Mexico vote takes pulse for presidential race http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2011/07/04/mexico_vote_takes_pulse_for_presidential_race/ Mexico arrests Zetas leader 'connected to attack' against ICE agents http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/04/mexico.arrest/ United Nations Human Rights: Mexico [pdf] http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/LACRegion/Pages/MXIndex.aspx Mexico: Brookings Institution [pdf] http://www.brookings.edu/topics/mexico.aspx Mexican American History Guide http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/mex_am/index.cfm Mexican politics has been dominated by talk of the economy over the past few years, and many Mexicans are encouraged by the recent growth of the country's GDP. In 2010, the GDP rose by 5.5% and job growth was quite robust. Unfortunately, another issue has continued to dominate the conversations around the recent elections in the country and that issue is crime. In the past year, the Mexican government recorded more than five times as many mafia-linked murders as in 2007. To be sure, the majority of these crimes have occurred within 3% of the country's municipalities, but it has been an issue that has risen to national importance with politicos and candidates across the country. Mexico's current president Felipe Calderón's has seen a drop in his popularity and new political players are trying to move in. This week, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Eruviel Avila won the governor's race in the most populous state in the country. This PRI victory is seen as a political barometer for next year's presidential election, as it gives the party a chance to retake the presidency. In addition, many of the potential front-runners are increasingly positioning themselves as the "tough on crime" candidates, and with violence on the rise it should make for an interesting year in Mexican politics. The first link will take users to a piece from last week's Economist about the escalating drug cartel situation in Mexico along with an interactive map that documents drug traffic routes in the country and cartel areas. The second link will whisk visitors away to a piece from this Monday's Boston Globe about the recent elections in the country. The third link leads to a news piece from CNN on the recent arrest of the drug cartel leader Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, who was connected with the killing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in February 2011. Moving along, the fourth link leads to the United Nations Human Rights page for Mexico. Here visitors can learn about the status of human rights in Mexico and also read about recent developments throughout the country. The fifth link will take interested parties to the Brookings Institution's page dedicated to Mexico. The page contains recent op-ed pieces on Mexico from Brookings affiliates and research and commentary reports on Mexico's drug policies, immigration, and other related matters. The last and final link will take users to an excellent set of resources on Mexican American history from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History at the University of Houston.