About 1,000 indigenous people and campesinos held a march in Huixtán in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas on Feb. 25 to protest the high rates the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) charges, to oppose the construction of more dams in the region, and to demand that electric power generation not be privatized. The march was organized by the Feb. 29 Popular Struggle Front, which was also marking the eighth anniversary of its founding.

Mexican federal police on Feb. 14 announced the arrest in Culiacán, Sinaloa, of Jaime Herrera Herrera AKA "El Viejito" (Little Old Man), said to be a major manufacturer and distributor of methamphetamine for the Sinaloa Cartel. (NYT, Feb. 14) The bust came ten days after the arrest in León, Guanajuato, of José Antonio Torres Marrufo AKA "El Marrufo"—said to be leader of the Gente Nueva gang, armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel. Prosecutors suspect Marrufo of ordering the 2009 attack on a drug treatment clinic in Ciudad Juárez in which 18 people were killed. The cartel's maximum boss, Joaquín Guzmán AKA "El Chapo" (Shorty), still remains at large. (BBC News, Crónica de Hoy, RTT, Feb. 14; El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, Feb. 6; BBC News, Feb. 4)

Officials from the United States and Mexico on Feb. 20 signed an agreement that opens the way for exploration and development of oil and natural gas reservoirs along the two countries' maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico. Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Mexican Minister of Foreign Relations Patricia Espinosa, and Mexican Minister of Energy Jordy Herrera joined Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, for the signing ceremony. The signing took place on the sidelines of at a ministerial meeting of Group of 20 nations. As a result of the agreement, nearly 1.5 million acres of the US Outer Continental Shelf will now be made more accessible for exploration and production activities. Estimates by the US Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) indicate this area contains as much as 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The agreement establishes a framework for US companies and Mexico's Pemex to enter into agreements to jointly develop transboundary reservoirs.

After a decade of small-scale experimental planting, biotech multinationals are now free to start commercial development of transgenic corn in Mexico. On Dec. 31 the government's Secretariat of Agriculture, Cattle Raising, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (SAGARPA) quietly lifted the last barrier to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) for corn sold to consumers. The Missouri-based biotech giant Monsanto will lead the way by sowing 63 hectares in the northern state of Sinaloa, to be followed with genetically modified corn in other northern states: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Sonora.

At least 44 prisoners were killed in a clash between gangs at the Center for Social Readaptation (CERESO) in Apodaca, Nuevo León. Inmates erected barricades in corridors, and used improvised knives, stones and bars to fight guards and each other. Authorities said the clash pitted adherents of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel against each other. The uprising was quelled by the state police, who mobilized a helicopter to the scene. The CERESO's director and all guards on duty at the time of the revolt have been detained. The CERESO, with an official capacity of 1,500, was holding some 3,000.

Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) issued an order on Feb. 1 for the release of seven indigenous Tzotziles who had been convicted of homicide and other crimes in the December 1997 massacre of 45 indigenous campesinos in Acteal, a village in Chenalhó municipality in the southeastern state of Chiapas. The court, which has overturned the convictions of 45 others in the case since August 2009, ruled that the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) had violated the defendants' due process rights by influencing witnesses, who had been shown an album of photographs.

An unidentified man attacked Mexican human rights activist Norma Esther Andrade with a knife on the morning of Feb. 3 as she was leaving her current residence in the Coyoacán delegación (borough) of Mexico City. She was cut on one cheek by the attacker, who then fled without speaking. Andrade, a founder of the organization Our Daughters Return Home, has been a leader in denouncing the unsolved murders of hundreds of women in Ciudad Juárez in the northern state of Chihuahua. She has been staying in Mexico City since she was wounded by gunfire from unknown attackers in Ciudad Juárez on Dec. 2; local authorities claimed the attack might be a carjacking or robbery attempt.

For the past week, members of Ciudad Juárez's 2,000-strong police force have been staying in hotel and safe-houses supplied by the city government in response to threats from narco-gangs to kill a police officer every day. The officers have been ordered to stay away from their homes for three months, and supplying them with housing will cost the city some $2 million. Mayor Hector Murguia announced the move in response to a demand from the "New Generation" cartel that police chief Julian Leyzoala step down—and a pledge to murder a member of his force each day until he does so. A total of 11 officers have already been killed this year.