Ciudad Del Research Articles

Structural style of the Gulf of Mexico's Cantarell complex

The Cantarell complex, 80 km northwest of Ciudad del Carmen in the Campeche Sound of the Gulf of Mexico, consists of a broad NW-SE trending, faulted anticline. The oil field, categorized as a super giant, has five blocks bounded by faults (Figure 1). Figure 1. Blocks of the Cantarell complex. Note the NS-trending normal faults, on the broad NW-SE anticline, that may resemble wrench tectonics. The stratigraphic column for this area of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) indicates stacking of shelfal Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic carbonates and clastics, overlying an extended salt layer of Jurassic age. Based on reserves, the complex is the eighth largest oil field in the world. Cumulative production exceeds 10 billion barrels of oil. Current production exceeds 2 million b/d. This article describes the results of a 2003 reinterpretation of the 3D OBC seismic cube acquired in 1997. There has been much debate regarding the structural style of this area. An earlier attempt to explain the coexistence of compression and extensional features postulated a strike-slip transpressional model. In accordance with that hypothesis, faults should be very high angle, therefore involving the oceanic basement. We question this view because it doesn't fit the plate tectonic kinematics of the Gulf …

Monogenean Parasites of some Elasmobranchs (Chondrichthyes) from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Forty-two individuals representing 8 species of stingray were collected from 14 localities along the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Monogeneans from 2 families (Monocotylidae Lebedev, 1988 and Capsalidae Baird, 1853) were found on the gills and body surfaces. Dendromonocotyle octodiscus Hargis, 1955 was collected from Dasyatis americana Hildebrand and Schroeder, 1928 from Blanquizal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, and Urobatis jamaicensis (Cuvier 1816) McEachran and Fechhelm 1998 from Xcalak, Isla Contoy, Mexico, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico, and Ria Lagartos, Yucatan, Mexico. Decacotyle floridana (Pratt, 1910) Chisholm and Whittington, 1998 was collected from Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen 1790) from Holbox, Quintana Roo, Mexico, and Ciudad del Carmen and Champoton, Campeche, Mexico. Benedeniella posterocolpa (Hargis, 1955) Yamaguti, 1963 was collected from Rhinoptera bonasus (Mitchell, 1815) from Champoton, Campeche, Mexico. Quintana Roo and Yucatan, Mexico, are new distribution records for D. octodiscus, and U. jamaicensis is a new host record for this species from a host collected from nature. Quintana Roo is a new locality record for D. floridana, and Campeche, Mexico, is a new locality record for B. posterocolpa. Hypotheses of biogeographical and coevolutionary patterns concerning monogeneans of elasmobranchs are premature, but B. posterocolpa seems to be strictly host specific, whereas D. floridana and D. octodiscus display a much lower level of host fidelity at lower host taxonomic levels.

South America's Tri-Borders Region

South America’s Tri-Borders Region Randall Wood Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. These days, not everyone who visits the leafy tropical splendor of the Iguazú Falls in southern Brazil is a tourist. For many visitors, the illicit trade in arms, consumer goods and contraband is more attractive than the stunning scenery. Just downstream from the famous waterfall, the cities of Foz do Iguazú, Puerto Iguazu and Ciudad del Este face each other across the confluence of the Paraná and Iguazú Rivers in the midst of what is known as the Tri-Border Area (TBA), a lawless jungle expanse that straddles the national boundaries of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Long a haven for black marketeers bringing cigarettes into Brazil and shoes into Argentina, the TBA is today an increasingly useful area for drug smugglers and nascent terrorist cells. Billions of dollars in laundered money, arms, drugs, counterfeit currency, falsified documents, and other contraband pass through the TBA annually. Ciudad del Este, with a population of only 300,000 people, boasts 55 banks, through which an estimated $6 billion per year--half of Paraguay's GDP--is laundered. [End Page 105] As the war against terrorism expands over the next decade, growing hotspots like the TBA will come under increasing international scrutiny. The TBA provides an environment in which terrorist cells can thrive: it provides sources of potential financing, access to illegal weapons and advanced technologies, and offers freedom of movement in a geographic area ideal for camouflage and concealment. It is no wonder that terrorist operatives from al Qaeda and Hezbollah met in the TBA in 2002 to plan attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets. While the Arab and Muslim communities living in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil vehemently deny links to radical groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah, officials from the Argentine and U.S. governments believe local businesses channel funds to the Middle East to support terrorist activities. In August and October 2004, the U.S. State Department invested a total of $2.5 million in programs designed to combat terrorist activities, including training programs for state institutions operating in the TBA. At about the same time, Brazil announced a major investment in its police infrastructure in Foz do Iguazú, including the development of an advanced police border station and the purchase of airplanes, cameras and radar systems to protect the Itaipu Hydroelectric dam and monitor the nearly 90 points of entry used for smuggling and drug running in the area. Despite increased monitoring and policing, illicit activities continue to thrive in the TBA. In May 2004, the Argentine judiciary investigated the alleged import of three surface-to-air missiles through northern Argentina into the TBA. Although terrorist finance cells raising funds through drug smuggling and other illicit activities pose the primary threat in the region, money is not the only thing raising eyebrows. Sources "Argentina: Alleged shipment of missiles to the Tri-Border area being checked," BBC Monitoring Reports, May 26, 2004. Google Scholar Kevin Gray, "US concerned about terror fund-raising in South America’s infamous triborder smuggler’s haven," AP, Oct. 3, 2004. Google Scholar Philip K. Abbot, "Terrorist Threat in the Tri-Border Area: Myth or Reality?" Military Review, September–October 2004, 51–55. [End Page 106] Google Scholar Copyright © 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press

Environment, Security, and Terrorism in the Trinational Frontier of the Southern Cone

This article analyzes the transformations of notions of governmentality, security, and sovereignty behind recent processes of securitization in the trinational frontier of the Southern Cone, which encompasses the cities of Puerto Iguazœ (Argentina), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay), and Foz do Igua?œ (Brazil). It examines how early concerns with security that were primarily focused on the territorial integrity of nation-states have been replaced with security concerns of a more global nature, which call into question established mechanisms of control, particularly those related to the defense of national borders. It examines how environmental concerns are increasingly becoming conflated with other current forms of securitization such as terrorism, popular unrest, and narcotraffic and it analyzes devastating effects of these processes on peoples of the South, particularly the poor.

El sistema económico del imperio Inca: Historia crítica de una controversia

El sistema económico del imperio Inca: Historia crítica de una controversia

Sihil Field: Another giant below Cantarell, offshore Campeche, Mexico

The Cantarell field, discovered in 1976, is one of the largest oil fields in the world. It is located on the continental shelf in the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico, in the east-central part of the Campeche slope, 80 km from Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Mexico. This oil giant is a mature field that has produced approximately 7.861 billion bbl of oil during 22 years of exploitation. It is made up of four blocks: Akal, Nohoch, Chac, and Kutz. The most important one is Akal, which contains more than 90% of the oil reserves. A total of 223 wells produces both heavy oil and gas from Upper Cretaceous carbonate breccia, using primary and secondary recovery methods. The possibility of the existence of a prospective hydrocarbon trap located below the Cantarell field was recognized in 1990, but because of the quality of geologic and geophysical data and the structural complexity of the area, no exploratory drilling was carried out. The final exploratory results indicate that the new discovery, Sihil, surpasses all the expectations of the thrusted block, exceeding by far the quantities of oil reserves established by previous paradigms. This discovery allows Pemex Exploration and Production (PEP) to establish a strategic plan to add even more hydrocarbon reserves using data provided by investigation of other underlying blocks.

Los últimos cien años de la evangelización en América Latina. Centenario del Concilio Plenario de América Latina. Os últimos cem anos da evangelização na América Latina. Centenario do Concílio Plenario da América Latina. Simposio Histórico. Actas. Ciudad del Vaticano, 21–25 de Junio de 1999 (review)

Los ultimos cien anos de la evangelizacion en America Latina. Centenario del Concilio Plenario de America Latina. Os ultimos cem anos da evangelizacao na America Latina. Centenario do Concilio Plenario da America Latina. Simposio Historico. Actas. Ciudad del Vaticano, 21-25 de Junio de 1999. Edited by Pontificia Commissio pro America Latina. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2000. Pp. 1548. lire 160.000.) In June, 1999, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the Plenary Council of the Latin American bishops in Rome by holding a symposium. Los ultimos cien anos de la evangelizacion en America Latina reproduces the proceedings or acts of the symposium, which brought together nearly one hundred specialists in theology and church history, who analyzed and commented on the plenary council of 1899 and Latin American church history in general in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The plenary council is not well known, and whether or not it had a significant impact on the Church in Latin America is open to debate. Nevertheless, it constituted the first meeting of the Latin American bishops in history, and for that reason alone it was memorable, and at the very least represented a first step toward the creation of a Latin American church. For forty-three days, from May to July, 1899, fifty-three Latin American archbishops and bishops discussed such issues as modern errors which had already been condemned at Vatican Council I (rationalism, free-thinking, etc.), dangerous associations and movements (masonry, anarchism, communism, etc.), churchstate relations, sacramental practice, the formation of the clergy, canon law revisions, and suitable means to communicate the Church's message. The acts of the symposium include the official greetings, beginning with that of John Paul II, nine major plenary presentations (ponencias), and sixty-five shorter papers (comunicados). The presentations are divided into three parts: the Church and the political context of the nineteenth century; the plenary council itself; the impact of the council and other important events in the life of the Church in the twentieth century. As we shall see, the symposium produced many excellent and very informative papers which merit the attention of scholars. Nevertheless, it should be noted that, given its official character, the symposium suffered from some of the limitations of a controlled meeting. It was by invitation only and academic pluralism and critical and original scholarship were not always the criteria for selecting participants. The vast majority were clerics, with only a sprinkling of laypersons. Several of the papers deal with liberal-Catholic clashes in the last century and offer few new insights. The papers on the twentieth century do not adequately reflect the reality of the Latin American Church. There is not a single paper on liberation theology, which most students of the Latin American Church would consider the most important theological current which that continent produced in the twentieth century. One of its leading theologians, Father Gustavo Gutierrez, is mentioned once. The great progressive cardinals and bishops of twentieth-century Latin America-Helder Camara, Paulo Arns, Oscar Romero, Raid Silva Henriquez, Juan LandAzuri Ricketts, among others, receive scant attention. The one paper on Protestantism is cast in a pre-Vatican II mentality and makes no reference to ecumenical relations between Catholics and Protestants. Only two papers deal with religious women. Several of the papers present church history in such an abstract and non-critical way that they are not useful for historians. A case in point is the plenary paper on the major assemblies, Rio de Janeiro (1955), Medellin (1968), Puebla (1979), and Santo Domingo (1992). The author offers an idealized version of the Church's evolution from one assembly to another and emphasizes episcopal communion as the connecting link. …

History, Historical Record, and Ceremonial Action: Incas and Spaniards in Cuzco

In March 1534, the residents of Cuzco, the capital and sacred centre of the Inca empire, witnessed the last ceremony of royal inauguration and triumph to be celebrated in their city by an Inca ruler, Manco Inca Yupanqui.Pedro Sancho, An account of the Conquest of Peru (tr. P. A. Means, New York 1917), chapter 12, 111; Diego de Esquivel y Navia, Noticias cronologicas de la gran ciudad del Cuzco (Lima 1980), vol. 1, 83. The author of this work belonged to a family of Cuzco notables, on whom see Bernard Lavalle, Le Marquis et le Marchand. Les luttes de pouvoir au Cuzco (1700–1730), Paris (1987). Eight months earlier, in July 1533, the Spanish invaders of the Inca empire, led by Francisco Pizarro, had executed Manco's brother, the Inca Atahuallpa. Shortly thereafter, they named Manco as the next ruler, while at the same time occupying the capital. Although, therefore, the victory being celebrated had been won under Spanish tutelage, some part of the traditional ceremonial was performed on this occasion, and affords a glimpse of the functioning of Cuzco as an imperial capital, of political relationships among the Inca elite, and of the vision of the past that gave meaning to these relationships.

The small-scale water provider in Paraguay: bringing private sector efficiency to water resource use and the provision of drinking water to the poor

This article provides a case study of small-scale private sector provision of water supply in Paraguay, where the Government has sought sector policy reforms that would encourage private investment in drinking water supply. Ironically, while the Government has focused almost entirely on garnering the interest of large private international water companies, much smaller local firms have already made significant investments in drinking water services for the poor, all without any participation or encouragement from the Government. Outside Paraguay's two major cities, Asunción and Ciudad del Este, large numbers of aguateros currently provide piped potable water to lower-income people. Though the aguateros have little legal footing — they are in many respects informal and unregulated —they have constructed as much as one third of all the new drinking water connections in these two cities over the past 20 years. The small-scale water systems in Paraguay offer a model of financial, economic, and water-use efficiency. This article asserts that an abundance of groundwater resources, cheap access to electricity for pumping, and a spirit of informal investment, among other variables, has spawned widespread use of this approach. This article documents and analyzes the features of these independent small-scale water providers in Paraguay and the efficiency they bring to the use of water resources in meeting drinking water demands among the poor. It also cautions against policies that may trample on such entrepreneurial spirit in the name of State-managed privatization.

Petroleum Geology of Campeche Offshore Area, Southeastern Mexico: ABSTRACT

The exploratory well Chac 1, 80 km north of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, established in 1976 the first oil-producing formation in the marine area of Campeche, located west of the Yucatan Peninsula of southeastern Mexico. From intensification of marine seismology, several structural trends have been identified, some of which are being drilled. Oil- and gas-bearing beds have already been identified in the Makab, Akal, Nohoch, and Abkatum structures, in dolomitic rocks of Paleozoic, Cretaceous, and Jurassic ages. The oil-producing rocks are sealed by terrigenous rocks of Tertiary age. Exploratory drilling is concentrated in an area of about 8,000 sq km, and the geologic characteristics, and stratigraphic and structural type and age of reservoirs (Cretaceous and Jurassic) are like those of the onshore area of Chiapas-Tabasco; apparently, both areas compose the same shelf-basin unit. The depth range of the top of the productive zone is between 1,260 and 3,500 m and the rocks are basically dolomite. In some areas the zone of hydrocarbon saturation reaches up to 700 m. Wells drilled onshore in the Yucatan Peninsula indicate that basement is constituted of metamorphic rocks, possibly of Paleozoic age, that extend toward the marine area. This is being confirmed by recent gravimetry and magnetometry work. The exploratory drilling is being accomplished with nine different types of equipment, and the installation of fixed platforms for development and exploitation of the area has already been initiated. End_of_Article - Last_Page 697------------