PLN 6

U.S. - Mexican relations have hit a rough patch in the recent years. There have been problems with immigration, trade, and counter-narcotic operations that have affected the relationship between the 2 countries. The U.S. - Mexico relationship is very important even if a lot of people don't think so. Without counting the drugs, Mexico is the United States third largest trading partner. 80% of Mexican exports are for the United States and their trading is 3 times larger since they singed the NAFTA agreement in 1994. The biggest problem is that Americans are the Mexican drug cartels best customers. Mexico is one of the United States best trading partners, it was ranked the second from the U.S. exports and it was the third in total U.S. trade (imports as well as exports) Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was made the U.S. and Mexico have developed a very big economic bond. The trading between the countries has more than tripled since the agreement was made in 1994. Because of NAFTA, the Mexico, Canada and the U.S. make the biggest free trade area, it has about one third of the total of domestic products (GDP). The mexican population consists of 114 million people, this makes it the biggest spanish speaking country in the world and the third with more people in the western hemisphere after the U.S. and Brazil. 

http://worldpittsburgh.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/why-the-mexican-drug-wars-matter/

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34215.pdf

PLN 5

The United States counter narcotics to Mexico focusses on the drug shipments, most importantly through the U.S. - Mexico border. I personally think that there should be an expansion for counter narcotics in every way because drugs are still getting in and what they are doing isn’t enough. The administration of Felipe Calderón has asked the United States to put more effort into this and combating the cartel violence. United States putting effort against the drug cartels are also a very important thing to protect their own security. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) little time ago said that the United States help has improved Mexico’s way to combat drug trafficking. They also have said that the cooperation between them has gotten better in the last years but there is always room to improve as my dad always says. GAO also said that United States should get permission to go in Mexican boats that look suspicious and maybe are carrying drugs. The Mexican government counter narcotic operations would fail if they don’t get enough help from the United States with reducing arm trafficking to Mexico, stop the money going back to Mexico and of course stop the United States demand for drugs. Asking for help from the United States is a very sensible thing in Mexico, because they are a country that is very careful with United States going in. United States criticism of drug trafficking and crime in Mexico is very unfair in my point of view because almost all of the drugs on Mexican territory are for the consumption of the United States. There was a big trust problem between Mexico and United States and it began to get much better when President Vicente Fox came into power as the first Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN) candidate (2000-2006). There was a report saying that the United States helping package to Mexico will be  total of $1.5 billion and another $7 billion from Mexico. Tis project can include other drug countries too in Central America. Mexico’s “Deputy Foreign Minister for North American Affairs” Carlos Rico said that the United States probably would give $1 billion in military help to combat the drug cartels. No United States troops were deployed and it came to a settlement that this would be a “historic” opportunity to improve the relation between United States and Mexico. Since it was the last year of President Calderon and he just left office (Mexican presidents can only be in office for 6 years) he needed to leave with a good image about the United States involvement. Both countries need to fight against this serious problem that is happening in Mexico but they should work to protect each other and make their relationship stronger throughout this process. 

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34215.pdf

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32934.pdf

PLN 4

Felipe Calderon in my opinion has been one of the best presidents that Mexico has ever had. In December of 2006, former President Felipe Calderon made combating drug cartels and violence his top priority. He sent 24,000 soldiers and federal police to 9 states to fight against the cartels. The general attorney of Mexico, Eduardo Medina Mora stated that the only way Mexico can successfully defeat the cartels is if it gets more help from the U.S. in the arm trafficking and money laundering from the U.S. to Mexico. In October 2007 the “White House Office of National Drug Control Policy” said that the Mexican government increased the pressure on the cartels and helped with cocaine shortages in 37 U.S. cities and 24% increase in the price of cocaine. President Calderon made his administration stand up to threats by the cartels and claimed that it would take at least two years to take back control of Mexico. Drug violence still continues, some reports even say that "the cartels remain intact and executions have spread to previously violence-free areas." More than 45 press reports have indicated that an average of 1,900 Mexicans were killed in cartel violence in the first nine months of 2007. The Mexican government does not have statistics on cartel killings. President Calderon has increased the salaries of the people involved in the cartel operations by almost 50%. He placed the Federal Preventative Police (PFP) and the Federal Investigative Agency (AFI) under one commander so he could create one good federal police force. He then announced the "Platform Mexico" it was made to improve federal, state and local law enforcement, including a creation of a database that covers more than 5,000 police stations. On April 9, 2007, there was a report of the results of the first four months of Felipe Calderón's presidency. The results where that he captured 1,102 drug dealers, the about $500 million pesos, 556 kilograms of marijuana, 1,419 military grade weapons, two airplanes, 630 automobiles, 15 sea ships that transported drugs, and the destruction of 285 clandestine runways, 777 drug camps, 52,842 marijuana farms and 33,019 opium poppy farms. This report claims that these results stopped the distribution of 1,428,124 doses of marijuana, 17,728,000 doses of cocaine, 193,922,000 doses of heroin, and 6,996,000 toxic pills, stopping the intoxication of 647,771,000 people.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34215.pdf

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32934.pdf

PLN 3

I followed Gibson on twitter because they keep you updated in everything thats going on in the rick and roll life right now and in the past and you see that sometimes they are trying to do major concerts with old amazing bands like Led Zeppelin. Gibson is my favorite guitar brand and i truly love the sound and they just look amazing this one shown in the picture is exactly like the one I have. 

I'm carrying: 

• A Samsung Galaxy S III
• Glasses
• Computer
• Multiple class black notebook
• My wallet

1. American Express "Mom"
2. Debit Visa "Dad"
3. Debit American Express "Mom"
4. Texas drivers licence
5. Quinn Sousa's Florida Licence 
6. Business card of a promoter in Las Vegas
7. "La Virgen de Guadalupe" photo and prayer
8. Best buy gift card
9. Medical Insurance 
10. School ID

Samsung Galaxy S III:

My phone is a very big part of my life, not just because i can text, because im a residential student and my family lives far away so its good that I have that so i can call them whenever I want to just hear their voice 

and stop missing them for some time same with friends in Mexico. It has past threw a lot including that I fell into a lake once with it in my pocket and it still survived and its in perfect condition (I spilled some milk on my iphone and it never turned on again, just saying haha) 

"La Virgen de Guadalupe" photo and prayer:

I got this a long time ago with my father way before he was re married as well as my mother too in a place called  San Juan de los Lagos. I always carry it everywhere with me because its very special and I got it in the biggest church there was with my father and since then it has changed wallets with me always inside, to keep me safe.

Best buy gift card:

I got this gift card in Christmas of 2010 from my uncle and I have never spent it. I always forgot it when i went to best buy and now that i have it all the time with me I have never need to go so everyone asks me why do I keep it in my wallet and I say "because one day I will need to go and if I take the card out of my wallet that will be the day that i need to go and will forget it."

“Alone”By Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood’s hour I have not been

As others were—I have not seen

As others saw—I could not bring

My passions from a common spring—

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow—I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone—

And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—

Then—in my childhood—in the dawn

Of a most stormy life—was drawn

From ev’ry depth of good and ill

The mystery which binds me still—

From the torrent, or the fountain—

From the red cliff of the mountain—

From the sun that ’round me roll’d

In its autumn tint of gold—

From the lightning in the sky

As it pass’d me flying by—

From the thunder, and the storm—

And the cloud that took the form

(When the rest of Heaven was blue)

Of a demon in my view—

One of the images I get instantly from reading the poem "alone" by Edgar Allan Poe is a person all by themselves sitting down staring at families pass with smiles on their faces wile he is suffering imagining him being carried on the shoulders of his father or holding the hand of the mother. 

It reminds me a little bit of my father I'm very grateful that both of my parents are alive and healthy, but i never had a really good relationship with my father i just see him  3 or 4 times a year so it reminded me of how hard it was to grow up without having him by my side, instead looking at him with his other children. 

Hello, my name is Rigo Garza and I am from Mexico and I am 17 years old. I currently live in Florida I moved here from Mexico City in 2011. I play guitar and thats the main subject I want to talk about right now. I've been playing it for 6 years now. I stopped for a while in my junior year but now I am hitting it strong again. The guitar is a very simple instrument but yet complicated. A lot of things in this world are easy in the beginning and then they get harder but not for the guitar the hard part is learning the basics and familiarize yourself with the guitar. Once you have accomplished that its easy. It has interested me since i was 4 years old but i could never do it I tried and try and when i was 11 I tried it once again and I understood its not easy but with time it will get  better and its worth it.