mexico

Busy, busy sports weekend, but first, rest in peace to Michael Jackson. For all his legal issues and perceivably strange quirks, at one time the dude truly reigned as the king of pop, and listening to his music over the weekend made me remember how his songs influenced almost every stage of my life. Back to our busy sports weekend though, which included the culmination of MLB inter-league play, the middle rounds of Wimbledon (tennis has some blazin’ stars, sorry), and the one topic that needs discussin’ – the Confederations Cup finals.

The U.S. plans to issue a travel warning to Mexico today in light of the swine flu outbreak, urging people to avoid non-necessary trips to the country.

A new strain of the swine flu has killed up to 60 people in Mexico and 8 here in the US. Mexico is also reporting more than 1,000 suspected cases. Most of the victims in Mexico have been young, healthy adults. Classes have been cancelled in Mexico City schools to help contain the illness.

Yesterday, President Obama visited Mexico and pledged to continue assisting with the drug war. However, Obama did not commit to renewing the assault weapons ban, which is something that he had pledged to do during his campaign, in his meeting with Mexican President Calderon.

An ad for the new Tex-Mex style Whopper isn't going over well with Mexican officials. The Burger King ad which is showing in Europe shows a tall, authoritative Texan with a short Mexican wrestler character teaming up to blend flavors of both cultures to create this fast food meal.

As a follow up to yesterday's blog post, Secretary of State Clinton said that the US shares responsibility for the drug violence in Mexico. And this is because weapons from the US eventually end up in Mexico and the US is an active consumer of illegal narcotics. Actually, Clinton stated the obvious in saying, "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade.

Hillary Clinton certainly was popular with Latinos when she ran for President last year. I know that she was especially popular in the border region, but for all of your Hillary lovers, you now have her representing the US as the top diplomat.

Today, Secretary of State Clinton is travelling to Mexico for a two day trip to discuss the escalating drug violence, trade, and immigration issues.

Round 2 of the World Baseball Classic begins on Saturday at Dolphins Stadium in Florida, and Sunday at Petco Park in San Diego. Even though my Dominican team lasted about as long as Bill Richardson’s Commerce Secretary gig (thank you…wait for it…KINGDOM OF THE NETHELANDS), rest assured friends, Latin American countries are still representing in the tournament.

Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, a Mexican drug lord, was placed at 701 on the Forbes list of richest men for being worth an estimated $1 billion.

The 51-year-old who has allegedly set off a wave of killings in Mexico to dominate the drug business is believed to change his cell phone every day to avoid being caught and is being compared to the late Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar.

It seems that we cannot go more than a few days without hearing more about the drug war being waged in Mexico, and now the American military is starting to pay closer attention to the crisis to avoid having to engage in a third war. Our military is already over-extended in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.