Unsafe cities: 68% of Mexicans feel unsafe where they live, down from 73%

By

-

January 19, 2021

Almost seven in 10 Mexican adults feel unsafe in the city where they live, according to a new security survey that found that Fresnillo, Zacatecas, is seen as the least safe city in the country.

Conducted by the national statistics agency Inegi in December, the 29th National Survey on Urban Public Security found that 68.1% of adults believe that where they live is unsafe.

The figure is 4.8% lower than that detected by Inegi’s December 2019 survey.

The most recent survey found that 72.6% of women and 62.7% of men believe their city is unsafe.

The perception of insecurity was highest in Fresnillo, where 94.8% of respondents said they felt unsafe. According to Mayor Saúl Monreal Ávila, the municipality of Fresnillo – where nine people were shot dead and three people were kidnapped by armed gangs overnight Monday – has been “overtaken” by organized crime activity.

Ecatepec, a densely populated México state municipality that borders Mexico City and is notorious for femicides and crime generally, ranked as the second most dangerous city. Almost nine in 10 Ecatepec residents who were surveyed – 89.9% – said the municipality is unsafe.

Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz; Cancún, Quintana Roo; Cuernavaca, Morelos; and San Luis Potosí city ranked third to sixth as the most unsafe cities among the 70 whose residents were surveyed by Inegi. Between 87% and 89% of residents of those cities said they were unsafe.

Conversely, San Pedro Garza García, an affluent municipality in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo León, ranked as the safest city. Only 11.7% of survey respondents said they felt unsafe living there.

The popular tourism destination of Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, ranked second with just 17.3% of respondents saying it is unsafe. The security situation has improved markedly in recent years after being plagued by high levels of violent crime up until 2018.

Just under a quarter of the residents polled in Mérida, Yucatán, said they considered their city unsafe, making the state capital the third safest in Mexico. Saltillo, Coahuila; La Paz, Baja California Sur; and San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, ranked as the fourth to sixth safest. Just over 30% of residents of those three cities consider them unsafe.

In a report published Tuesday, Inegi noted that the perception of insecurity increased by a statistically significant amount in some cities in the 12-month period to December 2020 and declined by a significant amount in others.

San Pedro Garza is Mexico's safest city, — San Pedro Garza is Mexico’s safest city, according to residents.

Among the cities in the former category are Méxicali, Baja California, up 9.2% to 63%; Colima city, up 12.3% to 71.8%; and Zacatecas city, up 8.1% to 85.9%.

Among the cities where the perception of insecurity declined considerably are Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, down 17% to 64.7%; Chihuahua city, down 12.4% to 60.7%; Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, down 16.8% to 73.7%; Morelia, Michoacán, down 8.2% to 72.7%; and Puebla city – which was seen as the least safe city in the country a year ago – down 10.5% to 82.2%.

The urban security survey also found that 28.1% of those polled had either been a victim of robbery or extortion themselves in the second half of 2020 or lived with someone who had.

Those crimes plague Iztapalapa, a sprawling, impoverished borough of Mexico City, more than anywhere else, Inegi found.

Almost half of Iztapalapa residents surveyed – 47.1% – said that they had been a victim of robbery or extortion, or lived with someone against whom one of those crimes were committed between July and December last year. Just over eight in 10 Iztapalapa residents said that they considered the borough an unsafe place to live.

Ranking behind Iztapalapa in terms of the percentage of victims of robbery and extortion were Atizapán, México state; Tláhuac, Mexico City; Cuautitlán Izcalli, México state; and Magdalena Contreras, Mexico City. The percentage of victims in those locations was also above 40%.

The survey also found that 12% of respondents came into contact with police in the second half of last year, of whom 47.9% were victims of corruption.

Just over 14% of respondents were victims of sexual harassment or assault between July and December. The percentage was 21.6% among women and 5.7% among men.

Mexico News Daily

Former ambassador to coordinate border policy in Biden administration

By

MND Staff

-

January 19, 2021

0

Jacobson leaves the US Embassy in 2018. — Jacobson leaves the US Embassy in Mexico City in 2018.

Former United States ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson will be the southern border coordinator for the new U.S. administration to be led by Joe Biden.

News website Foreign Policy said Monday that it had learned that Jacobson, ambassador to Mexico between 2016 and 2018, would be named coordinator for the southwestern border on the United States National Security Council (NSC).

Juan Sebastián González, Biden’s primary Latin America adviser, tweeted the Foreign Policy report and appeared to confirm the former diplomat’s appointment to the incoming administration.

“I’ve always looked up to Ambassador Roberta Jacobson. Respected, experienced, and capable, few care as deeply or have worked as hard to advance a U.S.-Mexico relationship that lives up to its full potential. There is no one better to lead this challenging task,” he wrote.

Foreign Policy reported that in the newly-established NSC position, Jacobson will play a key role in implementing the Biden administration’s proposed reforms to the national asylum system, which according to a transition team spokesperson will aim to “restore order and a fair asylum process while prioritizing public health.”

“… We will build a new immigration system that is fair, humane, and keeps families together,” the spokesperson said, adding that it will take months, not days or weeks, to construct it.

“It will not be like flipping a light switch. Migrants should not believe those peddling the idea that now is the time to come to the U.S.”

Foreign Policy also said that Jacobson would be involved in managing national security challenges stemming from Mexico and Central America countries.

Jacobson, who worked in the U.S. State Department for more than 30 years, will also help manage Washington’s relations with Mexico and Central American nations, Foreign Policy said.

President López Obrador appeased United States President Donald Trump by agreeing to ramp up enforcement against migrants traveling through Mexico en route to the U.S.

He deployed the National Guard at the southern and northern borders in 2019 after Trump threatened to impose blanket tariffs on Mexican imports if Mexico didn’t do more to stop the flow of asylum seekers and agreed to an expansion of the United States “Remain in Mexico” policy which involves making U.S. asylum seekers wait in dangerous northern border cities until their cases are resolved.

During a visit to a section of the border wall in Texas last week, Trump bragged about the deployment of Mexican troops to the border region.

“I want to thank the great president of Mexico. He is a great gentleman, a friend of mine. And President Obrador — he is a man who really knows what’s happening. And he loves his country, and he also loves the United States. But I want to thank him for his friendship and his professional working relationship,” he said.

“We actually had 27,000 Mexican soldiers guarding our borders over the last two years. Nobody thought that was possible. And they made it very, very difficult, and that’s why the [migration] numbers were able to plunge, even during the construction of the wall.”

While López Obrador and Trump have maintained a surprising friendship, the former’s relationship with Biden and his administration could be more strained.

López Obrador made a veiled warning to Biden to stay out of Mexico’s affairs in a belated congratulatory letter he sent to the president-elect last month, and the case of former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos, who was arrested on drug trafficking charges in the United States and later exonerated here, has the potential to be an obstacle to harmonious bilateral relations.

López Obrador accused the U.S. of fabricating evidence against the ex-army chief and declared Monday that his government won’t remain silent in light of the “irresponsible” investigation.

Jacobson, however, could help to foster a positive relationship between the López Obrador and Biden governments, at least on border and migration issues.

The experienced diplomat has a deep love for and understanding of Mexico and declared in a farewell video when leaving her ambassadorial post in 2018 that the United States and its southern neighbor “have a lot more that unites us — food, family, culture, history — than what divides us.”

Source: Foreign Policy (en), EFE (sp)

For Joe Biden, contentious issues lie ahead in Mexico-US relationship

By

Jude Webber

-

January 19, 2021

0

trump, amlo and biden — Dynamic of the relationship is about to change.

U.S. experts monitoring Mexico’s compliance with the tough labour provisions of the USMCA free trade treaty issued a stark warning before Christmas: “No more business as usual.”

Although they were referring to Mexico’s slow progress in implementing commitments under the NAFTA replacement, the phrase could just as well describe bilateral relations as Joe Biden enters the White House.

Strained security co-operation will loom high on the agenda between the neighbouring countries, overshadowing their US $600-billion trade relationship, as will the two leaders’ diametrically opposed views on climate change and renewable energy.

Mexico’s worsening business environment — with independent regulators and respect for contracts under threat from President López Obrador — promises to pile on the pressure.

“A Biden presidency could be quite uncomfortable for AMLO,” said one member of the U.S. transition team, using the Mexican leader’s nickname. López Obrador kept things sweet with Donald Trump in exchange for little U.S. “interference” with his domestic agenda, the person added.

Biden’s approach will be more institutional and “there’ll be no Jared for anyone to call.” The outgoing president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was a frequent interlocutor with Mexico on migration and development co-operation.

Trump’s threats to withdraw from NAFTA and impose sanctions on Mexican exports unless it cracked down on migrant flows strained relations at times, but López Obrador refused to engage.

Despite Trump’s insults towards Mexicans and insistence that the country pay for his border wall, López Obrador broke his self-imposed ban on foreign travel to meet the U.S. president at the White House.

By contrast, Mexico’s president took six weeks to congratulate Biden on his election victory, eventually sending an uneffusive letter in which he reminded the president-elect he must respect Mexican sovereignty.

Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. ambassador, has likened Mexico’s at-times prickly relationship with Washington to that of a porcupine facing a bear.

“With Biden, López Obrador intends to be a porcupine again — he didn’t show his spines with Trump, but he’s going to now,” said Denise Dresser, a political scientist and professor at Mexico’s Itam university.

“It’s as if López Obrador were pre-emptively trying to create a straw man to fight with … using anti-Americanism and nationalism to score political points in Mexico, particularly in an election year,” she added. Mexico holds midterm elections on June 6.

Mexico delivered two slaps to the U.S. this month. It offered political asylum to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder whose extradition the U.S. is seeking from the U.K. to face charges over the massive leak of classified documents in 2010. Then it accused Washington of fabricating drug trafficking charges against its former defence minister, General Salvador Cienfuegos.

Tensions in the energy sector, where U.S. firms have big investments, have also been rising for months as Mexico has sought to clamp down on permits, curb renewable energy generation and favour its state oil and electricity companies, Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission. López Obrador is a fossil fuel champion, whereas Biden wants to make the U.S. carbon-neutral by 2050.

In a January 11 letter to their Mexican counterparts, outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo, energy secretary Dan Brouillette and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross warned that “hundreds of millions of dollars” of U.S. public investments in Mexico could be at risk as a result of Mexican policy.

“While we respect Mexico’s sovereign right to determine its own energy policies, we are obligated to insist that Mexico lives up to its USMCA obligations, in defence of our national interests, which include investments funded by the U.S. taxpayer,” the letter warned.

Labour relations including collective bargaining agreements and union rights, preconditions for securing U.S. Democrats’ support of the USMCA trade deal, are expected to provide more friction.

“I think it’s only a matter of time before the first case is presented [against Mexico under USMCA],” said Juan Carlos Baker, managing director of Ansley Consultores, who helped negotiate the revised treaty as deputy foreign trade minister. “The message could not be more ominous.”

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris voted against the USMCA when she was a senator for California, and Baker expected that the two countries, whose economies are closely intertwined, “are going to clash very, very quickly.”

López Obrador has already scrapped a partially built U.S. brewery and renegotiated gas pipeline contracts he considered too onerous. Now he is taking aim at Mexico’s independent regulators, which he wants to amalgamate with ministries, something experts say could infringe on the new trade pact.

Indeed, Ariane Ortiz-Bollin, a sovereign analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said Mexico risked undermining the trade advantages it enjoys under the treaty because of a climate hostile to investment. “There is the potential for this to be a lost opportunity,” she added.

Security co-operation, a major part of the bilateral relationship, has also flared into a serious row.

Mexico last month rushed through a law demanding U.S. drugs agents share information in what was seen as retaliation for the shock arrest of Gen. Cienfuegos. It has toned down the law, but one senior former military official said it remained a “non-starter.”

López Obrador, for whom the military is a crucial domestic ally, pulled diplomatic strings to get the U.S. drug trafficking and money laundering charges dropped; Mexico then speedily closed its own case. Ratcheting up tensions further, the U.S. threatened on the weekend to halt co-operation on criminal investigations in Mexico after the president released all the evidence U.S. prosecutors had provided, calling it flimsy.

Between Covid-19 and the economy, Biden will be stretched thin. But analysts say Mexico should not assume it will get a free ride.

“The big question,” said Dresser, “is how much political capital will Biden be willing to spend to get Mexico to behave like a responsible North American partner and not like a national political enemy south of the border?”

Best-case scenario for tourism this year is 26% fewer visitors than 2019

By

MND Staff

-

January 19, 2021

0

International tourist numbers will increase 33.7% in 2021 compared to last year in a best-case scenario, according to the federal Tourism Ministry (Sectur), but even if that upturn is achieved tourism would still be well below 2019 levels.

According to Sectur’s most optimistic projection, 33.1 million international tourists will come to Mexico this year, 8.3 million more than in 2020 when tourism slumped due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, 33.1 million visitors would be 26% lower than the record 45 million international tourists who traveled to Mexico in 2019.

In a “conservative” scenario, 30.4 million international tourists will visit Mexico this year, Sectur said in a statement Monday, while in a “pessimistic” scenario the figure will be 25.2 million.

The figure for the latter would represent a 1.5% increase compared to 2020 but a 44% decline compared to 2019.

Sectur said that whether an optimistic, conservative or pessimistic scenario unfolds will depend on the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic around the world as well as progress in the application of Covid-19 vaccines, “which has already begun in our country and the main markets for tourists to Mexico.”

Spending by international tourists while in Mexico is predicted to be US $16 billion in 2021 in the best scenario, which would be an increase of 42% or $4.7 billion compared to 2020. However, that level of expenditure would represent a decrease of abut 35% compared to 2019 when international tourists spent $24.8 billion here.

In a conservative scenario, international tourists will spend $14.4 billion in 2021 while in a pessimistic one the outlay will be $11.5 billion, Sectur said.

The Tourism Ministry predicted that average hotel occupancy across 70 Mexican destinations will be 56.6% in 2021 in an optimistic scenario.

That would be 4.7% lower than the average in 2019. In a conservative scenario, average occupancy will be 50.9%, 10.4% lower than in 2019, Sectur said, while in a pessimistic scenario hotels will be 46.1% full, a decline of 15.2%.

Mexico News Daily

Marriott to open new ‘lifestyle hotel’ in Tulum next month

By

Michelle Aguilar

-

January 19, 2021

0

Marriott’s Aloft Tulum boutique hotel is opening on February 1.

Marriott International will open a US $25-million, 140-room, “boho-chic” lifestyle hotel in Tulum on February 1.

The four-story space on Coba Maz Avenue is dubbed Aloft Tulum, part of the corporation’s Aloft chain of lifestyle hotels, which emphasizes emerging modern art and music in its decor and smaller, more intimate social spaces.

The hotel, located halfway between Tulum’s downtown area and its beaches, is meant to appeal to “boho chic” visitors looking for a more affordable boutique hotel experience but also to business clients and families, hotel officials said.

In hospitality-industry vernacular, a “lifestyle hotel” is a new type of boutique hotel that offers luxury at a more affordable price than more exclusive boutique hotels, according to the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association.

Aloft Tulum general manager Sergio Parra told the newspaper El Financiero that the hotel was built by an unnamed group of developers with other properties on the Mayan Riviera.

Tulum is becoming one of the most recognized destinations worldwide, Parra said. An airport and the Mayan Train, both of which are scheduled to be completed in 2023, will make the resort city an even more attractive vacation area, he said.

“Tulum is currently having its moment as one of the hottest travel destinations,” he said.

However, due to Covid-19, Parra said, the hotel is not expecting to see more than 50% occupancy this year. Currently, hotels in Tulum are not allowed to have more than 60% occupancy due to coronavirus restrictions. The municipality is currently at yellow or “medium risk” on the coronavirus stoplight map.

Guests at Aloft Tulum will be treated to luxurious and high-tech touches, including 10-foot ceilings and walk-in rainfall showers in guest rooms, which also will feature keyless entry and use of the Concierge tablet app, which allows guests to order room service and get other types of concierge services via the guest’s own Android device. The hotel is also making a play for business clients, with three conference spaces that can accommodate 240 people once large gatherings are again allowed, said Parra.

“Leisure and business travelers alike can enjoy an unplugged vacation, yet stay plugged in through the hotel’s innovative technology.”

Families have been traveling less often to Mexican Caribbean vacation destinations such as Tulum since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the executive director of strategic planning for the Tourism Promotion Council of Quintana Roo. Benjamín Jiménez Hernández said travelers are returning to Mexican Caribbean cities but are most often coming alone or in couples.

Source: El Financiero (sp), NITU (sp)

Political group says poor have been hit hardest by Covid, lack of support

By

MND Staff

-

January 19, 2021

0

Abrimos o morimos — We open or we die — has been the rallying cry of restaurants shuttered by measures to combat Covid. The same slogan can be applied across the economy given the lack of fiscal stimulus.

The coronavirus pandemic and the lack of government support to mitigate its economic impact have significantly increased inequality in Mexico, according to a recently formed political organization.

Sí por México, a group of citizens and organizations opposed to the federal government, conducted an analysis using data from the national statistics institute Inegi that found that the gap between the salaries received by the country’s best and worst paid workers almost doubled between March and September.

The incomes of the lowest-paid quintile fell 44% in that period while the earnings of the best-paid 20% only declined by 8%, Sí por México said.

“This means that the distance between the two groups almost doubled,” the organization said, noting that workers in the top quintile earned on average 15 times more than the poorest 20% in March but almost 30 times more in September.

Sí por México said it was regrettable that the federal government didn’t provide more support for small and medium-sized businesses – assistance has been limited to small loans – amid the sharp coronavirus-induced economic downturn. There has been less government support in Mexico than in any other Latin American country with the exception of Nicaragua, the organization said.

Data compiled by the statistics portal Statista shows Mexico had only spent 0.7% of GDP on support for people and businesses struggling financially due to the pandemic as of last October. In contrast, Canada spent 16%, the U.S. 13.2%, Brazil 12% and Argentina 6%.

Miguel Székely, director of the Center for Educational and Social Studies, a think tank, said that the increased inequality precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic is a consequence of the lack of a safety net for the nation’s poorest.

“What we’re seeing now in Mexico is that those who are lowest on the salary scale are those who suffer the most because they’re the one who are fired,” he said.

Székely said that Mexico’s poorest have run out of any savings they might have had and have already pawned all they could pawn.

“They’re hitting rock bottom,” he said, adding that the situation has the potential to cause “social tension.”

Székely condemned the government for not providing financial support for the country’s poorest amid the pandemic – although President López Obrador says they are assisted by his administration’s various welfare and social programs – and called into question its stated commitment to “the poor come first.”

The instinct of a government that uses such a slogan should have been to help that segment of the population but it turned its back of them instead, he said. “Nothing is being done to protect this population,” Székely added.

Source: Reforma (sp)

‘Overtaken by organized crime:’ 9 murdered in Fresnillo, Zacatecas

By

Michelle Aguilar

-

January 19, 2021

0

Authorities have confirmed that nine people in two communities in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, were shot dead and three people were kidnapped from their home by armed gangs overnight Monday.

In one of the incidents, the victims’ house was set on fire.

According to state security forces, armed groups in the community of El Salto attacked two homes minutes after 2 a.m., the first located near the town center and the other on the community’s outskirts. A total of eight people were killed in that community, three people in the house near the center, which was also set on fire, and five people in the home at the outskirts of town.

In the community of Plateros, a person was found shot to death in a home, and police said witnesses told them that three other people from the home had been kidnapped.

Fresnillo Mayor Saúl Monreal Ávila acknowledged that “the municipality has been overtaken” by organized crime activity.

“The municipality does not have much capacity [to deal with crime]. I have said so a thousand and one times …” he said, telling local media that he had no information on the incidents beyond what they already had from state sources.

He called upon the state Attorney General’s Office to inform the public about the outcome of their investigations.

For years, Fresnillo has had among the highest homicide rates in Zacatecas. In June then-security minister Alfonso Durazo characterized the situation in Fresnillo as “extreme” in terms of per-capita homicides. Durazo noted that the municipality had one of the highest rates in the country.

National Public Security System figures released in December showed that between January and November of last year, Zacatecas also saw the sharpest increase in the number of homicides, a 64.9% rise from 567 to 935.

Perhaps one small note of victory against crime in the area also occurred Monday: two National Guardsmen who had been taken by force Saturday from a Guard substation in the municipality of Jerez were found around 4 a.m. in the Fresnillo community of San Cristóbal, alive and unharmed, after a coordinated search by federal, state and municipal security forces.

Meanwhile, a search for a state police officer who was kidnapped Sunday in the municipality of Villa de Cos, about 60 kilometers from Fresnillo, continues, said Security Minister Arturo López Bazán.

Sources: El Financiero (sp), TV Azteca Noticias (sp), Zacatecas Online (sp)

Environment ministry to declare new protected area in San Luis Potosí

By

MND Staff

-

January 19, 2021

0

The San Miguelito Sierra in San Luis Potosí.

A mountainous area of San Luis Potosí will be declared a natural protected area (ANP) in the second half of this year, federal Environment Minister María Luisa Albores said Monday.

A 12,000-hectare section of the San Miguelito Sierra, which is known for its rich biodiversity, already has state reserve status but the federal ANP designation will cover an area eight times larger.

Albores held a virtual meeting Monday with San Luis Potosí Governor Juan Manuel Carreras, the chief of the National Commission for Natural Protected Areas, Roberto Aviña, and the mayors of three municipalities across which the sierra extends – San Luis Potosí, Villa de Reyes and Mexquitic de Carmona – at which they agreed to work together to ensure the ANP designation occurs in the second half of 2021.

The initiative has the support of President López Obrador, who instructed environmental authorities to work towards the ANP declaration. The president gave his instruction to protect the natural wealth of the San Miguelito Sierra because that’s what the residents of San Luis Potosí asked for, Albores said.

Aviña said the new ANP will have the status of a flora and fauna protection area. Governor Carreras expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work together with federal and municipal authorities and acknowledged the work of environmental experts who prepared a report in favor of the ANP designation.

The San Miguelito Sierra will become one of more than 180 ANPs across Mexico among which are national parks, biosphere reserves, marine parks and flora and fauna protection areas.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Zihuatanejo’s Paella Fest gets creative in the face of Covid-19

By

Elisabeth Ashe

-

January 19, 2021

0

Zihuatanejo's Paella Fest has been a hit two years running.

For the past two years in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, the local Rotary Club has held its successful Paella Fest fundraising event, where attendees can come together to sample the best paellas area restaurants have to offer and raise money for social causes.

While last year’s festival, held on the beach in front of the municipal museum, was a roaring success, it was apparent to Rotary members putting on the event that with the advent of Covid-19 a whole new strategy would be needed to keep everyone involved safe. With that in mind, this year’s Paella Fest is being organized a little differently.

The 2021 event that will happen on February 6 will be Covid-safe, say organizers.

Instead of large crowds in one place trying out paellas from various restaurants, says Rotarian Claudia de León, this year’s ticket purchase will allow attendees to choose just one restaurant out of 10 participating. They will visit the restaurants instead of the restaurants coming to them. And each of the establishments, scattered throughout Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, will be allowed to host only 15 diners in total to ensure everyone’s safety.

The event still benefits the same good cause: the local hospital. Last year, funds raised went to its pediatric wing. This year, due to Covid, the Rotary Club and the doctors may direct money to other areas at the hospital as need dictates.

Last year's Paella Fest was set on Municipal Beach, but this year, Covid-19 has changed the event's format, and there will be measures in place to avoid crowds. — Last year’s Paella Fest was set on Municipal Beach, but this year, Covid-19 has changed the event’s format and there will be measures in place to avoid crowds.

Tickets cost 250 pesos (alcohol and tip not included) and are valid only on the day of the event from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., except for three restaurants that are holding lunchtime servings from 1 to 5 p.m. The participants are donating their paellas, says de León, something that is remarkable to see in these challenging times, she said.

Participating restaurants include:

In Ixtapa: Bistro Soleiado (participating restaurants El Cielo and Kau Kan have already sold out)
In Zihuatanejo: El Mediterraneo, El Vigia, Carmalitas, Hotel Bella Vista, Angustina, Sotavento Beach Club by Bandidos, Garrobos, Chez Leo, Ristorante D’Maria
Barra de Postosi: Bella Vista Hotel.

Last year, tickets went fast, so you might want to order yours early, especially if there is a particular restaurant you want to try. You can reserve your spot by contacting a member of the Rotary Club through the group’s Facebook page.

The writer divides her time between Canada and Zihuatanejo.

Pfizer cuts vaccine deliveries; a shipment arrived Tuesday with half the expected doses

By

MND Staff

-

January 19, 2021

0

doctor and covid patient — The vaccine delay complicates the administration of the second shot for healthcare workers who have already received the first one.

As Mexico faces its worst month of the coronavirus pandemic in terms of case numbers and deaths, the national Covid-19 vaccination program will be delayed by work to upgrade the Pfizer factory in Belgium.

The federal government said Monday that a shipment of 219,350 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would arrive in Mexico on Tuesday but no further consignments are expected until February 15. The number of doses scheduled to reach Mexico today is just 50% of what was expected.

The delay, which the United States pharmaceutical company said Friday was a temporary issue as it worked to upgrade its factory in order to boost production, leaves Mexico in a difficult situation as its capacity to administer the second of the two required shots will be limited.

According to data presented by the Health Ministry on Monday night, 485,983 people – mainly frontline health workers – have received a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine but only 6,456 people have received two. The two shots are supposed to be administered 21 days apart but Mexico will not be able to meet that schedule for all those who have already received a first dose.

Nevertheless, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Monday that a second dose is guaranteed for everyone who has already received one shot. He said the second dose can be administered up to 42 days after the first according to World Health Organization guidelines.

Three experts who spoke to the newspaper El Universal agreed that the delay in the delivery of Pfizer vaccines, of which Mexico has committed to buy 34.4 million doses, is a significant setback.

Alejandro Macías, an infectious disease doctor, a member of the National Autonomous University’s coronavirus commission and the federal government’s point man during the swine flu pandemic in 2009, said the delay will have a substantial negative impact.

He said that vaccinating all health workers against Covid-19 is urgent, adding that the vaccine can bring relief to medical personnel who are fatigued and depressed by the lengthy pandemic. “Unfortunately that [relief] will be delayed,” Macías said.

Indeed, Mexico will have received just over 766,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine after the arrival of Tuesday’s shipment – enough to inoculate 383,000 healthcare workers. But Mexico has 750,000 such workers, meaning that 1.5 million doses are needed to inoculate all of them with the Pfizer vaccine.

Antonio Lazcano, a biology researcher, said “the delay of the vaccines is terrible news given the demonstrated inability of the Mexican government to control the pandemic in the country.”

Describing the situation as a “bucket of cold water” for Mexico and a “very serious” setback, Lazcano said it was a mistake for the government to base its strategy to combat Covid-19 solely on the administration of vaccines.

“In recent weeks the health authorities have concentrated their fight against the pandemic on the application of the vaccine [rather than confinement measures]. … It’s clear that they haven’t followed other strategies that are not medical and epidemiological,” he said.

Malaquías López, a public health professor at the National Autonomous University and spokesperson for the university’s Covid-19 commission, not only said the delay is bad news for Mexico but lamented the government’s contradictory statements about its cause.

President López Obrador said Sunday that the United Nations had asked Pfizer to reduce the number of doses it is sending to countries with which it has contracts so it can receive more and distribute them to poor countries. Now the government says the reason is the upgrade at the Pfizer facility in Belgium.

The three experts said the government needs to discuss and decide whether it’s better to use the limited number of Pfizer vaccines it has to inoculate health workers who haven’t received a first shot or use them to administer second doses. (According to Pfizer, its vaccine is about 52% effective in preventing Covid-19 after one dose.)

Confronted with the delay, the government has been at pains to emphasize that Mexico’s vaccination program is not entirely dependent on that vaccine.

President López Obrador said Monday that the government already has or is reaching agreements to purchase doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, China’s CanSino biologics shot and the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine, which has already been approved by the health regulator Cofepris.

The president said that Cofepris’ approval of the Sputnik vaccine was imminent, asserting that the government has options available to it to ensure that the vaccination plan is fulfilled as promised.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced Tuesday that 400,000 doses of the two-shot Sputnik vaccine will arrive next week and that 7.4 million doses will come into the country during January, February and March. He also said that 6.95 million doses of the single-shot CanSino vaccine will arrive by the end of March and that 2 million doses of the two-shot AstraZeneca/Oxford University will be available by the last week of that month

Ebrard said the government expects to inoculate almost 14.2 million people by the end of March, a figure that represents about 11% of Mexico’s total population. According to the five-stage national vaccination plan, people aged 80 and over are second in line after health workers followed by those in the 70-79 and 60-69 age brackets.

The urgent need for a wider rollout of Covid-19 vaccines cannot be overstated. The Health Ministry reported 15,441 Covid-9 deaths in the first 18 days of January including 544 on Monday. Mexico’s official death toll currently stands at 141,248, the fourth highest total in the world.

A total of 223,408 new cases was reported in the first 18 days of the year including 8,074 on Monday. The accumulated case tally is just under 1.65 million, the world’s 13th highest total.

Mexico’s Covid-19 death toll and case tally are widely believed to be significant undercounts due to the low testing rate here.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp)