Mexico

Who was that masked man? Fifteen years after his uprising shocked Mexico's status quo, and a year after he more or less dropped out of public view, Subcomandante Marcos had made a comeback appearance. At least, it seemed to be Marcos. He was, after all, wearing his trademark black ski mask. Followers were convinced.

There are just two weeks left in his presidency, but down in San Diego County the heavy machinery is grinding away at one last grand project from the administration of George W. Bush. As The Times reported Sunday, your tax dollars are paying for contractors to move mountains of earth and make canyons disappear at the U.S.-Mexico border. New fences are rising and a no-man's land is being carved into the Earth.

. President-elect Barack Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Washington on Monday to begin work on one of the most vital yet challenging of U.S. relationships. As a symbol of the ties between the two nations, incoming U.S. presidents traditionally meet with Mexico's leader before meeting with other heads of state or government.

Mexican officials have confirmed that human remains found in a barrel of chemicals in Rosarito are of a San Diego man, an alleged marijuana smuggler who disappeared after traveling to Mexico in February. Daniel LaPorte's parents, who live in Rhode Island, said they will arrange for remains kept by Mexican authorities for DNA testing to be cremated and sent to them. They expect to hold a memorial service next month.

A suspected hit man who allegedly dumped more than 300 bodies in vats of lye at the behest of a top Tijuana crime boss has been arrested near Ensenada, according to the Mexican military. Alleged crime boss Teodoro Garcia Simental, nicknamed El Teo, narrowly escaped after soldiers on Thursday raided an upscale resort outside the Baja California port city 70 miles south of San Diego, according to one Mexican news report.

The Mexican economy will contract between 0.8% and 1.8% in 2009, the central bank predicted Tuesday. Mexico sends 80% of its exports to the United States, and it has been pummeled by the U.S. recession. The bank estimates that Mexico will lose as many as 340,000 jobs this year. The bank's forecast is in contrast with the government's prediction of zero growth, which central bank President Guillermo Ortiz has called optimistic. He said Tuesday that he expected the economy to shrink between 0.

The amount of money sent home by Mexican migrants fell in 2008 for the first time on record, part of a worldwide trend that could worsen as emigrants from developing countries lose jobs in the global financial crisis. Remittances, Mexico's second-largest source of foreign income after oil, plunged 3.6% to $25 billion in 2008 compared with $26 billion for the previous year, Mexico's central bank said Tuesday.

It's difficult to determine exactly what Mexican soccer fans are more upset about these days. On the one hand, they are bewailing the inclusion of foreign-born players in the Mexican national team, no matter whether those players would strengthen it. On the other hand, they are seriously concerned about the dominance that the U.S. has exhibited over that same team for the last decade.

U.S. immigration authorities surprised press-freedom activists Thursday when they released a journalist -- fleeing alleged Mexican government persecution -- who had been held in a Texas detention center for seven months. Emilio Gutierrez Soto walked out of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in El Paso late in the afternoon and expressed relief that he would soon be reunited with his 15-year-old son. "I still don't believe it.

Silvia Guadalupe Perez burst into tears as she named the bitter ingredients of her new life as a widow: three children emotionally adrift, a mounting pile of bills and meager factory wages to pay them. "I can't . . . " Perez, 36, said as she sobbed on the witness stand. She took a sip of water and dabbed her eyes with a tissue before turning again to the prosecutor's gentle questioning.