says the passenger and freight railroad will kick-start economic development in the region.

But it has faced resistance from activists and some indigenous communities over the lack of clarity on the environmental impact.

However, the region's communities are overwhelmingly in favor, according to official results from a referendum on the issue -- which was itself the subject of criticism.

Hundreds of indigenous villages held communal councils on the project over the weekend, while 84 municipalities in the train's path voted in a more classic ballot-box referendum.

Citizens attend a consultation meeting during a referendum on building a 

"Maya Train", in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Champoton, Campeche state, Mexico, 

on December 15, 2019 (AFP Photo/Lexie Harrison-Cripps)

"There is a generalized consensus, unanimous, in support of building and implementing the Maya Train program," said Adelfo Regino, head of Mexico's National Indigenous Peoples' Institute.

"We have 93,142 Mexicans who voted 'Yes', equivalent to 92.3 percent of the vote," said the deputy minister for development, Diana Alvarez.

The government acknowledged many indigenous communities also demanded attention for more pressing issues, such as schools, health centers, roads and protection of their environment and archaeological sites.

Lopez Obrador said the first tender for the project would be launched in early January.

The president's opponents have accused him of using such referenda -- or "people's consultations," as he calls them -- to rubber-stamp his stance on controversial issues with no oversight by electoral authorities.

Other decisions he has made by referendum include building a new oil refinery in his native Tabasco state and canceling a $13-billion airport for Mexico City that was already one-third complete and replacing it with a rival project.

Mexico's AMLO doubles down on stump speech in key address

Yahoo – AFP, September 1, 2019

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shows his first annual report at 
the National Palace in Mexico City, on September 1, 2019 (AFP Photo/Alfredo 
ESTRELLA)

Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador brushed off problems including a stagnant economy and spiralling violence to insist Sunday in his first state of the nation address that he is delivering the "transformation" he promised.

Elected last year in a swell of anti-establishment sentiment, the left-wing populist has radically changed the style of the presidency -- ditching the presidential mansion, guards and jet -- but has struggled to deliver on key promises, including economic growth and an end to rampant violence fueled by drug trafficking.

In his first annual "Government Report," the leader known as "AMLO" briefly acknowledged that "the economy is growing little," and that "we still suffer from insecurity and violence."

But he devoted much of his address to rehashing his campaign stump speech, heavy on anti-corruption, austerity-crusading rhetoric and finger-pointing at the leaders of the past.

"The essence of our approach is to turn honesty and austerity into a way of life and a form of government," he said.

"Nothing has harmed Mexico worse than the dishonesty of its leaders. That is the main cause of social and economic inequality, of the violence from which we suffer."

In a sign of the polarizing nature of his presidency, some 2,500 protesters marched down Mexico City's main avenue, Paseo de la Reforma, chanting "Get out, Lopez Obrador!"

But the opposition remains badly fragmented from the July 2018 elections, which Lopez Obrador and his upstart party, Morena, won in a landslide.

Nine months in, the president remains overwhelmingly popular: recent polls put his approval rating around 65 percent.

Many Mexicans like his folksy style -- a break with the elite ruling class of the past -- and most appear willing to wait for him to deliver concrete results.

The question is how long.

Latin America's second-largest economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019, and registered zero growth in the second -- far from Lopez Obrador's pledge to deliver two-percent growth this year and an average of four percent across his six-year term.

And the number of people murdered -- a closely watched indicator of the violence from the country's "drug war" -- appears on track to set a new record this year, with 20,135 homicides so far.

Cave of relics found under Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza

Yahoo – AFP, 5 March 2019

Archaeologists have discovered a cave filled with hundreds of artifacts beneath
the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico

Archaeologists have discovered a cave filled with hundreds of artifacts beneath the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the lead researcher on the project said Monday, calling the find "incredible."

The massive cave is a "scientific treasure," Mexican archaeologist Guillermo de Anda told a news conference.

He said it could help scientists better understand the origins, lives and beliefs of the residents of Chichen Itza, a stunning city of stone in the Yucatan peninsula that was founded sometime around 750 AD.

The cave was found about two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Temple of Kukulcan, the giant stepped pyramid that dominates the center of Chichen Itza.

It sits about 24 meters (80 feet) underground, and contains multiple chambers connected by narrow passages -- often so narrow that researchers had to crawl or drag themselves through them, De Anda said.

His team has explored about 460 meters of the cave so far, and does not know how far it stretches, he added.

The relics found include seven incense burners shaped like the Mayan rain god Chaac, which researchers believe were offerings meant to bring rain.

De Anda said locals had actually discovered the cave more than 50 years ago.

But the archaeologist sent to explore the site at the time by the National Institute of Anthropology and History decided for unknown reasons to seal the entrance with stones, and filed only a brief report.

De Anda had seen the report, but did not give it much thought -- until he happened upon the entrance to the cave last year while exploring another site nearby.

"What we found there was incredible, and completely untouched," he said.

The residents of Chichen Itza probably considered the cave "the bowels of the gods," he added.

His team believes the largest incense burners date from around 700 to 1000 AD.

The indigenous Mayas who inhabit the area today warned his team that a venomous coral snake guarded the site.

And researchers did in fact find just such a specimen, which blocked their access to the cave for four days, De Anda said.

At locals' behest, they performed a six-hour purification ritual before entering the cave.

De Anda's team plans to continue exploring the cave. Rather than remove the artifacts they find, they will study them on site, he said.

VIDEO: "The entrance into the cave is very difficult, you have to do it crawling, chest to ground or, at best case, on all fours. What we found there was incredible, and completely untouched." pic.twitter.com/TUEX7GxGa1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 5 maart 2019

Related Articles:

“THE FUNDAMENTAL FRACTAL”, Arkansas, US, Jun 11, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

“… I want to talk about the fractals of time for a moment. It's difficult if you were not here in the conference to go to the next step. However, it's important to know what was said, because we have spoken of these very things in the past. Our words didn't include fractals, but we spoke of a patterning and a system and the timing involved in what's happening.

The teacher, Gregg, has done his research well, and has proposed that the ripples of time come back upon themselves.* They present themselves in a way that would allow you to predict and calculate when they might occur again. They come in such a fashion that they reinforce one another and perhaps might be even stronger than when they occurred before. You even clearly see that the math of the fractals show you are at the end of a cycle, the one we have told you about. He's right, and you are.

The Mayans told you the same thing, and the others who had calendars much like the Maya long count said the same thing. The Aztecs and the Toltecs had a similar calendar. The prophecy was everywhere! So here's the big question: What keeps you from repeating the old history now? It comes upon you yet again and the fractals are there and the history is clear. The patterns are there, and they are the same ones over and over. Why won't you repeat them? Why won't you go to the final war and terminate humanity yet again? I'm going to fill it in esoterically for you right now.

Dear ones, there is a fractal that I'm going to call the fundamental. This fractal was not necessarily discussed yesterday, but I'm sure the teacher Gregg knows it. Sometimes when you're dealing with the discussion of patterning and repetition, you have that which would seem to be invisible, because it's not perceivable within your normal Human consciousness. The fundamental beginning fractal of time is the one that the others build upon. It's the start, the fundamental wave, and I will show it to you. Everything resonated to the fundamental in multiples. I will even give you some numbers to consider.

The fundamental fractal of your earth time is the precession of the equinoxes of the planet. All the ripples of potentials are built from it. This precession is caused by a physical wobble of the planet, which takes 25,630 years. That's how long it takes for one cycle, or wobble, to return to the start. Because it is so long, it can vary up to 1%, but not much more. The 25,630 years is the measurement of the wobble of the planet.

If you take the Mayan calendar long count, then exactly five Mayan calendars would fit into the 25,630-year wobble. The long count as described by the Maya is 5,125 years.* This also happens to be the length of time that your former unknown civilizations that we spoke of lasted before they would annihilate one another. It all starts to make sense. The fundamental fractal, dear ones, is the key to why this current cycle is different. It's because you're sitting on the end and beginning - the center point of the precession of the equinoxes. It's the first one in modern humanity. Time simply isn't just coming around again like it did before. This is the center. This is the prediction of the ancients and the Mayans, and that's why the old calendar stops now, and starts again with another long count.

This fundamental center, the precession of the equinoxes, gives an energy that none of the cycles within it did before. There is an allowance in this center fractal cycle for you to shift it and change it. The proof of this are the wildcards you see all around you. You already have started! The fall of the Soviet Union is a good example of a wild card. It's a shift of Human nature to begin a harmonious process of putting things together, instead of tearing them apart. This is especially profound when you see it done with the nations of the planet who used to be enemies for centuries. That's different! That's new! It's not going to repeat the way it did in the past.  …”

"2013 - A Difficult Year" – July 14, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… All this is to say that some of you are losing friends in death, and it seems out of sync in this new promised energy. I know who's here, who is listening and reading, and it would seem inappropriate that you would lose a friend or loved one at this point in time. Now, there are some in the room who have recently lost those they've loved, and it has seemed especially hurtful since these dear ones didn't seem "ready to go" just yet. In my partner's case, he lost a team member in the Kryon work, and I can remember in the moments when he found out, he was mad at me. He said to me, "It's unfair, not correct, and inappropriate! This man was a Lightworker doing good things. We needed him! He was a healer. Others needed him. He seemed to have so many years left, and now he's gone." Two weeks ago, my partner lost still another friend. He is not alone, for many around him including those in the room are experiencing the same thing.

For some, it's the year of loss. So I want to give you some explanations. I wish to tell you clearly what we see now that we couldn't tell you before. There is a great unspoken future that is starting to build itself right now. It's a future we couldn't tell you about because you hadn't arrived at the place where the shift potential was this strong. Now you are there, in 2013. You've passed the midpoint marker of the precession of the equinoxes, and it truly was a demarcation point that the indigenous saw as well. It's a time fractal, but they didn't call it that. However, it was so clear to them that in their spiritual way, they built their calendars and prophecies around it. Now we can tell you about it, and there begins some planning on the other side involving all of you.

There are old souls who had to leave, seemingly before their time, so that they could arrive on my side of the veil right now. They needed to refresh themselves and come back quickly, literally within the year as newborns on the planet. This is so they would be elders when it was your time to go to the next life. They would then be the ones already there who would begin to teach you what you will need to know. They are the advanced team for peace on Earth.

So, now you see where this is going. They had to leave and come back quickly. They had to align themselves in the right places, expecting where you will be next, dear one. Dear old soul, they needed to be the catalyst for you to awaken next time and do the work that you've chosen to do. So when you incarnate into your next expression, they'll be there and they will find themselves synchronistically as your teachers and the ones who will impress you the most and who you will listen to. Some of them may actually be related to you in the same way they are to you this time, or close to it, and you'll recognize them.. ….”

Mexico leader's humble air travel a security headache

Yahoo – AFP, Jennifer GONZALEZ COVARRUBIAS, February 19, 2019

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador always travels by commercial
flights, even sitting in economy class (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

Mexico City (AFP) - Accompanied only by five unarmed aides and a small collection of amulets, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador makes police and flight attendants alike tremble when he embarks on air travel, always in economy class.

Lopez Obrador, known by his initials AMLO, stops for photos with everyone, allowing them to kiss, hug or even grab him by the waist.

"Of course, whatever photos you like," said the smiling president to a woman trying to snatch a photo with her smart phone as he walked to the plane ahead of a trip to Sinaloa, the dangerous drug-trafficking state made famous by narcotics kingpin Joaquim "El Chapo" Guzman.

AMLO's acquiescence sparked a near stampede as others swirled around the president looking for their own memento.

All the while, there was no security to push back the throngs.

Mexico's leftist leader has done away with the thousands of military escorts looking after the president and sent them to work "for the benefit of the people."

The presidential jet, a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 bought for $218 million is now on sale in California. AMLO traveled to Sinaloa on a cramped Embraer Jet.

Even aboard a plane, Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes the 

time to pose for photos with other passengers, much to the chagrin of flight 

attendants (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

"How can I board this plane when there's so much poverty in Mexico," AMLO had said about the Boeing Dreamliner.

Now he travels with a small retinue of aides headed by Daniel Asaf, a restauranter of Lebanese origin and former candidate for Mexico City's legislature.

'The worst'

In fact, none of AMLO's aides are security specialists, instead they are defined by their "loyalty."

Three women and two men spent most of the trip to Sinaloa shoving back reporters and asking travelers to move away after taking a selfie.

The security services may be in a fluster but AMLO is the most popular president in the country's history with an 80 percent approval rating, according to the last Mitofsky poll.

Part of that popularity came from his campaign promises to reduce his own salary and those of the government's top officials.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gained popularity during his election campaign

 by promising to reduce his salary and those of top government officials (AFP Photo/

Alfredo ESTRELLA)

However, Mexico City's airport police are less impressed with AMLO's humble availability.

"When he has to cross the entire airport, it's the worst," said an airport police officer who wished to remain anonymous.

"People pounce on him. If one day someone wants to do something to him we won't be able to stop them because he doesn't like being guarded.

"He can't continue like this, he has to use the VIP room."

On this journey, AMLO was heading to one of a part of Mexico infested with drug traffickers and violent gangs. But he has no fear of being attacked, believing himself protected by an assortment of talismans.

"I have a lot of protection, this is a shield," he told AFP, holding up an image of the "Sacred Heart" of Jesus.

Among his other protective amulets, AMLO carries a four leaf clover and a dollar given to him by a Mexican migrant.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he doesn't need the protection of 

the security services as he has a collection of talismans (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

'It's awful'

For some passengers, having the president on their flight gives them a feeling of security.

Carmen Diaz, a 52-year-old housewife traveling to Sinaloa for a party, said she would have "never expected" to find herself on a flight with the president.

Although she worried it would be unsafe due to the number of people aboard, "it's the opposite because they're watching the flight closer."

But for air stewardess Alejandra Martinez, the flight is a headache.

"It's awful that he's come on my flight. People are ignoring the (safety) instructions, they're leaving their seats even during turbulence and the press don't understand that their cameras could become projectiles if something unexpected happens," she said.

"I hope he never travels with my family."

Upon landing at the Culiacan airport in Sinaloa, AMLO was met by throngs of supporters and angry widows of police officers killed in the fight against drug traffickers.

After all the commotion of his humble journey, AMLO had no time for the waiting masses, and was whisked away by the local governor's security detail.

UN shines spotlight on dying indigenous languages

Yahoo – AFP, February 1, 2019

Dawn Madahbee, an Ojibwe Indian and business executive of the woodland peoples
 of Canada, addresses delegates at the First Nations Economic Opportunities Conference
in Sydney, Australia in July 2006 (AFP Photo/TORSTEN BLACKWOOD)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - There's Ojibwe in Canada, Ami in Australia and Ayapanec in Mexico: these are among the world's nearly 2,700 indigenous languages at risk of disappearing unless new initiatives are taken to revive them, UN officials say.

The United Nations is hoping to raise awareness of the cultural loss with the launch this week of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, a yearlong project to help protect these ancient mother tongues.

"2019 must serve as a turning point in our collective determination to save indigenous languages and those who speak them," Maria Fernanda Espinosa, the president of the General Assembly, told a UN gathering on Friday.

Young aborigines from Taiwan participate in a blessing ceremony at the Amerindian

village of Klahowya, British Columbia, Canada in September 2011 (AFP Photo/

Laurent Vu The)

Out of the roughly 7,600 languages spoken worldwide, 2,680 indigenous languages are in danger and many are disappearing at an alarming rate, according to UN officials.

"Every two weeks, there is an indigenous language that disappears, so it is a pretty large toll indeed," said Ernesto Ottone-Ramirez, an assistant director at the UN's cultural agency UNESCO.

In 2003, the last fluent speaker of Akkala Saami, spoken in Russia's northern Kola peninsula, died, a few years before Tefvic Esenc Eyak disappeared in 2008 with the death of Marie Smith Jones in Alaska.

At a ceremony in Paris this week, eight-year-old Odeskkun Thusky spoke in his native Algonquin from Canada's First Nation regions in Quebec and Ontario.

Dawn Madahbee, an Ojibwe Indian and business executive of the woodland 

peoples of Canada, addresses delegates at the First Nations Economic 

Opportunities Conference in Sydney, Australia in July 2006 (AFP Photo/

TORSTEN BLACKWOOD)

"It's important to speak this language because our language here is dying and we want more people to speak it so our language doesn't die," Thusky told AFP.

Canada, home to around 630 First Nation tribes comprising 1.4 million people, has promised funds to help revitalize several languages.

In Australia, more than 250 aboriginal languages were spoken when the British first started to settle in 1788, but only around 120 are still spoken today.

In a bid to hold on to them, some Northern Territory schools now provide education in both English and an aboriginal language.

Central American caravan continues toward US after rest

Yahoo – AFP, Yemeli ORTEGA, November 10, 2018

The metro in Mexico City opened an hour early to transport migrants toward
neighboring Mexico State (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

Mexico City (AFP) - Around 5,000 Central Americans left Mexico City at dawn Saturday, brushing exhaustion and illness aside to get back on the road towards the United States as part of a migrant caravan that has drawn fury from President Donald Trump.

Between coughs and sneezes, the migrants packed up their makeshift camp in a sports park, where they had rested for six nights, and headed to the city's metro -- which opened an hour early to transport them toward neighboring Mexico State.

"We got cold sleeping out in the open, so that's why we're sick now. The kids have got lice, there's not always enough water to bathe them," Adamari Correa, a Guatemalan traveling with her sister and her sister's children, told AFP.

From there, the plan was to set off once again on foot toward Queretaro in central Mexico, still hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the US border.

"I don't want to walk, Mommy!" cried one little girl wrapped in a blanket, as her mother -- a sleeping mat on her back and two large bundles in each hand -- stood in an endless line waiting to board the five designated train, each carrying around 1,000 people, metro authorities estimated.

Some 1,000 police officers kept watch over the operation.

The caravan left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on October 13 and has covered more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) so far.

A group of Central American migrants is seen on the metro in Mexico City, on 

their way to Queretaro state (AFP Photo/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

At least two other caravans have since been established, defying threats from Trump -- who has decried what he describes as an "invasion" and ordered thousands of soldiers to the US-Mexico border.

On Friday, his administration unveiled a controversial new crackdown, announcing it would no longer allow people who enter the US illegally to claim asylum. Instead, those seeking political or other kinds of asylum will be heard exclusively at the border crossings.

Also on Friday, a group of 1,300 Central American migrants fragmented from the caravan to embark on the same path from Mexico City.

They quickly amassed on the sides of the wide high-speed road that snakes around the capital, leading to the exit toward Queretaro.

Taking the risk

"We're sick from the temperature changes," said Wilson Alexander Mejia, a 27-year-old laborer traveling alone.

"But we're determined to reach the border and beyond."

On the highway, truck drivers stopped to offer rides. Some migrants clung to vehicles; others found a seat perched on the hood, above the engine.

"Thank you Mexico! We go forward!" they yelled to passers-by, waving.

Other caravan members following behind trekked on foot or took public buses to reach the Queretaro exit, where trucks slowed to pick them up.

Under already intense sun, transport police were also seen helping migrants into one cargo vehicle's two trailers -- but they lacked any ventilation system.

"When you want something, you have to take risks and not care what happens," said Lucas Rocha, a 31-year-old on his second journey to the border. He said if he doesn't make it this time, he'll try again.

Years ago, he rode the notoriously dangerous cargo train route through Mexico known as "La Bestia" -- "the beast."

Along that route, migrants are routinely robbed and assaulted by organized criminals -- while scrambling onto moving trains sees many get dragged underneath and lose limbs.

Mexico may be next to legalize cannabis: incoming FM

Yahoo – AFP, October 23, 2018

Mexico's Secretary-designate of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard listens to Canada's
 Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland during a press conference in Ottawa October 22,
2018 (AFP Photo/Lars Hagberg)

Montreal (AFP) - Mexico "absolutely" could follow Canada's lead in legalizing marijuana as a way to reduce violence generated by a war on drugs that "doesn't work," its incoming foreign minister said Tuesday.

Marcelo Ebrard, who will become foreign minister when Mexico's president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes office December 1, said he discussed Ottawa's experience Monday with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Asked whether Mexico might follow Canada's example, Ebrard told reporters, "Sure, absolutely."

"We think it is a very interesting option in the short term for Mexico," he said. "We think there are two options: the Canadian model or the Uruguay model."

"It doesn't make sense to have a law forbidding the possession or production of cannabis and we have 9,000 people in jail for that, we have a huge amount of violence in the country," Ebrard said.

"You spend a huge amount of money (on policing), you cause suffering for a lot of people and it doesn't make sense."

Prohibition, he added, "doesn't work, you have the cannabis anyway."

Canada legalized cannabis on October 17, becoming the first major economy to do so. Uruguay legalized recreational use of the drug in 2013.

Mexico has long been a major supplier of marijuana and other illegal drugs to the US market, spawning powerful drug cartels and violent struggles for control of drug routes.

Since 2006, when the government deployed the army to fight the cartels, more than 200,000 people have been murdered, including a record 28,702 last year.

Another 37,000 people are reported missing.

Honduran migrant 'caravan' resumes from Mexico to US: AFP reporter

Yahoo – AFP, 21 October 2018

The authorities opened the border to women and children who were then taken to a
shelter in the city of Tapachula, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico

Thousands of Honduran migrants resumed their march toward the United States on Sunday from the southern Mexican city of Ciudad Hidalgo.

Mexican authorities on Thursday had managed to block the "caravan" of migrants on a border bridge between Mexico and Guatemala, but many later entered via a river separating the two countries.

"No one is going to stop us, after all we've gone through, like crossing the river" said 21-year-old Aaron Juarez, who was accompanied by his wife and baby and was walking with difficulty because of an injury.

"We are tired, but very happy, we are united and strong," added Edwin Geovanni Enamorado, a Honduran farmer who was part of the caravan, who said he was forced to leave his country because of intimidation by racketeering gangs.

The caravan left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras last week, following a call on social networks relayed by a former Honduran deputy.

On Sunday morning, about a thousand migrants, including women and children, were still stranded on a border bridge hoping to enter Mexico legally via Guatemala.

The day before, the Mexican authorities opened the border to women and children who were then taken to a shelter in the city of Tapachula, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico.

US President Donald Trump has been tweeting about the caravan's progress and thanked Mexican authorities on Saturday for their efforts to block it.

"Mexico will not allow irregular entry into its territory, much less violent," Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Friday evening in a video message.

Trump-AMLO: clash of populists, or chance for a fresh start?

Yahoo – AFP, Alina DIESTE, July 3, 2018

Lopez Obrador won more than 53 percent of the votes in Sunday's poll, a major
upset to the establishment that raises a question mark over Mexico's relations with
its powerful northern neighbor, its main trading partner (AFP Photo/PEDRO PARDO)

Washington (AFP) - Like Donald Trump before him, Mexico's new leftist leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept to victory with a promise to shake up corrupt elites and put his country's interests first.

So are the neighbors headed for a clash of the populists, or a new start in relations?

The politician known as "AMLO" won more than 53 percent of the votes in Sunday's poll, a major upset to the establishment that raises a question mark over Mexico's relations with its powerful northern neighbor, its main trading partner.

Despite Trump's hard line on migrants, his threats to build a wall on the border and shake up trade, and in spite of AMLO promising to "put Trump in his place," both leaders appeared determined to get off to a good start in a phone conversation held immediately after the Mexican's landslide.

Trump's National Security Advisor, the hawkish John Bolton, said the US president will "look forward" to what he predicted would be a productive meeting with AMLO.

"Having the two leaders get together may produce some surprising results," Bolton said.

Beyond the optimistic rhetoric, analysts suggest there are number of potential points of conflict ahead, even if AMLO moderates his approach upon taking office.

More Lula than Chavez

AMLO, the 64-year-old former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency on his third attempt with a promise of "radical change," but his administration is expected to dial things down now he is finally in power.

Former Brazilian president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is more likely to be

 the model for Mexican president-elect Andres manuel Lopez Obrador than the late 

Venezuelan Socialist leader Hugo Chavez, analysts said (AFP Photo/Nelson ALMEIDA)

"AMLO will govern more like fellow leftist Lula da Silva in Brazil than (the late Hugo) Chavez in Venezuela," said analyst Mark Rosenberg of the GeoQuant consultants.

Jason Marczak, Latin America director at the Atlantic Council, was more emphatic: "AMLO is not Chavez."

"Will AMLO seek to implement social reforms in a pragmatic way like Lula did?" he asked.

"Yes, in that respect I think he will follow that path. AMLO, like Lula, is also seen by his followers like a savior with superhuman status.

"But the economic context in which AMLO arrives to power is very different from the one Lula inherited."

Lopez Obrador won largely because Mexicans are fed up with corruption, impunity and violence, and not because of the US leader's angry outbursts at everything south of the Rio Grande, added Marczak.

"Washington can and should seize upon this moment to recalibrate relations with Mexico, to not just maintain, but deepen the cooperation that benefits both our countries."

Kindred spirit?

Despite sharp differences in their backgrounds, the Mexican leftist has much in common with the showy 72-year old New York real estate magnate.

"Both men are nationalists who see themselves as redeemers who have to take on a 'corrupt' and inefficient establishment and have an agenda of putting their country first," said Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the Cato Institute, who argued Trump could see AMLO as a "kindred spirit."

A man holds a sign during a protest against US President Donald Trump outside 

the US Embassy in Mexico City in March 2018 as the seventh round of NAFTA

 (North American Free Trade Agreement) talks took place in the city (AFP Photo/

ALFREDO ESTRELLA)

But, he warned, it could also go the other way. "They are populists, and populists need enemies to survive politically," he said, and AMLO could find that external enemy in Trump.

Michael Shifter, head of the Inter-American Dialogue center, argued the most sensitive and volatile issues are likely to be NAFTA, security cooperation and immigration.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, signed in 1994 and regulating commerce between the United States, Canada and Mexico, has been a particular target for Trump's ire since he launched his campaign in 2015.

Trump ordered fresh negotiations to open last August to re-examine the complex trade deal, but Rosenberg said that protectionist urges on both sides will be complicate efforts to renew the pact.

Hidalgo said it was "likely that AMLO's campaign promises to seek self-sufficiency in food production will be the biggest stumbling block in the renegotiation."

"We can predict AMLO bringing the same brash approach to trade talks as his American counterpart," said Marczak. "As a result, trade talks are expected to become more difficult as the NAFTA partners seek to find a new compromise."