Carrie Kahn

Mass Kidnapping Puts Mexican Legal System On Trial

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:52:00 +0000

Josephina Garcia Rodriguez and Leticia Ponce Ramos sip coffee and console each other at a restaurant in front of Mexico City's prosecutor's office. They're about to head into a meeting with the lead investigator in the case of their kidnapped sons.

"We're going on three weeks since they were kidnapped," Garcia says. "It's been some difficult days, really hard for us mothers. We just want our sons back home with us."

Garcia's 19-year-old son, Said, was taken from the Heaven bar at about 11 a.m. on May 26.

Honduras Claims Unwanted Title Of World's Murder Capital

Carrie Kahn — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:26:00 +0000

Latin America is riddled with crime, and no place is more violent than Honduras. It has just 8 million people, but with as many as 20 people killed there every day, it now has the highest murder rate in the world.

It would be easy to blame drug trafficking. Honduras and its Central American neighbors have long served as a favored smuggling corridor for South American cocaine headed north to the U.S.

But there are a number of factors that have contributed to Honduras' out-of-control killings.

Extortion Common For Latin American Businesses

Carrie Kahn — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 10:32:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Latin America has some of the highest crime rates in the world. And that includes extortion, which doesn't just terrorize but also takes a huge economic toll on ordinary citizens. In many Latin American countries, it's costing billions of dollars and hindering development. As part of our series on violence in Latin America, NPR's Carrie Kahn takes us to Mexico, where some estimates say extortion costs more than $30 billion a year.

As Stigma Eases, Single Motherhood In Mexico Is On The Rise

Carrie Kahn — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:15:00 +0000

On her daily route delivering laundry in her working-class neighborhood in southern Mexico City, Maria Carlotta Santa Maria, or Mari, as she is known, seems to know everyone: the mailman, the woman on the corner selling salty nuts, and her favorite greetings are for the guys at the corner gas station.

Mari is the kind of person that can make this inhospitable and overwhelming megacity seem almost small and friendly.

Former Guatemalan Dictator Found Guilty Of Genocide

Carrie Kahn — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:23:00 +0000

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, that's the verdict today against Efrain Rios Montt, a former dictator of Guatemala. The general ruled the Central American nation in the early 1980s, one of the bloodiest periods of its 36-year-long civil war. Rios Montt, now 86 years old, was found responsible for atrocities committed against the Maya Ixil indigenous group.

Violence, Hardship Fuels Central American Immigration To U.S.

Carrie Kahn — Sun, 05 May 2013 09:24:00 +0000

William Ordonez and his wife, Carolia, thought that starting a new business in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was a great idea.

But just two weeks after they started selling chips, candy and soda, gang members showed up and ordered them to pay about $25 a week.

"We tried explaining to them that we just opened, we aren't making that much, we can't pay you," Ordonez says.

The men didn't care, so Ordonez went to the police. He says instead of helping, the police told the gang that Ordonez and his wife had complained.

On Mexico Trip, Obama Maintains Economic Focus

Carrie Kahn — Sat, 04 May 2013 09:51:00 +0000

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. President Obama is in Costa Rica today. He's talking with leaders of Central American nations about security and economic trade. Yesterday, the president wrapped up a two-day visit in Mexico, where he tried to steer the focus away from contentious issues like immigration and drug violence.

Obama Encourages U.S., Mexico To Focus On Economic Relationship

Carrie Kahn — Fri, 03 May 2013 08:29:00 +0000

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene. President Obama says it is time to focus on the strong economic relationship between the United States and Mexico and not get bogged down on more contentious issues like cooperation on the war on the drugs.

Obama made his comments yesterday as he began a two-day visit to Mexico. He flies on to Costa Rica later today.

Ahead Of Obama Trip, Mexico Alters Cooperation Agreements

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 02 May 2013 08:41:00 +0000

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne. Mexico's agonizing war on its drug cartels is about to change and President Obama is about to hear it personally from Mexico's new president. On a trip to Mexico that begins today, Mr. Obama will also focus on trade and economic opportunities between the two countries.

But the trip comes at a time when Mexico is altering its cooperation agreements with the U.S. on the fight against drug trafficking.

Demand Is High For Mexico's Magnificent Mangoes

Carrie Kahn — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:22:00 +0000

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. If you happen to be listening to this program while having a mango for breakfast, there is a good chance that mango is grown in Mexico. Our neighbor to the south says it is now the world's largest exporter of fresh mangos.

India still reigns king in exports of mango products, but as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports, Mexican mangos are now grown at an astonishing rate and the American market is the main target.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Mexico's mango production has skyrocketed.

U.S. Men's Soccer Team Ties With Mexico

Carrie Kahn — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:40:00 +0000

Brad Guzan swatted away shot after shot and the U.S. team hung on for a 0-0 draw with Mexico Tuesday night. The U.S. earned only its second point in a World Cup qualifier at Azteca Stadium.

Dramatic Testimony Marks Start Of Guatemalan Genocide Trial

Carrie Kahn — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:11:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Let's hear now about a dramatic trial in Guatemala. That country's former dictator is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, stemming from the killings that happened in the early 1980s. Seventeen hundred indigenous Guatemalans - the Ixils people - died during one of the bloodiest periods of the country's three-decade-long war, a war that ultimately claimed more than 200,000 lives.

Three Decades On, Ex-Guatemalan Leader Faces Genocide Charges

Carrie Kahn — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:20:00 +0000

In a Guatemalan courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors will present their case against a former military dictator who ruled during one of the bloodiest periods in the Central American nation's 36-year civil war.

Efrain Rios Montt is accused of genocide in the murder of tens of thousands of Guatemala's Indians.

Venezuelan Oil Subsidies Still Buoy Neighbors, For Now

Carrie Kahn — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:40:00 +0000

Venezuela's late president, Hugo Chavez, was a tremendous supporter of Latin American countries, especially those sympathetic to his socialist ideals.

The country's vast oil reserves are a key source of economic aid, but the Chavez didn't just help out his ideological peers like Cuba and Nicaragua. He was also a great benefactor to key U.S.

The Pope Emeritus' New Shoes And The Mexican Man Who Makes Them

Carrie Kahn — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:33:00 +0000

As Pope Benedict XVI left the Vatican and his papacy, he slipped out of his trademark red shoes and put on a pair of Mexican leather loafers. The shoes, actually three pairs, two burgundy and one brown, were a gift to the Pope during his trip last year to Mexico.

Armando Martin Dueñas is the Catholic cobbler who made the pope's new favorite footwear. Martin Dueñas hails from the Mexican city of Leon, which has a 400-year history of shoe making. His great grandfather started the family tradition.