Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The day he was arrested, Luis was in a government office trying to get a document attesting to his clean criminal history so he could apply for a call center job.

“What I wanted at that time was something better for my life,” said the 23-year-old, who was working as a baker.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Mexico's president has requested permission from the Mexican Senate to allow a group of U.S. military personnel to enter the country to train Mexican special forces in early 2024, according to an announcement in the Senate's official gazette.

The presence of U.S. military personnel on Mexican soil has long been a sensitive issue in Mexico, which lost much of its territory to the United States due to war in the 1840s and also endured U.S. military incursions in the early 20th century.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — During the first minutes of Oct. 25 when Hurricane Otis roared into Acapulco Bay with 165 mph winds, sailor Ruben Torres recorded a 10-second audio message from a yacht called the Sereno.

“All things considered I’m alright, but it’s really horrible, it’s really horrible, it’s really horrible,” he said over the howling wind and the boat’s beeping alarms. “Family, I don’t want to exaggerate, but pray for us because it’s really awful out here.”

SANTA MARÍA ATZOMPA, México (AP) — Ana Martínez is eager to welcome her deceased loved ones back home.

Martínez and others in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state wait with anticipation for Day of the Dead celebrations every Nov. 1, when families place homemade altars to honor their dearly departed and spend the night at the cemetery, lighting candles in the hope of illuminating their paths.

“We preserve the culture of our ancestors, and that is why we make our altars,” said Martínez, 41, who lives in the town of Santa María Atzompa.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Three foreign residents were among at least 47 people killed when Hurricane Otis devastated Mexico’s resort city of Acapulco last week, officials said Monday, as the search for the missing focused on submerged boats.

Those confirmed dead included one American, one Canadian and one person from England, all of whom had been living in Acapulco for some time and were not considered tourists, local prosecutors said.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — More resources are arriving on Mexico’s battered Pacific coast, and the death toll from Hurricane Otis is growing as searchers recover more bodies from Acapulco’s harbor and under fallen trees and other storm debris.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Saturday that his opponents are trying to inflate the toll to damage him politically, but few expect the latest mark of 39 dead to be where it stops. Hundreds of families are still awaiting word from loved ones.

ACAPULCO, Mexico, Oct 26 (Reuters) - At least 27 people died due to Hurricane Otis, Mexico's government said on Thursday after one of the most powerful storms to hit the country unleashed devastation in the Pacific beach resort of Acapulco early the day before.

Otis flooded streets, ripped roofs off homes and hotels and severed communications, road and air access, leaving a trail of devastation across Acapulco, a city of nearly 900,000. Four more people are still missing, the government said.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Otis ripped through Mexico’s southern Pacific coast early Wednesday as a powerful Category 5 storm, dousing steep mountains and leaving a trail of damage in Acapulco before weakening.

Photos and video shared by local media after dawn broke in Acapulco showed the walls of buildings ripped off, flooded hotel rooms with collapsed ceilings, and rubble and downed trees lining the streets. Persistent rain and flooding made it difficult to move.

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday urged the U.S. government to give "clear definitions" on migration and the economic blockade against Cuba, which he considers a "flagrant violation of human rights."

"We are proposing that the U.S. government open a dialogue (with Cuba)," said the president at a daily press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City.

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Norma came ashore near the resorts of Los Cabos at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula on Saturday afternoon, and hours later Hurricane Tammy made landfall on the Caribbean island of Barbuda.

Both storms were Category 1 hurricanes when they hit.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Norma, once a Category 4 hurricane, moved ashore with winds of 80 mph (130 kph) near el Pozo de Cota, west-northwest of Cabo San Lucas.