As plan to abolish public trusts advances, the protests escalate

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October 20, 2020

Protesters outside the Senate, hoping to prevent the abolition of 109 trust funds.

Opposition to the federal government’s plan to abolish 109 public trusts is growing as senators prepare to vote as soon as Tuesday on the proposal that has already been approved by the lower house of Congress.

A protest was held outside the federal Senate building in Mexico City on Monday while Mexican and foreign scientists have denounced the plan, which would transfer control of the trusts’ funds – they were allocated some 68 billion pesos (US $3.2 billion) this year alone – to the federal Interior Ministry.

Government watchdog Causa en Común (Common Cause) said earlier this month that funding for scientific research, cultural projects, disaster response, the defense of human rights, the protection of journalists, agricultural development, scholarships for students and attending to victims of crime would be placed at risk if the plan is approved.

Members of human rights collectives and family members of victims of violent crimes yesterday blocked one of the entrances to the Senate building to express their opposition to the plan, which President López Obrador supports on the grounds that the trusts represent opportunities for corruption.

The newspaper Reforma reported that the protesters were able to convey a message to ruling Morena party Senator Alejandro Armenta.

“You [members of the government] say ‘with the [support of the] people everything [can be done] and without the people nothing.’ Well the people are demanding that you don’t eliminate the trusts,” protester Karla Guerrero told Armenta.

“Morena cannot make history looking down on victims,” said Guadalupe Mendiola, making reference to the name of the coalition the ruling party led at the 2018 election – Juntos Haremos Historia, or Together We Will Make History.

Reforma reported that the Senate’s regular activities could not go ahead due to the blockade and that lawmakers retreated to a nearby hotel to discuss the proposal.

However, the plan has now passed the Senate’s finance committee, with only one Morena party lawmaker voting against it.

With the support of its allies, Morena has a majority in the upper house of Congress, meaning that the approval of the plan appears to be a mere formality.

Brenda Valderrama, a biotechnology researcher at the National Autonomous University and president of the Morelos Academy of Sciences, told a virtual press conference Monday that 15 senators affiliated with Morena would have to vote against the plan in order for the trusts to survive.

Protesters have included families of missing persons, whose efforts in searching for loved ones have been aided by one of the trusts.

Speaking on behalf of a collective of academic associations, societies and academies that have formed virtually under the hashtag #MásCienciaMenosObediencia (More Science Less Obedience), Valderrama urged senators to vote against the proposal, asserting that there is “abundant and conclusive evidence of the damage” the abolition of the trusts would do to the country.

She specifically appealed for the support of Morena party Senator María Celeste Sánchez Sugia, a fellow scientific researcher.

Valderrama said that opposition parties have rejected the proposal but stressed that the votes of their senators won’t be enough to stop it.

“Even with this support, we still need 15 [more] votes to avoid the disappearance of the research funds,” she said. “We demand that senators who have not spoken out against the proposal do so.”

Other academics who spoke at the virtual press conference said that 127 personalized letters have been sent to senators urging them to vote against the abolition of the trusts but none of the lawmakers has responded.

They argued that the elimination of the trusts, many of which support scientific research and none of which face formal corruption allegations, would represent a backward step. The academics said the country could return to times when public funding went to a select few researchers chosen by bureaucrats rather than specialist panels.

Several academics have already said that the abolition of the trusts would deal a historic blow to science and culture.

Causa en Común said that the elimination of the trusts would cause “incalculable damage,” while a group of 10 dissident state governors questioned the legality of the proposal.

Members of the #MásCienciaMenosObediencia were planning to protest outside the Senate today while a vote on the proposal could be taking place.

Mexican academics opposed to the abolition of the trusts are supported by more than 700 international scientists and researchers who put their names to a “Letter in Support of Mexican Scientists” that was recently published online and shared extensively on social media.

They described the move as “a heavy blow to science and technology in Mexico right when the country needs their contribution more than ever” in a letter signed by academics from universities all over the world including prestigious educational institutes such as Harvard, Oxford and Yale.

The international academics asserted that the abolition of the public trusts would close the door on new funding from private, international and multinational organizations that currently support academic research in Mexico.

“We are concerned that collaboration with Mexican colleagues, with whom we share interests and research projects, will be considerably limited.”

Opposition politicians claim that the funds currently held by the trusts will be used for discretionary spending by the federal government.

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

Covid hospitalizations rise in Mexico City; tighter restrictions possible

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MND Staff

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October 20, 2020

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Stricter coronavirus restrictions could be implemented in Mexico City due to an increase in the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told a press conference Monday that hospitalizations have been on the rise in the capital for almost 10 days.

She said authorities are monitoring the situation and that if hospitalizations continue to increase this week, tighter coronavirus rules would be announced Friday.

Sheinbaum said that she didn’t want to prohibit any economic activities that have already been allowed to resume – among which are the operation of bars, cinemas and gyms – but suggested that the opening hours of some businesses could be reduced or they could be limited to operating only on certain days.

“What we don’t want [to do] is to … shut down any activity. Rather some additional preventative actions [could be implemented]. If that is the case, we’ll be announcing them this Friday,” she said.

Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio

“We still have time to take preventative measures to keep [hospitalizations] from increasing in the coming weeks,” the mayor said.

There were 2,746 Covid-19 patients in Mexico City hospitals on Sunday including 683 people on ventilators. The former figure is 155 higher than October 9 when 2,591 Covid-19 patients were in hospitals in the capital.

Sheinbaum said that patient numbers have increased at both public and private hospitals.

Despite the uptick, fewer than half of all general care beds set aside for coronavirus patients in Mexico City are occupied and only one-third of those with ventilators are in use.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals in the capital is well below the peak in May when 4,573 people were being treated in healthcare facilities.

Mexico City has been the country’s coronavirus epicenter since the beginning of the pandemic, and has recorded far more confirmed cases and Covid-19 deaths than any other state.

As of Monday, 147,663 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in the capital and 14,425 people had lost their lives to the disease, according to official data.

There are currently 8,253 active coronavirus cases in Mexico City, according to Health Ministry estimates, more than double the number in Nuevo León, which has the the second largest active outbreak among Mexico’s 32 states.

Sheinbaum urged Mexico City residents to remember that the threat of coronavirus infection hasn’t gone away.

“It’s very important for all of us to know that … the pandemic is continuing. … We have to keep protecting ourselves,” the mayor said, warning people not to drop their guard during the upcoming Day of the Dead holiday.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated coronavirus case tally increased to 854,926 on Monday with 3,699 new cases registered by health authorities. The official Covid-19 death toll rose to 86,338 with 171 additional fatalities reported.

New case numbers rose in eight states at the start of October, but Covid-19 deaths are on the wane across the country.

National data presented at Sunday night’s coronavirus press conference showed that 29% of general care hospital beds set aside for Covid-19 patients were occupied while 25% of those with ventilators were in use.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Oaxaca visitor recounts violent arrest for not wearing face mask

By

MND Staff

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October 19, 2020

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The Puerto Escondido visitor who was jailed for not wearing a face mask.

A foreign visitor in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, did not have a good experience when police arrested and jailed him on Saturday for not wearing a face mask.

A man who identifies himself only as Derek on his YouTube channel said in a video posted Saturday that he was arrested in the Pacific coast beach town while smoking a cigarette.

“I was actually sat down waiting for my friend smoking a cigarette and they [the police] came up behind me and grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me off,” he said.

The man said he asked why he was being detained and was told that it was because he wasn’t wearing his mask. He said that the police didn’t accept that smoking a cigarette was a valid reason for removing it.

Derek said he was placed in the back of a police truck with one other man who had also been arrested. He said that officers subsequently took him to a police station, stopping along the way to arrest more people who were not wearing masks.

Watch this video on YouTube

“They’d pull over, they’d grab you, they’d throw you in the back of the truck kicking and screaming. They didn’t care if you’re a woman, they don’t care if you have kids, they don’t care if you’re a grandma; they grabbed everyone,” he said.

The man pointed out that the officers violated social distancing recommendations by placing seven or eight people in close quarters in the back of the police vehicle.

Once in the police station, Derek said that he was stripped off his possessions and placed in a jail cell without being told how long he would be held. He said that there were 10 other people – none of whom were wearing face masks – in the cell and that there was urine, feces and water on the ground.

The man said that he was held in the cell for two or three hours during which time some of the other people were fighting each other.

“There’s three guys wrestling around, smashing their faces against the concrete, banging their heads off the floor. There’s blood everywhere, there’s buckets of water being thrown at the walls. I’m being splashed with blood and sweat and water and everything. And they’re trying to keep us safe from Covid by making us not socially distance, cramming us into a box full of disease for hours on end,” he said.

Derek said that he was eventually taken out of the cell before being forced to pay a fine of 150 pesos (US $7) in order to leave the police station.

“It was like one of the worst days of my life, pretty much. I mean it’s in the top 10 or top 15; it was pretty bad,” he said.

Derek said that he was unaware of any law that made it obligatory for him to wear a mask in Puerto Escondido.

“It’s not a law … to read the news every day. I’m sorry I didn’t read the news, there were no signs,” he said.

He concluded that the police operation was not about protecting people from possible coronavirus infection but rather about control and extracting money from them.

“They didn’t ask who I came into contact with, they didn’t try to do any contact tracing, they didn’t care if we were social distancing and they definitely didn’t care for masks once they throw you in prison. … I’ve lost a lot of respect for Mexico, a lot of respect for Puerto Escondido, a lot of respect for Oaxaca. … That was abominable, there is no excuse for that behavior.”

The mayor San Pedro Mixtepec, in which part of Puerto Escondido is located, announced last week that effective on Friday police would begin arresting anyone not wearing a face mask. The penalty would be six hours in jail or three hours of community service.

The mayor said cells would be regularly cleaned and sanitized.

The man’s arrest came just days after the government of Santa María Colotepec, the other municipality in which Puerto Escondido is located, enforced stricter restrictions due to a coronavirus flare-up even though case numbers remain extremely low.

Citizens have also been arrested for not wearing a face masks in other states including Nuevo León and Jalisco.

A 30-year-old man detained in May in the Jalisco municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos was beaten to death by police after his arrest, according to the Jalisco Human Rights Commission.

Mexico News Daily

Coffee is not just for drinking: it adds a complex richness to many dishes

By

Janet Blaser

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October 19, 2020

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This Brown Sugar Coffee BBQ Sauce is great on ribs.

True story: I didn’t have my first cup of coffee until I was 35.

It made quite an impression, and I can still remember the experience like it was yesterday. I was on a date, and he suggested we get a cup of coffee before our walk on the beach. I casually said I’d never had one.

“What?!” he said. Off we went to the nearby Harbor Deli, which had a coffee bar with drip coffee. He helped me choose what kind and I added some milk and a little sugar.

I took my first sip … and so began a happy addiction that satisfies me to this day. I have one or two cups in the morning (every morning) of strong espresso made into an Americano, and I’m set. Friends I’ve traveled with know this is my one non-negotiable: there must be, or I must have facility to make, coffee in the morning.

Probably the most asked question about coffee is how best to store it. Still keeping yours in the freezer? Think again. What you want to do is protect fresh-roasted beans from light and air, keep them climate-stable and use them up within two or three weeks after purchase.

Coffee liqueur is an optional ingredient in this Coffee Granita.

This recent and very informative article explains everything in detail.

I’m going to assume the majority of readers living in or visiting Mexico are buying local or regional coffee beans; there’s no reason not to, as Mexican coffee (from Chiapas, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Veracruz and other places) is prized all over the world. How you make your coffee is up to you; everyone has their own preference.

As far as cooking with coffee, recipes abound. Classic Italian tiramisu, waffles, chocolate cake or brownies all benefit from the addition of either brewed coffee or espresso powder. You can mix brewed coffee with horchata, make popsicles or freeze it as ice cubes for use in high-octane iced coffee.

For a decadent whipped cream, follow your favorite recipe but add two teaspoons of instant coffee (for one cup of heavy cream). Coffee also adds a depth and richness to savory dishes like the steak rub recipe below.

And that caffeine high? Scientists say it is indeed real — researchers have even studied bees that prefer plants with naturally occurring caffeine in their nectar. It’s also been shown that caffeine increases focus, memory, learning and alertness, and improves our physical performance as well.

Coffee Granita

3 cups strong, hot brewed coffee
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Optional: 2 tsp. coffee liqueur
Whipped cream for serving

Combine all ingredients; stir until sugar dissolves. Pour mixture into a 9×13” pan; place in freezer for 1 hour, until mixture starts to become slushy around edges. Rake mixture with a fork to break up crystals and place back in freezer. Repeat every 30 minutes, until completely frozen and granular throughout. Cover tightly and keep frozen for a few hours. Spoon into bowls, add a dollop of whipped cream and serve immediately.

Dublin Danger

2 oz. strong brewed coffee
2 oz. stout beer
1½ oz. Irish whiskey
¾ oz. simple syrup
½ oz. heavy cream
Cinnamon

Mix coffee, stout, whiskey and simple syrup in a tall glass. Add ice to fill. Gently pour in cream so it gradually sinks; sprinkle with cinnamon.

Beer and whisky can make this Dublin Danger dangerous.

Butter Coffee

Be sure to use unsalted butter.

2 cups hot coffee
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Blend everything in a blender until oil and butter are melted and coffee is frothy.

Ancho & Coffee Steak Rub

Use for NY steak or arrachera.

2 Tbsp. ancho chile powder
2 Tbsp. finely ground coffee beans
5 tsp. dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
1½ tsp. oregano
1½ tsp. black pepper
1½ tsp. ground coriander
1½ tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. chile de árbol powder or ¾ tsp. finely ground red pepper flakes
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 Tbsp. salt

Mix everything together in a small bowl and coat meat for 2-3 hours before cooking.

Coffee, Banana, Cashew & Cocoa Smoothie

1 banana, preferably frozen
2 Medjool dates, pitted
½ cup brewed, chilled coffee
¼ cup raw cashews, preferably soaked overnight
3 Tbsp. old-fashioned oats, preferably soaked overnight
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
Pinch of ground cardamom
Pinch of salt

Mix everything in a blender with ½ cup ice.

Coffee Crumbs

Serve these delirium-inducing crumbs on top of ice cream or yogurt.

6 Tbsp. (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup almond flour or almond meal
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup ground coffee
1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. Combine all ingredients in a bowl; mix well. Spread out crumbs on a cookie sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and dried out, 15-20 minutes. (They won’t change color.) Let cool. Store in refrigerator.

Brown Sugar Coffee BBQ Sauce

Great on ribs!

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1¾ cups chopped white onions
6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp. minced, seeded jalapeños
½ cup (packed) piloncillo or brown sugar
2 Tbsp. chile powder
2 Tbsp. molasses or honey
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes with puree
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup freshly brewed strong coffee
Salt & pepper

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic and jalapeño; sauté until onions are tender. Add brown sugar, chile powder, molasses or honey, cilantro and cumin; stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in tomatoes, broth and coffee; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered and stirring often, until sauce thickens slightly, about 35 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Coffee Vinaigrette

3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. instant espresso powder
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper

Whisk vinegar, honey and espresso powder until dissolved. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Janet Blaser has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life and feels fortunate to be able to write about great food, amazing places, fascinating people and unique events. Her first book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, is available on Amazon. Contact Janet or read her blog at whyweleftamerica.com.

Party of Peña Nieto on rebound? Early results favor PRI in state elections

By

MND Staff

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October 19, 2020

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Voters went to the polls in Coahuila and Hidalgo on Sunday.

There are signs that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), resoundingly defeated at elections in 2018, is rising from its deathbed.

But Mexico’s current ruling party believes that the once omnipotent political force – the PRI ruled Mexico uninterruptedly for 71 years last century – is up to its old tricks of vote buying and coercion.

According to preliminary results, the PRI – in power federally between 2012 and 2018 with former president Enrique Peña Nieto at its helm – won all 16 districts in elections in Coahuila on Sunday to renew the unicameral state Congress. It was also successful in at least 32 of 84 municipal elections in Hidalgo.

Alejandro Moreno, national president of the PRI, said the results in the two states are representative of people’s renewed confidence in the party, which was plagued by corruption scandals while Peña Nieto was in office.

“It is clear that the PRI is back and that in 2021 [when midterm federal elections will be held] … we will continue winning the confidence of citizens,” he said.

The PRI's Moreno declares victory. — The PRI’s Moreno declares victory.

The PRI garnered just under 50% of the vote in Coahuila, more than twice the percentage of voters who cast their ballots for second-place Morena, the party founded by President López Obrador. In Hidalgo, Morena won control of just six municipalities, the newspaper El Universal reported Monday.

But the party’s national president disputed the preliminary results in a Twitter post Sunday.

“The National Executive Committee of Morena doesn’t recognize the so-called preliminary results. We’re still reviewing our records and the information that’s arriving at the electoral institutes. We’re in the running in the majority of districts in Coahuila and several municipalities in Hidalgo,” Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar wrote.

He and several Morena candidates told a press conference Sunday that irregularities such as vote-buying and coercion – tactics for which the PRI has long been known – were factors in the elections in both states. Ramírez said that violence also marred the elections in the latter state.

The Morena national president said the PRI “doesn’t have the moral quality to speak of a victory, much less a legitimate victory” and would file complaints against the alleged irregularities.

The National Electoral Institute, which is responsible for running elections and counting votes, stressed that the results for both Coahuila and Hidalgo are preliminary, noting that definitive results will be published on Wednesday.

The Morena party's Ramírez declares trickery. — The Morena party’s Ramírez declares trickery.

While the early results in the two states, both of which are led by PRI governors, are encouraging for the “tricolor party,” it’s not clear that they will translate into success at federal elections next June at which the entire lower house of Congress will be renewed.

Just 10% of respondents to a recent poll said they planned to vote for the PRI next year compared to 39% who indicated that they would cast their ballots in favor of López Obrador’s Morena.

The conservative National Action Party, currently the second largest party in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, only garnered 11% support in the same poll while 31% of respondents said either they wouldn’t vote or hadn’t yet made up their mind.

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

Artist adapts to pandemic, turns to sneakers as new medium

By

Michelle Aguilar

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October 19, 2020

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Artist Doris Arellano's colorful sneakers.

After Covid-19 restrictions across Mexico indefinitely closed nonessential businesses, Oaxaca artist Doris Arellano Manzo made a decision: a canvas is a canvas — it could be stretched over a wooden frame or stretched over a pair of athletic shoes.

Like other artists worldwide who are succeeding at beating the pandemic’s economic challenges to their careers, Arellano is learning to adapt — to be less conventional and to think quite literally a bit smaller: she now paints her art on sneakers.

Arellano has been painting sneakers since July, when she and her daughter Frida, a communications and social media professional, realized that Arellano needed to reinvent herself and her art to adapt to the fact that museums and galleries would probably remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Since then, she has been creating artwork on her new, tinier form of canvas. Her latest collection of work, all painted on athletic footwear, is entitled Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead).

This latest collection features shoes with colorful abstract designs in bright cempasúchil orange, with lush floral wreaths and, of course, featuring the iconic, skeletal Catrina.

Doris Arellano Manzo — Arellano decided she needed to reinvent herself and her art to adapt to the fact that galleries would probably remain closed for the foreseeable future.

“Since I love to paint, I can paint for you on a large canvas just as well as I can on a small [one],” she recently told the newspaper Milenio. “As far as I’m concerned, while you have me here with my paints and paintbrushes, I’m thrilled.”

Each pair of shoes is unique, she said, “because it’s all done by hand, not by machine.” She describes her style as “traditionalist contemporary,” and says she is drawn to evoking the rites and customs of Oaxacan traditional culture.

When she began her first foray into sneaker painting in July, at Frida’s suggestion, her sneaker art was Guelaguetza-themed. The Guelaguetza is a traditional Oaxaca cultural festival that had to be canceled this year due to the pandemic.

She said both sneaker collections are homage to the Oaxaca rites and traditions that couldn’t take place in 2020.

In some ways, she said, the enforced isolation of the pandemic has been a huge challenge for artists like herself, but in other ways, it’s actually been familiar.

“The work of an artist is a bit enclosed,” she admitted. “We go out when there are exhibits, when we have to go introduce ourselves in public or do interviews.”

Still, she said, the pandemic caught the art community flatfooted.

“Artists don’t have a way to show their work during the pandemic,” she said. “It’s all been halted, and we have to go back and look for new formats for the public to see what we are doing.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

President’s brother files suit against journalist; claims violation of privacy

By

MND Staff

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October 19, 2020

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The president's brother seeks a fine and up to 12 years in jail for Carlos Loret de Mola.

The brother of President López Obrador has filed a complaint against a journalist who presented two videos in which he is seen receiving large amounts of cash in 2015.

Journalist Carlos Loret de Mola said that Pío López Obrador filed a complaint with the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) on October 2 in which he describes himself as a victim and lodges a request for the person who disseminated the videos to be fined and jailed for up to 12 years.

In the footage – presented by Loret de Mola in August on his program on the news portal Latinus – the president’s brother is seen receiving a total of 1.4 million pesos from David León, a former consultant to the Chiapas government who became Civil Protection chief in the current federal government.

Loret de Mola claims that the footage serves as evidence of corruption but President López Obrador has denied the accusation, saying the day after the videos came to light that the payments his brother received were “contributions” from ordinary people who support Morena, the political party he founded.

In an opinion column published in The Washington Post on Sunday, Loret de Mola wrote that although the conversations between Pío López Obrador and León in the two videos “don’t establish it explicitly, it’s suspected that the money arrived from then Chiapas governor –now [federal] senator – Manuel Velasco, with whom David León has been an extremely close operator.”

In the complaint he filed with the FGR, Pío López Obrador “sought to attack” him, the journalist wrote.

“[He] speaks of the dissemination of his videos as ‘acts presumably constituting crimes committed against him and his family,’” Loret de Mola wrote.

“He asks to be recognized as an assistant of the Attorney General’s Office and for an investigation into the matter to be opened.”

Loret de Mola said that Pío López Obrador argued in his complaint that his right to privacy was violated by the publication of the videos, which were apparently filmed by León.

“All reserved or secret information is protected by our legal system,” the president’s brother said, according to Loret de Mola.

“The various conversations I held with David León Romero were of a reserved nature and are therefore protected by the human right to privacy. … There are certain provisions of law for that reason. Every human has [the right to] privacy and that must be respected. Based on the aforementioned, the dissemination of the conversations is completely illegal.”

Loreta de Mola said that Pío López Obrador’s request that he be jailed for 12 years represents a further escalation of the federal government’s “permanent aggression” against critical sections of the media.

AMLO, as the president is widely known, has insulted his critics on a daily basis at his morning news conferences, pressured owners of news outlets and used public funds to buy positive coverage, the journalist charged.

Loret de Mola also accused the federal government, including the supposedly autonomous Attorney General’s Office, of providing “shelter” to Pío López Obrador and encouraging him to make the complaint against him.

The “illegal acts” shown in the videos are of “public interest” and their publication has “journalistic value,” he wrote before concluding that he will fight the claims against him.

One supporter of the journalist is National Action Party Senator Lilly Téllez.

“My support for and solidarity with Carlos Loret in the face of abuse of power of the [federal government] regime,” she wrote on Twitter.

“That’s how Venezuela began,” Téllez added, apparently referring to the Venezuelan government’s jailing of critics and political opponents.

Source: The Washington Post (sp), El Universal (sp)

Only 6 of 51 escaped convicts captured since Culiacán’s Black Thursday

By

Michelle Aguilar

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October 19, 2020

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A year after the massive escape of 51 convicts in Culiacan, Sinaloa, during the city’s infamous “Jueves Negro” (Black Thursday) drug cartel attacks, authorities acknowledge that they have recaptured only six of the men who took advantage of the chaos to break out of the city’s Aguaruto penitentiary.

Of the six escapees that have been recaptured, four were found just three days later in the city, authorities said. A fifth was captured last December in Mazatlán, about three hours from Culiacán, and the sixth was arrested October 11 in Culiacán after attempting to rob a school.

“Black Thursday” refers to a chaotic and violent event in the state capital on October 17 following the authorities’ capture of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son, Ovidio, in order to execute a U.S. warrant for his extradition.

Within a few hours, Guzmán’s detention in Culiacán unleashed a day of retaliatory chaos in the city by armed civilians believed to be part of the Sinaloa Cartel. They fired on authorities who had Guzmán in custody and then began a campaign of shootings, arson, and armed road blockades in the city.

At least eight people died and 16 were injured before authorities released Guzmán from custody on orders by President López Obrador, who told the country two days later that he was trying to prevent as many as 200 people from being killed by gangsters.

The 51 convicts who escaped the penitentiary in the chaos — which temporarily closed schools, businesses, and public transportation — were serving sentences for crimes such as armed robbery, drug trafficking, and murder.

Source: Milenio (sp)

NGO urges probe into corruption within armed forces

By

MND Staff

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October 19, 2020

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soldiers in mexico — How far does corruption extend within the armed forces? An organization opposed to the militarization of security forces wants to know.

In light of the arrest of former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos in the United States last week on drug trafficking charges, a non-governmental organization has urged the federal government to carry out an investigation into the armed forces.

The #SeguridadSinGuerra (Security without War) collective called on the federal Attorney General’s Office to conduct a probe into Cienfuegos’ conduct while he was chief of the army between 2012 and 2018 as well as “networks of corruption” within the military.

The NGO said in a statement that the investigation shouldn’t be limited to the accusations made by the United States government, recommending that it also include an examination of “the multiple human rights violations committed by members of the armed forces.”

The army and the navy have both been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings, including during the administration of President López Obrador.

Seguridad Sin Guerra (SSG) said that military personnel must not be allowed to participate in an investigation into the armed forces even if they are retired or on leave.

salvador cienfuegos — The arrest on drug charges of former army chief Cienfuegos has triggered questions about corruption within the military.

The collective also called on the federal government to put an end to the militarization of public security in Mexico, noting that December will mark the 14th anniversary of the armed forces carrying out tasks that “don’t correspond to them.”

Former president Felipe Calderón deployed the military to combat Mexico’s notorious drug cartels shortly after he took office in December 2006. More than 200,000 people were killed in the subsequent 12 years as Calderón’s successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, continued the so-called “war on drugs” strategy.

SSG said the current government has assigned “at least 14 civil tasks” to the military including public security, the construction of infrastructure, the operation of airports, the control of ports and the management of social programs.

It said the military has been assigned most of the roles without “serious civil controls” and clear rules of transparency and accountability being implemented. The military has, however, received “vast budget resources,” the collective said.

President López Obrador, who signed a decree in May that ensures that the military will continue to carry out public security tasks until the final year of his six-year term, has repeatedly justified his government’s use of the army for such tasks because it’s an “institution in which there is no corruption,” SSG said.

However, the arrest of Cienfuegos is a clear sign that “corruption is a serious problem in the Mexican army,” the collective said.

It said that the simple fact that there is an investigation against General Cienfuegos “is the most resounding call to attention about the irresponsibility of continuing with the militarization of government functions.”

The most responsible thing to do, SSG added, “would be to respect the Constitution and put a pause on the militarization process” until an investigation determines the full extent of corruption within the armed forces.

Later in its statement, the collective noted that the Constitution restricts the military in times of peace to tasks of a military, rather than public security, nature.

It also called for an end to “opaque economic empowerment” of the armed forces, including the awarding of direct contracts to the military despite its “history of irregularities” as a contractor.

SSG concluded that peace cannot be restored while “corruption, impunity and militarization continue to eat away at our institutions.”

Mexico is on track to record its most violent year on record in 2020, according to homicide statistics for the first eight months of the year.

There were 23,471 homicides during the period, a 1.5% increase compared to the same period of 2019, which was the most violent year on record in Mexico.

Mexico News Daily

Guanajuato’s virtual Cervantino festival dubbed a success

By

Michelle Aguilar

-

October 19, 2020

0

The Spanish company Toompak was among the entertainers at the annual festival.

With a virtual audience of at least two million, organizers are declaring this year’s International Cervantino Festival in Guanajuato city a success despite Covid-19 restrictions forcing them to hold much of the festival virtually.

In fact, the new hybrid format — a mix of live, in-person activities and performances broadcast on television, radio, and online — was such a success that festival director Mariana Aymerich said it will be repeated in 2021 and beyond, whether or not there are pandemic restrictions next year.

“We hope to experience a festival like the one we know, and we are working toward that, but we will continue next year with the virtual format because it permits us to connect with a greater number of people all over the world,” she said during a press conference Sunday that was also broadcast virtually.

“What is a fact is that the virtual format is here to stay and will be a more frequent part of the International Cervantino Festival each year,” she added.

The fine arts festival, in its 48th year, took place Wednesday through Sunday and involved 822 artists and performers, nearly half of them from at least 13 countries other than Mexico. Organizers say they saw 300,000 visits to the festival’s internet homepage, which provided links to the virtual events.

Aymerich said the festival put on 41 live showings and 23 taped events that were later broadcast on 66 radio stations, 58 public television stations, and 87 public and private online outlets. The festival itself broadcast 10 live transmissions on online platforms and hosted in-person art exhibits and academic workshops.

Events shown on the festival’s YouTube channel had attracted 42,500 views worldwide by Sunday, Aymerich reported.

The event is usually a huge boon for Guanajuato’s tourism industry. This year, Aymerich acknowledged that the new format meant a lot less clientele for the city’s tourism-based businesses.

“The numbers will not be exactly as many as in previous years because digital consumption [of events] has different metrics, and the festival was transmitted on various [media] platforms,” she said.

Nevertheless, Guanajuato Mayor Alejandro Navarro said hotels were full on the weekend, although he acknowledged that due to state’s current yellow status on the national coronavirus stoplight system, the city’s hotels are currently allowed to function only at 30% capacity.

But at Sunday’s press conference, he announced publicly that the city will continue to support the festival financially in years to come.

Source: Milenio (sp)