Carrie Kahn

Violence, Hardship Fuels Central American Immigration To U.S.

Carrie Kahn — Sun, 05 May 2013 09:24:00 +0000

William Ordonez and his wife, Carolia, thought that starting a new business in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was a great idea.

But just two weeks after they started selling chips, candy and soda, gang members showed up and ordered them to pay about $25 a week.

"We tried explaining to them that we just opened, we aren't making that much, we can't pay you," Ordonez says.

The men didn't care, so Ordonez went to the police. He says instead of helping, the police told the gang that Ordonez and his wife had complained.

Three Decades On, Ex-Guatemalan Leader Faces Genocide Charges

Carrie Kahn — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:07:00 +0000

In a Guatemalan courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors will present their case against a former military dictator who ruled during one of the bloodiest periods in the Central American nation's 36-year civil war.

Efrain Rios Montt is accused of genocide in the murder of tens of thousands of Guatemala's Indians.

Venezuelan Oil Subsidies Still Buoy Neighbors, For Now

Carrie Kahn — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:40:00 +0000

Venezuela's late president, Hugo Chavez, was a tremendous supporter of Latin American countries, especially those sympathetic to his socialist ideals.

The country's vast oil reserves are a key source of economic aid, but the Chavez didn't just help out his ideological peers like Cuba and Nicaragua. He was also a great benefactor to key U.S.

The Pope Emeritus' New Shoes And The Mexican Man Who Makes Them

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:33:00 +0000

As Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican and his papacy, he slipped out of his trademark red shoes and put on a pair of Mexican leather loafers. The shoes, actually three pairs, two burgundy and one brown, were a gift to the Pope during his trip last year to Mexico.

Armando Martin Dueñas is the Catholic cobbler who made the pope's new favorite footwear. Martin Dueñas hails from the Mexican city of Leon, which has a 400-year history of shoe making. His great grandfather started the family tradition.

Mexico's 'Crisis Of Disappearance': Families Seek Answers

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:00:00 +0000

Maximina Hernandez says she begged her 23-year old son, Dionicio, to give up his job as a police officer in a suburb of Monterrey. Rival drug cartels have been battling in the northern Mexican city for years.

But he told her being a police officer was in his blood, a family tradition. He was detailed to guard the town's mayor.

In May 2007, on his way to work, two men wearing police uniforms stopped Dionicio on a busy street, pulled him from his car and drove him away. That same day, the mayor's other two bodyguards were also abducted.

The Mexico-Canada Guest-Worker Program: A Model For The U.S.?

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:22:00 +0000

In the U.S., farmers and farm workers alike say the current system to import temporary workers, especially in agriculture, is slow and fraught with abuses.

But the shape of a new guest-worker program is still being hashed out. Some say the U.S. should import temporary workers the same way Canada does. For nearly four decades, the governments of Canada and Mexico have cooperated to fill agriculture jobs that Canadian citizens won't do, and that Mexicans are clamoring to get.

On a recent day, the line outside the state labor office in downtown Puebla, Mexico, is long.

'Sick And Tired,' Residents In Southern Mexico Defend Themselves

Carrie Kahn — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 10:31:00 +0000

On the main road into the Mexican town of Ayutla, about 75 miles southeast of Acapulco, about a dozen men cradling shotguns and rusted machetes stand guard on a street corner.

Buyback Program Gets Some Guns Off Mexican Streets

Carrie Kahn — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:36:00 +0000

In Mexico, a country plagued by drug cartel violence, the mayor of the capital city is offering residents cash, new bikes and computers in exchange for their guns. He says the buyback program will get dangerous weapons out of the hands of residents and make the streets safer.

But not all mayors in Mexico — where it's extremely difficult to legally buy a gun — are rushing to replicate the program.

Maya Struggle With Poverty, Honoring Their Roots

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:03:00 +0000

The Mayan people of Mexico and Central America received quite a bit of attention this month thanks to a misinterpretation of their calendar. Word spread all over the globe that the ancient culture had predicted the world would end on Dec. 21.

The news attracted tens of thousands of tourists, who flocked to Mayan sites to await the prophecy. Since the world didn't end, the tourists went home.

High Expectations Welcome Mexico's New President

Carrie Kahn — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 11:28:00 +0000

It's Inauguration Day in Mexico, and President Enrique Pena Nieto inherits a country with a mixed record.

Most of Mexico is embroiled in a deadly drug war that has claimed the lives of as many as 50,000 people, but Pena Nieto is also taking over an economy that is doing surprisingly well — thanks, many say, to the outgoing head of state.

Calderon's Violent Legacy

In his final days in office, now-former President Felipe Calderon kept a low profile.