Demonstrators are laying siege to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City at this hour (Tuesday afternoon), protesting the visit of George W. Bush to the Yucatan peninsula. Mexican police, well-acquainted with the practices of popular repression in the name of 'order and civility,' are using tear gas and pepper spray to beat back the mob. In preparation for the visit, the last leg of Bush's tour of Latin America, the city of Merida on Mexico's Caribbean coast was placed on total lockdown, with schools closed and a curfew imposed. The repressive environment is "astounding" to locals of the peaceful city. So far, Bush's welcome has been anything but warm. Using his bully pulpit, President Felipe Calderon, a supposed Bush ally, blasted the Bush administration's empirically insane immigration policies and general neglect of U.S.-Mexico affairs. In Guatemala, where the president stopped on a bloody Monday, Mayan priests promised to cleanse Iximche, a sacred site Bush had the audacity of setting foot upon. He and Calderon today toured Mayan site Uxmal.
* In other news out of Mexico making the rounds this week, telecom mogul Carlos Slim increased his wealth by 63% in the span of a year, making him the third richest man in the world behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, once more. Slim doesn't have the same kind of philanthropic spirit as Gates and Buffett, but he certainly has an eye toward gentrifying the "next hot hood," which is presently occurring, per his plans, in Mexico City's Centro Historico.
* Finally, a fresh non-surprise: Pink-haired Christian of galatic-level pop giants RBD came out, trumping expected scrutiny after the circulation of "compromising photos" of him getting married -- to another guy.