School’s back and Vox in town: the week at the morning press conferences

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September 4, 2021

lopez obrador displays his new book at Tuesday's mañanera. — The president displays his new book at Tuesday's mañanera.

The president must have woken slightly jaded in his room at the National Palace. A turbulent seven days had seen him avoid hurricanes, negotiate a political spat and narrowly avoid a hostage situation. He’d arrived back to tranquility on Sunday.

However, based on previous form, that peace wasn’t going to be long lasting.

Monday

Hurricanes were proving hard to shake: this time Hurricane Nora had hit the Pacific. Civil Protection chief Laura Velázquez Alzúa informed that the gales had affected six states and 355,000 electricity users. She reported the death of one minor in Puerto Vallarta on August 29 where a hotel partially collapsed.

The customary whistlestop tour of infrastructure projects, by video presentation, featured a far-flung entry. A short clip detailed the military’s folkloric ballet appearance at the International Festival of Military Music from Red Square, Moscow.

Later in the conference, the topic turned to homicide hotspot Guanajuato. “What I’m worried about in Guanajuato is the insecurity, because there’s a lot and the government isn’t acting well, especially the Attorney General’s Office … [probably] because they made political alliances with criminal groups,” AMLO said.

He added there had been 32 homicides in the state over the weekend.

To inaugurate the return to classes, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum appeared on screen to announce 90% of the capital’s schools had successfully reopened their doors. A chain of presentations came in from around the country to indicate the smooth success of the academic return. Unfortunately, the transmissions themselves belied that smooth impression, and a virtual tour around the nation’s governors and educational authorities rather resembled a comedy of errors.

Tuesday

During the health rounds on Tuesday COVID point man Hugo López-Gatell said estimated cases had been declining for a month and that the trend was set to continue, while 65% of the adult population had received a first shot.

Gas Bienestar, the new state LP gas company, was launching in Iztapalapa, Mexico City. Mayor Sheinbaum, Iztapalapa Mayor Clara Brugada and Pemex CEO Octavio Romero Oropeza all lent their voices to the launch over video link.

Later in the conference, the president offered a teaser from his new book A la mitad del camino, or Halfway There. In an old conversation with his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto, his rival had expressed his dismay at the disloyalty of those in elite circles: “In an exchange with president Peña … he told me he felt betrayed because he’d given them so much, he’d attended so well to those at the top and they had acted to betray him,” AMLO said.

But for now, the president had another guest to attend to. The former governor of Tabasco, Adán Augusto, recently promoted to interior minister, was meeting AMLO for breakfast. “Some chanchamitos and chocolate with cacao from Tabasco, because we are from the republic of cacao. That’s what [Tabascan poet] Pellicer said: ‘I’m from the republic of cacao, first day of Cortés, last night of Cuauhtémoc.’ At some point, I’ll explain what all that means,” said the president, shortly before striding away to attend to the nation.

Wednesday

Some observers were left to a lonely morning coffee on Wednesday when no mañanera was broadcast. Instead, AMLO offered his third annual report to the nation later in the day from the National Palace.

He opened the address by attacking the “neoliberal farce” and privatization of state assets that had accompanied it. He touted success in infrastructure projects and energy, the vaccine program, the return to classes, and pointed to positive economic indicators.

On crime, where the administration has had mixed results, he highlighted a massive 95% drop in the theft of fuels, but could only boast a 0.5% fall in homicides.

Austerity, he said, was a flagship achievement of the administration: “We have saved 1.4 trillion pesos in purchases and contracts,” he said, and repeated his claim that 98 of his 100 promises made when entering office had been fulfilled. Only decentralizing government institutions and definitively solving the Ayotzinapa massacre remained.

AMLO added that he could already leave office with his conscience in check, but still urged voters to support the continuation of his mandate at the polls in March.

In fact, he said he felt so comfortable with his work so far that when he eventually wraps up, he expects to say: “Mission accomplished! I’m going to Palenque, I leave you my heart.”

Thursday

In an early announcement, legal counsel Julio Scherer Ibarra would step back from public service. “He’s like my brother,” the president said. In Scherer’s place would come another ally, Estela Ríos.

Congratulations flowed for the Paralympians in Tokyo, who had achieved a 14th medal. And then, to the lies of the week with Ana Elizabeth García Vilchis: “Let’s see the pinocchios,” summoned the president.

Reporters got a first-hand look at a Gas Bienestar LP gas tank.

Contrary to reports, García said, a new hospital in Guerrero would be fully equipped; Ricardo Anaya was not being unfairly persecuted; Spaniards were not in fear of an invasion by AMLO despite a Vicente Fox tweet to that effect; Gas Bienestar cylinders were all ship shape.

Is dialogue with the CNTE teacher’s union broken? a journalist asked: union members had refused AMLO passage to his morning news conference in Chiapas on Friday.

“We don’t have disagreements with anyone,” replied AMLO, “but we don’t accept blackmail.”

Before Scherer’s departure from public view, a journalist had a plea. “I wanted to request to Mr. Scherer that from his private practice, wherever he goes, he helps us with the Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists, because they are killing three colleagues every month.”

“I’m going to continue supporting in any way I can, always serving the president and always serving this government in which I wholly trust,” the lawyer affirmed.

Friday

Representatives from Red Cross México were in attendance on Friday. They requested help in their “battle” on the fronts of natural disasters and COVID-19. Mexico City Mayor Sheinbaum offered her presence for the third time of the week — this time in person — to support the drive.

The president nearly moved on the conference a little too hastily: “What’s missing … Oh, the collection,” before taking out a well concealed bill and popping it in a Red Cross purse.

A journalist called foul on public projects. The Toluca-Mexico City train had cost 94 billion pesos and should have cost 30; the Guadalajara train had cost 34 billion pesos, double what was estimated, he said.

“We’re going to investigate it,” replied the president.

Later in the conference, AMLO revealed the presence of far-right Spanish politicians: “Yesterday some extremists came from [the Spanish political party] Vox. They met with the National Action Party … a hand kissing in the Senate, really shameful,” he declared.

The president left in a hurry, this time to his homeland of Tabasco. He’d then move on to other states but left journalists guessing on the details.

Mexico News Daily

Estimated active COVID cases down 9.5%; CDMX goes to medium risk yellow

By

MND Staff

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September 3, 2021

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The new stoplight risk map, effective Monday.

An additional 17,409 confirmed coronavirus cases were added to Mexico’s accumulated tally on Friday while 725 additional COVID-19 deaths were reported.

Just over 3.4 million cases have now been detected and 262,221 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have died.

The federal Health Ministry reported 100,258 estimated active cases across Mexico, a 9.5% decline compared to Thursday.

The Mexico City government announced that the coronavirus risk level in the capital would be downgraded from high orange to medium yellow on Monday. Official Eduardo Clark said that new case numbers have been on the wane in Mexico City for four weeks.

However, there are still more than 20,000 active cases in the country’s largest city, according to the federal government. In neighboring México state, Governor Alfredo del Mazo said the orange risk level will remain in place for an additional two weeks.

There are no red light maximum risk states on the federal stoplight map that will take effect Monday and remain in force until September 19, whereas there are seven on the current map. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said earlier this week that there are “clear signs” that the third, delta variant-driven wave of the pandemic is receding.

There are 17 orange states, 13 yellow ones and two green light entities with Chihuahua joining Chiapas as a low risk state.

The orange states are Sonora, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Veracruz, Colima, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, México state, Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo and Querétaro.

The yellow states are Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Durango, Coahuila, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Mexico City, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo.

In other COVID-19 news:

• More than 86.3 million vaccine doses have been administered, according to the latest data. The Health Ministry reported that just under 462,000 shots were given on Thursday. About 65% of the adult population has received at least one shot.

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

• Residents aged 40-49 of six Mexico City boroughs will receive their second shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine next week. Jabs will be administered Tuesday through Saturday in Azcapotzalco, Iztapalapa, Benito Juárez, Gustavo A. Madero, Venustiano Carranza and Iztacalco.

Government official Eduardo Clark said Friday that an average of almost 105,000 people per day are expected to be vaccinated.

• Durango now has the highest occupancy rate for general care COVID-19 hospital beds, according to federal data. Just under 71% of such beds are occupied in the northern state.

Hidalgo ranks second with a rate of 68% followed by Veracruz (also 68%), Puebla (66%), San Luis Potosí (62%) and Nuevo León (60%).

Colima has the highest occupancy rate for beds with ventilators with almost 69% in use. The only other state where more than 60% of such beds are taken is Tabasco, where the rate is 61%.

• The average cost of a stay in a private hospital for a COVID patient has risen to 494,000 pesos (US $24,800), the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions reported. Treatment for severely ill patients who require intubation can be as high as 3.5 million pesos (US $175,500).

• The federal government estimates there will be just over 70,000 additional COVID-19 deaths in the final four months of 2021. The Health Ministry estimate was included in an extended, written version of President López Obrador’s third annual report to the nation.

With reports from El Universal and El Economista

Hiking the Río Seco in Jalisco’s Primavera Forest is never the same twice

By

John Pint

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September 3, 2021

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Rio Seco canyon, Jalisco — The Río Seco can be entered from the south end of the community of Pinar de la Venta, located eight kilometers west of Guadalajara.

El Río Seco is a beautiful, ever-changing canyon that will please hikers of all abilities. This “Dry River” is three kilometers long and runs directly southeast from the northern edge of Jalisco’s beloved Primavera Forest, which is often referred to as the “lung of Guadalajara.”

The walls and floor of the canyon are literally reshaped after every storm, revealing fascinating new rock formations which often surprise and delight visitors who have hiked through the very same place just the week before.

The Río Seco is a perfect walk for families with small children. Because the first part of the canyon is the most susceptible to change, even those who walk only 10 minutes and then turn back will feel their short hike was well worth it.

The walls of this canyon often tower 50 meters above you, and they have a story to tell; in fact, geologists from all over the world will come to the Primavera Forest just to gaze upon sheer canyon walls like these because they clearly tell the story of cataclysmic events that unfolded in this part of Mexico long, long ago.

That story is obvious to a geologist, but it can also hold meaning for the rest of us. First, consider this: 95,000 years ago, the area encompassed by what is now the forest exploded in a Yellowstone-style volcanic eruption that threw 40 cubic kilometers of ash and rubble high into the air, leaving behind a caldera, or huge hole, which then filled with water and became a lake for 10,000–20,000 years.

According to geologist Barbara Dye, volcanoes eventually rose up in the lake and spewed out a sort of volcanic foam that hardened into pumice rock so light that it floated on the surface of the lake for a while, though it eventually sank.

This is what geologists — and anyone — can see “written” on the high walls of the Río Seco: long horizontal lines mark layers of sediment accumulated on the lake bottom.

Above many of these strata, you may see a thick layer filled with big pieces of pumice rock, perhaps several meters in diameter. This is what is known as the Giant-Pumice Horizon, one of the most extraordinary features of the Primavera Caldera.

This hike begins at the south edge of the community of Pinar de La Venta, located eight kilometers west of Guadalajara. As you begin walking southeast, following the Río Seco, you will find yourself entirely surrounded by pumice. You are, in fact, walking inside the Giant-Pumice Horizon.

A few minutes later, you will see a horizontal layer of lake silt appear below the pumice blocks, and you can actually touch the contact point.

I mention all this because you may be very distracted by the sheer beauty of the channel you are walking through, incised on both sides by shelf-like rock formations. This is the part of the Río Seco that can look quite different from one day to the next.

By the way, I should mention that you are now inside a protected forest which, of course, has its rules. It’s easy to understand that you should not pick flowers or kill some poor tarantula you find wandering about, but many people balk at the regulation against taking their dogs with them into this forest.

“It’s not a capriccio,” says federal environmental protection agent Rodrigo Orozco. “Dogs leave traces of their presence wherever they go, and these traces remain for a long time. Shy creatures who live in these woods immediately recognize that an animal that they consider a dangerous predator [that includes even the smallest, cutest dog] has invaded their territory, and they are forced to move away and find a new place to live.

“When you enter a nature reserve, you are setting foot in someone else’s home, and you have to follow their rules.”

As you walk beneath the canyon walls, you immediately notice that the layer of topsoil may often be only 10 centimeters deep with nothing below it but sterile ash and pumice. How can trees possibly grow here?

The answer to this is evident in those same walls. In the Primavera Forest, the trees have learned to send their roots deep down into every crack they can find in hopes of garnering nutrition from what little the rain might wash down into the crevice. This makes it one of the most delicate forests in the world and all the more in need of protected status.

If you continue southeast along the Río Seco for one kilometer, you will go through La Caja de Piedras, The Box of Rocks. This is the narrowest point of the canyon, measuring about two meters wide between high, sheer walls composed of thousands of rocks the size of bowling balls.

The passage is cool and shaded, and on its walls, you might see delicate Adiantum ferns, known as maidenhair ferns in English, or even a rare kind of wild mint that I’ve only seen in the shaded canyons of this forest.

If you continue walking for another kilometer beyond this point, you will reach an unobtrusive little pool of water. Because it never dries up, even on the hottest day of the dry season, you can be sure that elusive animals like peccaries, possums, ringtails, lynxes and yes, even pumas, come here to drink in the dead of night.

Proof that such animals really live in the Río Seco can be seen only 393 meters beyond the pool. Keep your eyes open and on the right, you will see a smooth white wall maybe a meter and a half high.

This is a deposit of a clay, possibly kaolin (an important ingredient for making high-quality pre-Hispanic pottery), and if you get very close to this wall, you’ll see scratch marks probably made by a raccoon or a coati that then licked its paws in order to ingest the clay and help its body deal with something toxic it had eaten.

About 350 meters beyond this scratching wall, the canyon peters out and turns into a woodsy trail leading to … where, I know not — because that is the farthest I have gone.

When it rains, of course, the Dry River becomes quite wet, and a thunderstorm can turn it into a real river. Just follow the rules for hiking in any canyon: if it looks like rain, stay home and play tiddlywinks.

scratching wall, Rio Seco canyon, Jalisco — This scratching wall is composed of a white clay called kaolin. The insert below suggests the scratcher was either a raccoon or a coati.

To reach the starting point for this hike — via any sort of vehicle, even an ordinary sedan — ask Google Maps to take you to PF7G+WQ Pinar de la Venta, Jalisco. There, you will find a cylindrical, concrete survey marker indicating the boundary between Pinar La Venta and the Primavera Forest.

Just close to the marker, you’ll find a short trail taking you down into the Río Seco. From here, walk southeast as far as you’d like to go. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the experience!

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for 31 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.

Geologist Barbara Dye examines the contact point where pumice ended up at the bottom of a lake that once filled the Primavera Caldera.

Mexican band Maná to be presented with Billboard Icon Award

By

Rose Egelhoff

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September 3, 2021

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The internationally famous rock band Maná.

The Mexican rock band Maná will be honored at this year’s Billboard Latin Music Awards with the Billboard Icon Award to recognize the band’s achievements over the past 35 years.

The chart-topping and Grammy-winning band will be recognized for “having carved out a career that has not only remained relevant through time but has also made them the most distinguished band in their genre, celebrated globally for achieving both musical and commercial success.”

Maná has sold over 40 million albums worldwide, winning 24 Latin Music awards and has placed over 30 songs on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs list, including Spanish rock anthems such as Labios Compartidos and Lluvia al Corazón.

The band is also known for its environmental work through the Selva Negra Ecological Foundation, founded 25 years ago.

Maná has also been nominated this year for Latin pop artist of the year, duo or group.

Puerto Rico rapper Bad Bunny leads the list of nominees with 22 in 13 categories, followed by Colombian artist Maluma.

The awards will be presented September 23.

With reports from Billboard

Archaeologists identify evidence of cultural resistance to Spanish conquest

By

MND Staff

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September 3, 2021

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Archaeological remains found in Morelos, Mexico City.

Archaeologists have uncovered new evidence of cultural resistance to the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said that its archaeologists discovered the remains of a residential complex and stone workshop in the Mexico City neighborhood of Morelos, which borders Tlatelolco, a neighborhood where a pre-Hispanic altepetl, or city-state, was once located.

The remains confirm that a few years after the conquest of Tlatelolco in the early 16th century, Mexica people returned to their old settlements to continue with their ceremonies and religious rituals “as a sort of cultural resistance,” INAH said in a statement.

It said the remains date back to the late postclassic period (1200-1521) and early colonial period (1521-1650) and remained for centuries beneath the busy streets of Morelos, located just north of Mexico City’s historic center.

The architecture of the residential complex, which included an area for ceremonies and rituals, allowed INAH archaeologists to conclude that it was occupied between 1525 and 1547.

“A small warehouse with globular pots and organic remains that belong to the colonial period was found,” INAH said.

The institute also said that two anthropomorphic statues measuring 35 cm and 40 cm were also found at the site, located near the Tlatelolco archaeological zone. José Antonio López, an INAH archaeologist, said that interpreting the meaning of the statues is not easy.

“When they were ‘alive’ in the pre-Hispanic times they were possibly buried at this place with a dedication, but with the arrival of the Spanish, and with the indigenous people not being able to recover their ancient deities, it’s possible that their meaning changed, as a form of religious and cultural resistance,” he said.

In the stone workshop, archaeologists recovered a large quantities of gray, golden and green obsidian, INAH said. Xantal Rosales García, another INAH archaeologist, said that 15,000 finished objects and almost two tonnes of obsidian were found.

Archaeologists also discovered the graves of 36 adults and children who died in pre-Hispanic and colonial times. Josefina Bautista Martínez, an anthropologist, said that one child was buried with a 15-centimeter-long obsidian knife placed on his head. She also said that a fragment of silex was placed on his body and one of his teeth was replaced with a green stone.

The archaeologists also uncovered numerous ceramic pieces including more than 200 female figurines. According to López, all the recovered materials are indicative of a “hidden religious persistence of these indigenous groups during evangelization despite the Franciscans being very close by.”

Mexico News Daily

Security forces hunt down migrants, break up a third caravan in Chiapas

By

MND Staff

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September 3, 2021

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Immigration agents drag a screaming youngster out of the woods in Chiapas on Thursday.

The National Guard (GN) and immigration agents once again used force to detain members of a migrant caravan in Chiapas on Thursday.

About 50 migrants, members of the third caravan to leave Tapachula in less than a week, were detained in Escuintla on Thursday morning. Some 300 others, mainly from Haiti and Central America, initially avoided capture, but some were detained later on Thursday.

It was the third time in six days that GN troops and National Immigration Institute (INM) agents confronted migrants in Chiapas after using force to halt the advance of one 600-strong caravan on Saturday and breaking up a second on Wednesday. The migrants decided to leave Tapachula to head for other Mexican cities or the United States after staging protests against the slow assessment of their asylum claims.

Members of the third caravan left Tapachula on foot on Wednesday morning and arrived in Huixtla, about 40 kilometers north, in the afternoon. They departed that town at 3:00 a.m. Thursday, walking about 30 kilometers in high temperatures before they were intercepted by hundreds of GN troops and INM agents in Escuintla at about 11:00 a.m.

Many migrants attempted to evade detention by leaving the highway to escape via forest and agricultural land. Video footage posted online by the news website Animal Político showed GN troops and INM agents chasing the migrants through one property.

Cacería de migrantes no cesa en Chiapas

Watch this video on YouTube

“You’re fucked now,” one immigration agent shouts as he sets off in pursuit.

Footage also showed INM agents dragging a clearly distressed boy against his will toward a waiting vehicle.

“You’re hurting my daughter,” said one Haitian woman who was detained while carrying her infant offspring. “Look at how you treat us because we’re looking for a better life,” she said.

“… You’re mistreating us, you don’t respect us. We’re looking for a better life, our president was killed, you know that but you treat us like shit,” she said.

The Tapachula correspondent for the newspaper El Universal was also targeted by the INM. María de Jesús Peters said she was attacked by an agent as she was taking photos of a Haitian woman who was being detained along with her son.

“I was taking photos, the agents were approaching her and started to pull her with force to put her into a van. Her son started to shout and that’s when an immigration agent started to block me,” she said.

“ … He elbowed me; I was moving up and down to try and take photos and they started to say I was attacking them. I was taking a photo when he slapped me. I asked him why he was attacking me if I was doing my job and he said: ‘You are not letting me do my job.’”

The seasoned immigration reporter said the incident was filmed by a National Human Rights Commission official. Peters said the INM began acting aggressively toward the press after the publication of a video showing one agent kicking and attempting to stomp on the head of a Haitian migrant last Saturday.

“… [National] Human Rights [Commission] personnel told us there was an order from the immigration delegate in Chiapas to block the press and human rights observers” to avoid the dissemination of more damaging footage, she said.

“They told us to be careful because there was an order to block our work. … I’m going to protest to make the situation visible and demand respect for the work of the media.”

Some of the migrants who evaded capture on Thursday morning were subsequently detained on Thursday night in Escuintla. According to media reports, INM agents and National Guard troops raided hotels in the town where migrants were staying.

The raids are believed to have occurred without any court having authorized them, the Tapachula newspaper El Orbe reported.

Agents apprehend a woman and her two children.

Meanwhile, President López Obrador said Thursday the government was seeking to keep migrants in the south and southeast of the country so that they aren’t exposed to the risk of human rights violations in other parts of Mexico, especially on the northern border.

He recalled that 72 undocumented migrants were massacred in Tamaulipas in 2010 and 19 migrants were killed in the same state in January of this year.

The federal government ramped up its enforcement against migrants in 2019 after former United States president Donald Trump threatened to impose blanket tariffs on Mexican goods if Mexico didn’t do more to stop the northward flow of asylum seekers.

In a meeting with United States Vice President Kamala Harris in May, López Obrador said he agreed with the immigration policies the U.S. government was developing and would aid their implementation.

He said Thursday that he would contact U.S. President Joe Biden next week to once again urge him to grant temporary work visas to Central Americans who participate in expanded versions of Mexican government work schemes such as the Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) tree-planting program.

“I will send a letter next week at the latest, because we cannot just be detaining, holding back [migrants], we must address the causes [of migration],” he said.

With reports from El Universal and El Orbe

Mexican boxer, 18, dies after knockout during match in Canada

By

Rose Egelhoff

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September 3, 2021

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Jeanette Zacarías, center, during Saturday's match in Montreal.

An 18-year-old boxer from Aguascalientes died in a Montreal, Canada, hospital Thursday after she was critically injured during a match on Saturday.

Jeanette Zacarías, who was fighting for the first time outside Mexico, was hospitalized when she began having convulsions moments after she was knocked out by Canadian boxer Marie-Pier Houle.

She was put in a medically-induced coma and on Sunday her trainer said she remained in critical but stable condition. But Zacarías died a few days later.

Her opponent in the ring expressed hope for her recovery after the match. “Boxing has its risks and dangers. This is our work, our passion. [But] the intention to gravely injure my opponent was never part of my plan,” Houle said.

There has been criticism since the fight that Zacarías had returned to the ring too soon after she lost a fight in May due to a technical knockout in a scenario that was similar to what occurred in Montreal, the newspaper El País reported.

She had been boxing professionally for three years.

With reports from El País and El Universal

Bus collides with tractor-trailers in Sonora, killing 16

By

Rose Egelhoff

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September 3, 2021

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A stationary tractor-trailer on a highway in Sonora appears to have triggered an accident that left 16 people dead early Thursday.

State officials said 22 people were injured in the crash involving a bus and two tractor-trailers, one of which had stopped near the side of the road. The bus struck the latter truck and was in turn hit by the other, which was approaching from the other direction.

The accident occurred at 4:30 a.m. on the Sonota-San Luis Río Colorado highway.

With reports from El Sol de Hermosillo and La Jornada

PAN senators draw fire for meeting with ultra-right Spanish politician

By

MND Staff

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September 3, 2021

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VOX leader Santiago Abascal, left, and PAN Senator Julen Rementería.

The conservative National Action Party (PAN) is facing criticism from within its own ranks after some of its senators met with the president of an ultra-right Spanish political party.

About 15 PAN senators met privately with VOX party chief Santiago Abascal at the federal Senate in Mexico City on Thursday to endorse the Carta de Madrid (Charter of Madrid), whose rallying cry is to halt the advance of communism in Spain and Latin America

Their meeting with the leader of the far-right party, which became Spain’s third political force after the 2019 election in that country, and endorsement of Abascal’s Carta de Madrid, which states that “the advance of communism poses a serious threat to the prosperity and development of our nations,” drew criticism from other PAN lawmakers and the party’s secretary general, who sought to distance the PAN from the Spanish party.

“A pluralistic group of senators, mainly from the PAN, met to endorse the Carta de Madrid in favor of democracy and freedom and against populism. The PAN doesn’t share with VOX its proposals that violate human rights,” said Héctor Larias, who is leading the party while national president Marko Cortés is on leave.

“The PAN has fought to obtain and broaden freedoms and rights. Moving closer to an ultra-right party like VOX doesn’t support that objective. Our own ideas and history are the best weapons to continue building democracy. More center, less extremes,” said Laura Rojas, a PAN politician who previously served as the president of the lower house of Congress.

Senator Gustavo Madero said he regretted the PAN’s apparent shift to the right at a time when “we need to be a democratic alternative committed to human, economic, political and social rights in order to close gaps of inequality and exclusion.”

He wrote on Twitter that the party should position itself in the “inclusive center,” not on the “radical right.”

Senator Xóchitl Gálvez indicated that she didn’t want anything to do with VOX, asserting that she wouldn’t even take a stroll to the corner of the street with its representatives, while Senator Roberto Gil said that he couldn’t see any similarities in the principles of the two parties.

“To imitate or import strategies of polarization only reflects a chronic identity vacuum, or at least an absolute lack of creativity,” Gil charged.

Senator Julen Rementería, the PAN’s leader in the upper house, went into damage control, calling a press conference on Thursday night at which he said that he and other senators were representing only themselves, rather than the party, when they met with Abascal and endorsed the Carta de Madrid.

“It has nothing to do with the party, it’s a personal matter,” he said.

The meeting with the VOX chief doesn’t mean that the PAN has entered into an alliance with the party or supports far-right views, Rementería said before defending the content of the Carta de Madrid, which also states that part of the Spanish-speaking world is “kidnapped by totalitarian regimes inspired by communism, supported by drug trafficking and allied countries.”

The senator highlighted that the charter also offers support for principles such as the rule of law and freedom of expression.

“… I don’t feel deceived, I know what I signed, … because they are things in which I believe,” Rementería said.

With reports from El Universal and Reforma

Girl, 12, reminds deputy minister of diabetes risk, pleads for vaccination

By

MND Staff

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September 3, 2021

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A 12-year-old girl with diabetes has challenged Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell to tell her where and when she can get vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied that opportunity despite having a federal court injunction ordering that she be given a shot.

Zulma González García of Xalapa, Veracruz, recorded a video message to remind the coronavirus point man of her situation 16 months after she first spoke to him during a press conference.

“Hello Dr. Gatell, do you remember me? I’m Zulma from Xalapa, Veracruz. I’m the girl who lives with Type 1 diabetes. In April last year you told me this,” she said in the video posted to social media.

The video then cuts to footage of the deputy minister saying that everyone with Type 1 diabetes, including children, has a greater risk of COVID-19 complications and must therefore take the same precautions to avoid infection as seniors and other people with underlying health problems.

Holding up a court order, González subsequently tells López-Gatell that the federal judiciary “has confirmed that due to the risk I have I must be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine” because it is the only shot authorized by health regulator Cofepris for children of her age.

🇲🇽 Zulma González García alumna xalapeña envia video mensaje a López Gatell y lo lee, ” le informó que el poder judicial de la federación a confirmado que por el riesgo que tengo debo ser vacunada con la vacuna (PFIZER).” 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/NVzStQ7TAu

— Multigráfica Agencia (@amultigrafica) September 2, 2021

She also notes that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children aged 12 to 15 with health conditions that significantly increase their risk of developing serious COVID-19 illness should be vaccinated.

“The WHO itself mentions that diabetes is a comorbidity and for that reason one can get seriously sick from COVID,” González said.

“But today, September 1, after waiting for an hour in the parking lot of the Veracruz Health Ministry, next to public bathrooms … where I felt more exposed to the virus [than at any other time] during this whole pandemic, they tell me they can’t vaccinate me, despite the arguments I’ve set out, because I’m not at risk,” she said, adding that state officials cited rules established by the federal government, which hasn’t begun vaccinating children or indicated an intention to do so.

“Consequently, I ask you [López-Gatell] to tell me the city, the day, the time and the place where I can get vaccinated and in that way lead a better life. Thank you and best wishes,” González concluded.

She is among children in several states who have obtained injunctions ordering that they be vaccinated. But it is unclear how many have been successful in getting a shot.

President López Obrador said Friday that his government is complying with injunctions ordering the vaccination of children before suggesting that the pharmaceutical industry was behind the legal action to serve its own interests.

“… We’re complying with the legal resolutions … but our specialists maintain [the vaccination of children] is not necessary,” he told reporters at his regular news conference.

“… There are states where injunctions are being presented, … they’re launching a campaign because [the legal action] is concentrated in four states. Precisely yesterday I asked for an investigation about … these … [injunctions] because it’s also a matter of [special] interests. Imagine the business for the pharmaceutical companies,” López Obrador said.

With reports from 24 Horas, Reforma and Infobae