Los Algodones, Baja California; Mexico

This is not the End of the World, but you can see it from here!



Friday, May 31, 2013

Nuts in the City

A bloody free-for-all has broken out in Mexico City. Gangs of young women punch and claw each others' faces. Office workers suddenly explode into rages and start attacking colleagues. A restaurant kitchen bursts into a fiery melee.
Cutting through the music-video carnage, a woman's voice, tender and empathetic as a grieving angel's, laments the shocking scene. "Everything was joyful in my city/ My tree flowered/ Everyone wanted to come here/ But my blood spilled..../ Now I breathe fear."
Aficionados of rock en espanol will instantly recognize the distinctive sound of Mexican-American singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas, who's glimpsed a few times in the video for "Tuve Para Dar" (I Had to Give), the first single off her latest album, "Los Momentos" (The Moments).
Passing through L.A. recently to promote her new disc, Venegas, who was born in Long Beach, Calif., and raised in Tijuana, said the metaphorical references to Mexico's recent epidemic of drug-related violence in "Tuve Para Dar" reflected her desire to "talk about things that were mas profundidades" - more profound - "maybe even harder themes like sadness or loneliness or fear."
An intensely introspective quality has been associated with Venegas ever since she started performing and recording in the 1990s. It helped her become both a fan favorite and a critics' sweetheart, with landmark albums like "Aqui" (1997) and "Bueninvento" (2000), as well as a powerful female presence in the still macho-centric world of Latin rock.
As her new album's title suggests, Venegas wanted the songs in "Los Momentos" to feel personal and immediate. She wrote and recorded the album while raising her 3-year-old daughter as a single mother, and several songs allude to the challenges of negotiating a space between one's private and public selves.
"Having a child kind of gives you like a good - ack! It totally shook me up and just took all my fears away creatively. It just made me fearless, somehow," she said during an interview at a publicist's loft downtown.
She paused, as if reconsidering. "I don't know if it has to do with being a mom or it just has to do with growing up, I guess, just being able to express different things. And I realized that I wasn't in the mood for easy songs at all."
Maturity seems to have settled comfortably on Venegas, 42, who recently opened a tour in Brazil that she expects will bring her to Los Angeles this fall.
A precocious talent, she grew up in Tijuana playing piano and studying music theory. Later, jamming with various bands, she became part of the border city's first-wave forays into aggressive fusions of ska, reggae, rock and Mexican regional music.
But it wasn't until she moved to Mexico City, where she continues to live, that Venegas began to seriously pursue her own songwriting, which led to her first album, "Aqui," produced in L.A. by Gustavo Santaolalla. Along with bands like Cafe Tacuba, Venegas helped invent Mexican alternative rock by introducing a more worldly sensibility and traditional instrumental textures to a Mexican rock scene that too often had simply mimicked Anglo-American guitar-god swagger.
Her new album retraces part of that evolutionary path through collaborations with old friends such as the Mexican singer-songwriters Ceci Bastida and Natalia Lafourcade, Cafe Tacuba lead singer Ruben Albarran, and Ana Tijoux, the French Chilean rapper-chanteuse. Fittingly, the song on which Albarran and Tijoux appear, "Vuelve" (Come Back), deals with themes of friendship, exile and reconciliation.
"As soon as I wrote 'Vuelve' I thought of Ana," Venegas said, "because I thought that she could give another vision to the song. Because the song is about telling somebody from out of Mexico to come back to my country."
Produced by Yamil Rezc, who has teamed up with Mexican progressive bands like Zoe and Hello Seahorse!, "Los Momentos" follows the current global passion for electronic dance music. The record derives its subtle power from the tension between its dreamy, electro-pop surfaces and the pensive lyrics often rumbling beneath them.
Longtime followers of Venegas may regard "Los Momentos" as residing somewhere between her early records and later, more commercially oriented releases such as "Si" (Yes), from 2003, and "Limon y Sal" (Lemon and Salt), which came out three years later. Those albums, packed with catchy love songs, were greeted with approval by Spanish-language radio programmers, but with less enthusiasm by those who thought that Venegas was moving away from her indie roots.
Venegas, for her part, seems unconcerned with such chatter, maybe because she's too busy with her new projects. They include contributing "four or five" songs to a Mexican animated children's film, and working on music for another film, which she said she's not yet at liberty to name.
Lending her efforts to other peoples' creative ventures has been liberating, she said, "because it takes me out of my own space and it takes me out of my own stories and my dramas."
As for her private world, she finds it rewardingly absorbing - especially since she built a recording studio next door to her house.
"When we were doing the album, everything just felt so natural," she said. "I would say, 'You know what, guys, I'm going to go bathe my child and put her in bed, and I'll be back,' and I'd come back, and it was great because I didn't have to disconnect one thing from the other. It was all kind of interconnected."

Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2013/05/30/3512494/for-julieta-venegas-its-a-time.html#storylink=cpy

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Soldiers flood western Mexico to protect towns

Mexico's top security officials promised Tuesday that a new federal offensive to rescue towns besieged by the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Michoacan state would stay "until there is security and peace for all state residents."

Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong and his national security team met with local officials in the state capital of Morelia at a time of escalating tensions in Michoacan, where communities mistrustful of state authorities have been creating their own vigilante forces for protection against the cartels.

But Osorio Chong provided few details or an explanation of how sending troops to Michoacan would work any better than it had in the past. Then President Felipe Calderon made the same move when he launched a nationwide offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.

"The difference is the strategy," Osorio Chong said. "There will be a central command, close coordination between state and federal security ... and a system of intelligence that will permit us to move forward."

He did not answer when a reporter asked for specific dollar amounts or new programs behind the effort.

Michoacan is the Mexican state most visibly dominated by a drug cartel.

Gunmen in vehicles marked only with the Knights Templar symbol, a red cross, roam the countryside, burning businesses and homes of anyone who refuses to pay them protection money.

The cartel has boldly marked its territory by building small roadside chapels to "Saint Nazario," a fallen leader of the quasi-religious drug cartel who was killed in a battle with police in 2010.

As convoys of soldiers rode into the steamy territory known as Tierra Caliente late Monday, they passed the remains of chapels destroyed by local self-defense groups that sprang up in February to fight the cartel.

In the town of Coalcoman, soldiers sped past the still-smoldering remains of at least three sawmills torched by the cartel's gunmen last week after that town rose up against them. They also passed burned-out hulks of two trucks and a passenger bus set afire by gunmen on the highway outside town as a warning to anyone who tried to bring supplies or reinforcements in.

Coalcoman was the latest of several communities to form an armed self-defense group to kick out the Knights Templar cartel and end their extortion racket.

"They demanded we pay 120 pesos (about $10) for every square meter of wood we sold," said one of the sawmill owners whose business was burned. Gunmen torched the mills that didn't pay, said the owner, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

Local avocado growers were charged 2,000 pesos (about $175) for every hectare of orchards they owned.

"The man who charged you would say it was money for `the company.' They didn't say the name of the cartel," recalled one resident of the town of Buenavista, who later battled the cartel. "But if you didn't pay, the trucks with the red crosses would show up and start killing people."

Like most cartel opponents, the man wouldn't give his name for fear of reprisals.

Government intervention until now has been against the community patrols. Some 40 members of vigilante patrols were arrested in April after the government accused them of having links to a rival drug cartel, Jalisco Nueva Generation. Townspeople deny that.

Still, residents of La Ruana lined up on the town's main street Monday to cheer the arrival of the soldiers.

Hipolito Mora, the leader of the self-defense forces in La Ruana, agreed to stop community patrols and let the army take over patrolling.

"We reached an agreement that we are going to return to our homes and work," Mora told the crowd of cheering townspeople. "But I told them (the army) that if they leave us alone for one day, we are going to return to duty again."

The secretary of defense, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, said the vigilante groups had disappeared when troops arrived.

"It's a very complex problem, because there are some who are taking up arms to protect their communities and others who are not, who are financed by other groups," he said.

Mexico Teacher Position Open

Posted: Tue 21st May 2013 14:57 GMT   Add to My Jobs' FolderAdd to My Jobs' Folder
EFL Teacher
Santa Maria Educativa
Location Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico
Deadline --
Experience 1 year
Details
Institution: Our school is a non-profit regular school providing PreK-12 instruction in content areas (English, Spanish, math, science, etc.), accredited by the State of Sonora, Mexico. A major goal is to have English class (ESL PreK-12) taught by native speakers with TESL training and experience and/or Teacher training and experience.

Qualifications: Bachelor degree in Education or ESL Certification or Teacher Certification, teaching experience in regular school, master degree in education or ESL (desired).

Teaching Duties: Teachers are expected to work Monday to Friday, from 6:45 am to 3:00 pm. (class time, recess and students´ entrance and exit supervision, weekly class planning). Included in the time between 6:45 and 3:00 there is a weekly staff meeting and an individual weekly meeting with the academic coordinator. These meetings are where teachers and the academic coordinator have the opportunity to review lesson plans, test design, observations, student performance, and general school happenings. In addition to the regular school day, there is a monthly training session and several special events that the school holds throughout the school year where teachers are expected to participate (Christmas Play, Parents meetings, one sport event, etc.).
We ask for flexibility in our teachers, and at the same time strive to respect personal preferences, leaving open the possibilities for changes in classroom assignment according to the needs of the school. Generally, each English teacher teaches at 3 different grade levels at a time.
Teachers at our school are expected to participate actively and implement the discipline rules the school sets, inside and outside the classroom, working as a team with the rest of teachers and school officials.

Contract Period: Scholastic year contracts: August, 2013 – June, 2014.


Transportation: Transportation to the city of Guaymas is at the teacher’s expense. Guaymas has an international airport with flights to the U.S., and the city is a five-hour drive from the Arizona, USA border on a modern four-lane divided highway (foreign cars do not need special permit). Another (and maybe more affordable) option is to fly into Tucson or Phoenix, AZ and then take a bus into Guaymas. The city of Hermosillo, Sonora´s capital, is an hour drive from Guaymas, providing a very wide choice of national and international flights.


Location: Guaymas is a seaport of about 100,000 inhabitants on the Gulf of California, backed by the Sonoran desert. A few miles from Guaymas is the beautiful seaside resort of San Carlos, a fast-growing recreational area with beautiful cliffside homes and great recreational activities such as diving, snorkeling, kayaking, fishing, and water sports.
Many Americans and Canadians own homes in San Carlos due to its proximity to the border and its beauty. Because of its southerly latitude (mid-Florida) and location on the Gulf, summers are hot and winters are mild and sunny, with very warm water temperatures.

TO APPLY, SEND:

1) A detailed and current resume, with picture.
2) Three teaching references that include telephone and email contact, along with letters of reference.
3) A cover letter explaining your interest in this position and your qualifications.

RESPOND TO THIS AD
Gerardo Rodriguez
Tel : (52) 622-222-1861
Qualifications
ESL/EFL Certificate needed, teacher certification desired, experience at regular school desired
Compensation
Payment Schedule: Salary paid at end of each contract month and on the 15th of each month (two payments per month).

Salary: Salary will be paid in pesos. The monthly salary will be $12,292 pesos before Mexican taxes are deducted ($10,774 after taxes).

Renewal: Each annual contract is subject to renewal with increase in salary, dependent upon successful completion of the contract, quality of performance, positive evaluations, and mutual consent of the teacher and the administration of Colegio Navarrete. Teachers with a multi-year commitment to Mexico and the institution are encouraged to apply.

Vacation Leave: Two major holiday periods occur during the school year--- Christmas vacation and Spring Break---each of which is approximately two to three weeks, plus various other Mexican holidays.
These are paid holidays. They cannot accrue as cash and must be taken during the scheduled holiday dates.


Sick Leave: Colegio Navarrete will provide 3 days of paid sick leave. After the expiration of these 3 days, teachers who find themselves in a position of needing more leave, upon presentation of proof, will be granted leave with a deduction in pay at the daily rate. The school does not provide Mexican school medical insurance.
Medical facilities are available in Guaymas and in Hermosillo, and Tucson, Arizona is only an hour’s flight from Guaymas, and 5 hour drive.

Housing: Colegio Navarrete does not have faculty housing available. However, the institution will assist new teachers in finding suitable housing. We suggest that teachers arrive, at latest, 3 days before start of contract for the purposes of getting settled. We will provide host housing for three days, during which time teachers can look for an apartment, with our help. After the three day period has expired, we respectfully request that teachers who have not yet found housing, relocate at their own expense. It is estimated that a one- or two-bedroom furnished apartment, either in Guaymas or in San Carlos, can be rented for between $2000 - $3500 pesos per month, depending on the location.

Visa, Mexican: Colegio Navarrete will facilitate application for the visa to work in Mexico and reimburse all visa fees at end of contract. Processing may take several weeks. Teachers require to bring their passport, birth certificate, apostillized diploma (ESL or bachelor) and ask for a Tourist visa when entering Mexico (which would be exchanged for a working visa once in Guaymas)



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Company/Organisation
Address Totoaba s/n Col Aurora Final Altos
Colegio Navarrete
Guaymas, Sonora
85420 - Mexico
Telephone 011526222226655
Fax 011526222226655
Contact person Gerardo, CEO
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    Sunday, May 19, 2013

    Tijuana: Where the world’s migrants wait

    A border metropolis with a population of almost 3 million, Tijuana, Mexico, is a perfect location for bi-national, international, legal and illegal activities.

    Because it is the largest border metropolis in Mexico, Tijuana is a popular place for the U.S. government to drop deported individuals. They seem to believe nobody will notice! Migrant groups intersect at the border — exiting and the other arriving.

    In recent years, the number of deportations has escalated to unprecedented figures. According to Instituto Nacional de Migración, the state of Baja California, which is immediately south of the U.S. state of California, leads all states in Mexico in the number of repatriated migrants received from the United States.

    The number of deportations from the United States to Tijuana alone each year averages 100,000. Because of this, an estimated more than 3,000 deported individuals wander around Tijuana every day.

    Baja California receives more than 33 percent of the more than 400,000 people deported annually from the United States.

    This number does not reflect the migrants going north. Migrants remain at the border until they either cross into the United States or return to their place of origin. The fusion of these migrants and their inability to move from Tijuana continues to cause a demographic explosion.

    Migrants in Tijuana also are international migrants. Many — especially those from Central America — who do not succeed in crossing or are being deported stay in Tijuana. This is the reason for a high concentration of Central Americans living in Tijuana as undocumented.

    Surprisingly, migration from Mexico to the United States is almost zero. This is because Mexico’s economy is strong and because the efforts of the United States to secure its southern border have been extraordinary.

    Puente Mexico, Tijuana River

    The Tijuana River, known in Tijuana as “El Bordo,” has become a place of refuge for thousands of Mexican and Central American migrants. At El Bordo, the riverbank that extends 2.5 miles along the U.S.– Mexico fence, migrants have built and excavated “pocitos.” Pocitos are tunnels about 15 meters (16 yards) long and a meter (3.28 feet) deep in which migrants — men and women — live in hiding from any potential assault of police or organized crime. Twenty pocitos have been found in the Tijuana River.

    At the bridges along the Tijuana River, migrants gather as a community. During their recent border visit, the United Methodist bishops talked and prayed for three migrants coming out of the United States. One of those leaving was a 16-year-old who cried as he told us his own migration and deportation story.
    Plaza el Bordo known also as “El Mapa”

    

United Methodist bishops raise their hands in prayer in El Faro Park on the Mexican side of the border fence in Tijuana during the May 7 immersion experience.
    United Methodist bishops raise their hands in prayer in El Faro Park on the Mexican side of the border fence in Tijuana during the May 7 immersion experience.
    View in Photo Gallery

    This is where people who live in the Tijuana River go for help.

    As many as 800 people may come here for a meal. This place gathers international and national migrants; migrants repatriated from the United States and migrants looking for an opportunity to cross in to the United States.

    Drug and alcohol rehabilitation is an increasing need among these migrants. Once they are in Tijuana, many migrants feel lonely and depressed because they miss their family, lack money and employment and cannot move off the Tijuana River. Some turn to drugs and other means of substance abuse to try to escape their reality. They include those recently deported and those deported several months ago.

    Male and female prostitution is common. Women are forced to prostitution because they have no other means to survive. This is where many organizations and religious groups provide help. The United Methodist Church and the Methodist Church of Mexico are active in this ministry. The United

    Coahuila and First Red Light District Zona de Tolerancia

    Procuring is illegal under federal law in Mexico; states legalize and regulate prostitution only in red-light districts.

    Prostitution is an illegal and serious clandestine crime, not only in Tijuana, but also in San Diego. Girls of 12, 13 and 14 are sold into forced prostitution. Many work on Coahuila and First streets, and a high number of them cross illegally to San Diego as sex slaves. Motels in San Diego, El Cajon and Tijuana that advertise “massages” operate this type of activity.

    More than 15,000 women work as street prostitutes, others in the city’s more than 200 clubs and brothels. The large majority of them are migrant women trapped in sex trade, sex trafficking and prostitution. Prostitution and trafficking can take place in the massage parlors and strip clubs, on the streets in cars or in a tent at the edge of fields cultivated by migrant workers. Sex traffickers or coyotes (immigrant smugglers) lure poor women and children with false promises of jobs, sometimes kidnapping those they transport to be sold.
    El Faro Friendship Park


    El Faro Park is a historic place for bi-national family reunions disrupted by the construction of a new and intimidating U.S.-Mexico wall that reaches out into the Pacific Ocean. This area also attracts international and national tourists. People come to see the monument that announces the boundaries between the United States and Mexico. Visitors are curious to see and touch the $4 million wall that separates the countries.

    Methodist ministers from the United States and Mexico serve Holy Communion here every Sunday. The United Methodist bishops celebrated Communion without borders, laid hands on the wall and prayed for families separated by the border and immigration. Leaders from the Methodist Church of Mexico and the California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference as well as the United Methodist bishops conducted the service.

    Friday, May 17, 2013

    Mexico new plan to tackle drug violence

     A Mexican general took over all police and military operations in a chaotic western state on Thursday in a test run of President Enrique Pena Nieto's new security strategy. 

    Alberto Reyes assumed control of all federal, state and city police forces, as well as military units in Michoacan, one of the most violent states in the country, after he was named the state's new security minister.
    Big swathes of Michoacan have fallen under the sway of criminal gangs who are fighting among themselves and against authorities. Former President Felipe Calderon launched his military-led crackdown on drug cartels there in 2006.
    Pena Nieto, who took office in December, has vowed to reduce the violence that has exploded in Mexico in the last decade by battling crime rather than hunting down drug lords.
    He wants to create a new national police force and move away from Calderon's strategy of relying on the military, and he is clearly seeking to focus public attention away from violence and on to the economy.
    More than 70 000 people have died in drug-related violence since Calderon began his offensive against the drug gangs. The government says the pace of killing has slowed since Pena Nieto took office in December, but thousands of people still died in his first months in office.
    Calderon had sent out generals to lead operations in violence-racked states and cities such as Tijuana and Juarez, but they did not control the state and city police.
    Michoacan has been grappling with civil unrest since April. Protesters repeatedly blocked major streets and highways in the capital and others cities. Compounding matters, vigilante groups have sprung up in the region this year, with masked militiamen claiming that state and federal police are not protecting them from criminal gangs.
    Michoacan is a major centre for methamphetamine production. Rival gangs are fighting over turf as they produce the drug in labs nestled among the poor state's rugged mountains, where marijuana and opium crops are also grown.
    The state is known for brutal violence. In 2006, the feared La Familia cartel hurled five heads onto a cantina dance floor, setting off a wave of decapitations across the country that have typified many drug-related executions.
    Earlier 2013, seven bodies were set out on lawn chairs in the same town of Uruapan with a message for rival cartels.
    “We want a more peaceful place,” said Acting Governor Jesus Reyna at an event marking the general's new powers. “So that businessmen can do their work... and citizens can go out in the streets in peace.”
    Pena Nieto says he wants to improve coordination among the country's different police forces, which have been subject to the unrelenting pressure of threats and bribes from the gangs.
    “We are looking for a unified command with municipalities. This is going to be a minister with a lot of authority, with a lot of power,” Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio said in a radio interview.
    Many companies have shuttered operations or moved businesses in Michoacan amid the spike in violence in recent years, according to local media reports.
     

    Thursday, May 16, 2013

    Campers Robbed

    Prosecutors in western Mexico have arrested two men in a vicious machete attack on a group of campers that wounded three people.

    The attorney general's office in western Jalisco state says the two men confessed to attacking the group of more than 20 campers over the weekend and robbing them of money and cellphones.

    Those arrested are being charged with raping some of the campers, as well as attempted homicide and other charges.

    The office said in a statement late Monday the men said they had been drinking and taking drugs before the attack.

    The pair allegedly committed five other robberies in the forested area near the city of Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest.

    Campers and hikers have suffered a series of violent assaults in Mexico in recent years.

    Saturday, May 11, 2013

    Malcolm Shabazz grandson of Malxome X

    Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of political activist Malcolm X, died in Mexico City after a violent dispute in a bar, Mexican authorities said Friday. He was 28.
    City prosecutors are investigating the attack that sent Shabazz to a nearby hospital where he died Thursday of blunt-force trauma injuries. United States officials confirmed that Shabazz was killed in Mexico City.
    Much like his grandfather, Shabazz spent his youth in and out of trouble. At 12, he set a fire in his grandmother's apartment, a blaze that resulted in the death of Malcolm X's widow. After four years in juvenile detention, Shabazz was later sent back to prison on attempted robbery and assault charges.
    In recent years, the first male heir of Malcolm X seemed to seek redemption, saying he was writing a memoir and traveling around the world speaking out against youth violence. Before his trip to Mexico, he reached out to a group of Mexican construction workers in the U.S. and then visited in Mexico with a leader who had been deported.
    Malcolm X, who inspired books and the 1992 Hollywood movie named after him, was shot to death as he delivered a speech in a Harlem ballroom in 1965. Shabazz's mother was only 4 at the time.
    The Shabazz family said in a statement they were saddened to hear of the death of Malcolm X's grandson.
    "To all who knew him, he offered kindness, encouragement and hope for a better tomorrow," said the statement. "We will miss him."
    Labor activist Miguel Suarez, who was traveling with Shabazz, told The Associated Press that his friend was beaten up at a bar near Plaza Garibaldi, a downtown square that is home to Mexico City's mariachis.
    Plaza Garibaldi is popular with tourists, but the pair were at a bar across the street from the plaza in an area of rough dive bars tourists are warned against going to.
    Suarez said he and Shabazz were lured to the bar on Wednesday night by a young woman who made conversation with the American in English. The Palace bar is on one of Mexico City's busiest avenues.
    "We were dancing with the girls and drinking," said Suarez. Then the owner of the bar wanted them to pay a $1,200 bar tab, alleging that they should pay for music, drinks and the girls' companionship.
    "We pretty much got hassled," he said. "A short dude came with a gun."
    Suarez said he was taken by the man to a separate room. Shabazz stayed in the hall. Suarez said he heard a violent commotion in the hall and escaped from the room and the bar altogether as he saw half-naked girls running away, picking up their skirts from the dance floor.
    Minutes later, Suarez came back in a cab to look for Shabazz and found him on the ground outside the bar severely injured.
    "He was in shock. His face was messed up," said Suarez. "He was alive."
    "I grabbed him, and I called the cops," said Suarez, who was recently deported from the United States.
    He said he took Shabazz to a hospital but his friend died hours later of blunt-force injuries.
    Suarez said Shabazz had traveled to Mexico to support him and his movement advocating for more rights for construction workers. He crossed the border from San Diego to Tijuana with Suarez's mother and then the pair took a bus all the way to Mexico City.
    "We were planning to go to Teotihuacan, to see the Aztec pyramids," he said.
    U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell did not offer details on whether they are working with Mexican investigators.
    "We've been in contact with family members and have been providing appropriate... assistance," Ventrell said. "At their request, we have no further comment at this time."
    Ruth Clark, Shabazz's godmother, said that her heart was heavy, but that she believes he is now "among angels."
    "Malcolm is part of a welcoming kingdom, sharing his bright smile, intelligence, and wisdom."
    Shabazz was born on Oct. 8, 1984 to Qubilah Shabazz, one of six daughters of Malcolm X and his wife Betty Shabazz.
    In June 1997, Malcolm Shabazz set the fire at his grandmother Betty Shabazz's home. She died from severe burns, and he served four years in juvenile detention.
    He later expressed regret for his actions, telling The New York Times in 2003 that he would sit on his jail cot and ask for a sign of forgiveness from his dead grandmother.
    "I just wanted her to know I was sorry and I wanted to know she accepted my apology, that I didn't mean it," he said. "But I would get no response, and I really wanted that response."
    Despite the encouragement and support by his family's numerous supporters in New York, he struggled. He joined the Bloods street gang and after moving to the small city of Middletown, near New York's Catskills region, he had additional legal scrapes.
    Shabazz also served time on a 2002 attempted robbery conviction, and was released in 2005. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to criminal mischief for smashing the window of a Yonkers doughnut shop.
    More recently, Shabazz had taken on public speaking engagements and traveled, describing himself as a human rights activist. On his Facebook profile, he said he was attending John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
    Yet his entanglements with law enforcement continued.
    In one of the last posts on his blog, in March, Shabazz had complained that FBI agents had recently questioned him about his international travels. He also accused officers with the Middletown police department of harassing him since the fall, and said an arrest in the city over the winter prevented him from traveling to Iran in February to participate in a film festival.
    Shabazz also wrote about traveling to Damascus, Syria to study and to Libya as part of a delegation of Americans who met with Muammar Gaddafi, prior to his ouster and death.
    Police officials in Middletown didn't return phone messages Friday. An FBI spokesman in New York had no immediate comment.
    He proudly embraced the legacy of his grandfather, one of the most influential Black people in history who had a more radical, angry approach than Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent movement in the 1950s and into the 1960s.
    On his Twitter page, Shabazz posted a picture of himself mimicking the famous photograph of his grandfather, peering out at a window with a rifle in one hand.
    "Grandson, name-sake and first male heir of the greatest revolutionary leader of the 20th century," he wrote.

    Mexico Day in History


    May 10, 1913

    First bombing attack against a surface ship:

    Didier Masson and Captain Joaquín Bauche Alcalde,
     flying for Mexican Revolutionist Venustiano Carranza,
     dropped dynamite bombs on Federalist gunboats at Guaymas, Mexico.

    See Wikipedia
    Guaymas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡwajmas]) is a city and municipality located in the southwest part of the state of Sonora in northwestern Mexico.[1] The city is located 117 km south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and 242 miles from the U.S. border, and is the principal port for the state.[1][2] The municipality is located in the Sonora Desert[3] and has a hot, dry climate and 117 km of beaches.[1] The municipality’s formal name is Guaymas de Zaragoza and the city’s formal name is the Heróica Ciudad de Guaymas.[1]

    The city proper is mostly an industrial port, with nearby San Carlos being the major tourist attraction for its beaches.[4] The city also has a well-attended annual carnival, which has been held since 1888.
    During the Mexican Revolution, the first ever aerial bombardment of a naval target occurred just off the coast of Guaymas: in 1913, five military ships belonging to Federal forces appeared in the bay, and General Alvaro Obregon of the rebel army ordered the bombing of these ships using the aircraft “Sonora.”[10]

    The first modern port facilities were built in 1925 for the Mexican navy. In 1942 a commercial pier and warehouse were built at La Ardilla. Guaymas’ importance as a port grew in the 1950s, and in 1961, a pier for the national oil company PEMEX was built. A naval ship repair station, called the Varadero Nacional, and silos for the export of grain, called the Almacenes Nacional de Depósito, were built in 1964.

    Ferry connection with the city of Santa Rosalía, Baja California Sur was established in 1972. In the 1980s, a number of private construction projects further enlarged the port, including those built by the Compañía Mexicana de Cobre, Cementos Tolteca and Compañía Mexicana de Ácido Sulfúrico.[1] Due to changes in Mexican maritime law, a private company under contract to the government, Administración Portuaria Integral de Guaymas, took over port operations in 1995.[10]

    US Border Patrol Shoots Unarmed Mexican Civilian; FBI Drags Feet

    On October 10, 2012, US border patrol agents shot an unarmed Mexican civilian while chasing after two people who were trying to sneak across the US border. Since 2008, six such civilians were shot. Only one of them had any kind of a criminal record. We all agree on the need for better border security. But the problem happens when the government sends out agents with little training, not the proper Situation Training or proper job Supervision. This is the sort of thing that debunks the austerity ideology being pushed by certain banks and politicians as a means of controlling deficits. All it has done in Europe is lead to social unrest and the rise of extremism. Here, it has led directly to the tragic loss of life.
    In the incident in question, back in October, a border patrol agent's dog was hit by a rock and agents turned around and opened fire. Aiming one Rock is not the same as aiming a high powered weapon, designed for power, accuracy and Deadly Force into Dark populated town or village.
    Border Patrol agents responded by opening fire across the border into the dark streets of Nogales, Mexico. No agents or officers claimed they’d been struck by rocks—the dog was the only one hit. By the time the agents were done firing, Jose Antonio had received two bullets to the back of the head (not an Accidental uncontrolled shot); at least six more bullets entered the back of his body after he fell to the ground. Eight Deadly Rounds.
    The shooting was done in October. It is now May and the FBI is dragging its feet on the investigation:
     
    They Body of Target landed facedown on the sidewalk, and died there, (in front of a Public Medical Center) outside a small clinic whose sign read “Emergencias Medicas.”
     
    He was unarmed, according to the Nogales, Mexico, police report. Border Patrol officials, as of this writing, have declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation by the FBI, which has also declined to comment. And as innocent civilians are being gunned down, nobody cares:
    How Many Hours of Investigation in October, okay so people were interested. How many hours of Investigation, Nov; Dec; Jan; Feb; March; Apr????
     
    But following a rapid increase in the number of Border Patrol agents between 2006 and 2009, a disturbing pattern of excessive use of force has emerged. When I first began to notice this spate of cross border shootings (Remember they did not hit the Rock Thrower), I assumed that at least some victims were drug traffickers or human smugglers trying to elude capture. But background checks revealed that only one had a criminal record. As I began to dig more deeply, it turned out that most of the victims weren’t even migrants, but simply residents of Mexican border towns like Jose Antonio, who either did something that looked suspicious to an agent or were nearby when border agents fired at someone else.
     
    In one case, agents killed a thirty-year-old father of four while he was collecting firewood along the banks of the Rio Grande. In another, a fifteen-year-old was shot while watching a Border Patrol agent apprehend a migrant. In yet another, agents shot a thirty-six-year-old man while he was having a picnic to celebrate his daughters’ birthdays.
    By contrast, during the Clinton years, such shootings were unheard of. But now, the next such shooting is an accident waiting to happen.
     
    As the debate over immigration reform heats up on Capitol Hill, increased border security will likely be the condition of any path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented workers now living in the United States. This makes scrutinizing the professionalism of the Border Patrol all the more urgent. The picture that emerges from this investigation is of an agency operating with thousands of poorly trained or Supervised not field trained rookies and failing to provide the kind of transparency, accountability, and clear rules of engagement that Americans routinely expect of law enforcement agencies. They Don't even Do that in Countries they at War With.
     
    This is what happens when certain people have the mentality that lives are expendable. After all, these people are merely "collateral damage." Specifically, the Border Patrol has been skipping background checks, lowering training requirements, and relaxing its standards. It seems like someone within the Border Patrol got the bright idea that they needed to do their part to create more jobs no matter what.
    Another part of the problem is the culture of secrecy within the government over this issue:
    At the same time, Customs and Border Protection has been secretive about the guidelines its agents are supposed to follow. While a quick Google search will take you to use-of-force protocols for police departments of such major cities as New York and Los Angeles, use-of-force guidelines and training manuals for the more than 21,000 CBP border agents are difficult to come by. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection, turned down Freedom of Information requests to see their guidelines.
    The actions of these agents were a violation of an agreement between the US and Mexico in which the US has agreed not to fire into Mexican territory. Instead, there are procedures where they are required to notify Mexican authorities in the event of a border incident. This fatal shooting and others like it are likely to seriously damage relations between the US and Mexico in coming years if it is not properly addressed. The People being Shot in most Cases are relatives of U.S. Citizens or Guests.
     
    We all agree that border security should be a top priority in any immigration policy. It therefore follows that we want a government that works, not a government that spends for the sake of spending or that cuts for the sake of cutting. To do otherwise will continue to undermine public confidence in our government and our institutions.
     
    Is there a Cover Up Going On?

    Wednesday, May 8, 2013

    desperate people living in sand bunkers

    Deportations of Mexicans and South Americans who entered the United States illegally have caused the homeless population in Tijuana to explode.
    10News anchor Steve Atkinson and a production crew recently paid a visit to Tijuana to see the problem in person. Below is his firsthand experience.
    It's difficult to comprehend. In a way, it's something you actually have to see to believe and a little stunning when you do. There are people -- hundreds of homeless -- living in the riverbed of the Tijuana canal.
    Our 10News crew was given a personal escort by Tijuana Police to see the large number of tents, shanties and underground bunkers built into the sand dunes that line the concrete canal. The conditions are rough even by homeless standards, but a place these desperate people call home.
    On 10News At 5:00, watch as Steve Atkinson investigates this humanitarian problem further and why Tijuana officials consider it a bigger threat than the drug cartels. 
    The encampments don't end there. Others choose to live inside the dark maze of canal tunnels built to funnel flood waters off Tijuana streets and into the river. Our crew was only 50 yards inside the tunnel before we found a collection of discarded materials and several small shanties built by the homeless who live in the dark, cavernous place.
    Escorted by a dozen Tijuana Police, we arrived at a shanty inside a tunnel where we found a woman sleeping. She told us her name is Michelle and that she has lived in the tunnel for the last two months after her deportation from Arizona. She worked at a small grocery store while living in the United States. Michelle tells us through a Spanish interpreter, "I'm willing to get out of this life, but I just need some help. I’m tired of living like this."
    Our 10News crew was here in 2006 when only a handful of drug addicts were hiding inside the canal tunnels just to get high. Back then, Tijuana Police hauled them off to jail. But we have returned to find the police no longer make arrests. The homeless population is just too overwhelming.

    According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), more than 400,000 individuals were deported out of the United States last year alone. Most are from Mexico or South America and every day hundreds are dropped into Tijuana.
    They have no transportation, no job, no money and no home. And many end up in the canal of the Tijuana River.
    "We think there are at least 4,000 living there today," says Tijuana Chief of Police Alberto Capella, describing the number of homeless living in or around the Tijuana canal. "Right now, this is our biggest problem."
    It is a bold statement coming from the man whose biggest problem just four years ago were the violent drug cartels that fought for territory in Northern Baja California.
    "A lot of these people have the idea to go back to the United States," says Capella. "They want to stay in the canal and wait to (sic) the opportunity to go back."
    Rather than return to their native cities, most of the deported immigrants stay near the border for a chance to return to America. Many have families back in the United States.
    Some are like Ismael, who we met living in an underground bunker built into the sand dunes within the canal.
    "Yes, I want to go back to the United States," says Ismael, who worked construction in Riverside before being deported. "My family is there."
    Ismael and three other men live in a rectangular bunker the size of a small car. He was pulled over by police for speeding a few months ago and immediately deported for living in the United States illegally. His wife and two children were left behind. Ismail lives in these conditions for the opportunity to one day return to his family.
    The homeless problem is everywhere along the canal. They build tree houses and small shacks under bridges near the border. But most are not afraid to make their homes right out in the open in the canal.      
    Some like Arturo, who we found inside a bunker, make money by recycling. His goal is to raise enough money to hire a "Coyote" and get back across the border to his family in Santa Ana. We asked if it was worth the danger of crossing the border illegally.
    "Yes, I don't have a choice," says Arturo, who was a dishwasher for a Santa Ana restaurant. "It's the choice I have to make with my family over there. It's what I'm willing to do to try and go back."
     

    Tuesday, May 7, 2013

    Kiddnaped teens found after 10 years

    Three women who went missing separately about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early 20s, had been tied up but were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and three brothers were arrested, police said.

    One of the women told a 911 dispatcher the person who had taken her was gone, and she pleaded for police officers to come and get her, saying, "I'm free now."

    Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight had been held since they went missing and were found earlier in the day.

    Police didn't immediately provide any details of how the women were found but said they appeared to be in good health and had been taken to a hospital to be reunited with relatives and to be evaluated. They said a 6-year-old also was found in the home.

    On a recorded 911 call Monday, Berry declared, "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."

    She said she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to arrive at the home on Cleveland's west side before he returned.

    "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," she told the dispatcher. "And I'm here. I'm free now."

    Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.

    Police said Knight went missing in 2002 and is 32 now. They didn't provide current ages for the other two women.

    Police said one of the brothers, a 52-year-old, lived at the home. They released no names and gave no details about the others arrested or what charges they might face.

    Dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies remained at the scene late Monday awaiting a warrant to search the building where the women and the child were found.

    Loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing the women again. Among them was Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of DeJesus.

    "I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever," Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper. "This is amazing. This is a celebration. I'm so happy. I just want to see her walk out of those doors so I can hug her."

    Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to have Berry in her arms.

    "I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.

    Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

    Mayor Frank Jackson expressed gratitude that the three women were found alive.

    "We have many unanswered questions regarding this case, and the investigation will be ongoing," he said in a statement.

    At Metro Health Medical Center, Dr. Gerald Maloney declined to go into details about the women's conditions.

    "We're assessing their needs, and the appropriate specialists are evaluating them as well," he said at a news conference, which concluded with a round of applause from a large gathering of area residents.

    In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2 years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry, who had last been seen the day before her 17th birthday. A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.

    Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up with backhoes.

    Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.

    One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said.

    In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then.

    No Amber Alert was issued the day DeJesus failed to return home from school in April 2004 because no one witnessed her abduction. The lack of an Amber Alert angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006 he believed the public will listen even if the alerts become routine.

    "The Amber Alert should work for any missing child," Felix DeJesus said then. "It doesn't have to be an abduction. Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law."

    Cleveland police said then that the alerts must be reserved for cases in which danger is imminent and the public can be of help in locating the suspect and child.

    Don't Monkey around with the Bear

    A bicycle race between a bear and two monkeys quickly turned from road rage to road kill, after the bear crashed and savagely mauled the simian.

    We don't know much about this video past the fact that it begins in glory and ends in horror. Live Leak released it on Sunday, claiming that the bear vs. monkey bicycle race is a stunt put on by the Shanghai Wild Animal Park.

    During the performance, two monkeys take the lead as onlookers laugh and cheer. The bear is hot on their heels, however, and a second-lap crash quickly turns grisly.

    After the bear collides with the fallen monkey and flies over its handlebars, it goes ballistic, mauling the monkey as animal park workers try in vain to separate the two. Another worker pushes the second monkey away from the pileup.

    The monkey's condition is unclear, but the video is still a bit graphic for those who are squeamish around animal-on-animal violence.

    UPDATE: Shanghaiist points out that the race is part of the park's Wild Animal Olympics, which has been going on for years. It's been criticized by animal rights groups, who have called the animals "miserable" and victims of cruelty and abuse.

    Police Smell of 2 Ton's Marijuana



    Authorities are looking for a tenant after the odor of 'fresh' marijuana allegedly lead police to a stash house inside the Cimmarron Country Club.
    It all happened at a home at 2128 Sabinal Street around 4 p.m. Monday.
    Mission police told Action 4 News that an officer was patrolling the area but noticed the strong odor of fresh marijuana coming from the home.
    Investigators obtained a search warrant and contacted the owner who gave them the keys to the house.
    Officers found 67 bundles with about 4,000 pounds of marijuana inside the $167,000 dollar house.
    The home was being rented but police are not releasing the tenant's name at this time.
    Investigators said the tenant is wanted for questioning and may face criminal charges.

    teen faked kidnapping for drug money



    Authorities are investigating an incident where a teenage girl faked a kidnapping to get money for drugs.
    It all happened in Donna on Monday night.
    Investigators said a 17-year-old girl ran away with her boyfriend.
    The teenage girl allegedly had her boyfriend call her mom and demand money.
    FBI agents were called to assist but investigators later learned the girl and boyfriend wanted money for drugs.
    According to investigators, the teenage girl was never in trouble and was just out partying.
    It's not clear if she or her boyfriend will face charges.

    Chihuahua, Mexico Shooter Arrested

    A local man was arrested last week in connection with a 2007 shooting death in Chihuahua, Mexico, the U.S. Marshals Service announced.

        Samuel Marrufo-Ruiz, 54, was arrested May 1 at his home in Commerce City by the Marshals Service Colorado Violent Offenders Task Force after an arrest warrant was issued for him last month from an extraditin warrant from Mexico.

        Marrufo-Ruiz is accused of pulling out a gun and shooting a man twice during a brawl between two families in September 2007, according to a release from the U.S. Marshals Service. The victim died shortly thereafter.

        Marrufo-Ruiz is a lawful permanenet resident of the United States, moving to this country sometime after the homicide took place in 2007.

        The task force is made up of deputy United States marshals, Weld County Sheriff’s deputies, Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the Diplomatic Security Service.

    U.S. Mexico education partnership announced

    U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexico's president, Pena Nieto, have announced a partnership to expand economic opportunities for citizens of both countries and to develop a 21st-century work force for mutual economic prosperity, according to a May 2 statement from the U.S. State Department.

    Through a new Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research, the U.S. and Mexican governments will encourage broader access to quality post-secondary education for traditionally under-served groups, especially in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. They will also expand educational exchanges and share best practices in higher education and innovation, the statement said.

    The forum's mission is to bring together government agency counterparts from Mexico and the U.S. to deepen cooperation on higher education, innovation and research. It will also draw on the expertise of the higher education communities in both countries, according to the State Department.

    More than 18,000 Mexican and U.S. university students study in each other’s countries annually. The Mexico-U.S. Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (COMEXUS) oversees the Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholarship Program, the flagship program in U.S.-Mexico academic exchanges. Under this program, more than 4,000 Mexicans and Americans have participated in bilateral exchange programs since 1990.

    The new Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research plans to start meeting this year and bring together government, academic and civil society to develop a shared vision on educational cooperation, the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire blog said.

    Obama traveled to Mexico City at Nieto's invitation for meetings that culminated in the announcement of the education initiative. The discussions also included economic interests and citizen security, but no security agreements were announced

    Blog del Narco: Nine Dismembered Bodies in SUV Found in Tamaulipas, Mexico


     
    Nine bodies, the majority of them dismembered, were found inside an SUV with Texas tags in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, state officials said.
    The grisly discovery was made Sunday night in the community of Santa Clara, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office and the Public Safety Secretariat said in a joint statement.
    The Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels have been fighting for control of Tamaulipas and smuggling routes into the United States.
    Police received a tip from a caller that the bodies were inside a GMC Yukon SUV, the state agencies said.
    “The remains of nine unidentified males, the majority of them dismembered, were found inside the vehicle,” the AG’s office and the secretariat said.
    The bodies were taken to the morgue, where specialists will try to identify them.
    A Mexico City newspaper reported Monday that 1,025 people died in drug-related violence in March, making it the deadliest month since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office.
    A total of 3,919 people have been killed in drug-related incidents since Dec. 1, 2012, the day Peña Nieto took office, the Milenio newspaper said.
    The war on drugs launched by former President Felipe Calderon, who was in office from 2006 to 2012, left about 70,000 people dead, or an average of 32 per day, in Mexico, officials say.
    Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, deployed thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to fight drug cartels.
    Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has continued the strategy implemented by Calderon of taking on the cartels, but he has also called for bolstering intelligence capabilities and attacking criminal organizations’ entire structures, not just kingpins.
    The grisly discovery was made Sunday night in the community of Santa Clara, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office and the Public Safety Secretariat said in a joint statement.
    The Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels have been fighting for control of Tamaulipas and smuggling routes into the United States.
    Police received a tip from a caller that the bodies were inside a GMC Yukon SUV, the state agencies said.
    “The remains of nine unidentified males, the majority of them dismembered, were found inside the vehicle,” the AG’s office and the secretariat said.
    The bodies were taken to the morgue, where specialists will try to identify them.
    A Mexico City newspaper reported Monday that 1,025 people died in drug-related violence in March, making it the deadliest month since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office.
    A total of 3,919 people have been killed in drug-related incidents since Dec. 1, 2012, the day Peña Nieto took office, the Milenio newspaper said.
    The war on drugs launched by former President Felipe Calderon, who was in office from 2006 to 2012, left about 70,000 people dead, or an average of 32 per day, in Mexico, officials say.
    Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, deployed thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to fight drug cartels.
    Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has continued the strategy implemented by Calderon of taking on the cartels, but he has also called for bolstering intelligence capabilities and attacking criminal organizations’ entire structures, not just kingpins.

    Absolut Vodka Mexico Limite Edition

    Absolut Vodka announced its highly anticipated limited edition bottle design, Absolut Mexico, available in the U.S. for the first time after its debut in Mexico last year. The release of Absolut Mexico is the latest limited edition offering from the world’s most iconic vodka brand and pays homage to Mexican culture and multicultural heritage.

    Absolut has a long history of creative collaborations, and this limited edition was developed in partnership with Dr. Lakra, one of Mexico’s most renowned contemporary artists and tattooists, from Oaxaca, Mexico.

    The work of Dr. Lakra, also known as Jeronimo Lopez Ramirez, has been featured in exhibitions and museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Hammer Museum and the Walker Art Center.

    Absolut Mexico features original Absolut Vodka in a specially designed bottle that celebrates the spirit of Mexico. Dr. Lakra combines three legendary icons from ancient Mayan culture – Hurakan (Hurricane), Kukulkan (Serpent) and Balam (Jaguar) – and brings them to life on the Absolut bottle through a modern artistic lens that represents Mexico today. 

    Thursday, May 2, 2013

    Spheres Pyrite encrusted found under Pyramid

    spheres, covered in pyrite, or fool's gold, are interesting on their own but the fact that they were found deliberately buried under a pyramid in the ancient city of Teotihuacan, once the most populated city in the world, has led some to call it an "unprecedented discovery."

    Anthropologists deduce that the Teotihuacans knew they were not going to survive and mysteriously abandoned the city in 700AD. Some say that may have been due to a famine or due to some kind of invasion.

    Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History has posted photos of the discovery on its website.

    Before the Teotihuacans disappeared they hid the orbs at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in tunnels so deep that it took scientists years of planning before they could even dig

    According to Gizmodo, wireless robots are currently scouring the area for any new discoveries with researchers still having three chambers left to dig through, News.com.au reported.

    Scientists are still in the dark about what the orbs may have been used for but possibly they were used for religious purposes to present to the gods.

    The orbs are yellow, which comes from jarosite, which forms as pyrite oxidizes.

    When the orbs were used, they might have been glittering balls of gold.