Stoplight red: Mexico City, México state at maximum risk on virus stoplight map

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December 18, 2020

A Mexico City worker displays a sign urging the correct use of face masks.

Mexico City and México state will regress to maximum “risk” red on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight, federal and state authorities announced Friday.

At a joint press conference with Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and México state Governor Alfredo del Mazo, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said that all nonessential activities must be suspended in the Valley of México metropolitan area from Saturday until January 10 due to a recent increase in coronavirus cases.

“We’ll have a temporary suspension of certain economic activities; it’s clear that all economic activity cannot be suspended, essential activities have to be maintained,” he said.

Supermarkets and pharmacies are among the essential businesses permitted to remain open. Restaurants will be restricted to delivery service.

Other essential sectors include transportation, manufacturing, construction, telecommunications and health. Essential government services related to security, water and infrastructure are also not affected by the red light restrictions.

“All [essential sectors] must follow the safety protocols,” López-Gatell said.

In turn, Sheinbaum said that “from tomorrow we’ll have to reduce mobility to avoid infections.” She added that the government is looking at ways it can support citizens financially.

The mayor said the health system in the capital is currently at 75% capacity. “Even increasing hospital capacity, we need to reduce the infection curve,” Sheinbaum said.

She called on residents not to hold or attend parties or other gatherings and urged them to wear a face mask and keep a healthy distance from each other.

“We know that it’s very complicated and the truth is we didn’t want to be living this situation,” Sheinbaum said. “… We’ll overcome it … [by making an] extraordinary effort. We thank everyone very much and ask citizens [for their] support and solidarity.”

The epicenter of the country’s coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic, Mexico City currently has more than 34,000 active cases, according to Health Ministry estimates. There are more than 4,800 Covid-19 patients in hospitals in the capital including more than 1,100 on ventilators.

Del Mazo, Sheinbaum and López-Gatell at Friday's press conference. — Del Mazo, Sheinbaum and López-Gatell at Friday’s press conference.

Mexico City has recorded almost 278,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic – far more than any other state – while its official death toll is 19,583. The capital had remained at the orange light “high” risk level since late June.

In neighboring México state, which includes many municipalities that are part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, coronavirus infections are growing at an “alarming” rate, said Governor del Mazo.

He said the same restrictions that apply in Mexico City will also apply in México state due to their close proximity to each other.

The governor said hospital occupancy in his state has exceeded 75% and that new restrictions have to be implemented to reduce new case numbers.

“We know they’re difficult decisions with very significant implications but what we have to do today is put health first and save lives,” del Mazo said.

México state has recorded more than 130,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic and 13,071 Covid-19 deaths. Both totals are the second highest among the 32 states. There are currently 9,201 estimated active cases in México state.

Mexico City and México state will join Baja California and Zacatecas as red light states, although the federal government is scheduled to release an updated stoplight map Friday night, meaning that more states could turn red. There is also a possibility that the risk level in Baja California and Zacatecas will be reduced.

This month is on track to be the worst of the pandemic in Mexico in terms of new case numbers. More than 175,000 cases were reported in the first 17 days of December, and this month’s tally is likely to exceed that of July – the worst month to date – on the weekend.

Mexico’s accumulated case tally is currently just under 1.29 million while the official Covid-19 death toll is 116,487.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

Querétaro orders 14-day quarantine for Mexicans traveling from US for holidays

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MND Staff

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December 18, 2020

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Police escort the caravan of Mexicans returning home for the holidays.

The government of Querétaro has ordered Mexicans who returned to that state from the United States in a large convoy of vehicles to go into home quarantine for 14 days to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

Accompanied by police, military personnel and members of the National Guard, 276 families from the Sierra Gorda region of Querétaro as well as people from people Hidalgo, Guanajuato and Michoacán returned home on Thursday after crossing into Mexico at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, in a convoy of more than 500 vehicles.

The Querétaro government said in a statement that Querétaro families who entered the country with the convoy must remain in home quarantine for 14 days “as part of the protocols implemented due to the pandemic.”

The migrants had registered to return home for the Christmas-New Year vacation period as part of the Programa Paisano (Compatriot Program) in which authorities facilitate the transit of Mexican nationals living in the U.S. and Canada.

(The program is carried out annually to provide security to Mexicans returning home for the holidays, and encourages them to travel in convoys escorted by security forces.)

Mexicans traveling home are welcomed at the US border.

No other states have announced that Mexicans returning home must go into quarantine even though the United States has recorded far more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country in the world.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell this week ruled out any possibility that the federal government would ask Mexicans returning home and foreigners entering the country to self-isolate for 14 days.

The coronavirus point man said that doing so wouldn’t do much to help Mexico get its coronavirus situation under control.

“The intensity of the epidemic today is comparable in almost all countries,” López-Gatell said after describing national borders as “geographic accidents.”

He added that having “dozens or even hundreds of thousands of people of any nationality” entering the country “doesn’t really make any difference.”

Travelers with the virus would be a minority, the deputy minister said. “Even if 600,000 people travel, the proportion who possibly could be sick with Covid or contagious … is very small because among other reasons people traveling are generally in good health, they feel well.”

The absence of any quarantine requirement makes Mexico an attractive destination for some travelers, and some of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, such as Puerto Vallarta and Cancún, are set to receive an influx of both foreign and domestic tourists during the end-of-year holidays.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s pandemic continues to rage. The Health Ministry reported 11,799 new cases on Thursday, increasing the accumulated tally to 1,289,298. An additional 718 fatalities lifted the official Covid-19 death toll to 116,487.

Both the case tally and death toll are widely believed to be significant undercounts due to Mexico’s low testing rate. Results of a serological survey presented this week suggested that more than 30 million Mexicans have been infected.

Source: Reforma (sp), Proceso (sp)

Homicides down 9% in November; month’s total is lowest since AMLO took office

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MND Staff

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December 18, 2020

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Deputy Minister Mejía presents the monthly crime report in the National Palace Friday morning.

There were fewer homicides in November than in any other month since President López Obrador took office in December 2018 but 2020 still remains on track to surpass 2019 as the most violent year on record.

Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía said Friday that there were 2,670 homicides last month, a 9.3% decline compared to October.

Mexico’s homicide tally for the first 11 months of the year is 31,871, an increase of 0.9% compared to the same period of 2019.

If the average monthly number of homicides – 2,897 – is recorded in December, 2020 will go down as the most violent year ever with almost 35,000 murders. There were more than 34,500 homicides last year.

More than half of the homicides between January and November – 52% – occurred in just six states. Guanajuato was the most violent followed by Baja California, México state, Chihuahua, Jalisco and Michoacán.

Mejía said that 27.5% of the homicides occurred in 15 highly violent municipalities. They are:

Tijuana, Baja California;
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua;
León, Guanajuato;
Celaya, Guanajuato;
Culiacán, Sinaloa;
Cajeme, Sonora;
Zamora, Michoacán;
Guadalajara, Jalisco;
Acapulco, Guerrero;
Chihuahua;
Benito Juárez (Cancún), Quintana Roo;
Irapuato, Guanajuato;
Ensenada, Baja California;
Salamanca, Guanajuato; and
Morelia, Michoacán.

The deputy minister said that a new security strategy will be implemented in those municipalities.

“On the instructions of the president a specific program will start up in these municipalities, … a comprehensive strategy for the reduction of homicides,” Mejía said.

“There will be permanent monitoring by the [federal] security cabinet and the president has instructed that security cabinet meetings presided over by him be held in each of these 15 municipalities over the course of next year.”

Specific actions of the new strategy include providing additional support to local governments, investigating links between organized crime and rehabilitation centers – where numerous homicides have occurred, increasing police patrols in the most violent neighborhoods, dismantling extortion networks, training police and launching more social programs.

“[The strategy] will have a bearing on the fight against drug trafficking … and take down extortion,” Mejía said. “… In accordance with the instructions of the president, intelligence actions and police training will be strengthened.”

López Obrador took office in late 2018 pledging to restore peace to Mexico and gradually withdraw the armed forces from the nation’s streets. But violence has worsened on his watch and he continues to rely heavily on the military for public security tasks.

In addition to homicides, femicides – the killing of women and girls on account of their gender – have also increased this year.

There were 888 femicides in the first 11 months of the year, a 1.7% increase compared to the same period of 2019. There were 85 femicides in November, up 2.2% from October.

México state, Veracruz, Mexico City and Nuevo León recorded the highest number of femicides while on a per capita basis Colima and Morelos are at the head of the list of the most violent states for women.

Federal organized crime offenses increased 46.7% between January and November compared to the same period of last year, while domestic violence rose 4.4%.

Mejía highlighted that the incidence of a range of other crimes has decreased this year.

Among them: fuel theft, down 45.3%; financial crimes, down 32.5%; drug trafficking, down 7.3%; kidnapping, down 37.2%; vehicle theft, down 24.6%; burglaries, down 23.1%; extortion, down 7.8%; rape, down 5.5%; and robbery of businesses, down 19.6%.

Source: EFE (sp), Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp)

Ex-governor of Jalisco murdered in Puerto Vallarta

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MND Staff

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December 18, 2020

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Sandoval was on vacation with his family when he was killed early Friday.

Former Jalisco governor Aristóteles Sandoval was shot dead in a Puerto Vallarta restaurant/bar early Friday, state authorities said.

“With deep pain I inform you that the ex-governor of our state, Aristóteles Sandoval, was the victim of a direct attack in Puerto Vallarta a few moments ago. Unfortunately he has died. My solidarity with his family in these very difficult moments,” Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro wrote on Twitter shortly after 3:00 a.m.

The attack occurred at about 1:40 a.m. at the Distrito 5 restaurant/bar, located on a main avenue in the Puerto Vallarta hotel zone.

State Attorney General Octavío Solís said that Sandoval, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governor from 2013 to 2018, was shot in his back while in the restaurant’s washroom. The ex-governor was taken to a local hospital but was dead upon arrival.

Solís said on social media that the 46-year-old ex-governor was on vacation with his family in Puerto Vallarta and arrived at the restaurant with another man at about 10:00 p.m. The pair were later joined by a third man and a woman, he said.

“About 1:40 a.m. is when the attack occurred. The ex-governor got up from his place and headed for the washroom. It was in the washroom where he was attacked directly in the back by apparently one individual with a firearm,” Solís said.

The suspect then presumably fled the venue. His identity and the motive for the attack were unclear.

The attorney general said that restaurant staff cleaned up the scene of the crime, hindering the work of forensic investigators.

Jalisco Security Minister Agustín Pacheco said that a 15-man bodyguard had been assigned to Sandoval and that the ex-governor had access to armored vehicles. However, none of the bodyguards was with Sandoval at Distrito 5.

Governor Alfaro said he had instructed members of his security cabinet to travel to Puerto Vallarta to lead the investigation into the murder.

Sandoval, who prior to becoming governor served as mayor of Guadalajara and as a state lawmaker, had recently reengaged in politics two years after leaving office, the newspaper Reforma reported.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Parents of cancer victims file complaint against human rights chief

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MND Staff

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December 17, 2020

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The parents outside the offices of the attorney general on Wednesday.

A group of parents of children with cancer filed a complaint on Wednesday against the president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), asserting that she hasn’t done anything to help solve long-running medication shortages.

Accompanied by their lawyer, the parents filed the complaint against Rosario Piedra at the federal Attorney General’s Office in Mexico City.

They accuse her of abuse of authority, saying that she hasn’t responded to their more than 500 complaints about cancer drug shortages that began last year and have been blamed for the deaths of several children.

“Rosario Piedra hasn’t done her job, … she hasn’t issued a proclamation that could help children with cancer. One of the responsibilities of the CNDH is to look out for the human rights of all citizens, [including] boys and girls,” said lawyer Andrea Rocha Ramírez. “Up to now it seems to be a body that does practically nothing.”

Rocha charged that Piedra’s failure to speak out about the problem after 552 complaints were filed with the CNDH is proof of her lack of commitment to the job. The lawyer also took aim at the rights chief for dismissing a CNDH medical representative who had committed to filing a complaint with the federal Health Ministry over its alleged delay in acting to respond to the drug shortages.

Rocha also said that the parents will seek the intervention of the Senate to have Piedra removed as rights chief, a position she assumed just over a year ago amid claims that she would be a government puppet.

“We’re going to begin … a formal process before the Senate for her dismissal,” she said.

However, it appears unlikely the parents will get their wish as the leader of the ruling Morena party in the upper house, Ricardo Monreal, said recently that Piedra has the full confidence of the majority of the Senate.

Israel Rivas, spokesman for a national group of parents of child cancer patients, said parents are also pushing for the early application of Covid-19 vaccines at hospitals where young cancer sufferers are treated.

If that doesn’t occur in late December or early January, Rivas said that parents will stage protests at airports and on highways as they have done countless times to denounce the medication shortages.

He claimed that the national vaccination plan presented last week is “unfair”and “genocidal” because it doesn’t take vulnerable groups of people, such as children with cancer, into consideration.

Source: Infobae (sp)

2 Mexicans recognized for making world a better place

By

Michelle Aguilar

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December 17, 2020

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Inspirations Awards winners Rojas-Bracho and Baquedano.

Two Mexicans are among nine people from around the world who have won the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Inspirations Awards this year, which rewards people for their efforts to make the world a better place.

Ana Baquedano Celorio, a student who convinced lawmakers to make “revenge porn” illegal after an ex-boyfriend shared her nude selfie, and Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, a biologist who braved poachers and pirates in efforts to save a critically endangered marine animal, will be featured on a December 30 episode of the BBC World Service program, Outlook.

Baquedano, now in her 20s, was a teenager when she sent a naked selfie to her boyfriend, who promised to delete it but instead later shared it, resulting in her being bullied and harassed.

Instead of being cowed by the experience, Baquedano led a campaign to make what her ex-boyfriend did a crime in her home state of Yucatán, which since 2018 punishes with jail time the publication of intimate images of people without their consent and classifies such images as child pornography if the person in the image is under 18.

Rojas-Bracho is a biologist known by some as “Mr. Vaquita” for his work since the 1990s in conserving the vaquita marina, a rare, endangered marine animal that is described as a tiny porpoise.

Part of Rojas-Bracho’s achievements regarding the vaquita been convincing other scientists that the animal still exists, but Rojas also carried on his conservation efforts in the face of threats from cartel-supported poachers.

The Inspirations Awards, given annually by the BBC World Service’s long-running program Outlook, shine a light on people with extraordinary personal stories. Both Baquedano and Rojas-Bracho’s stories have been featured on previous episodes of Outlook over the past two years.

“Every day on Outlook, we hear from people who take your breath away with their resilience, compassion, courage and determination to overcome difficulty and make a real difference in the world. These awards are our way of applauding their achievements,” said Mary Hockaday, controller of the BBC World Service English. “And in a year that has been so challenging, we’re delighted to end 2020 by celebrating the stories of people who give us so much hope.”

Some of this year’s other Inspirations Award winners included a London bus driver who converted a bus into a roving music studio that gave young men in local gangs the opportunity to make music and even virtually collaborate with rival gang members, and a former professional tennis player from Sierra Leone who founded a sports foundation that supports the country’s next generation of athletes.

Mexico News Daily

Survey indicates Covid case numbers are actually higher than 30 million

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MND Staff

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December 17, 2020

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crowd with face masks — One in four have had the coronavirus, a survey reveals.

More than 30 million Mexicans – about a quarter of the population – have been infected with the coronavirus, a serological testing survey suggests.

The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) collected 7,098 blood samples from adults, teenagers and children between August and November and found that 24.8% had developed antibodies against the coronavirus.

If the percentage is extrapolated across the entire population of Mexico, approximately 31 million people have been infected with the virus, said INSP director Juan Rivera.

That’s about 24 times higher than the current official confirmed case tally, which stands at just under 1.3 million.

“It shows a high speed of spread,” Rivera said.

Just over 26% of males and 23.6% of females who provided blood samples had developed coronavirus antibodies. A quarter of people aged 20 to 59 had antibodies while among those aged 60 and over only 18% appeared to have had the virus.

“It gives the impression that people over 60 took more care, stayed at home more and followed all the [health] measures,” Rivera said.

Referring to the likelihood that one-quarter of Mexicans have already had the virus, the INSP chief said that means that “75% of Mexicans [still] don’t have immunity against Covid” and therefore the population is still a long way from achieving herd immunity.

“It’s a very high percentage, almost 100 million people. … We mustn’t be careless, we mustn’t drop our guard. … The vast majority of us are [still] vulnerable to infection,” he said, acknowledging also that there is a possibility of reinfection.

It is likely that a lot of people who have had the coronavirus weren’t aware that they were infected.

The INSP classified 70% of people who developed antibodies against the coronavirus as asymptomatic. Only 20% of people with coronavirus antibodies experienced the telltale symptoms of Covid-19 while the other 10% only had one mild symptom.

“Almost 80% without symptoms. What does this mean? Maybe a lot of us are asymptomatic and therefore we could be transmitting the disease without realizing it,” Rivera said. “That’s why it’s important to take all the precautions.”

The coronavirus pandemic has hit Mexico harder than most other countries. As of Wednesday, its accumulated case tally of 1.27 million was the 13th highest in the world while the official Covid-19 death toll of 115,769 was the fourth highest after the United States, Brazil and India.

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

Online retailer Amazon to open distribution center in Yucatán

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Michelle Aguilar

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December 17, 2020

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Amazon will open a new distribution center in the state of Yucatán, its first in the country’s southeastern region.

“Yucatán will have an Amazon logistics center in the municipality of Umán, generating an important economic spillover and competitive, quality jobs,” Yucatán governor Mauricio Vila said on his Twitter account.

“Amazon’s expansion reflects our commitment to clients in Mexico, which is focused on improving the customer experience. Our method of expansion is aligned with the objective of improving our service to clients,” said Diego Méndez de la Luz, Amazon’s director of operations in Mexico. “This expansion will help us better serve our Mexican customers.”

In October, Amazon announced it would invest US $100 million to expand its presence throughout Mexico with the opening of two new fulfillment centers in Apodaca, Nuevo Leon, and in Tlajomulco, Jalisco, as well as a building in México state, and 12 new delivery stations throughout the country.

The investment cost of the Yucatán complex is unknown.

Amazon’s operations in Mexico, which began in 2015, include five fulfillment centers, two support buildings, two sorting centers and 27 delivery stations.

The company is in stiff competition with other e-commerce vendors like Walmart, which in September spent 140 million pesos to open its first logistics center in the country in Mérida, and Mercado Libre, which has a strong presence in Mexico.

Amazon has been working with the Yucatán government to train 284 of the state’s small businesses in effective selling on the online platform.

Sixty percent of the businesses trained came from the food and beverage industry, 25% from the textile sector, and 15% from various other types of businesses, including crafts, cosmetics and cleaning and hygiene products.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Interjet’s troubles continue: all flights through Dec. 31 have been canceled

By

Michelle Aguilar

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December 17, 2020

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Interjet announced Thursday that it is canceling all flights for the rest of the year but anonymous sources say the airline’s grounding might be longer.

Sources close to the airline told the newspaper El Financiero that the airline may never resume operations.

Interjet notified its employees that all flights starting tomorrow and through December 31 have been canceled and all operations will be shut down during that period.

The airline’s flights have already been grounded for several days and dozens of flights have been canceled over the past six weeks, largely because there has been no money to purchase fuel.

Interjet has been struggling to stay afloat financially amid the coronavirus pandemic’s steep decline in demand for air travel. But it has faced multiple other issues unique to the airline’s situation.

Employees are owed over three months of unpaid wages and benefits, which has led to public protests, and some employees have not bothered showing up for work. The airline owes nearly six months’ worth of social security employee contributions, US $131.3 million in unpaid fuel bills, and US $151.4 million in back taxes. In the last two months, the airline has also lost 95% of its fleet.

Meanwhile, businessmen Carlos Cabal Peniche and Alejandro del Valle were going to inject US $150 million of badly needed capital into the airline. But Cabal decided to pull out.

More recently, ex-employees have filed 50 claims against Interjet for unpaid severance amounting to 11 million pesos. Employees who were dismissed as far back as March say they have not been paid any of the money they are owed.

In addition, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suspended Interjet’s participation in its billing and settlement plan this week, which facilitates the sale and issuing of airline tickets through an IATA affiliated network of travel agents.

Last week, Interjet’s union asked the federal government to take over the airline, saying it is on the verge of bankruptcy and poses a risk to national security. The government declined the union’s request.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

A holiday at the beach is winning against officials’ appeals to stay at home

By

MND Staff

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December 17, 2020

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Tourists are set to flock to some of Mexico’s most popular coastal resort cities during the Christmas-New Year vacation period despite appeals for people to stay at home due to the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

Acapulco, Guerrero, and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, are both gearing up for a large influx of holidaymakers while Cancún, Quintana Roo, and Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, also expect tourist numbers to rise albeit to levels below those seen at the same time in recent years.

According to tourism authorities in Acapulco, hotels are already booked to their 50% permitted capacity for the period between December 21 and January 8. At least 350,000 people with hotel reservations are predicted to descend on the Pacific coast resort city during the three-week period.

Authorities say that the number of visitors could easily double to 700,000 given that many people stay in timeshare apartments, holiday homes and properties rented on online accommodation platforms such as Airbnb.

Due to the expected influx of tourists and the ongoing pandemic, the government of Guerrero, the state in which Acapulco is located, has canceled New Year’s Eve fireworks displays in tourist destinations across the state.

Guerrero is currently an orange light “high” risk state, according to the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight system. Acapulco has recorded more confirmed cases and Covid-19 deaths than any other municipality in the state.

About 1,000 kilometers to the north, Puerto Vallarta is also expecting to end the year with hotels as full as they are allowed to be. In the case of Jalisco’s premier tourism destination the maximum capacity is 75%, said state government official Alejandro Guzmán Larralde.

“The tourism industry is beginning to recover after being one of the [sectors] hardest hit by the pandemic,” he said.

Luis Villaseñor, director of the Puerto Vallarta Tourism Trust, said that an influx of both domestic and international tourists is expected at the end of the year, adding that most of the latter will come from the United States.

“We’ve recovered some flights that no longer operated, … that’s the case with the United Airlines flight from Newark, with daily flights, and the American Airlines flight from Charlotte,” he said.

There were about 1,000 flights in and out of Puerto Vallarta in October, up from just 322 in June, while there were almost 700 in the first half of December, providing another sign that tourism is recovering.

Acapulco's New Year's fireworks show has been canceled this year. — Acapulco’s New Year’s fireworks show has been canceled this year.

Certified by the World Travel and Tourism Council as a safe destination due to its compliance with measures designed to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Puerto Vallarta is also commonly accessed by road, especially from Guadalajara, located about 330 kilometers inland.

The city has recorded just over 2,600 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. Jalisco is currently orange on the stoplight map.

On the other side of the country, Cancún has had average hotel occupancy of 45% this month but there is optimism that it will increase to 65% by the end of the year. But even if that level is achieved, it will be the lowest in recent years for the end-of-year vacation period.

Roberto Cintrón Gómez, president of the Hotel Association of Cancún and Puerto Morelos, had expressed hope that occupancy levels would go as high as 90% if the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo reached green light “low” risk status on the stoplight system.

However, the Yucatán Peninsula’s tourism mecca regressed to orange from “medium” risk yellow at the start of last week.

Cintrón said that 60% or 65% occupancy during the winter holiday season would be low compared to previous years but at least give hotels some much-needed revenue.

According to Quintana Roo authorities, there are currently just over 70,000 tourists in the state but that number is expected to increase in the coming days with greater numbers of domestic and international flights scheduled to arrive.

Other popular tourism destinations in the state include Playa del Carmen and Tulum, which have recorded far fewer coronavirus cases than Cancún. Almost half of Quintana Roo’s 15,128 confirmed cases were detected in the municipality where Cancún is located while more than a quarter were found in and around the state capital, Chetumal.

At the tip of Mexico’s other famous tourism peninsula, hotels in Los Cabos currently have an average occupancy level of 39% but hoteliers hope to reach the maximum permitted capacity of 50% by the end of the year. Hotel owners in other Baja California Sur tourism hotspots, such as the state capital La Paz, also hope they can at least have half of their rooms occupied during the upcoming vacation period.

However, 50% occupancy would be 20% lower than the average in previous years during the entire winter period when tourists from the United States and further afield commonly seek out warmer weather in destinations such as Los Cabos.

The downturn in tourism this year has hit Baja California Sur hard, causing economic pain for hotels, restaurants and other businesses that rely heavily on visitors. According to the national restaurant association Canirac, about 8,000 direct jobs in that sector alone have been lost in Baja California Sur.

The state is currently orange on the federal stoplight map with just over 1,000 active coronavirus cases, according to federal Health Ministry estimates. Just over 30% of Baja California Sur’s 16,027 confirmed cases were detected in Los Cabos while 50% were found in La Paz.

Another state where the tourism industry has been hit hard by the pandemic is Veracruz. Sergio Lois Heredia, president of the Metropolitan Tourism Council in the Gulf coast state, said that this winter holiday season will be the worst on record.

He said hotel occupancy of just 50% is expected whereas it has been above 75% at the same time in recent years.

Veracruz is one of just three green light “low” risk states in Mexico but according to Heredia, visitor numbers in the state’s eponymous port city have not yet recovered.

Source: El Financiero (sp)