Along with the Arab Spring, the indignados movement of Spain, and Occupy Wall Street, Latin America also played a role in the global tumult in 2011. Over the last year diverse grassroots movements in Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, and Peru have been raising  questions and challenging the existent order.

During Felipe Calderón’s War on Drugs systematic human rights violations have been documented. Now testimonies confirm the suspicions that clandestine detention centers are operating in Mexico. We don't know how many, but we can determine who is operating them—organized crime and the Mexican Army and Marines.

In recent years, media coverage of Mexico has painted a picture of widespread fear. It is a picture that bears little resemblance to what I experience living in central Mexico. Could this picture have been deliberately invented or exaggerated? Might the government of Felipe Calderón want to justify its policies of militarization to attract further U.S. support?