FOUND 72 BODIES OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ON A RANCH IN MEXICO At midnight, last Tuesday, Aug. 24, on a ranch in San Fernando, about 90 miles south of the United States border, in the state of Tamaulipas, dead bodies were found in a terrain: 58 men and 14 women unburied. The only survivor of the killings, of Ecuadorian origin, who, wounded, managed to flee and even succeeded in reaching a military control center, said the dead were not drug traffickers, but instead were emigrants from South and Central America that were trying to reach the United States. He made known that the offenders identified themselves as members of Los Zetas, a criminal organization, that tried to extort money from them and when they refused they were riddled with bullets. “What remains clear is that in Mexico there is a criminalization of migrants, they are goods illicitly obtained by organized criminals,” explains Mario Santiago, director of investigations for the Foundation I(de)has. “Every day there are kidnappings of migrants that occur on the trains that travel north. They are extorted and those that cannot pay for their freedom are killed… But the worse is that there is no persecution nor investigation of many of these cases,” said Santiago in a telephone interview given from Tapachula, a town on the border next to Guatemala. — elpais.com

FOREIGN MINISTERS OF MEXICO AND VENEZUELA DISCUSS THE AGENDA FOR THE SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE The Mexican Foreign Minister, Patricia Espinosa, met this Thursday with her Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, to discuss and to come to agreement on certain points in preparation for the International Summit on Climate Change that will take place in the city of Cancun (southeast) this coming November. The Mexican Foreign Minister commented that the meeting with her Venezuelan counterpart was of great importance in establishing closeness and in allowing both countries to work together on climate change. For his part, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister said that he felt satisfied in reference to the advances made towards forming new policies regarding the climate and a closer Latin American unity. “Venezuela and Mexico will work very hard on their mutual interests,” declared Maduro. With her arrival in Venezuela, the Mexican diplomat concludes her tour that has taken her to Bolivia and Ecuador. This tour through Latin America is a response to her intentions to present a common regional agenda to the XVI Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Earth Summit) that will take place from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 in the Mexican seaside resort. — www.telesurtv.net

CHILE: HOW TO TAKE CARE OF 33 MEN FOR SEVERAL MONTHS UNDERGROUND.… WITHOUT THEM GETTING DEPRESSED The letters that have been sent from the 33 miners under the northern Chilean desert have, for the most part, been optimistic. They have been trapped underground at nearly half a mile since Aug. 5 in the San Jose mine. Through the tubes each one of them has already received a flashlight, of which they were very grateful. Later they will receive piped-in lighting that will produce the light changes created by night and day. Movies will also be sent but first they will be studied to make sure they do not produce adverse emotional effects. Almost all of the men are smokers and have asked for tobacco, but the doctors have prohibited it and instead have offered sticks of nicotine gum. “They have been sent a camera. In the first place, to videotape technical questions about the mine, for example, how much water actually enters, where does it run, from where does the air flow. In the second place, to videotape themselves. In addition, we have asked them to videotape any lesions on their skin produced by the humidity. We have also asked that they tape messages for their families,” said the Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich. Starting Monday, Sept. 6 or Tuesday, Sept. 7 permanent voice communication with the outside was to be provided.– elpais.com

—Compiled and translated by Veda Arias