Chinese mine raises furor in Sinaloa, Mexico

A banner demanding justice from the governor

Twelve people from the small community of El Potrero de Cancio in the municipality of Choix, in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, remain in jail despite a ruling demanding their release. The villagers were detained in September, 2013, after protesting against an iron mining company named Paradox Global Resources S.A. de C.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese industrial conglomerate Rizhao Xingye Import & Export Co.

Mazatlán’s carnival marred by shooting in Plazuela Machado

One of the Machado's open air restaurants

The annual carnival in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, is billed as the third biggest party after Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. Every year tens of thousands of revellers gather in the Pacific resort for five days of music and fun.

This year was no different, with stages lined from Olas Altas to Playa Norte. Other than the usual arrests for petty crime and public intoxication, everything was going well until early in the morning of Tuesday, March 4, when a brawl broke out at the corner of Sixto Osuna and Heriberto Frias in the Plazuela Machado in the city’s historic centre.  During the fight a young woman was shot three times and killed.