The Mexican Cross Border Pilot Program enters it 13 month without incident, accident or serious safety violations, the FMCSA has a medical review committee trying to rewrite the requirements for CDL medical examiners and the critics of the Pilot Program continue to insist that that requirements for a Mexican CDL or Licencia Federal Conductor are
Unknown gunmen shot at the US Consulate in Monterrey and threw a grenade at the building, which did not explode. No one was injured according to a Consulate spokesman. Two unidentified men approached the US Consulate General. One of them fired several times hitting the gates and a window. The second man threw a hand
Traders are falling over themselves this week to unload Mexico’s currency, on fears that a U.S. economic downturn would savage Mexico’s economy. The peso plunged to nearly 13.2 per dollar on Thursday from 12.3 on Wednesday and 10.9 at the end of September. The latest dive has occurred despite heavy intervention by Mexico’s central bank
Millions of Americans point to Ellis Island as the place where their family was first introduced to the United States. Others trace their ancestry to ships that dropped anchor centuries ago in New England. Still more greeted Lady Liberty by way of airplanes and a visa. My father? He fondly remembers the comfortable space in
Turning to Mexico’s increasing narcotics consumption, President Felipe Calderon has proposed stiffer penalties for small-time drug dealers while suspending punishment for addicts who agree to enter rehabilitation. “Drugs are the slavery of this century,” Calderon said in a speech Friday. “Criminals seek to make slaves of children and youths. They seek to place drugs, sometimes
On September 24, 2008, the USDOT Office of Inspector General issued an audit report entitled REPORT ON THE SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY OF FMCSA’S REVIEW OF CANADIAN/MEXICAN COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS. Of course OOIDA jumped on this report with an article erroneously entitled Data flawed on Mexican truck safety reg compliance A
Soldiers attached to the First Mechanized Calvary Regimen enjoyed another successful operation in the border town of Miguel Aleman Tamaulipas. On Saturday, a patrol searching a residence at 450 Huizache in the Colonia Rio Mezquital, They found two people bound and gagged who had apparently been kidnapped. These people were identified as Luis Octavio Garcia
In this era of escalating fuel prices, unheard of numbers of truck repossession and a stagnant freight base, some people just don’t get it. From the AP and The Trucker comes the headline story of Teamsters picket Washington-based trucking company AUBURN, Wash. — Picketers are carrying Teamsters strike signs outside Oak Harbor Freight operations in
The House has made it veto-proof clear: The controversial pilot program allowing big Mexican trucks to cross the U.S. border and travel into the country must end. The Senate has yet to act, though. And Mexico and its U.S. big-business allies are ramping up their efforts to block the repeal, including a renewed warning by
The home team trails in the third quarter as the underdog visitors steadily advance the ball. Coaches are nervous; fans are grumbling. Desperate for a turnaround, the home team announces a surprise rule change: From now on, the visitors are banned from crossing the 50-yard line. Sounds absurd, but that’s what Congress proposes to do
As of September 16, Mexican carriers applying a fuel surcharge of just over 43 cents per kilometer Starting this week truckers and Mexican carriers affiliated with the National Chamber of Autotransporte de Carga (CANACAR) will implement a fuel surcharge of just over 43 cents per kilometre in addition to their normal rates of haul which
Border Patrol agents seized more than 1,400 pounds of marijuana over the weekend in four separate busts, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol The most recent seizure occurred Monday at Texas 16 traffic checkpoint. Hebbronville agents observed a white pickup truck heading northbound make an abrupt U-turn prior to reaching the checkpoint. Agents observed the
Those who have followed the debate on the Mexican Cross Border Program, might have noticed as time passed, Todd Spencer and OOIDA for example kept changing their reasons for opposing FMCSA Cross Border Program. First it was “Safety issues”, then economic issues, both which have been debunked here and in other places. Jimmy Hoffa continues
The Secretary of Communications and Transportation (SCT) announced the immediate prohibition of trucks pulling trailers in access of 46 feet, effectively putting all of the Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey freight movements onto the toll road. In the past, Mexican truckers have opted to take the “free road” to save on tolls that begin at $58.00
So many extremist groups today claim to be America’s Voice or the Voice of the working American when in reality, they are nothing more than Klansmen of old in leisure suits. In Truth,America’s Voice is people such as me and you, tired of the lies and the pompous posturing of those who use the Immigration
Federal police opened fire on municipal cops in the northern city of Torreón early Monday, killing at least one and arresting about 30, said the city’s mayor. Mexican news reports characterized the pre-dawn altercation as a firefight between federal and local police officers. Federal authorities had no immediate comment. The incident began when federal police
Dismissing a White House veto threat, the House voted Tuesday to end a pilot program giving Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways. The Bush administration stressed that the United States is obligated, under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, to open up American roads to Mexican truckers, and that terminating the year-old demonstration project
Today is the long anticipated vote on HR-6630 (To prohibit the Secretary of Transportation from granting authority to a motor carrier domiciled in Mexico to operate beyond United States municipalities and commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border unless expressly authorized by Congress.) Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters were early off the line sending their
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has found that Pima County Public Defender Isabel Garcia didn’t violate any policy by protesting at a controversial event. Garcia was present at a protest over Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s July 10 book signing at a local store. Video of Garcia holding the severed pinata head with Arpaio’s face
It occurred to me that a year ago today, the Mexican Cross Border Program began it’s successful run. None of the chaos and calamity that was foretold by the opposition occurred. There have been no deaths on the highways from these trucks and their drivers as many still say would and will happen. There has
The massive fraud visited upon the American public by the Teamsters and OOIDA concerning the Mexican Cross Border Pilot Program continues to make the news as more mainstream newspapers see through the campaign of misinformation and xenophobic pablum these two organizations have put forth. Since they do not have facts to back their position, they
More than 400 members of the Juárez police department will be dismissed after failing confidence exams done by the Mexico federal Public Safety secretary’s office, Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said. About 2,000 soldiers arrived in Juárez over the weekend and are expected to begin anti-crime patrols as part of Operation Juárez, the new name
