Forensic scientists have yet to identify any of the 19 corpses found recently by state police in a wooded area outside Tlajomulco. 

The Jalisco Congress has approved a bill that seeks to address victims’ rights with additional legal protection and financial restitution.

Children’s cancer hospital to open later this year

Discrimination and racism are “mental and psychological diseases” that must be tackled through public policy,  just as a doctor cures a sick patient, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum told a rapt audience at the State Congress building Tuesday.

Jocotepec Mayor Juan O’Shea and dignitaries from Plymouth, California will exchange giant keys Friday, February 21 at a local celebration marking the official sealing of sister city ties between two communities noted for fruit production industries.

Without the excessive ostentation so common in the past – although with disproportionate security, many citizens complained – Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval walked the short distance from his Guadalajara office to the Congress building on Tuesday to deliver his first annual state-of-the-state report (informe).

Reducing the violence plaguing the state of Michoacan will take more than tough words from government officials. Many communities around the world have found that getting young persons involved in cultural activities is a tried and tested method of lessening the temptations of crime.

The Tarahumara Project, that longtime resident Libby Townsend thought would be a one time trip to aid the poverty stricken indigenous people residing on the northern rim of the Copper Canyon is now in it’s eighth year.

Hundreds of extra troops and federal police officers were deployed to Michoacan this week to restore order after self-defence groups seized several small towns as they sought to flush out members of the Knights Templar drug cartel in their strongholds in and around the city of Apatzingan.

Zihuatanejo’s International Guitar Festival, tentatively scheduled this year from March 2-9, showcases guitar music of all genres and is an incredible achievement for a small group of volunteers with no corporate sponsors or big budgets. 

In what is fast becoming a New Year tradition, the U.S. State Department has reissued a state-by-state travel advisory for Mexico, elaborating on its advice on visiting certain parts of Jalisco, Nayarit and Colima.

December went out with a dreary streak of wicked winter weather marked by a straight week of sunshine-robbing cloudy skies and intermittent rain and drizzle.

When it comes to attracting tourism, the state of Jalisco, and indeed all of Mexico, has a perception problem.

Jalisco has not opened the door to same-sex marriage even though two women became the first gay couple to wed in the state last month, the director of Guadalajara’s Civil Registry said this week.

As of January 1, same-sex couples in Jalisco may enter into civil unions – contracts that enhance their inheritance rights and eligibility for social security benefits.

As you hang up your spanking new 2014 calendar and begin inking in birthdays and other special occasions to be remembered, you may also want to make note of the Mexican civic holidays, traditional festivities and special events that will come up over the next 12 months.

Energy reforms signed into law

Mexican President Enrique Pena signed far-reaching energy reforms into law at a ceremony held at the National Palace on Friday, December 20.  The new laws allow private companies to explore and drill for Mexico’s oil, ending state-owned oil monopoly Pemex’s 75-year grip on the sector.

Gates buys Nayarit hotel

Mutli-millionaire Bill Gates’ private investment company, Cascade, has purchased the Four Seasons Resort in Punta Mita, Nayarit for 200 million dollars, according to public documents. The high-end resort hotel was built in 1990 and is a popular holiday destination for U.S. celebrities.

Man killed with rosary beads

Forensic scientists believe an unidentified man found dead on a sidewalk in Guadalajara’s Colonia San Jacinto just before the holidays was strangled to death with rosary beads.  Investigators came to their decision after examining the marks on the neck of the deceased and nylon thread found on his shirt.

Octogenarian rescued from Colima Nevado

Jalisco Civil Protection personnel rescued an 80-year-old Swiss man after he became lost on the Nevado de Colima last week.  He was treated for hyperthermia and dehydration and airlifted to a hospital in Guadalajara.  Due to mild temperatures, only a few snowfalls have been reported this winter at the 4,260-meter Nevado de Colima, an extinct volcano on the border of Jalisco and Colima.

Internet on Aeromexico flights

Aeromexico will offer Internet service on at least 75 of its airplanes as of the second half of 2014.The company’s director general, Andrés Conesa, said he was proud to be the first Latin American carrier to provide this service.

Even though under state law same-sex marriage is illegal in Jalisco, a lesbian couple tied the knot last Saturday at a Guadalajara registry office.

Many eyes will be focused on a registry office in Guadalajara on Saturday as two women try to become the first same-sex couple to marry in the state of Jalisco.

Kidnappings have tripled in Jalisco in the past four years, according to the Fiscalía General (State Attorney General’s Office).