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Mexico City
Hector Tobar, Bureau Chief
Hector Tobar is the Times' Mexico City bureau chief, responsible for coverage of Mexico and Central America. A veteran reporter, he has worked for the paper's Suburban, Metro, National and Foreign desks, covering the 1992 L.A. riots, and contributing to the Times' Pulitzer Prize for Spot News coverage. He was the Times' National Correspondent for Latino Affairs and later concentrated on issues of culture and ethnicity. In 2001, he joined the paper's Foreign staff as Buenos Aires bureau chief, a job which saw him cover popular uprisings in Bolivia and Argentina, a coup in Venezuela and elections in Brazil and Uruguay. In 2005 he won the Inter-American Press Association Award for feature writing for his coverage of South America's troubled democracies. Since coming to Mexico, Hector has covered Mexico's 2006 election drama, along with elections in Nicaragua and the impact of the drug-trafficking on the region's democracies. He is a native of Los Angeles. EMAIL
Marla Dickerson, Correspondent
Marla Dickerson is an economics and business writer based in Mexico City. She joined the Times in 1996 after working at the Detroit News and the Rochester Times-Union in upstate New York. She grew up in Illinois and earned a Bachelor's in finance from the University of Illinois and a Master's in journalism from Northwestern University. Dickerson and Times colleague Evelyn Iritani in 2002 won the Malcolm Forbes Award for best business reporting from the Overseas Press Club of America for their series: "China: A Giant Awakes." She is married to Times correspondent Reed Johnson. EMAIL
Ken Ellingwood, Correspondent
Ken Ellingwood, a Times staff writer since 1992, is based in Mexico City, with responsibility for covering Mexico and Central America. He was previously based in Jerusalem and covered Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He also reported from Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Before joining the foreign staff in 2003, Ellingwood was the newspaper's bureau chief in Atlanta, where he covered a six-state swath of the American South. From 1998 to 2002, Ellingwood covered the U.S.-Mexico border, based in San Diego, and is the author of "Hard Line: Life and Death on the U.S.-Mexico Border." He earlier held a number of local beats, from the San Gabriel Valley to police and courts in Orange County, while on the Times staff in southern California. EMAIL
Reed Johnson, Correspondent
Reed Johnson is the The Times' Latin American arts and culture correspondent. Based in Mexico City, he covers Mexico and Central and South America, with a particular emphasis on cultural connections between California and the rest of the hemisphere. He joined The Times as a feature writer in the Calendar section in 2000. Previously he was a theater critic and arts writer at the Rochester (NY) Times-Union, the Detroit News and the L.A. Daily News. An upstate New York native, he received a Bachelor's in history and English from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master's in American Studies from the University of Sussex, England. He is married to Times correspondent Marla Dickerson. EMAILMEXICO UNDER SIEGE
The slaying of a rising political star is ascribed to his refusal to have any contact with drug traffickers.
The inventor in 'Flash of Genius' was much more tragic and difficult than portrayed by Greg Kinnear.
Silicon Border Development will move ahead with a science park in Mexicali, Mexico, targeting solar energy firms.
A CONVERSATION
A trio of stars lend their voices (and barks and growls) to cute canines in 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua.'
Firms small and large face drastic cutbacks as banks decline to lend the money that keeps the wheels of commerce turning.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Though an attack on civilians in Morelia has tested the public's stomach for the increasingly savage conflict, the president has little room to pull back from his crackdown.
Officials hope to create jobs with a cluster of environmentally sustainable companies on a former brownfield site.
With home values down, costs up and their 401(k)s declining, some seniors have had to rethink retirement.
GLOBAL ECONOMY
They list greed and Greenspan among the culprits, and there are comparisons to . . . Albania. But amid the gloating, there is fear for financial systems in Britain, Spain, Italy and elsewhere.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Authorities are investigating whether the drug gang La Familia was involved in Monday's grenade attack in Michoacan state that killed seven people.
TELEVISION
The new 13-part HBO Latino TV series attempts to shed light on the systemic corruption and inequity of Mexico's criminal justice system.
He acquires a 6.4% stake in the company, a move that boosts its shares but puzzles analysts. They note that most investors have been fleeing newspaper stocks.
Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival
The documentary takes a haunting and disturbing look at the era when a military junta was in control.
Seven Britons will again face charges of conspiring to detonate explosives aboard U.S.-bound planes.
Movies are shifting from the journey itself to the issues that crop up after arrival, exploring how the changes affect everyone, including members of the affected communities.
Drug money and corruption have long tainted law enforcement. But Genaro Garcia Luna, with President Calderon's backing and the aid of technology, may succeed in reforming the system, analysts say.
They are among eight accused in an alleged plot to use liquid explosives to blow up U.S.-bound airliners. The accused ringleader is acquitted.
MOVIES / FALL SNEAKS
While making 'Blindness,' adapted from José Saramago's novel, he blogs about the process.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
A new law allows President Felipe Calderon to give his state of the nation report without having to appear before Congress, a move that avoids disturbances.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
The number is rising, and the rich are not the only ones targeted. Criminals sometimes want as little as $500.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
The discovery is the first sign of a major outbreak of drug cartel violence in Yucatan.
The Taxco de Alarcón, Mexico, artist's legacy lies in centuries-old techniques fused with Mexican Modernism.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
President Calderon proposes new anti-kidnapping squads, special prisons, cellphone tracking and aid for local forces.
Falling oil production and rising interest rates signal more troubles ahead.
Making good on Hugo Chavez's threat, and inviting more strain on international relations, government troops move in on three Cemex facilities.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza calls on federal authorities to reform their strategy after 13 people are killed in a weekend shooting.
Citizen anti-crime groups release audio they say demonstrates that the former Tabasco attorney general colluded with drug traffickers. He denies it.
ART
'Laberinto de Miradas,' a photo and video exhibition in Mexico City, explores factors driving global immigration.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Many are afraid to contact authorities about abductions, fearing officers could be involved. The problem is an awkward one for President Felipe Calderon's drug war.
Ever Villafane Martinez, a Colombian accused of supplying cocaine to a Sinaloa cartel offshoot, is held in Mexico City.
The opposition PRD organized the nonbinding vote on President Calderon's plan to partially privatize the beleaguered state oil firm Pemex. Foes hope a decisive 'no' will influence legislators.
American drivers should consider themselves lucky -- try $9.85 a gallon in Oslo.
COLUMN ONE
Francisco Marroquin University is a bastion of libertarianism, drawing potshots from both sides of the political spectrum.
Some doubt the $4-billion project will be built, but backers dream of dominating West Coast cargo traffic.
MEXICO
As construction jobs drop off, immigrant workers' families to the south are feeling the pinch.
Most of the Mexicans who send funds home have financial accounts here, a survey finds.
In Mexico's turbulent state, woodblock prints are a means of public protest. As the title states: 'The Ink Shouts.'
At least 21 people are killed in five days as turf wars between splintered gangs appear to heat up.
PERSPECTIVE
Classic sci-fi films address issues that make adults think. 'Wall-E' promises the moon, then ends up just chasing the Happy Meal set.
BOOK REVIEW
With unflinching prose, the author reveals Mexico City's inner life -- its pleasures, pathologies and class conflicts.
As violence has soared, more than 30 reporters have died or disappeared in Mexico since 2000, the group Reporters Without Borders says.
His challenging depictions of religious icons and sordid interactions are featured in a new solo exhibit in Mexico City.
The raid last week in a gritty Mexico City neighborhood ended with a dozen people being killed in a stampede.
MEXICO CITY -- Not so long ago, Latin American artists who spoke up for social causes often risked prison, exile or far worse.
GLOBAL CAPITAL
They are voluntarily cutting prices on basic items at the government's urging as the cost of living climbs. Manufacturers complain they are picking up the tab.
EL SALVADOR
El Pital, once a rebel lair in El Salvador's highlands, is now an unexpected haven of natural beauty and outdoors pursuits.
MEXICO | MEXICO CITY | CULTURE
The artist's homeland marks the 100th anniversary of her birth with a months-long fiesta.
COLUMN ONE | CENTRAL AMERICA
Perquin, El Salvador — EFRAIN Perez moves with a slight shuffle as he escorts visitors through the Museum of the Salvadoran Revolution. His halting gait, the result of bomb shrapnel that nearly pierced his brain, has slowed the 38-year-old ex-guerrilla's body, but not his mind.
THE DIRECTOR'S CRAFT
This rare fraternity has revolutionized Mexican cinema and become a force in Hollywood.
THE FACTS
Violence and protests have made this a difficult year for Mexico. U.S. tourists should steer away from the trouble spots.
INNER LIFE
It's a bohemian oasis in the middle of stressed-out Mexico City: Condesa is home to artists, musicians, novelists and filmmakers who give Mexico its global identity.
Spared the worst of the nation's drug crime, Cartagena is a great beauty with a colonial past. And it's a city with a vibrant street life.
INNER LIFE
United by their work with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, a pair of artists tend the cultural legacy of a historic home -- and a way of life.
DOWNTOWN LIKE NEVER BEFORE
The waiting is over. The center of the city is bursting with new lofts and luxury apartments, drawing new residents who are bringing it alive with promise.
DOWNTOWN LIKE NEVER BEFORE: PERSPECTIVE
Loft-dwellers since the '70s, artists and their visions shaped the urban revolution of today.