Calderon

Mexican President Felipe Calderon proposed sweeping political reforms Tuesday that would allow federal lawmakers and some other officials to be reelected and provide for runoff elections for president if no candidate gained more than half the votes. Calderon said the reforms would make Mexican officials more accountable to voters, who tend to view politicians across a deep chasm of cynicism and mistrust. Some of the proposed changes, such as making room on the ballot for independent candidates, have been promoted by activists as a way to let fresh air into Mexico's musty political system and improve citizen participation as the country tries to develop a real democracy.

MEXICO CITY - Gen. Tomas Angeles Dauahare, who once held the plum post of military attache to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, was rumored to be the next defense minister of Mexico. Until that day in May last year when he and three other top military men were arrested on suspicion of working on behalf of a notorious drug cartel. It was the largest indictment of army officers on charges of drug-trafficking in recent memory, hailed in many quarters as proof of then-President Felipe Calderon's determination to root out corruption at every level.

With Assemblyman Charles M. Calderon (D-Alhambra) playing a pivotal role, the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Monday approved a bill to broaden the definition of obscenity in California and encourage more prosecutions against peddlers of lewd materials. Calderon fashioned a compromise, combining language in a bill by Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) with a bill by Sen. Waddie Deddeh (D-Chula Vista) that passed the Senate last year.

MEXICO CITY - The number of people who went missing in Mexico during the six years of former President Felipe Calderon's administration stands at 26,121, government officials said Tuesday, a figure that would rank among the worst episodes of "disappearances" in Latin American history. The official statistic, which includes people reported missing between December 2006 and November 2012, was released at a news conference by Lia Limon, the subsecretary for legal affairs and human rights under new President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office Dec. 1. Her announcement came days after Human Rights Watch issued a scathing report that blamed Mexican security forces for many disappearances during the government's crackdown on domestic drug cartels, which began in earnest in December 2006.

Almost everything to do with the Mexican government's war against drugs is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The threat from narco-trafficking is overblown. Fighting cartels won't stop the flow of illegal drugs or erase Mexican corruption. The real battle over drugs lies on the U.S. side of the border. That's the gist of a provocative new book that challenges virtually every premise on which Mexican President Felipe Calderon has based his 3-year-old offensive against drug cartels. "El Narco: La Guerra Fallida" ("Narco: The Failed War")

When Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug cartels in 2006, he summoned his military to serve as the tip of the spear. Since then, nearly 50,000 uniformed Mexican military personnel have manned roadblocks, patrolled cities haunted by drug killings and raided houses in search of traffickers and contraband. But as doubts mount over the effectiveness of Calderon's anti-drug crusade, with its death toll of 18,000 people, so do the political risks for Mexico's military, traditionally one of the nation's most trusted institutions.

Re "$3.2 million for legislators' cars," June 16 I think a state-provided vehicle is a reasonable allowance that can help a legislator do his or her job effectively. But, as a California taxpayer, I do not like paying for luxury vehicles when basic transportation will do. Particularly galling is Sen. Ron Calderon's (D-Montebello) decision to bill us nearly $40,000 for a Cadillac. Calderon's comment in your story is both evasive and unctuous: "If there is a decision to disallow the use of vehicles in the district, I would happily surrender the vehicle I now drive in commonality with the sacrifices others are making in these difficult economic times."

In contrast to their upbeat public assessments, U.S. officials expressed frustration with a "risk averse" Mexican army and rivalries among security agencies that have hampered the Mexican government's war against drug cartels, according to secret U.S. diplomatic cables disclosed Thursday. The cables quoted Mexican officials expressing fear that the government was losing control of parts of its national territory and that time was "running out" to rein in drug violence. The cables gave a much starker view of the pitfalls and obstacles facing Mexican President Felipe Calderon, a departure from the public statements of unwavering support that have come out of Washington for most of the 4-year-old war, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

Driving into Mexico has been a largely hassle-free experience for decades: There were few customs inspectors, even fewer gates, and for most border crossers, no questions asked. That's about to change. The Mexican government is modernizing its ports of entry along the border, including its biggest crossing in Tijuana. The new infrastructure -- which includes gates, cameras and vehicle scales -- is meant to help curtail the flow of drug money and weapons to Mexican organized crime groups.

In early December, Liu Zhangning was tending her cabbage patch when she saw a tall yellow construction crane in the distance. At night, the work lights made it seem like day. Fifteen days later, a 30-story hotel towered over her village on the outskirts of the city like a glass and steel obelisk. "I couldn't really believe it," Liu said. "They built that thing in under a month. " A time-lapse video of the project in Changsha, which shows the prefabricated building being assembled on site, has racked up more than 5 million views on YouTube and left Western architects speechless.

LAKERS AT DETROIT When: 10 a.m. PST. Where : The Palace of Auburn Hills. On the air: TV: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330. Records: Lakers 21-26; Pistons 18-29. Record vs. Pistons: 1-0. Update: The Lakers' 108-79 victory over Detroit in November was the only one this season for former coach Mike Brown before he was fired. Recently acquired point guard Jose Calderon is doubtful to play Sunday for Detroit because of visa issues.

Rudy Gay is on his way to Toronto in the latest and most dramatic move in the Memphis Grizzlies' makeover, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press. The Grizzlies agreed to trade their star swingman to the Raptors on Wednesday, parting with the leading scorer on a team that has aspirations of making a run in the powerful Western Conference. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. The Raptors gave up point guard Jose Calderon and forward Ed Davis in the deal, and another person familiar with the negotiations said the Grizzlies were in discussion with the Detroit Pistons to swap Calderon for Austin Daye and Tayshaun Prince.

MEXICO CITY - The case against six Mexican military officers accused of colluding with the Beltran Leyva drug cartel may be falling apart as federal prosecutors under new President Enrique Peña Nieto have reportedly admitted they lack sufficient evidence to back up the government's allegations. The prosecutors' statement to a federal judge presiding over the criminal case was included in court documents obtained by the newspaper Reforma and published Tuesday. A representative of the Mexican attorney general's office would not comment.

MEXICO CITY - On the eve of Mexico's Day of the Dead this year, authorities in Veracruz declared triumphantly that they had solved one of the decade's most notorious slayings of a journalist in Mexico. They trotted before reporters a sad-sack figure, one Jorge Antonio Hernandez Silva. They proclaimed him guilty of the April slaying of Regina Martinez, a highly respected reporter for the national Proceso magazine. He had confessed, the Veracruz government said, and the motive was robbery.

MEXICO CITY -- "Excuse me, Mr. President. I cannot say you are welcome here, because for me, you are not. No one is. " The woman's voice trembled with bitterness and apprehension. She stood just  a few feet away  from a low stage where Mexican President Felipe Calderon, his wife, Margarita Zavala, and top members of his Cabinet were seated at a tightly controlled forum in Ciudad Juarez on  Feb. 11, 2010. "No one is doing anything! I want justice, not just for my children, but for all of the children," she went on. "Juarez is in mourning!"

MEXICO CITY - When Enrique Peña Nieto assumes the Mexican presidency on Saturday, returning to power a once-autocratic party that ruled for seven decades, he will immediately confront a sluggish economy and a bloody war against drug gangs. How he will handle those two problems is the biggest question surrounding the incoming government. Peña Nieto, 46, and his Institutional Revolutionary Party want to shift the focus away from the battle against drug cartels that consumed and ultimately haunted outgoing President Felipe Calderon.

Mexico received more bad economic news Friday with a report that shows poverty is steadily on the rise. The number of Mexicans living in poverty grew to 52 million in 2010, up by more than 3 million people from two years earlier, the report says. That means 46.2% of the population lives in poverty. Within that group, 11.7 million people live in extreme poverty, a figure that held steady over the same period. The report was produced by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, an autonomous but federally financed agency, and represents the state's most comprehensive study of poverty to date.

MEXICO CITY - The case against six Mexican military officers accused of colluding with the Beltran Leyva drug cartel may be falling apart as federal prosecutors under new President Enrique Peña Nieto have reportedly admitted they lack sufficient evidence to back up the government's allegations. The prosecutors' statement to a federal judge presiding over the criminal case was included in court documents obtained by the newspaper Reforma and published Tuesday. A representative of the Mexican attorney general's office would not comment.

MEXICO CITY - In the six years of outgoing President Felipe Calderon's war against drug gangs, the U.S. became a principal player in Mexico, sending drones and sniffer dogs, police trainers and intelligence agents to a country long suspicious of its powerful neighbor. Calderon, who steps down Saturday, essentially rewrote the rules under which foreign forces could act here in matters of national security. There has been relatively little public protest, reflecting the severity of a conflict that has killed tens of thousands nationwide and spread violence south into Central America - without significantly reducing the flow of drugs.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon will head to Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., after his six-year term ends Saturday. He will be a teaching and research fellow in 2013, the university and the president's office said in statements Wednesday. The announcement put to rest one of the most pressing questions in Mexico's political chatterbox: What's the next post or destination for Calderon, who declared a military-led campaign against drug cartels that left scores of civilians dead or missing across the country?