This week in history: January 27-February 2
wsws.org | 2020-01-27
25 years ago: US emergency loan to Mexico in peso crisisOn January 31, 1995, US President Bill Clinton invoked executive power to extend a $50 billion loan to Mexico amid the ongoing peso crisis. The bailout was motivated by the need to appease Wall Street investors and avert total international financial collapse. It was also an effort to deter a potential surge in immigration due to increased austerity measures and the instability of the Mexican economy.
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/01/27/twih-j27.html

Can Manufacturing Workers Take Many More of Trump's Trade "Victories"?
Dean Baker | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-27
Last week, as Donald Trump was trying to distract attention from his impeachment trial, he was holding events touting his big trade victories. The two items for celebration were the new NAFTA, dubbed by Trump as the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and a "phase one" trade deal with China. While these deals may be useful props for…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/27/can-manufacturing-workers-take-many-more-of-trumps-trade-victories/

'Nowhere on the Border,' an engrossing play on our conscience
Eric A. Gordon | peoplesworld.org | 2020-01-24
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.–The very fine Road Theatre Company is currently staging Carlos Lacámara's Nowhere on the Border (seen Jan. 18), a soul-wrenching, laser-beamed treatment of the emotional and economic issues around cross-border migration from Mexico into the U.S. Southwest. Gary (Chet Grissom), a border watch volunteer/vigilante from Pennsylvania with a son serving in Afghanistan, confronts …
peoplesworld.org/article/nowhere-on-the-border-an-engrossing-play-on-our-conscience/

FROM THE FIELD: Weeding out Mexico's unwanted beach invader
news.un.org | 2020-01-21
An invasive species of seaweed which has blighted tourist beaches in Mexico has become more aggressive due to the heating effects of climate change. But now, thanks to support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), efforts are underway to hold back its advance and protect local ecosystems.
news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2020/01/1055691

Interpretation Crisis at the Border Leads to Deportation of Mayan-Language Speakers Seeking Refuge
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-17
As the U.S. continues to use hostile policies to stop people from seeking refuge and asylum in the United States, we look at a key problem that is preventing migrants from getting due process, and in many cases getting them deported: inadequate interpretation for indigenous asylum seekers who speak Mayan languages. Guatemala has a population of 15 million people, and at least 40% of them are indigenous. In the past year, a quarter of a million Guatemalan migrants have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border. At least half of them are Mayan. Many speak little or no Spanish. This is the focus of a new report in…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/17/a_translation_crisis_at_the_border

4 Years Seeking Justice: Daughter of Slain Indigenous Environmental Leader Berta Cáceres Speaks Out
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-01-17
In Honduras, a new report by the Violence Observatory at the Honduran National Autonomous University says that at least 15 women have been murdered in the first 14 days of this year. Violence against women, LGBTQ people, indigenous leaders and environmental activists has skyrocketed in Honduras under the U.S.-backed government of President Juan Orlando Hernández. The report comes nearly four years after the Honduran indigenous environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead inside her home in La Esperanza, Honduras, by hired hitmen. Last month in the capital of Tegucigalpa, seven men were sentenced to up to 50…
www.democracynow.org/2020/1/17/berta_caceres_laura_caceres_interview