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.

In the parched Mexican countryside, the corn is wilting, the wheat stunted. And here in this vast and thirsty capital, officials are rationing water and threatening worse cuts as Mexico endures one of the driest spells in more than half a century. A months-long drought has affected broad swaths of the country, from the U.S. border to the Yucatan Peninsula, leaving crop fields parched and many reservoirs low. The need for rain is so dire that water officials have been rooting openly for a hurricane or two to provide a good drenching.

Mexico's reeling economy received another jolt of bad news Monday with reports of the largest monthly decline yet in the amount of money Mexicans working abroad send home. Remittances for the month of April totaled about $1.7 billion, 18.6% less than the $2.1 billion recorded in April 2008, Mexico's central bank said. After oil, remittances are Mexico's largest source of income, and their decline is certain to further erode the country's economic growth.

Earlier this year, the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego released “Drug Violence in Mexico,” a report by the institute's Cory Molzahn, Viridiana Ríos and David A. Shirk. Looking for broader perspective on the estimated 50,000 drug-war killings in Mexico since December 2006, the researchers compared Mexico's overall homicide statistics with other nations'. They found that Mexico's overall homicide rate was about 18 per 100,000 inhabitants - “uncomfortably high,” yet also “about average for the hemisphere.” In fact, that figure matches rates for the city of Los Angeles in the troubled early 1990s.

California-based multimedia artist Mike Rogers was finishing his photographs for an exhibition in Mexico City when he got an urgent e-mail from the curator: The show had been called off. The capital's contemporary art museums were broke and shutting down. The message was exaggerated. Museums are not closing -- yet. But across Mexico City's eclectic art world, museum directors, curators, artists and performers are bracing for a round of recession-triggered budget cuts that could prove devastating.

The grief-numbed parents of Hermosillo buried their babies and waited for answers. When none came, they marched. When they got desperate, they traveled the thousand miles to Mexico City and marched some more. They carried banners with photos of their children -- 48 in all -- killed when fire tore through a crowded day-care center named ABC. More than a month after the June 5 blaze in the northern state of Sonora, satisfying answers are in short supply.

Halfway through the Mexican national team's morning workout Saturday, a man slowly wheeled a cart full of baseballs toward the middle of the infield. Not every team has the luxury of using a 17-year major league veteran and Cy Young Award winner to keep its batting practice pitcher supplied with balls. But in this case, Fernando Valenzuela was only too eager to oblige. "Whatever they need," Valenzuela said. "I'm real, real happy to be part of this."

The video of the beating and sexual abuse of five young alleged thieves at the hands of vigilantes has provoked widespread outrage here. But in some quarters, there have been disquieting voices of approval. The video landed on YouTube. It shows the cowering teenage boys being slapped in the face and forced to French kiss one another. Each is forced to say that they are about to be raped as punishment for robbing houses. In the state of Nayarit, where the incident took place, many people suspect that the abusers might be police officers.

Re "Mexico Is Savoring Its Roots," June 23: Thanks for the keen insight into changes in Mexico. It really changes my opinion when I read about the country's new trend in cuisine, an "$11.50 dish, a favorite of senators" being a plate of worms. JOHN CROWLEY Redondo Beach