Protest warning: The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is warning Americans of possible protests Tuesday, when a Mexican man, José Medellín, is scheduled to be executed in Texas.
Peso at 9.945 per dollar: The peso fell below 10 to the dollar Friday for the first time in nearly six years. The peso has strengthened 9.5 percent this year and traded Friday at 9.945 per dollar, meaning it is worth slightly more than a dime.
Colombian captured: Mexican police said they have caught a Colombian cartel operative who served as a liaison to a Mexican drug gang. Police say Ever Villafane Martínez represented Colombia's Norte del Valle drug cartel in dealings with Mexico's Beltrán Leyva gang. The suspect is wanted on drug charges in the United States and escaped from a Colombian prison in 2001.
Prosecutor quits: Noé Ramírez, Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor, has resigned as part of a law enforcement shake-up amid a wave of shootouts and murders across the country, officials in the Attorney General's Office told The Associated Press. El Universal newspaper reported the resignation may have had to do with the inability of federal officials to solve the kidnapping of the son of a prominent businessman.
No bodies found: Prosecutors say excavations at a former military base in Atoyac de Alvarez in Guerrero state have ended without finding any trace of leftist activists who disappeared in the 1970s.
Prison guards sentenced: Two prison guards were sentenced to eight and 19 years in jail, respectively, for helping drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escape in 2001. The federal Attorney General's Office says Carlos Ochoa and Victor Godoy were in charge of running the gates at the Puente Grande federal prison in Jalisco state when Guzmán escaped. Investigators say Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, escaped from Puente Grande in a laundry cart after bribing guards.
Remittances fall: Remittances to Mexico fell 2.2 percent during the first half of the year, compared with the same time last year, the first such drop reported by the Central Bank of Mexico in more than a decade. Mexican officials speculated the U.S. economic downturn and crackdown on illegal immigrants contributed to the decline.
Growth slows: The Mexican economy, pinched by a slowdown in the United States, grew a slower-than-expected 1 percent in May from the same month a year earlier.
Compiled by Foreign Editor David Gaddis Smith: (619) 293-2211; david.smith@uniontrib.com
