A crucial rule for everyday spending in Mexico: carry small bills

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September 22, 2021

art by Miguel Angel Gomez Cabrera — Don't even think about it. Miguel Ángel Gómez Cabrera

Mexican money is, of course, the peso. It comes in different colors — blue, pink, yellow and a couple of others I can’t quite describe — so it’s visually interesting. But what’s even more interesting is the game that’s played with this money.

Cajeros (ATMs) in Mexico disgorge bills that are of large denomination, mainly 500-peso notes (US $25). If you withdraw, say, 3,000 pesos, you’ll almost certainly get six 500-peso notes.

It´s very frustrating when this happens because it’s nearly impossible to spend these, especially in smaller pueblos, although I’ve found it challenging in Mexico City as well. So I’ve learned that when I make a withdrawal, I make sure to tack 400 pesos on to the amount I actually want.

This means that if I need 3,000 pesos, I’ll withdraw 3,400, or if I need 6,500 pesos, I’ll take out 6,900; you get the idea.

That way, I’m sure to get at least two 200-peso notes, and if the stars are properly aligned, a 200 peso-note and two 100-peso notes. These I can spend. When I get two 100-peso notes, I feel like I’ve hit the lottery.

So it takes a little bit of planning when withdrawing money. Then it takes even more planning to spend it.

See, no business wants to change large bills. Forget trying to spend a 500-peso note in a small village. It’s going to be damn near impossible.

When I have nothing but large bills, I go to a big store — say, a supermarket like a Chedruai, Mega or La Comer — and buy a few things. But not a lot. Buying a lot and then paying with cash defeats the purpose. I need change, so I’ll keep my purchases to around 200 pesos.

I pay with a 500-peso note and grab some change. Or I’ll use the 500-peso note at a restaurant when I head into Mexico City and order a modest meal. I may get a dirty look from the waiter, but I always leave a big tip, so all is forgiven.

Even a 200-peso note can present a challenge. A pound of coffee at my local cafe costs 125 pesos (about US $6). If I hand them a 200-peso note, I know I’m in for a long wait while someone runs from store to store seeking to change the bill. I’ve learned to have exact change.

Still, despite the reluctance of store owners to take larger denominations, it’s critical to pay with the largest small bill possible. If something costs 30 pesos, sure, you could pay with the exact amount or with a 50-peso note, but later on, you’re going to find yourself without any smaller bills.

In that case, it’s best to pay with a 100-peso note because somewhere down the road, you’re going to need those small bills. But even paying with a 100-peso note may cause problems, something that has happened to me more than a few times.

A few years ago, I was in a store in Mexico City and was trying to pay for something that cost 25 or 30 pesos with a 100-peso note. The store owner looked at me aghast and said she had no change. I told her I was sorry but didn’t have anything smaller. She paused, looked at the bill, frowned and then counted out my change.

But it’s important to play fair. Don’t go into a small tienda (store) to buy a bag of snacks and try to pay with a 500-peso note. You’ll give the owner a coronary, and you won’t be welcome there again. Plus, you almost certainly won’t get your snacks.

If you do want to buy a bag of snacks and absolutely have to pay with, say, a 100-peso note, be nice. Apologize. Say, “I’m sorry, this is all I have.” Shrug, look a little forlorn, maybe buy a couple of pieces of candy. The owner will usually commiserate, reluctantly count out your change and maybe even let you in their store in the future.

Follow these basic suggestions and you’ll have plenty of change.

Now, I realize that I could withdraw money from a cajero and simply walk into a bank and ask them to change some 500-peso bills. But where’s the fun in that?

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Auditor says business group embezzled millions in public funds

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September 22, 2021

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Celular Milenium, a company owned by a Concanaco director, was paid to supply more than 15,000 tablets to small businesses, but the the tablets never appeared.

A leading business group embezzled almost 300 million pesos in public funds between 2014 and 2016, according to the Federal Auditor’s Office (ASF).

A forensic report completed by the ASF said the Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco) diverted at least 291 million pesos (US $14.5 million at today’s exchange rate) in funding it received from the now-defunct National Institute for Entrepreneurs (Inadem).

The money ended up in bank accounts of Concanaco directors, the ASF found.

Of the total, 70 million pesos had been earmarked for the purchase of tablet computers which were to be supplied to small businesses so they could collect payments from customers via their bank cards. The remainder of the money was to be used to fund some 140 small business training projects.

The Business Coordinating Council (CCE), an umbrella organization of 12 business groups, was also indirectly involved in the alleged embezzlement. It acted as an intermediary, receiving funds for the tablets project from Inadem before passing them on to Concanaco.

The company Celular Milenium, owned by a Concanaco director, received two transfers totaling 45.5 million pesos. EMCO Soluciones de Software, another company owned by a Concanaco director, received one transfer of 2.6 million pesos. That company’s tax address is non-existent, according to the newspaper Milenio, which reported the findings of the ASF report.

Celular Milenium was supposed to supply more than 15,000 tablets to small businesses and set up internet connections, while EMCO was supposed to set up internet connections.

However, the ASF determined that 15,086 tablets that should have been supplied to businesses were in fact not. Concanaco was unable to supply any documentation proving their delivery, the auditor said.

Students from the National College of Professional Technical Education were supposed to provide training to business owners on the use of the tablets but that never occurred, the ASF concluded.

The tablets initiative was supposed to be partially funded with 17.5 million pesos of Concanaco’s own money but those funds were only shuffled between CCE and Concanaco accounts and were not used for their intended purpose, the ASF found.

With reports from Milenio

Affection between 2 seniors catching some sun inspired Iztapalapa mural

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September 22, 2021

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Elderly couple Raul and Imelda inspired the artist known as Sr. Mickrone to create this mural near their home in Iztapalapa. — Raúl and Imelda inspired the artist Sr. Mickrone to create this mural near their home in Iztapalapa. Sr. Mickrone

A street artist looking for inspiration found it in the most humble of circumstances when he saw an older couple in a working class neighborhood of Mexico City showing affection and taking some sun.

Pedro Peña, better known by his artistic name Sr. Mickrone, was painting a mural as part of a municipal mural project in Iztapalapa when Raúl and his wife Imelda, who uses a wheelchair, caught his attention.

“I was painting … when I saw a couple from the neighborhood walking with a wheelchair. They sat down to catch the sun, and I noticed that he was being affectionate and took her head onto his chest. I dared to take a picture of them from behind and I asked my directors for permission to paint a mural …

“I talked to them and mentioned that I would like to create a mural near their house where they could see it,” Peña explained.

Once the mural was finished, the artist uploaded some photos to Facebook, where they went viral. “It was surprising, I didn’t expect a reaction like that … I think it touched some very important feelings to do with the pandemic. You can see that the people are adults, and they still love each other,” he added.

Raúl and Imelda on the sidewalk in Iztapalapa. pedro peña

Peña also revealed how the couple reacted to having their likeness on display. “She is an old lady, 83 years old, but her face was full of emotion, she looked shocked …” upon seeing the painting.

He said the couple go out every day and sit in the same spot to enjoy the sun, and that others have taken photos of them as well.

With reports from Milenio

Scientific community claims persecution by federal authorities after arrest warrants sought

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MND Staff

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September 22, 2021

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Conacyt director María Elena Álvarez-Buylla filed a criminal complaint against a group of scientists, sparking a conflict that has continued to escalate. Cuartoscuro

Mexico’s scientific community claims some of its members are being persecuted after the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) sought warrants for the arrest of 31 scientists for a range of crimes.

The FGR filed an application with a federal court for warrants for members of the Scientific and Technological Advisory Forum (FCCyT), a civil society organization. It alleges that 31 scientists embezzled public money, carried out operations with resources of illicit origin, engaged in organized crime and made illicit use of their positions, according to media reports.

The court at the Altiplano federal prison didn’t issue the arrest warrants sought but granted the FGR a period of 15 days to strengthen its case.

The FGR’s attempt to have the scientists arrested sparked a backlash.

One response was the creation of a petition on change.org that demands “an end to the persecution against members of the scientific community.”

The petition, which had attracted more than 12,400 signatures by 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, says the director of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, filed a criminal complaint against the FCCyT for illegally receiving resources from the council during the 2012-18 administration of former president Enrique Peña Nieto.

But the Supreme Court ruled last month that Conacyt’s allocation of resources to the group was legal, the petition says. However, that ruling, the petition adds, was not a barrier to the FGR seeking warrants for the arrests of 31 FCCyT members.

It says the FGR’s interruption of the judicial process and applying for the warrants at a maximum security prison where the most dangerous criminals are incarcerated show that Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero “is trying to intimidate those from the scientific community who have publicly and openly expressed their differences with the current policies of Conacyt.”

“… We demand the end of persecution due to ideological and political positions against distinguished members of the Mexican scientific community,” the petition concludes.

President López Obrador vowed in 2019 that the FCCyT would be disbanded although it wasn’t clear why. A former coordinator said at the time there was a difference of opinion between Conacyt and the forum, which was created during the presidency of Vicente Fox in 2002. That, as with several other autonomous agencies established during previous administrations, would make it an adversary in the mind of López Obrador.

Meanwhile, a union that represents academics at Mexico City’s Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM) and the academic community of the same university also issued statements in support of the FCCyT members.

Georgina Alenka Guzmán Chávez, an academic at UAM Iztapalapa who wrote one of the statements, slammed the FGR’s actions in an interview with the newspaper El Economista.

“How can we live in a country where we’re threatened for using our intelligence … and knowledge. This was seen in the Nazi and fascist governments, in dictatorships such as Nicaragua, where people are arrested for using their intelligence. We can’t live in a country like that,” she said.

Guzmán said it appeared that the government was in a war against education, adding that the scientific community deserves respect.

“They want to intimidate us but they’ve provoked great indignation and this is shared with the international community, because in the day to day of learning we’ve educated a lot of people who have left the country. That’s why this [war against education and the scientific community] will be known in the whole world,” she said.

With reports from El Economista

Government closes privately-owned fuel terminals in move against oil industry

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September 22, 2021

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The IEnova terminal in Puebla is one of the storage facilities that the CRE has recently shuttered.

The federal government has dealt another blow to private companies in Mexico’s energy sector.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has shut down three privately owned fuel storage terminals in the last month and a half, a move that will likely benefit the state oil company Pemex.

The terminals are used to import fuels such as gasoline and diesel and are located in Tuxpan, Veracruz, Puebla city and Hermosillo, Sonora.

Alejandro Montufar, CEO of the consultancy firm PetroIntelligence, said the reasons for the closures were not entirely clear.

However, unnamed energy sector sources cited by the newspaper Reforma claim that the government is seeking to link private companies to the distribution and sale of illegal fuel.

“The government wants to return to a gasoline monopoly,” the sources said, referring to the situation in Mexico before the 2013 energy reform.

The CRE temporarily closed the Monterra Energy terminal in Tuxpan on September 13, Reforma reported. Owned by the United States-based global investment firm KKR, the terminal imports fuel transported on ships owned by companies such as Total, Repsol and Marathon, which operate gas stations in Mexico.

The CRE, ostensibly an autonomous federal body, previously closed the IEnova terminal in Puebla, which supplies Valero gas stations, and a Bulkmatic terminal in Hermosillo, which supplies Valero and Marathon.

In addition to the closures, CRE personnel accompanied by the National Guard last week carried out an inspection of another private terminal in Tuxpan, where some 80% of gasoline consumed in Mexico enters the country.

The CRE officials temporarily prevented a ship from offloading fuel at the Invex terminal, Reforma said, adding that the vessel was placed under a closure order because it allegedly didn’t have the appropriate permits.

“… They put a closed seal on the boat but that boat was adhering to international legislation and it managed to unload in the end,” a source with knowledge of the matter told Reforma.

Pemex gas stations would benefit from a restriction on imports, but supplies might be a problem.However, the Energy Ministry subsequently canceled five import permits the ship had obtained to bring fuel such as diesel, gasoline and jet fuel into the country. The ship was allegedly conducting business with companies that don’t have the required permits to operate in Mexico’s energy industry.

Alicia Zazueta of the oil sector firm eServices described the government’s closure of terminals and the revocation of permits as discretional, suggesting that it is targeting private companies arbitrarily.

The cancellation of permits and the closure of terminals will limit fuel supply options and return control of the market to Pemex, she said.

Claudio Rodríguez, a lawyer with Holland & Knight who specializes in energy matters, said it was clear that the government is intent on returning the state oil company to a dominant position in the market, which was opened up to private and foreign companies by former president Enrique Peña Nieto.

However, there is a risk that Pemex won’t be able to satisfy market demand, he said.

“On the issue of medicines, a shortage was created by cutting private companies’ distribution networks … [because] the government didn’t have the capacity to supply the national market. There is an enormous risk of falling into the same situation with fuel … [because] Pemex doesn’t have the capacity to supply the market,” Rodríguez said.

“Dogmatism has dictated energy policies in Mexico for three years,” he added, referring roughly to the period President López Obrador – a staunch energy nationalist – has been in office.

“The fewer terminals there are, the less competition there is for Pemex. That’s a fact,” said Montufar of PetroIntelligence.

The CRE’s actions could lead to fewer privately owned gas stations in Mexico and higher fuel prices, he said.

“But that would be in a medium or long term scenario if we see the revocation of terminal permits,” Montafur said.

Since López Obrador – who has pledged to “rescue” Pemex and the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission from years of neglect – took office in late 2018, the government has enacted a range of policies designed to make the state a more prominent player in the energy sector.

Many have faced legal challenges from private companies, and some, including an Energy Ministry policy that imposed restrictive measures on the renewable sector, have been suspended by court order.

With reports from Reforma

Mexico the easiest country in the world to obtain a driver’s license

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MND Staff

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September 22, 2021

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A transit police officer directs traffic at a Mexico City crosswalk.

Mexico is by far the easiest country in the world to get a driver’s license and hit the road, according to a ranking published by the driving education platform Zutobi.

The country scored 8.48 out of 10 for the ease with which citizens can legally get behind the wheel. Aspiring drivers are helped by incredibly loose regulation, Zutobi explains: “… in a large portion of the country, you do not legally have to take a practical test to get a license, just a theory test and moreover, prior to 2018 there was no test at all. Another reason is that you can legally drive at 15 in Mexico which is younger than the majority of countries (who will not let you drive before 18).”

The granting of licenses is regulated at the state level, and so requirements can vary widely. Nonetheless, it is generally a simple procedure, according to the news website Alcaldes de México.

It reports that the general process to gain a license requires an official identification, proof of address, the payment of fees, and in some cases a theoretical exam. Some states go as far as to demand proof of a driver’s competence in a practical exam. However, in Mexico City, one of the cities with the highest density of traffic in the world, there is no examination process.

Gaining official permission is also cheap. In Morelos, the process can cost as little as 686 pesos (about US $34) for a five-year license. In Mexico City, 871 pesos (about $44) does the trick for a three-year license, without any demands of knowledge, experience or proficiency.

The top 15 countries where it is easiest to get a driver's license — The top 15 countries where it is easiest to get a driver’s license. Zutobi

The second easiest country to gain a license is Qatar, where it is still significantly harder than in Mexico. According to the ranking, the nation on the Arabian peninsula scored a more modest 7.39/10.

Other countries that offer little obstruction to learners are Latvia, the United States and Canada. The most difficult countries to get qualified are Croatia, Brazil, Hungary, Bahrain and Montenegro.

Croatia, Zutobi informs “… is the toughest country to get behind the wheel due to their expensive and stringent driving tests that require a minimum amount of learning and monitoring to pass. Average Croatian driving lessons cover about 85 hours on average, and it is a legal requirement to have these lessons before you can even take a test. Croats also have to produce multiple medical clearances and spend around £930 to pass their test and obtain their license.”

The ranking was compiled based on seven indices: the age one can drive, the cost of an exam, whether a theory test is required, whether a practical test is required, whether an eye exam is required, whether a medical exam is required and the hours of mandatory lessons demanded.

With reports from Zutobi, Alcaldes de México and Imagen Radio

Heightened activity at El Popo volcano triggers preparations for evacuation

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September 22, 2021

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Though volcanic activity has remained light so far, Civil Protection has asked that the local population take precautions.

At least one México state municipality has set up shelters to receive potential evacuees as heightened activity continues at the Popocatépetl volcano.

There were 2,062 exhalations, 30 explosions, 13 volcano tectonic earthquakes and more than 6,000 minutes of tremors at El Popo during the first 21 days of September.

Activity at Don Goyo, as the stratovolcano is colloquially known, has increased in recent days, although the National Disaster Prevention Center (Cenapred) has not raised its alert from yellow Phase 2.

The yellow Phase 3 alert is the highest warning level before the red phase, in which people living near the volcano are advised to be ready to evacuate.

Even though the alert level is two notches below the red phase, authorities in Chalco, a municipality to the northwest of El Popo, have prepared seven shelters to receive residents who could be required to evacuate their homes.

Other municipalities in the southeast of México state, such as Amecameca, Ecatzingo and Ozumba, are on alert. A large eruption at Popocatépetl would also likely affect residents of Puebla and Morelos as the volcano straddles those two states and México state.

Cenapred has warned people not to go near the volcano, especially its crater due to the risk of further exhalations, explosions and other volcanic activity. A safety radius of 12 kilometers remains in effect around what is Mexico’s most active volcano.

Just over 100 exhalations of water vapor, gases and ash were recorded in the 24-hour period to late Tuesday. There were six explosions at the volcano last Friday, the highest number of any day this month, and small quantities of ash have reached several México state municipalities as well as some boroughs of Mexico City.

Authorities recommend that people in the vicinity of the volcano cover their nose and mouth with a face mask or handkerchief to avoid inhaling ash. They also advise residents to close the windows of their homes and stay inside as much as possible.

The Popocatépetl volcano, whose name comes from Náhuatl and means “smoking mountain,” woke up in December 1994 after 56 years of inactivity to blow ash over Puebla.

The eruption prompted Cenapred to install stations to monitor the volcano. The monitoring now occurs 24 hours per day, and webcams allow the public to view what is going on in real time.

With reports from El Universal

Searchers recover bodies of 2 missing in Tlalnepantla landslide

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September 22, 2021

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Searchers remove a body from the rubble. — Searchers remove a body from the rubble of the slide.

A search team recovered the bodies of two missing people buried under a 200-tonne rock Tuesday on Cerro de Chiquihuite (Chiquihuite Hill). The populous hill on the boundary of Tlalnepantla and the Mexico City borough of Gustavo A. Madero suffered a landslide on September 10, dislodging enormous boulders and killing four people.

Rescuers found the remains of Paola Campos Robledo, 22, and her son Dilan Armando, 5, in the same area where the body of Campos’ daughter, Mía Mayrín, 3, was recovered on September 14. The bodies were transported to the state Attorney General’s Office for their identities to be confirmed. The three victims are survived by the victims’ husband and father, Jorge Armando, 25, a construction worker who was not in the area during the landslide.

México state Governor Alfredo del Mazo previously pointed to heavy rains and the 7.1-magnitude earthquake on September 7 as probable causes of the slide, which buried at least 10 houses and left hundreds of families affected.

Tlalnepantla Mayor Raciel Pérez described the Cerro del Chiquihuite as a high risk area, and that Civil Protection officers were in the area to prevent further incidents.

Local authorities urged people to evacuate their homes in the days following the disaster due to the high probability of another landslide, but residents were slow to respond to the request. It is not clear how many people are still living on Cerro del Chiquihuite.

The federal government has declared a state of emergency in the municipality on the request of local officials. The declaration will facilitate the provision of resources to meet food, shelter and sanitary needs of those affected.

The other confirmed fatality was Mariana Martínez Rodríguez, a young student at the National Autonomous University.

With reports from Milenio and El Universal

COVID roundup: third wave has been on decline for 8 weeks, minister says

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September 21, 2021

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The third wave of the coronavirus pandemic has been receding for eight weeks, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday.

But data from the Reuters COVID-19 tracker paints a slightly different picture, although it also shows that the delta-driven wave is on the wane.

The Reuters data shows that the average number of new infections reported each day has fallen by more than 7,500 over the past three weeks to 8,143. The latter figure represents just 43% of the rolling seven-day peak recorded on August 17, but that was just five weeks ago, suggesting that the pandemic might not have been declining for as long as López-Gatell claims.

However, the government has long stressed that the case numbers reported on a daily basis are not necessarily indicative of infections detected that day. Some may have been detected weeks or even months earlier, health officials have said.

Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference, the government’s pandemic chief also said that the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is declining.

covid vaccination — Migrants are vaccinated by health officials in Tapachula, Chiapas.

“We’re continuing to see this trend of the vacation of [beds in] COVID hospitals,” López-Gatell said. “… This is a maintained trend in the entire national territory.”

Federal data shows that there are just under 9,000 hospitalized COVID patients across the country. Durango has the highest occupancy rate for general care hospital beds – currently just under 58% – while 51% of beds with ventilators are taken in Tabasco, more than in any other state.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated case tally rose to 3.58 million on Tuesday with 12,521 new infections reported.

The official COVID-19 death toll increased by 815 to 272,580, and there are 64,175 estimated active cases across the country, a 6% increase compared to Monday.

Almost 96.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in Mexico, according to the latest official data, after just over 442,000 were given Monday.

“The epidemic is declining and vaccination is not stopping,” López-Gatell wrote on Twitter.

About 70% of Mexican adults have received at least one shot, while the population wide vaccination rate is 49%, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker. About one-third of Mexico’s 126 million citizens are fully vaccinated.

Mexico News Daily

‘I put myself in their shoes,’ says Hidalgo woman who opened doors to flood victims

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September 21, 2021

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Angélica and Cristina Maturano — Angélica Maturano, left, with her sister Cristina Maturano opened their events hall as a public shelter after floods in Tula left neighbors without a place to sleep.

A Hidalgo businesswoman has become a community hero after opening a shelter for victims of flooding in the central state.

When severe flooding affected the municipality of Tula earlier this month, Angélica Maturano was approached by a neighbor looking for a dry and safe place where he and his family could sleep because their own home had been inundated with water.

Despite some initial reluctance, she decided to let them stay at a warehouse-cum-events hall she owns. Other flood victims soon arrived at the makeshift shelter, and Maturano let them in too, seeing the number of occupants swell quickly to a peak of 90 before declining over the past two weeks to the current level of 54.

“This [shelter] was opened by chance; on Monday [September 6] ‘Fili,’ a neighbor, arrived … to ask me for help,” Maturano told the newspaper Milenio.

“The truth is I didn’t want to [open the warehouse] but seeing the anguish on his face won my heart over in the end – I put myself in his shoes and opened the doors,” she said.

shelter in Tula hidalgo — Maturano expected to open her hall up to neighbors for a few days, but cleanup from the floods has been slow.

“There were about 90 people here the first day [and] those 90 people were given food. My sister Cristina and I took the decision to help … because we saw they didn’t have anywhere to sleep. … I thought that … the water would go down, we’d clean up like on other occasions and we’d all return to our normal lives [but] that hasn’t happened. We’ve been here 15 days,” said Maturano, who has provided mattresses and blankets to the shelter occupants.

She and her sister have also passed on donated food and medications to Tula residents whose homes weren’t as badly affected by the floods but nevertheless lacked the essential items they needed to survive.

Maturano said the homes of some of those taking refuge in the shelter sustained flooding damage that is so severe that they will never be habitable again. She also said that residents are living in fear due to the risk of more flooding.

“We’re living in fear, in desperation because a lot of people were left without a home and without work, and because there’s been four flooding alerts in 15 days,” Maturano said.

“I’ve gone to the [flooded] homes and schools and I come back crying because … I see the devastation and I say ‘that’s not the Tula where I grew up,’” she said.

“I call on the federal government to support those people who have lost everything. … their homes, their businesses.”

flood relief supplies, Tula, Hidalgo — Supplies the sisters have collected to distribute to Tula’s flood victims.

With reports from Milenio