The young mother feeds the baby that was left in her care in downtown Monterrery.
A newborn baby was abandoned in the city center of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Monday after being left in the care of a woman who was begging in the street with her four children.
The person presumed to be the mother asked the woman, identified only as Alicia, to look after the baby, telling her that she couldn’t enter the store with it and complaining of pain in her arm. She left the newborn with a bag with diapers, a can of powdered milk and a baby bottle with prepared formula.
After waiting about three hours for the baby’s mother to return, Alicia was assisted by passersby to contact the police.
Red Cross paramedics diagnosed the baby with a fever and it was transferred to a maternal and children’s hospital in Guadalupe City. The infant was reported Wednesday to be in stable condition.
Authorities have taken DNA samples from the baby, requested video footage from security cameras and interviewed owners of local businesses to try to identify the mother.
In an interview with Televisa Alicia said she had considered continuing to look after the baby, and even thought a name for him, but was advised to call the police.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident a newborn baby was found lifeless outside a house in the north of the city Wednesday inside a plastic bag and wrapped in a blanket.
The award recognizes Enrique Krauze's 'broad career as a historian, essayist, editor and thinker,' the king said.
Mexican historian Enrique Krauze has received a prestigious Spanish award in recognition of his long career in the academic discipline of history.
King Felipe VI of Spain presented the Ordenes Españolas History Award to Krauze at a ceremony held Wednesday at a historical royal residence near Madrid.
The award, which was first presented in 2018 and comes with a 60,000-euro (US $71,000) prize, recognizes the 73-year-old’s “broad career as a historian, essayist, editor and thinker,” the king said.
The jury that selected Krauze as the winner said his work “covers the entire history of Mexico as a nation from a broad perspective that considers both its actors and institutions.”
“… He offers an independent vision of Mexican history in which indigenous elements combine with the Christian culture received from Europe.”
Among the more than 20 books Krauze has authored are Mexico: Biography of Power, History of the Mexican Revolution: The Economic Reconstruction and Century of Leaders: Political Biography of Mexico.
He was nominated for the award by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, of which the historian is an industrial engineering graduate.
In his acceptance speech, Krauze said he has “many affectionate links to Spain” and that receiving the award in 2021 was “a very high honor” accompanied by “the responsibility to remember the fifth centenary of the conquest of Mexico.”
The historian, who was highly critical of President López Obrador’s request that the King of Spain apologize for the conquest, said the civilization conquered by the Spanish was neither the “Arcadia,” or utopia, depicted by Mexican indigenous historiography nor the “hell” depicted by its “Hispanicist counterpart.”
Krauze also said that the discipline of “history is not a tribunal,” meaning that historians don’t have to establish a definitive version of events.
“… The duty of the historian, especially in the face of such a distant drama [such as the conquest] is not to judge but rather … document, explain and understand,” he said.
Krauze highlighted the importance of the mixing of Spanish and indigenous blood – the mestizaje – in forging a new culture and identity in Mexico, asserting that it was the greatest legacy of the conquerers and colonizers.
“The indigenous influence dominated in diet, both cultures came together in medicine and herbalism and in language, despite the dominance of Spanish … indigenous languages survived and pervaded Spanish with a variety of mexicanismos, tonalities and accents,” he said.
Krauze said that Mexico and Spain should commemorate the conquest together and not allow hate to impede dialogue, as occurred after the former won independence from the latter in a bloody war at the start of the 19th century.
“In that way history will be able to achieve its highest mission, that of being a path of understanding and harmony,” he said.
British historian John H. Elliot won the 2018 Ordenes Españolas History Award, while Spanish historian Miguel Ángel Ladero triumphed in 2019. The prize wasn’t presented last year due to the pandemic.
One of those wounded in a gunfight Wednesday in Oaxaca.
Two members of the National Guard are in custody on kidnapping charges and a third is dead after they engaged in a gunfight with state police in Oaxaca on Wednesday.
The clash occurred Wednesday afternoon on Federal Highway 190 in San Pablo Etla, a municipality just north of Oaxaca city.
One of the guardsmen was shot by state investigative police and subsequently died in hospital. Two police officers were wounded.
A young man from Miahuatlán de Porfirio Díaz who was allegedly kidnapped by the three guardsmen was rescued from a home from which the security force members fled before opening fire at police to aid their escape. Relatives of the man said the National Guard members had asked for 200,000 pesos (US $10,000) and a pickup truck as ransom.
The Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office said it would carry out a “diligent and exhaustive” investigation into the incident between police and the members of the National Guard, a two-year-old security force created by the current federal government.
It also said it would seek to gather evidence to support the accusation that the detained guardsmen committed the kidnapping.
The federal government’s plan to create a new state-owned company to distribute LP gas directly to consumers at low prices is concerning for several reasons, according to a leading economic analyst.
President López Obrador announced Wednesday that state oil company Pemex will establish the new utility within three months. Gas Bienestar (Well-Being Gas), as the new company will be called, is needed to create additional competition in the LP gas market because it is dominated by five large companies and gas prices have been rising “unjustifiably” above inflation, he said.
In a series of Twitter posts, the director of economic and financial analysis at Banco Base questioned the wisdom of the plan.
Gabriela Siller noted that Mexico is not self-sufficient in LP gas and therefore Pemex/Gas Bienestar will have to import a certain quantity of it at a price determined by the international market. (Pemex is already an LP gas importer and also produces gas.)
“There will also be transport, storage and commercialization costs, so it is not clear how they will offer gas at a lower price,” she wrote.
Siller cited data from the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) that showed that domestic gas production was meeting less than 30% of demand at the end of 2017.
“This means that increases in international prices are absorbed by importers and distributors in the country, as well as sellers and finally consumers,” she wrote.
Siller noted that international LP gas prices have risen 45.7% annually as of late June and domestic prices were up 17.8% in the first half of last month compared to the same period a year earlier.
“The discrepancy between the rise in the international price and the local price is because several sellers have absorbed part of the increases,” she wrote.
“The creation of ‘Gas Bienestar’ also implies investment in tanks to sell [gas], employees, etc., so there are initial costs like in any company. The question is: who will absorb these costs, Pemex or [the Ministry of Finance]? (Which for practical purposes are the same),” Siller wrote.
The extra burden on government resources could have implications for Mexico’s sovereign credit rating, she continued.
International LP gas prices have risen 45.7% annually as of late June, says Gabriela Siller of Banco Base.
“Creating the [state-owned] company doesn’t guarantee that gas will be offered at a lower price. The only way for that to occur would be to incur the cost of creating the company, operating it and then selling gas at a subsidized price,” Siller wrote.
López Obrador said Wednesday that Gas Bienestar’s prices would not be subsidized by the government but rather the company will have very low profit margins that allow it to keep prices low.
But Siller maintains that creating and operating the company will be a costly exercise for the Ministry of Finance or Pemex, which already has debt in excess of US $100 billion.
“Creating Gas Bienestar will be doubly onerous for public finances because 1) gas will be sold below the market price and 2) [the government] will incur the operation costs,” she wrote.
Siller said it would make more sense for the government to subsidize consumers’ purchases from existing private companies, perhaps via a voucher scheme, rather than create a new state-owned one, although she acknowledged that would come at a cost as well.
“But we [would] save the cost of creating a new company and operating it,” she wrote.
“In summary, there are five concerning things about the creation of Gas Bienestar:
Additional costs for the public sector.
Investment costs for commercialization…
Risks of credit rating cuts.
Risk of a fall in fixed investment in the sector …
Risk of [the government] wanting to limit import permits, which could generate shortages.”
Meanwhile, Cofece responded to López Obrador’s criticism that it has done nothing to stop the increase of LP gas prices.
The competition watchdog said in a statement that it shares the desire of citizens and the president for fuels to be offered at the best possible prices in Mexico.
“In fact the commission has been emphatic and vocal [on the issue], … undertaking actions to investigate and … sanction anti-competitive behavior and promoting greater competition in the gasoline, diesel, LP gas, aviation fuel and electricity markets,” Cofece said.
With regard to LP gas in particular, the watchdog noted that it has investigated to determine whether there is “effective competition” in the market and if there is collusion between LP gas distributors.
“… In the case of collusion being proven, economic sanctions of up to 10% of the income of the companies involved can be imposed,” Cofece said.
A final determination of the investigations is awaiting response from the gas companies themselves.
The commission also noted that it published a study in 2018 that warned that the LP gas market was dominated by a small group of companies and made recommendations to reduce the impacts of the market concentration.
Among the recommendations were to allow the sale of LP gas cylinders at gas stations and supermarkets, to sell gas to vulnerable sectors of the population at state-run Diconsa stores and to eliminate obstacles to the installation of new distribution plants. None of the recommendations was implemented by the federal government, Cofece said.
Street vendors in San Cristóbal de las Casas pre-pandemic. Katja Tsevtkova/Shutterstock
My sister has come to visit!
It’s been a year and half since we’ve seen each other — a year and a half since I’ve seen anyone related to me other than my daughter, in fact. Needless to say, to me it’s a Very Big Deal.
She flew into Veracruz (about an hour and a half from Xalapa), so I decided to make a mini, safe-as-possible vacation of it. I booked a nice, extra-sanitized hotel in downtown Veracruz for a couple of nights, packed my hand gel, extra masks and swimsuit and headed there with my daughter to pick my sister up and spend a couple of days relaxing.
Since I mostly live and have lived like a local for the past almost 20 years, it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything “touristy.” Being a tourist makes me squirm.
It’s not because I feel embarrassed about exploring a new place, looking at souvenirs or frequenting silly museums (I’m looking at you, Ripley’s Believe It or Not.) No, it’s because at least if you’re exploring a city — and especially one reeling from the double-whammy of a health and economic crisis that has left people devastated on both fronts — the pressure to actively participate at all times in the tourist industry’s recovery is on.
And while tourism is up, those who earned a living from it pre-pandemic are far from recovered.
As those of you who read my column frequently know, I do a lot of thinking about the ethics of my role as a foreigner living in Mexico. I try to do this even when it doesn’t leave me — or those who share more characteristics than not with me — in the most flattering light.
As uncomfortable as it is to simultaneously recognize how my privilege both supports and contributes to a way of life I don’t feel 100% comfortable with, I do my best not to keep myself stuck in a constant game of defense.
And though I genuinely love people — talking to them, hearing their stories, being around them — I’m naturally reserved at my core and can get easily overwhelmed by any intense onslaught of attention-wanting humanity. On this trip, those who depend on tourist dollars to survive were particularly persistent about wanting attention and business from me.
Who can blame them? It’s been a rough year, and many are desperate to recover lost ground. And let’s face it: even before the pandemic, the typical strategy for vendors without a storefront or a kiosk has been to walk around areas frequented by tourists, trying to sell things to you, even if you’re mid-bite or mid-conversation.
This makes the entitled, prissy part of me mad: will you please stop interrupting me every five minutes and let me freaking finish my meal/conversation/text? If I shop, I want to do so because I’ve decided to stop and have a look around, not because someone’s waving bracelets in my face and really wants me to stop whatever I’m doing to look them over and choose one to buy right then. The same goes for bus and boat tours, and meals at restaurants.
And then, of course, I immediately feel like a jerk. Walking up to people and trying to get them to buy something from you must be, after all, enough of a winning strategy enough of the time, and who am I to scowl at them for trying to make a living?
My right to shop or not shop when I want to hardly seems as important as their right to try their best to make enough money to eat that day. How to handle these simultaneous feelings of irritation and guilt?
Shortly before traveling, I translated an article (not yet published) about a small beachside town that the government had worked hard to turn into a paradise for tourists. I’ve been thinking about it ever since, and I especially thought about it as I enjoyed some of the more luxurious activities that Veracruz has to offer.
There were all the normal complaints, of course: quickly rising prices in the area, which ensure that the non-wealthy citizens who already lived there would not have access to all of those new fun things available, and that businesses making up the tourism infrastructure would buy up all of the best land plots in town where community centers used to stand.
In the wake of the pandemic, there was an extra sting as well: children (still) out of school and with fewer places to play, all while their community systematically turned into a gigantic pay-to-play amusement park made up of 100%-open businesses for rich vacationers to come and live out their own fantasies.
As you might imagine, wages for locals remain flat, tied to the state’s minimum wage rather than the local cost of living.
Veracruz is hardly a beach resort, and most of the tourists that arrive there are from other parts of Mexico. But the divide between those of us treating it as a playground made just for us and those who are just trying to make ends meet in the increasingly expensive city they live in is obvious and uncomfortable (for me, anyway).
Might it be like one’s parents having a second child that the older one must witness getting showered with love and sweets while sitting in their regular corner with a simple plate of rice and peas?
I want the sweets, but I want my older sibling to get the sweets too. We both turn and frown at the parents, who never seem to be around when we want an explanation, or some justice. So, we take on the uncomfortable task of trying to work it out between ourselves.
Ninety percent of projects halted by the pandemic have resumed, the governor said.
Despite a recent rise in coronavirus cases in Quintana Roo, 90% of hotel construction projects that were halted or postponed due to the pandemic are now back underway, according to Governor Carlos Joaquín.
The governor told the newspaper Milenio that 5,000 new hotel rooms are currently being built in the state, home to resort destinations such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Cozumel. Joaquin also said that several new shopping centers are under construction.
Some of the projects are due to be finished this year while many others are scheduled for completion in early 2022.
According to the Quintana Roo government, among the companies that have restarted hotel projects are AM Resorts, Grupo Posadas (owner of the Fiesta Americana brand), Grupo Tafer and Grupo Lomas, which is building a Nickelodeon resort in the Riviera Maya.
Jaoquín also said that almost all the jobs lost in Quintana Roo last year due to the pandemic have been recovered. He said that 122,000 jobs were lost in the tourism-oriented state in 2020 but all of them are expected to have been recovered by the end of this month.
Air traffic is also close to getting back to pre-pandemic levels. An average of 600 flights per day arrived at and departed from Quintana Roo airports in 2019, while the figure is now about 518, the governor said.
Cancún and Cozumel airports are among the six busiest in the country, according to federal Tourism Ministry data.
Joaquín said that 2.8 million visitors are expected over the summer months, which would represent 80% of 2019 levels when 3.5 million tourists arrived in the Caribbean coast state during the same period.
He acknowledged that cruise ship tourism has barely recovered, with only one ship having docked in the state since the sector came to a halt early last year. Royal Caribbean International’s Adventure of the Seas took approximately 1,000 passengers to Cozumel last month.
Joaquín said the frequency with which cruise ships are docking in Quintana Roo will increase starting this month.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with Mexico's agriculture and economy ministers.
The United States pressured Mexico on Wednesday to allow genetically modified crops into the country and to open up access to U.S.-grown potatoes.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai pushed for the concessions during a meeting in Mexico City with Mexican Agriculture Minister Víctor Villalobos and Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier.
“Ambassador Tai emphasized the importance of Mexico immediately resuming the authorization of biotechnology products and inquired about the status of expanding access for U.S. fresh potatoes throughout Mexico,” the Office of the U.S. Trade representative said in a statement.
The Mexican government published a decree on the last day of 2020 that stated that the importation of genetically modified corn would be banned by January 2024.
The new North American free trade agreement, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), has a biotechnology chapter that aims to support cooperation on science that corn, cotton and soybean farmers widely depend on but Mexico hasn’t approved a new agricultural trait since May 2018, reported agriculture news website Agri-Pulse.
“Mexico has not issued a new biotech approval in over three years and, if this continues, farmers won’t have access to these tools,” said Matt O’Mara, vice president of international affairs for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), a Washington D.C-based trade organization that represents the biotech industry.
“BIO looks forward to working with the [U.S.] administration to support efforts that resolve this issue in a timely manner, including USMCA enforcement as necessary.”
Chuck Grassley, a Republican Party senator from Iowa, told reporters Wednesday that “we’re going to be fighting for getting our GMOs [genetically modified organisms] into Mexico.”
For his part, National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles told Agri-Pulse that he is pleased that Tai is pressuring Mexican officials to allow more U.S. potatoes into Mexico.
Mexico had granted full access to U.S. potatoes but Mexican farmers were able to halt unfettered entry via legal action. However, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling in late April that authorized the federal government to lift barriers to imports. But the government has not yet allowed the flow of American spuds across the border to increase.
“U.S. potato growers appreciate the continued vigilance of Ambassador Tai and Secretary [of Agriculture Tom] Vilsack to ensure this 20-plus-year potato market access dispute finally crosses the finish line,” Quarles said.
The Mexico-US potato dispute is over two decades old.
“Over the past two decades, we’ve heard Mexico make numerous promises about living up to their end of trade agreements only to backtrack under domestic political pressure and continue to prevent fresh U.S. potatoes from gaining full access to their country. We continue to urge the ambassador and secretary to maintain a ‘trust but verify’ stance with Mexico to ensure their market isn’t just temporarily opened, but instead remains open to high quality fresh U.S. potatoes.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative also said that Tai, Villalobos and Clouthier discussed the potential mutual benefits of aligning Mexico and the United States’ policy on ethanol gasoline blends.
In addition, they discussed the implementation of the USMCA’s environment chapter – “including concerns related to the conservation and protection of the vaquita [marina porpoise], illegal fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, and sea turtle bycatch.”
“They agreed to work together to fully implement and enforce the USMCA’s high-standard environmental commitments,” the statement added.
Tai will host a roundtable discussion with Mexican workers and labor leaders in Mexico City on Thursday morning at which she will “highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s worker-centered trade policy and the United States’ commitment to full implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s labor commitments,” according to her office.
The Mexican Congress passed a landmark labor reform package in 2019 that was considered crucial for the ratification of the USMCA, which took effect on July 1, 2020.
But two companies operating in Mexico – General Motors and auto parts manufacture Tridonex – have been accused of violating workers’ rights as set out in the USMCA and the U.S. government recently asked Mexico to review the labor situation at the firm’s plants in Silao, Guanajuato, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, respectively.
An assistant at Arte Casbal paints an árbol de la vida candelabra made in the Puebla studio.
A small mound of clay sits on the table just to Jorge Casbal’s right. He tears off a small chunk and deftly shapes a piece that’s a little larger than a half a tennis ball; this is the base of what will become an árbol de la vida — a tree of life.
He takes another piece of clay and gently rolls it between his hands, forming the central tube, and lays it on the table in front of him. He repeats this several times as he makes the various parts, his hands moving confidently. Nothing is measured, and everything is done by hand.
He knows what he needs to do from years of experience, and he makes it look easy; but it’s not.
“To make the most basic thing, [a person] can learn in about six months, practicing every day,” he said. “It would take about a year in training to make a small árbol de la vida.”
Jorge and his brother Ulises are the owners of Arte Casbal in Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, which is famous for its barro policromado — painted clay — and especially its árboles de la vida.
Ulises Casbal works on a clay handcraft. The brothers make a variety of items in painted clay, including ones for Day of the Dead.
The earliest discovered depiction of a Mexican árbol de la vida is found in the Codex Vindobonensis, a Mixtec parchment believed to have been made a few decades before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. The Mixtecs occupied an area that is now Oaxaca, Guererro and Puebla.
“In the codex, there is a tree called apoala,” said Jorge, “and it represents the beginning of life, according to the Mixtec culture.” The tree also shows the origin of the Mixtec ruling families and the civilization’s early history.
Mexican indigenous groups have been using clay to make figures and other items for thousands of years. In the country’s central region, unpainted clay figures date from around 1800 BC.
Painted figures appeared much later, first in the Olmec culture. Still later, around AD 800 in Teotihuacán, figures with religious symbols began to appear.
It’s not clear when the first clay árbol de la vida appeared in Mexico, but the ones that we’re familiar with today — ones that incorporate images and symbols based on Catholic religious icons — appeared after the Conquest. Like many things in Mexico, this indigenous art form has changed over the centuries.
“With the arrival of the Spanish and evangelization, the árbol de la vida was transformed,” Jorge said. “The Moors invaded Spain, and from there, the Spanish brought Moorish images here, and we use them in our polichromado. Our pieces are a mix of three cultures: Spanish, Moorish and Mixtec, but [the] Mixtec also have an Olmec and Zapotec influence.”
The Vindobonensis Codex, a pre-Hispanic pictorial document, displays the apoala tree, whose imagery shows the origins of the Mixtecs’ ruling families.
Making árboles de la vida and other figures is a family tradition for Jorge and Ulises that goes back generations. “During the Revolution, the art was being lost, and it was recovered by my grandmother, Catalina Orta, together with Don Aurelio Flores,” said Jorge.
His grandmother taught all her children, including Jorge and Ulises’ father. Unfortunately, their father eventually lost his studio and abandoned the family, but fortunately, he’d taught his wife, Maria Luisa Balbuena Palacios, who is now recognized as a master of the craft. She in turn taught Jorge and Ulises.
The family struggled after their father left. “We lived in extreme poverty,” said Jorge. “Sometimes we had nothing to eat. We went to school, but we were not good students. But little by little, we came to love crafts.”
In 2003, the brothers convinced their mother to let them enter a piece in a competition sponsored by the National Fund for the Development of Handcrafts (Fonart). “Despite being first-timers, we took second place, and that started to change our history,” Jorge said.
Soon afterward, they decided to start their own studio.
“My mother is very traditional, and we made variants,” Jorge explained. “Also, we wanted our own workshop, our own style, and because of this, we wanted our independence. And so we formed Arte Casbal in 2004.”
Jorge Casbal puts together the base of another árbol de la vida piece.
Before they can start making one of the tree figures, the clay must be prepared over weeks. It starts out essentially as a stone that they first pound and grind and then sift to remove any small stones and other impurities.
The resulting powder is put in a tank of water for a week or two. The water is then removed, leaving behind something that Jorge described as being like a “mole paste” — which the brothers then knead. After all that, the clay’s ready to be sculpted.
Jorge takes all the pieces that are laid out in front of him and gently connects them. He smooths out the spots where the pieces are joined and places the unfinished árbol de la vida upright. He’ll leave it on a shelf to dry for three or four days before placing it in an oven. The hot air in the oven can crush them.
“Once dry, we put them in an oven at C 800, using something traditional: firewood,” he said. “This is a very long process, and it is a process done absolutely by hand.”
Traditionally, an árbol de la vida has an image of God on top, as well as Adam and Eve figures and a serpent, although some have strictly secular themes such as animals and nature. In the brothers’ studio, the decorations typically incorporate indigenous designs and symbols.
The sculpture is customarily given to newlyweds “as a symbol that they are wishing the couple a family union that’s prosperous,” said Ulises. “One with many children.”
A small, eight-inch item, like the one Jorge was working on, takes about a week of continuous work to make and costs 1,500 pesos (US $75). At the time of my visit, an assistant was painting a very large, elaborate one that Jorge estimated took 20 days to make and will take another 20 to paint. That one cost 40,000 pesos (nearly US $2,000).
They also sell a variety of other figures, including ones for Day of the Dead.
There were once many more workshops like Arte Casbal in Izúcar de Matamoros. “Now there are 12 family workshops,” said Ulises, “maybe two others.”
The brothers realized that the craft was being lost and began doing what they could to preserve it. “My brother and I undertook to start social networks [promoting the craft],” Ulises continued. “We promote it in fairs.” They also train people.
Still, they and others in their family struggle to keep the knowledge alive and to survive. When asked if they can continue their work, Jorge wasn’t optimistic.
“It depends,” he admitted. “We do it for love, and we will continue. Once, someone asked my cousin if he will continue this work, and he said no. The person asked why. My cousin said, ‘So my children do not die of hunger.’”
A U.S. citizen was arrested for dressing up as a police officer in Playa del Carmen.
Patrick “N,” 22, was wearing a uniform with a shirt marked “City Police,” a bullet proof vest and a black cap with a police badge, and was armed with a baton.
He was detained in a vehicle along with other passengers which municipal police determined to be suspicious in the north of the city just off the Cancún-Tulum highway.
The foreigner was unable answer the officers’ questions convincingly and was turned over to state prosecutors. It is unclear why the man had dressed up as a police officer or whether he spoke Spanish.
The message many have seen when attempting to obtain the certificate.
The federal government announced Tuesday that people vaccinated in Mexico against Covid-19 could download a digital certificate as official proof of their vaccination status, but many people were unable to complete the process.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell told the president’s Tuesday morning press conference that people who are fully vaccinated could access the certificates on a Health Ministry website.
“If you want to have official proof that you have been vaccinated, … [the certificates] are there,” he said.
The coronavirus point man said that each certificate states the vaccine with which they were inoculated and the date or dates on which they received the shot.
Downloading the certificate – which also has a QR code – is especially important for international travelers as it may be needed to prove one’s vaccination status in certain countries, López-Gatell said.
However, a large number of Mexicans found it impossible to obtain the certificate and took to social media to vent their frustration. After entering their CURP identity number on the certificate website, many people were told to “wait a few minutes and try again.”
However, their repeated attempts were repeatedly met with the same message. It was unclear whether the problem was related to heavy traffic on the site.
Other people complained they received a message saying there was no available data to generate their certificate even though they are fully vaccinated.
One social media user responding to López-Gatell’s Twitter post announcing the website said her husband’s certificate said he was immunized with the Pfizer vaccine when he actually received Sputnik shots.
People who are able to successfully log into the website will be sent an email containing a link to another site where they can download their vaccination certificate.
There are 19.9 million fully vaccinated people in Mexico, the Health Ministry said Tuesday, and just over 33 million have received at least one shot. The latter figure accounts for 37% of the adult population, the ministry said. López-Gatell said Wednesday that just under 48.5 million vaccine doses have been administered across the country.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated case tally rose by 7,989 on Tuesday, the biggest single-day jump since late February and the death toll increased by 269.
The Health Ministry’s announcement of the high case tally came after López-Gatell acknowledged Tuesday morning that Mexico had entered a third wave of the pandemic. Reported case numbers increased 53% in June compared to May and Covid-19 deaths rose 42%.
Mexico’s accumulated case tally currently stands at just under 2.55 million, while the official death toll is 233,958, a figure considered a vast undercount due to low Covid-19 testing rates.
