Pesos just don’t go as far as they used to

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December 4, 2021

Last week, I took my daughter to the pediatrician. When we started taking her there, the fee was 600 pesos: pricey for Mexico, but doable for someone like me and enough other people to keep him busy and in business.

Last week, it had gone up to 850 pesos. As I paid, I chatted with the secretary. “Yes, prices of everything are going up so much, aren’t they?” she said.

“They really are … in fact, I’d say everything has gone up — except for my salary!” I replied. She had a hearty laugh and nodded, and all I can say is that I hope that hasn’t been her particular situation.

“Salary” is a stretch. Like many people both here and in the United States, I don’t receive a salary — and the benefits that the word implies — from anywhere these days. My choices are to work for companies that prefer to save money by classifying its workers as independent contractors or to not work at all. (Okay, fine; or I could work for a salary locally where, in my city, most employers consider themselves extremely generous for offering 6,000 pesos a month for a demanding full-time job — notably almost 2,000 pesos more a month than the new minimum wage will be once it’s increased.)

Using independent contractors is a strategy that saves a lot of money for the company by first passing the risks of fluctuation in demand to the workers, rather than being absorbed by the company itself. (“I mean I’d love to give you some hours, but we just don’t have that many customers right now. What can we do, right?”) Secondly, this strategy saves them from having to pay taxes on the worker.

In Mexico, salaried workers are also entitled by law to social security benefits, vacation time and pay, holiday bonuses, contributions to a housing credit fund, and antiquity, meaning that later benefits will be calculated based on how long they’ve officially worked there.

Obviously hiring people por honorarios (by fees) is the more attractive money-saving choice. The usual assumption here is that people who work this way are highly skilled professionals who charge hefty sums of money in exchange for their services and therefore have the extra money and time to arrange for their own benefits.

The reality is that while they may very well be highly skilled, potential employers say, “This is what we pay for this service; take it or leave it, plus there’s no guarantee of consistent work, so keep that in mind.” Meanwhile, the workers live from unsecured paycheck to unsecured paycheck — usually from several employers at once — and then pay a higher percentage of taxes at the end of the year on those unsecured earnings than salaried workers do on theirs.

It’s a huge, gigantic loophole that’s quickly becoming the norm on both sides of the border, and companies are for the most part totally getting away with it. What worker is going to blow the whistle, after all, and then be left without a job, not to mention possibly blackballed in their industry?

On the one hand, it’s not always that terrible of a deal. In my own case, I get paid fairly well (for Mexico, anyway) and with my kid still mostly at home, I can get to my work when I get to it.

But I’m also extra lucky: earnings that would keep me under the poverty line in the U.S. afford me a fairly comfortable, if not precarious, middle-class lifestyle in Mexico. I’ve “gamed” the system (can you call it that if you’re not actually a real economic winner?) by insisting on the minimum of U.S. wages online while living in a place considerably cheaper than the United States.

On the other hand, the absence of any kind of security — will there be work after this project is over? Will I be able to survive if I have to suddenly take time off to get my appendix out or something? Will this person I wrote an article for stop ghosting me now that I’ve sent the rough draft? — has me in a constant state of anxiety. Throw in some unexpected (and much higher-than-usual) medical expenses from the past few weeks, and I’m positively spinning.

I know I’m not alone there — on either side of the border.

Prices for everything are going up. Even with my particular advantages, I’m starting to feel the squeeze. Inflation in Mexico is up a record 7% this month, and the money that used to stretch quite a bit is rather suddenly no longer going nearly as far.

It’s 800 pesos here, 1,000 pesos there, another 850 here, 2,000 over here that you weren’t expecting, then 500 pesos at the store when it’s usually 300 … Pretty soon, you’re all pesoed out.

Wages for salaried workers in Mexico will soon be going up, which I applaud. For the millions of informal workers and those who work on contract, the jury’s out — and I’m not all that optimistic.

When people are suddenly spending a lot more money on the same things, they want to hold on to their money and save anywhere they’re able to. And keeping wages paid steady (and reducing hours, if you’re able to) is an easy way to do that because jobs are scarce enough that most people that need them aren’t just going to walk away and not eat.

It’s a tricky combination. And while I’ll freely admit that I don’t understand economics at all (money is symbolic and we collectively choose what value to give it – so why do we put ourselves through this?), I understand the social effects of economic need on a visceral level.

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com and her Patreon page.

First case of the omicron variant detected in Mexico

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MND Staff

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December 3, 2021

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A scanning electron microscope image showing SARS-CoV-2 (round gold objects) emerging from the surface of cells grown in a laboratory. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19. Image captured and colorized at NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Hamilton, Montana.

Mexico has detected its first case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced Friday.

It said the case was detected in a 51-year-old South African citizen who arrived in Mexico on November 21.

The ministry said in a statement that the person developed mild COVID-19 symptoms six days later and was admitted to a private hospital in Mexico City.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Twitter that the person has a “favorable“ prognosis.

The Health Ministry said the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference analyzed a sample of the virus and determined that it was the omicron strain.

President López Obrador and López-Gatell downplayed the gravity of the highly-mutated strain earlier this week. The president said no new restrictions were planned.

López-Gatell said Friday that closing borders and blocking the entry of people and goods “are not useful measures to contain variants.”

“The World Health Organization says that vaccination continues to be fundamental to reduce the risks of hospitalization and death. We call [on people] to remain calm and keep applying measures to avoid infections: healthy distance, face mask use, sneezing etiquette and frequent washing of hands,” he wrote on Twitter.

Although Mexico isn’t restricting the entry of any foreign visitors, the Health Ministry has advised Mexicans to avoid nonessential international travel due to the high possibility of infection with the coronavirus.

It raised its travel warning to level 3 “avoid all nonessential travel” for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

The ministry cited an increase in coronavirus case numbers in Europe and the emergence of omicron as reasons for the increased warning level, although there is no evidence that the variant causes more serious COVID-19 disease.

“In Europe new cases have increased by 11% and deaths by 3% in the past seven days. The highest number of cases are concentrated in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia,” it said.

“In recent days the omicron variant was detected. At the moment it is defined as a variant of concern and its transmission, hospitalization and death risk compared with other variants is under investigation.”

Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated coronavirus case tally stands at 3.89 million after 3,146 cases were reported Thursday. The official COVID-19 death toll rose by 287 to 294,715.

Mexico News Daily

Guadalajara airport says new terminal building, runway ready by 2026

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MND Staff

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December 3, 2021

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With record-breaking numbers of passengers predicted for 2022, the Guadalajara airport is expanding.

Guadalajara airport will have a new terminal building and second runway by 2026, the facility’s director said Thursday.

Martín Pablo Zazueta said that construction of the second terminal will start in 2024 and be finished by the summer of 2026.

Construction of the second runway has already begun and it is expected to begin operations in 2024, he said. Construction of a mixed-use development that will include a 180-room hotel, offices and commercial spaces has also begun.

The Pacific Airport Group (GAP), which manages the airport and 11 others in Mexico, is investing 15 billion pesos (US $705.2 million) to upgrade the facility.

Its capacity will double as a result of the upgrade and the new terminal will be on par with the best in the world, Zazueta told a meeting of airport officials.

GAP general director Raúl Revuelta Musalem said the size of the investment in the coming years will match the amount of money spent on the Guadalajara airport in the past 20.

“We’ll change the four tires of the car … with the car running,” he said, indicating that the airport will continue to operate while the construction work takes place.

Revuelta said that 60% of the investment amount is being spent with construction companies from Jalisco and other states in western Mexico.

Zazueta said passenger traffic at the airport is expected to be 12 million this year, which would be 80% of 2019 levels. He predicted that passenger numbers next year will exceed the record of 14.8 million passengers set in 2019.

Almost 2,000 flights arrive at and depart from the Guadalajara airport every week. Located about 20 kilometers south of central Guadalajara, the facility links the Jalisco capital to 57 domestic and international destinations.

With reports from El Economista

European Union says electricity reform has put brakes on investment in Mexico

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MND Staff

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December 3, 2021

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Gautier Mignot, European Union ambassador to Mexico. — Gautier Mignot, European Union ambassador to Mexico: 'Energy companies have invested in Mexico in good faith.'

The federal government’s proposed electricity reform is creating uncertainty and halting new investment, the European Union’s ambassador to Mexico said Thursday.

Gautier Mignot said the constitutional bill, which seeks to limit private and foreign companies’ participation in the electricity market by guaranteeing a 54% share to the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission, is generating uncertainty for European multinationals.

Such companies have invested some US $13 billion in Mexico, he said after a meeting with President López Obrador and other European officials in Mexico City.

“New investments are currently stalled because there is a context of uncertainty that makes it very difficult to invest,” Mignot told reporters.

“All [European companies] won’t withdraw from Mexico but some will, or they’ll reduce their activities,” he said.

A vote on the reform, which also seeks to get rid of the independent National Hydrocarbons Commission and the Energy Regulatory Commission, is not expected until next April, as the ruling Morena party and its allies agreed early last month to postpone it.

There is no guarantee it will pass Congress as the Morena-led coalition doesn’t have the two-thirds majority required to approve constitutional reforms without the support of opposition parties. If it does pass, legal challenges are seen as inevitable.

The United States ambassador to Mexico and a business group that represents Canadian companies in Mexico have already expressed concern about the bill. The Mexico CEO of General Motors said last month that the company won’t invest in Mexico without laws that support renewable energy, but Mexico’s emissions are predicted to substantially increase if the reform passes Congress.

Mignot said that it wasn’t the place of the European Union to tell Mexico to scrap the reform or to propose a counter-reform but urged the federal government to take two things into consideration.

Firstly, it should recognize that energy companies have invested in Mexico in good faith when no legal impediments existed, he said, adding that such companies – many of which generate clean, renewable energy – have created jobs and paid taxes.

“And the second thing we’re saying is take the Paris Agreement objectives into account,” the EU ambassador said.

President López Obrador said Wednesday that the approval of the proposed reform will allow “the balance lost” due to “neoliberal energy policy” to be recovered.

Previous governments “sought to ruin the national electricity industry and leave the market in the hands of private, mainly foreign, companies,” he declared at a rally in Mexico City to celebrate the third anniversary of his government.

With reports from El País

Patient walks 7.5 km through sewage tunnel to escape psychiatric hospital

By

Rose Egelhoff

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December 3, 2021

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Rescue workers use a ladder to rescue the man from the tunnel.

A Nuevo León psychiatric patient had an unenviable adventure this week when he attempted to escape from a hospital via a sewage tunnel.

Gerardo ‘N’ escaped from a hospital in the Topo Chico neighborhood of Monterrey on Wednesday by throwing himself into an open drainage channel. Despite a missing hand and several toes, Gerardo made it roughly 7.5 kilometers along the tunnel before a resident heard him shouting for help, the newspaper Milenio reported.

Mario Contreras heard someone calling outside his home, but when he looked out into the street, he didn’t see anyone.

“I was asleep near the window when I heard a voice shouting, ‘Help!’” Contreras said. “I woke up, but I thought it was from the house across from mine. Then my wife and I saw that it was coming from the sewer.”

With the help of neighbors, Contreras removed the concrete drain cover and was shocked to find a man standing in the stinking water below.

He asked for food, so a neighbor made him meat and potato tacos.

“He looked tired and hungry, really messed up,” she said.

Local news sources reported that Gerardo suffered from symptoms of sewer gas poisoning, and said he was taken to a hospital for medical revision.

With reports from Milenio

Ranchers’ war on vampire bats exacts unintended environmental toll

By

John Pint

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December 3, 2021

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Tequila bat pollinating agave — Mistaking them for vampire bats, ranchers protecting their cattle frequently kill beneficial bats like this harmless agave pollinator. Filiberto González

In a previous story, Bats Up Close and Personal, I made the case that most bats are every bit as clever, loving and loyal as dogs but that we humans don’t give them credit for these characteristics because most of us know them only as fleeting silhouettes in the night sky. But in Mexico, this is especially a problem.

Here, this prejudice against bats is far stronger because among the more than 1,400 species of bats in the world — which eat everything from insects to fruits and lizards to fish — there are three species that feed off the blood of other animals. One of them, Desmodus rotundus, or the vampire bat, has developed into a serious issue among cattle ranchers in Mexico, one that can be traced back to practices initiated by the Spaniards in the colonial era.

Before the conquest, vampiros were few and far between, typically nipping Mexican wild turkeys in the foot and lapping up (not sucking) some of their blood. Then the Spaniards introduced corrales, which resulted in great numbers of cows and horses being practically immobilized outdoors.

For Desmodus rotundus, every corral was a free restaurant, and the number of vampire bats in Mexico has been growing steadily for centuries, creating a kind of Koyaanisqatsi, or Life-Out-of-Balance, situation in rural Mexico.

Besides leaving unsuspecting cows and horses with open wounds, vampire bats often leave them with paralytic rabies. When a rancher sees one of his animals after another die a slow, horrible death like this, he can’t be blamed for wanting to seek out the culprit’s home and blow it to bits.

vampire bat feeding on wild turkey — A vampire bat drinking the blood of a wild turkey. Merlyn Tuttle

If a rancher or farmer has never had a close-up look at those mysterious flyers of the night, he may easily assume that all bats are vampiros. And that’s a problem.

This was precisely the situation we found in the hills above El Ojo de Agua (the spring), a Jalisco town we were visiting because we had heard rumors that there was a cave in the area.

The first person we met was a one-armed man named Paulo. Though he didn’t know us from Adán and Eva, Paulo gave us a warm welcome, invited us to a tatemada (barbeque) and a dip in a spring-fed pool. He even offered to put us up in the guest house of the local hacienda.

Paulo was delighted to discover that we were cave explorers as he was one of those many country people who are thoroughly convinced that every cueva contains a hidden treasure, which you will surely find if you dig long and hard enough.

The following day, we followed Paulo up a steep mountain trail for about four hours, heading for a cave he knew about. This is easier said than done when the temperature is in the neighborhood of 30 C and the humidity is 100%.

However, Paulo’s frequent reminders that “this cave goes all the way through the mountain” kept us moving, even though we had heard such claims before (only the caves usually ended a mere five meters beyond their entrances).

Vampire bat — The wings of vampire bats have adapted, allowing them to “walk” up to their prey. Merlyn Tuttle

Finally, we came to the cave entrance at the bottom of a bushy fold in the hills. To our surprise, the opening was completely covered by a patchwork of chicken wire mesh held tightly in place by barbed wire and a framework of stout branches. “What’s this all about?” we asked.

Paulo explained that the cave had been filled with dreaded vampiros, but luckily, the local ranchers had “taken care of the problem.”

With Paulo’s permission, and with the help of pliers, we undid one end of the formidable barricade and climbed inside.

We found ourselves in a passage about two meters high and strewn with large chunks of fallen rocks from the ceiling. Following this slowly for about half an hour, we checked for side passages and photographed several large stalactites. Then we saw a light.

“Maybe we’ve finally found a cave that does go straight through the mountain,” we quipped. To our surprise, it turned out to be true.

Then, as we entered a wide room with a high ceiling, we saw that this second entrance was sealed with another bat barricade.

Jalisco farmers near Ojo de Agua — Local farmers, upper right, take a break from spraying their crops with insecticide.

We backtracked, and as we approached our starting point, my wife Susy spotted a very low crawlway on the side. She disappeared into it and a few minutes later we heard a tiny voice shouting: “It goes! I’m in a huge room!”

A few minutes later, we were in a spacious new section of the cave. The floor was covered with a thick, spongy layer of guano. Examining it closely, we could see the wings and legs of countless digested insects.

The farther we walked, the more we were convinced that many thousands of insect-eating bats had once lived here. Now there was not one to be seen.

The texture and the reddish color of the walls brought a special beauty to this passage. Soon we were threading our way among giant boulders.

We did plenty of climbing both up and down but never needed a rope. This challenging and enjoyable passage finally came to an end … and, yes, there in front of us was light — and once again the ominous silhouette of chicken wire and branches.

At this moment, we could almost feel the panic that all those bats must have experienced. Had they been caught on the inside like us — trapped, flying desperately from one entrance to another in a futile attempt to find a way out?

Cave entrance in Jalisco — “Here is your treasure, Paulo,” quips Susy Pint, handing him a bucket of guano.

When we left the cave, we removed as much of the first barrier as we could (with Paulo’s permission) but suspected that it would soon be put back in place. Since the cave had no name, we baptized it “La Cueva de Rogelio y Teresa” after the humble couple living in a little cabin nearby who treated us totally unexpected guests to an incredibly delicious hot dinner.

During the long walk back to Ojo de Agua, we came upon a group of men, each with a metal tank strapped to his back. They were fumigating their crops. They saw our helmets, and we told them that we had been exploring the big cave up the hill.

“We checked every inch of that cave and never found the slightest sign of vampire guano,” I told them. “Those were insect-eating bats in there, and now you people have to spray your crops with poison to keep down the bugs.

“If there’s treasure in that cave (I said with a glance at Paulo), it’s the tons of good fertilizer lying on the floor. But, of course, somebody has killed off the bats that make the fertilizer. Why would anyone put up a barrier against helpful murciélagos that eat bugs and pollinate plants?”

That night, in Ojo de Agua, we put on a slide show made by Bat Conservation International. To our surprise, just about everyone in the rancho and the neighboring pueblito of Coatlancillo showed up and the keenest questions came from a little old lady who could barely walk.

Several months later, we were back in Ojo de Agua with survey equipment to map the cave. Once again, we were heading up the steep, narrow trail but this time riding horses and mules that “might come in handy for carrying back the treasure,” according to Paulo, the eternal optimist.

Mexicans — Residents of Ojo de Agua and Coatlancillo attend a slide show about bats.

Equestrian caving is definitely for me. Instead of arriving pooped out, we reached the entrance in high form, raring to go.

Later, in the course of mapping the cave, we received two wonderful surprises: first, the local people had apparently believed us city slickers and had actually ripped aside three of the four chicken wire barriers.

Second, when we walked into the guano passage, we were greeted by hundreds and hundreds of flying creatures! There were so many swirling around us and bumping into us that we had to crouch on the ground and wait several minutes for them to get used to our presence. The bats were back!

Our visit to Ojo de Agua took place several years ago. Today, thanks to the work of people like Mexico’s Bat Man, Rodrigo Medellín, the kind of people in Mexico who watch documentaries can now make a distinction between insect-eating and pollinating bats and blood-feeding vampire bats.

Whether the news has reached the ears of people who live in those remote spots where caves abound, I’m not so sure. Years ago, I suggested that radio spots about bats be placed on those ranchero music stations that can be heard even in the middle of nowhere.

All a rancher needs to know is how to distinguish between the guano of vampire, insect-eaters and fruit bats. After that, he can figure the rest of the story out by himself.

Susy Pint, right, chats with locals about bats’ role in nature.

Once again, I repeat the call for radio spots, because today we need bats more than ever.

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.

Cave in Jalisco — Caver Luis Rojas uses an old shovel to check the depth of guano inside the cave.

Chicken wire, dynamite and bonfires are tools used to fight a war on bats in rural Mexico.

Post-conquest Mexica altar discovered near Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City

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MND Staff

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December 3, 2021

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Archaeologist Mara Abigaíl Becerra with artefacts from the altar. — Lead archaeologist Mara Abigaíl Becerra with artifacts from the altar. INAH

Archaeologists have uncovered a post-conquest Mexica altar at a property near Plaza Garibaldi, Mexico City’s home of mariachi music.

A team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered the 16th century altar while excavating a property on which the remains of a home once occupied by a Mexica family is located.

Archaeologists believe that the occupants carried out a ritual sometime after the 1521 conquest to mark the end of a cycle of their life and the downfall of the Aztec Empire, whose most important city, Tenochtitlán, was conquered by the Spanish.

“Between chants and the smell of copal, the inhabitants made use of an altar with multiple elements in the patio,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement.

Among the contents of the altar were a pot filled with human ashes, bowls, a pulque cup, a plate and 13 incense burners, each of which was almost one meter high.

The dig site was the remains of a Mexica family's home, near present-day Plaza Garibaldi. — The dig site was the remains of a Mexica family’s home, near present-day Plaza Garibaldi. INAH

The altar was discovered four meters below the surface of the ground and was covered with several layers of adobe to protect it from prying eyes, said Mara Abigaíl Becerra Amezcua, the archaeologist who led the project.

The excavation of the property, located on the main thoroughfare that runs through Mexico City’s historical center, began in September and took three months, she said.

Becerra said the INAH team also found remnants of musical instruments made out of bones, suggesting that numerous rituals took place there.

The 13 incense burners might have been placed in the altar to represent the 20 periods of 13 days in the Mexica 260-day calendar known as the tōnalpōhualli, she said.

“The characteristics of the incense burners also reinforce the Nahua understanding of the universe,” Becerra said.

All of the relics indicate that the altar was used in the first decades after Tenochtitlán was invaded, she said.

It was used as part of a “closure ritual,” which was an “essential act for the worldview” of the Mexica inhabitants of the city, Becerra said.

Mexico News Daily

US will begin sending migrants back on Monday as ‘Remain in Mexico’ resumes

By

MND Staff

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December 3, 2021

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A migrant camp on the Mexico-U.S. border in Tijuana.

A controversial Donald Trump-era United States policy that forced some migrants to return to Mexico and remain here to await the outcome of their asylum claims will restart on Monday after Mexico agreed to its resumption.

The Biden administration terminated the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, as the “Remain in Mexico” scheme is formally known, but a U.S. federal court ordered that it be reinstated.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement Thursday that re-implementation of the program will begin on or around December 6.

“Once fully operational, MPP enrollments will take place across the southwest border, and returns to Mexico will take place at seven ports of entry in San Diego, Calexico, Nogales, El Paso, Eagle Pass, Laredo, and Brownsville,” it said.

“… Once the court injunction is lifted, MPP will be terminated,” the DHS said. The United States government is “vigorously contesting” the federal court ruling, it said.

The College of the Northern Border estimates that between 15,000 and 20,000 migrants will be returned to Mexico once the program resumes.

Announcing Mexico’s acceptance of the resumption of the scheme, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said the United States government had accepted the Mexican government’s humanitarian concerns about the program.

Mexico requested greater resources for migrant shelters and international organizations that attend to migrants, protection for vulnerable groups of people, consideration of local security conditions and the capacity of shelters and the National Immigration Institute (INM) to receive migrants and the implementation of anti-COVID measures, including medical checks of migrants and the provision of vaccines before their expulsion.

The SRE also said the federal government has decided for humanitarian reasons and on a temporary basis not to deport migrants who have been given a date to appear in a U.S. court to present their asylum case.

The DHS said that United States would commit to ensuring that asylum cases are resolved within six months of a migrant’s return to Mexico. Some migrants returned to Mexico during the Trump administration have been waiting for much longer for their cases to be heard.

U.S. President Joe Biden previously called the 'Remain in Mexico' policy inhumane. Now his administration has reached an agreement with Mexico to reimplement it. — U.S. President Joe Biden previously called the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy inhumane. Now his administration has reached an agreement with Mexico to reimplement it.

“The U.S. government will work closely with the government of Mexico to ensure that there are safe and secure shelters available for those enrolled in MPP; that individuals returned under MPP have secure transportation to and from U.S. ports of entry; and that MPP enrollees are able to seek work permits, healthcare, and other services in Mexico.”

The program can be used to expel asylum seekers that traveled through Mexico to reach the United States. It has been widely criticized because migrants are forced to wait in dangerous border cities such as Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and Matamoros.

“We’ve repeatedly and publicly criticized the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy because we believe it is inhumane and contrary to international law because it puts people in danger … and will continue to do so,” said Alberto Cabezas, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration.

Alejandra Macías of the organization Asylum Access México was highly critical of the reactivation of the MPP.

“[Just] when we believed that nothing worse could come, something much worse arrives; we didn’t think this program was going to be reimplemented,” she told the newspaper El Universal.

“Mexico says it is accepting [the program] for humanitarian reasons, but the only thing it’s doing is becoming an accomplice [of the United States] and that will give rise to a massive violation of human rights,” Macías said.

She said there is no guarantee that migrants returned to Mexico will be safe here. INM agents and members of the National Guard – who have been deployed to stop the flow of migrants through Mexico – have shown they are not concerned about migrants’ human rights, Macías said.

“With this situation Mexico shows that it doesn’t have a well-defined migration policy, it changes its migration policy at its convenience and places migrants in situations of vulnerability,” she said.

Duncan Wood, a Mexico expert and vice president for strategy and new initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told El Universal that being forced to reimplement the “Remain in Mexico” policy is a big blow for the Biden administration given that it wanted to terminate it.

Nevertheless, it gives the U.S. government “a breather” on the southern border, he said. Large numbers of migrants have traveled through Mexico en route to the U.S. since Biden took office in January.

The U.S. government has been able to use a Trump-era public health rule, Title 42, to expel migrants in the absence of the MPP but for a variety of reasons, it has not been applied across the board, The New York Times reported.

“The resumption of the Remain in Mexico program … will add a new option for migrants who cannot be expelled under Title 42,” it said.

Wood said the U.S. government – as it indicated it would do – will have to increase cooperation with its Mexican counterpart “to guarantee that the migrants who remain in Mexico are safe and protected from health and organized crime threats.”

The United States’ commitment to vaccinate migrants before returning them to Mexico and to resolve their asylum cases within six months is “a welcome advance” for both the asylum seekers and the south-of-the-border communities who will receive them, he added.

Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, told El Universal that the Mexican government managed to make the MPP a more humane program to the extent that is possible. “But we’ll have to see how it works in practice,” he added.

With reports from Milenio and El Universal

US support for electric vehicles risks million jobs in Mexico: Coparmex

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MND Staff

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December 3, 2021

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A U.S. congressional bill proposes giving tax credits to buyers of US-made electric vehicles.

A United States bill that seeks to spur domestic demand for electric vehicles (EVs) poses a threat to the Mexican automotive industry, the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) has warned, while the federal government has indicated it will retaliate commercially if the proposed legislation passes the U.S. Congress in its current form.

The Build Back Better (BBB) Act, already approved by the United States House of Representatives and awaiting consideration by the Senate, would increase credits available to U.S. consumers buying U.S.-made EVs to up to US $12,500 from $7,500. It would also eliminate caps on the number of credits individual automakers can offer.

Bloomberg reported that if the bill gets through the Senate, BBB will be “one of the most aggressive EV incentives in the world and definitely the greatest largesse for plug-in buyers in any major auto-producing nation.”

Coparmex and the federal government say the proposed legislation violates the provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the free trade pact that took effect last year.

“At the Mexican Employers Federation, we agree with what the Economy Ministry [SE] of the Mexican government has said with regard to the Build Back Better Act initiative that proposes granting additional tax credits for electric vehicles – it violates the agreements reached in the USMCA and at the World Trade Organization [WTO],” Coparmex said in a statement Thursday.

“In the specific case of the USMCA, this proposal violates regional content provisions, whose objective is to achieve greater and improved integration in supply chains in North America,” it said, adding that the BBB would discriminate against the automotive industries in both Mexico and Canada.

“… If the Build Back Better Act is approved, only electric vehicles built in the United States will be eligible to access the tax credit amounts, both the existing ones and those created by this initiative. This situation places at risk the Mexican automotive industry, which contributes close to 4% of gross domestic product, represents more than 25% of exports and generates more than one million jobs,” Coparmex said.

“As the SE has said, it is necessary that this proposal be adjusted so that it doesn’t violate the USMCA and WTO agreements, and especially so it doesn’t result in a discriminatory act for Mexican exports of electric vehicles, which would be at a serious disadvantage compared to vehicles produced in the United States,” it said.

Coparmex also said it would support any legal action the federal government takes against the BBB.

“The trade agreements … that have given rise to a healthy and productive bilateral relationship through the years must be respected,” it said.

“From Coparmex we call on the relevant authorities to favor dialogue and exhaust all the resources available to reach a deal that respects the criteria of cooperation, good faith, understanding and mutual respect on which the relationship between Mexico and the United States, strategic allies, is based.”

Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier warned Thursday that the government would “retaliate commercially” to defend the automotive industry if the BBB passes the U.S. Senate in its current form.

The USMCA signatories can’t opt in or out of the agreement at will, she said. She didn’t say what actions Mexico might take against the United States, although one option would be to impose tariffs on certain U.S. imports.

Clouthier stressed that provisions in BBB are “contrary to regional value content rules agreed to in the USMCA.”

Such rules stipulate that a vehicle made in Mexico with at least 50% regional content must also be considered a locally produced vehicle in the United States and Canada.

In a letter, the economy minister urged U.S. lawmakers to modify the BBB so that the proposed credits are available to all EV’s made in North America, not just those manufactured in the United States.

If the bill is approved in its current form, Mexico could challenge it via mechanisms set out by the USMCA or take the case to the WTO.

With reports from El País

Mexico to start giving COVID boosters to people aged 60 and over

By

MND Staff

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December 2, 2021

0

AstraZeneca vaccines arriving in Toluca Airport — A shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines arrive in Toluca International Airport on Thursday. Health Ministry

People aged 60 and over will be offered COVID-19 booster shots this month, President López Obrador said Thursday.

“… We’re going to begin with third doses, or boosters, because we can’t talk about third shots when [some people] got one-dose vaccines,” he told reporters at his regular news conference.

“We’re going to start with seniors this month. The important thing is to point out that we have enough vaccines,” López Obrador said.

He said the government needed to act quickly because winter is coming.

López Obrador also said that Mexico is among the world’s top 10 countries in terms of the number of vaccines it has and thanked the United States for donating some 10 million shots, including 2.1 million that arrived Thursday.

“That’s why we’re going to continue helping, delivering vaccines to poor countries as we’ve been doing,” he said.

The president lamented that only six in 100 people in Africa are fully vaccinated and blamed the continent’s low vaccination rate for the emergence of the omicron variant.

“This is going to keep happening; that’s what the specialists say: there will be more mutations in the virus,” he said.

In other COVID-19 news:

• Reported COVID-19 cases declined 44% in November compared to October, while COVID-19 deaths fell 46%. A total of 80,662 cases were reported last month for a daily average of 2,689. COVID fatalities totaled 5,881 in November for an average of 196 per day.

• The Health Ministry reported 3,345 new cases and 182 deaths on Wednesday. Mexico’s accumulated tallies rose to 3.89 million confirmed infections and 294,428 deaths. Estimated active cases number 21,229.

• Health authorities have not detected any omicron cases in Mexico, while the first case of the variant was reported in the United States on Wednesday. The person who tested positive is fully vaccinated and recently returned to California from South Africa.

• More than 133.2 million vaccine doses have been administered in Mexico after just over 415,000 shots were given Wednesday. About 86% of adults are vaccinated, but the population-wide rate is only 60%, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker.

Authorities in Mexico City began vaccinating youths aged 15 to 17 on Thursday. The government announced November 16 that it would offer shots to adolescents in that age bracket but hasn’t indicated it will vaccinate younger minors.

With reports from Milenio