Americas: March 2012 Archives

Thursday March 29, 2012

Mexican tabloids: Black & White -- and dead all over

A typical front page for one of Mexico's biggest Nota Roja tabloids. The term means 'red press', referring to the bloodshed it features. Mexico's drug war has provided them with plenty to write about. (Photo/El Manana)

Surging drug violence brought Mexico together with the U.S. and Canada this week to talk about military co-operation to contain it.

But it took the Pope's visit to cause a temporary halt. One cartel hung out signs welcoming Benedict and pledging not to attack rival gangs while he's in the country.

With his departure, the killing that's claimed more than 47,000 lives has resumed. And with it, the debate over how best to treat it in the Mexican press -- that ranges from black-and-white, to red all over.

Canadian journalist Myles Estey has been watching it at work in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Myles's documentary

The March 29 Dispatches program

Letters about violence in Mexico in Your Dispatches

Categories: Americas, News Promo, Promo Box, The View from Here

Wednesday March 14, 2012

March 15 & 18 from - Torrimpietra, Italy - Butare, Rwanda - Beijing - Chicago - India

From our correspondents around the world...

Rwandan journalist Didier Bikorimana out with a local fisherman in Butare, Rwanda who tells him people used to fish with anti-malaria mosquito nets on this lake, but they don't anymore. (Photo: Didier Bikorimana)

Millions of people die every year and no one knows exactly why. The Million Death Study aims to change all that.

Mosquito nets are for a) mosquitos or b) fishing. Both, it turns out, and their mis-use is a problem in Rwanda.

First, Slow Food. Now, Slow Wine. Italy takes the beverage of Bacchus back to basics.

Our China correspondent takes the sting out of Dr. Wang's miracle bees in a painful test of traditional medicine.

And, we'll revisit those scaly barbarians at the gate. An update on invasive Asian carp eating their way towards the Great Lakes.

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Thursday March 8, 2012

Mexico's vigilante mayor

CBC correspondent Keith Boag has been reporting all week on drug-related violence in Mexico. (Photo: CBC)

One of the most dangerous countries in Latin America is also home, oddly enough, to one of its safest neighbourhoods.

With vicious drug gangs ravaging much of the rest of Mexico, you have to wonder what's so special about the city of San Pedro, part of Greater Monterrey.

That's one of the questions CBC correspondent Keith Boag set out to answer in a series of stories he's been filing about the insecurity in Mexico.

And for San Pedro, the key to peace seems to be the charming rogue in the Mayor's office who plays by own his disturbing rules.

Keith's dispatch

To answer some of the questions that story raises, Keith joined Rick for a brief interview. Rick began by asking about the film Keith mentions, all about this mayor. What else does it reveal about him?

Rick's chat with Keith

The March 8 Dispatches program

Categories: Americas, News Promo, Promo Box, The View from Here

Wednesday March 7, 2012

March 8 & 11, 2012 - from San Pedro, Mexico - Russia - Rome - China - Cape Town, South Africa

From our correspondents around the world....

Mauricio Fernandez Garza, mayor of the municipality of San Pedro, attends a ceremony to evaluate their police force in March, 2010. Fernandez Garza practises what some call vigilante justice, which he says keeps his city safe. (Photo: REUTERS/Tomas Bravo)

The Mexican mayor nobody messes with. Some who've tried to are dead. Vigilante justice maybe, but voters like it.

Then, Putin's Kiss: the new documentary that reveals how the Kremlin uses the country's youth to police his political opponents.

Meanwhile, Italy is trying to shake up its economy by shaking up some of the most privileged people in the country. This could get interesting.

And, China's new literature of ambition. Popular online novels preach self-promotion, at any cost.

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