Information on street vendors at the Texcoco market in eastern Mexico City, whether they have an association, whether the PRI party controls it, and whether a merchant called Carlos Morales was "disappeared" at the hands of the Judicial Police (1996) [MEX28107.E]

A staff member of the presidency of the municipal government of Texcoco in Mexico City stated during a 29 October 1997 telephone interview that there is a regular market (tanguis) of agricultural produce that settles on or around Manuel Gonzales Street, and that there are numerous areas of the district where street vendors sell agricultural produce.

The information that follows was provided during a 29 October 1997 telephone interview with a representative of the Department of Economic Promotion of the Municipality of Texcoco in Mexico City.

Since 1 January 1997 the Municipality of Texcoco has been governed by the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution); until then, the municipality had been governed by the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party).

There are a number of places in the district of Texcoco where street vendors sell a range of products, from smuggled or cheap electronic appliances (fayucos) to local agricultural produce (productos de temporada). There are many areas of the district where street vendors sell agricultural produce; however, the main street vending area, which has no officially demarcated boundaries or distribution of stalls, is concentrated in the municipality's historic centre, particularly around the San Antonio and Belisario Dominguez market buildings. There are at least three associations or organizations of street vendors in the district. The merchants who sell agricultural produce every day do so from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.; there is also a weekly market (tanguis) on Mondays that occupies different stalls, and has its own internal organization or association of merchants.

For your reference, a 14 January 1997 La Jornada article in Spanish discusses the control of street markets in Nezahualcoyotl, a municipality on the periphery of the capital city, and contains a passing reference to Texcoco Avenue (not to the municipality in the eastern side of the capital). The article refers to the changes brought about by the 1996 elections as they affected the PRI caciques, or feudal lords, of the municipality, who until then had made the streets "their powerful source of income" (su poderosa fuente de ingresos). The article reports that, according to the new mayor of Nezahualcoyotl, a former PRI figure turned PRD representative and then independent, caciquismo does not exist, yet he admits that of the 70 market areas of his municipality, the PRD controlled nine, while the rest were still under the control of the PRI.

Information on the "disappearance" of a Texcoco merchant called Carlos Morales at the hands of the Judicial Police in 1996 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


La Jornada [Mexico City]. 14 January 1997. Alejandra Gudiño and Roberto Garduño. "Caciques de Neza amenazan con hacer la 'vida de cuadritos' al PRD." [Internet] http://serpiente.dgsca.unam.mx/jornada/ [Accessed 28 Oct. 1997]

Municipality of Texcoco, Mexico City. 29 October 1997. Telephone interview with municipal presidency staff.

_____. 29 October 1997. Telephone interview with Economic Promotion Department representative.

Additional Sources Consulted


Amnesty International Report. Yearly.

Amnesty International Urgent Actions. Irregular publication.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994. February 1995.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports.

Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly.

Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tx]. Fortnightly.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

Newspapers and periodicals pertaining to the appropriate region.

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Global NewsBank, NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD (UNHCR database).

Note:

This list is not exhaustive. Country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not included