Friday, March 28, 2025

Mazatlán says restaurants can reopen; state warns it’s too early

The mayor of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, announced that the city’s restaurants will open with limited capacity on Sunday, sparking criticism and warnings from state health officials who say it’s still too early for such a move.

Mayor Luis Guillermo Benítez Torres wants eateries to open at 40% capacity so that families can celebrate Mother’s Day, but the state Health Ministry warned him that there are still too many active cases in the city to do so safely.

Of the 612 active cases of Covid-19 in Sinaloa, 83 are in Mazatlán, the location with the third highest number of cases in the state.

Benítez argued that municipal governments are autonomous, but state Health Minister Efrén Encinas Torres said that mayors are obliged to obey the nationwide preventative measures that are based on state and federal health laws.

He warned the mayor against the move, citing the severity of the crisis and the risks of not continuing to observe physical distancing measures.

A similar argument played out between state authorities in Nuevo León and the mayor of San Pedro Garza García, Miguel Treviño, who reinitiated public works projects in the municipality on Thursday.

Governor Jaime Rodríguez said that even the president is bound to abide by the federal mitigation measures, which clearly define essential and nonessential activities.

That state’s health minister, Manuel de la O Cavazos, expressed his preoccupation for the situation in Nuevo León, where Covid-19 cases “filled up a hospital” in a single day after 89 people were hospitalized Wednesday. That number was topped on Thursday, when 141 cases were admitted to medical centers in the state.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Mexican soldier in camouflage rests with gun

Soldiers involved in 2023 Nuevo Laredo extrajudicial killings sentenced to 40 years in prison

0
Four Mexican soldiers have been sentenced to over 40 years in prison for a shooting in Nuevo Laredo that killed five men in 2023, a rare instance of Mexican military personnel facing civilian trials for human rights abuses.
Tug boats pull the USS Spruance warship out to sea in San Diego

The US has sent a second warship to patrol off the coast of Mexico

5
The U.S. continues dedicating increasing numbers of naval and other military assets to security on its border with Mexico.
Authorities inspecting bus cargo hold

320 baby turtles seized on a passenger bus on the Mexico City-Puebla highway

0
The seizure was part of an ongoing operation aimed at curbing wildlife smuggling, one of the most lucrative environmental crimes in Mexico.