Documents reveal Pemex promised to preserve site of new Tabasco refinery

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July 27, 2021

refinery2 — The refinery site before and after mangroves were cleared.

The Dos Bocas oil refinery is being built on land on the coast of Tabasco that Pemex promised to preserve until the second half of this decade, Environment Ministry (Semarnat) documents indicate.

Analyzed by the news agency Bloomberg, the public documents show that in 2006 and 2007 the state oil company committed to protecting the site, which included a rare mangrove forest, in exchange for nearby drilling rights.

Semarnat allowed Pemex to develop oil and gas fields in the area for a period of 20 years on the condition that it abstain from building any new infrastructure on land that is home to rare flora and fauna during the same period, the documents show.

Bloomberg noted that in its 2006 environmental impact assessment of the area, Pemex said there were four types of mangrove and 23 species of protected fauna. The state oil company said in the assessment that conserving coastal vegetation “should be considered a priority.”

It pledged that all the mangroves – which are more effective than most trees at capturing carbon and provide protection against flooding – would be in a restricted use zone where it wouldn’t build any new projects or carry out activities beyond maintaining existing installations.

The Dos Bocas refinery under construction in Tabasco, on land that was to have been protected.

When it gave conditional approval to Pemex to develop the oil and gas reserves in 2007, Semarnat said the state company would not be allowed to develop projects or carry out activities in areas with mangroves and several other types of vegetation.

Pemex “must abide by each and every prevention and mitigation measure it proposed in the environmental impact assessment,” the ministry said.

Bloomberg said “satellite mapping coordinates of the area listed in the documents and verified for Bloomberg by Planet Labs Inc., a … provider of satellite imaging services, along with maps, leave no room for ambiguity: the refinery sits inside the protected area.”

The news agency consulted four environmental lawyers who concluded that Pemex’s obligation to preserve the land on which the US $8 billion refinery is being built has probably not been rescinded.

“Pemex is obliged to comply with these conditions throughout the lifetime” of the 20-year project, said Fernanda Velasco, who has worked as a government regulator.

Daniel Basurto, former coordinator of the Mexican Bar Association’s environment committee, told Bloomberg that Pemex’s obligation to preserve the area could theoretically have been superseded by a subsequent agreement or directive but he had no knowledge of any change.

The news agency said that neither Pemex nor Semarnat responded to requests for comment, and the office of President López Obrador declined to comment.

A private company was found to have illegally cleared mangroves from the Dos Bocas site in late 2018 and was fined by the Security, Energy and Environment Agency, Mexico’s energy sector watchdog.

Bloomberg said satellite images show that more mangroves were cleared after Pemex began building the refinery in mid-2019.

López Obrador, a Tabasco native, says that construction of the refinery and rehabilitation of Pemex’s six existing refineries will allow Mexico to reach self-sufficiency for gasoline by 2023. He is determined to “rescue” the state oil company from what he describes as decades of neglect and has sought to enact policies that give it and the state-owned electricity utility a more prominent place in the Mexican energy market.

The Dos Bocas project has created many jobs but residents of Paraíso, the coastal municipality where it is located, nevertheless rejected the ruling Morena party at elections on June 6. The Democratic Revolution Party, López Obrador’s previous political home, seized the mayoralty from Morena, which won office in Paraíso in 2018.

The new refinery, which is expected to process 340,000 barrels of crude per day, was originally scheduled to begin operations in 2022 but Pemex now forecasts a 2023 opening date. The price could blow out to more than US $10 billion, recent projections suggest.

With reports from Bloomberg

Tapatíos give thumbs up to their public transit system

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MND Staff

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July 27, 2021

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Riders board a public transit bus in Guadalajara.

Guadalajara residents have signaled their approval for the state’s public transportation system for the first time.

A survey gave transportation infrastructure a score of 7.5 compared to the 5.6 it was given in 2018. The survey asked 2,500 of an estimated 1.5 million users to give their opinions.

The transport system includes bus services, a three-line metro and a transit-way with bus-only lanes in the greater metropolitan area.

Respondents were asked to rate seven features: lighting, comfort, safety, customer attention, accessibility, infrastructure and general quality and universal accessibility.

The director of transport planning in Guadalajara, Mario Silva, highlighted some of the highest scoring features. “We can see that personal security has a rating of 7.9, attention of the driver to the user has 8.1. This could be the effect of … training strategies,” he said.

Lighting was given a score of 8.1, general accessibility 7.8, and comfort 7.7.

Universal accessibility, to allow ease of access to disabled and senior travelers, scored lowest, although none of the scores was below the threshold for approval. Within the universal accessibility category, priority seats were given a score of 8; stairways and buzzers 7.8; wheelchair holds 6.8; and lowered seating a rating of 6.6.

The survey also revealed that 18.2% of respondents had been victims of some form of sexual harassment. The majority of public transport users are women at 55.7%.

Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said he expects public satisfaction to increase. “The survey was done even before the new buses arrived; we are sure that the evaluation we do next year will show an improvement. For the first time we have a positive approval rating,” he said.

In May, 38 new 100% electric buses arrived in Guadalajara from Shanghai, China. The buses have a 58-person capacity and accessibility features such as ramps and spaces for wheelchairs.

With reports from Informador and Milenio

Authorities begin demanding proof of vaccination or negative test result

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MND Staff

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July 27, 2021

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The vaccination certificate issued by the federal government.

Authorities in at least two states have announced that people will be required to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or a negative test result to enter public places such as restaurants, bars and shopping centers.

Mazatlán Mayor Luis Guillermo Benítez Torres said citizens must carry their vaccination certificates with them when they are in all public places, while Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquín said people won’t be permitted to enter such places unless they can prove they have been vaccinated or recently tested negative to Covid-19.

Benítez said the rule will take effect in the Sinaloa resort city on Saturday, a day after the vaccination campaign to inoculate people aged 18 to 29 with a first dose of the Sinovac vaccine concludes.

“To stop this pandemic in its tracks, … starting Saturday we’re going to demand that all citizens carry their vaccination certificate against Covid in order to go to any public place,” he said, adding that the aim of the measure is to encourage people to get vaccinated.

“A lot of people are not wanting to … get vaccinated and they are partly responsible for this [pandemic] continuing; it’s proven that the vaccine works,” the mayor said.

Sinaloa is currently the only maximum risk red light state in Mexico and Mazatlán ranks third among its 18 municipalities for active cases with more than 500. Only the state capital Culiacán and Ahome in the northwest have more.

Benítez said people aged over 30 who didn’t get vaccinated when shots were offered to their age group will have another opportunity to do so. He also reminded Mazatlán residents that the use of face masks is compulsory in public places.

In Quintana Roo, Governor Joaquín said Saturday that businesses must make proof of vaccination or a negative result from a Covid-19 test performed in the past 72 hours a condition of entry. The same rule – which took effect Monday – applies to staff, he said.

A worker at the Las Tiendas shopping mall in downtown Cancún said Sunday that the rule hadn’t yet been enforced but would be.

“I couldn’t tell you from when but those who are not vaccinated won’t be able to come in,” a woman identified only as Ruby told the news website Por Esto!

“We predict our sales will decline between 50% and 80%,” she said.

Mazatlán Mayor Benítez: the purpose of the measure is measure is to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Jesús Ayala, who owns a business in the mall, acknowledged that the rule will have to be enforced because it’s a state government order. Sales will fall but “health comes first,” he said.

A security guard at the same mall told Por Esto! that the proof of vaccination/negative test requirement for entry would take effect by Tuesday at the latest. He also said that a rapid testing station with the capacity to perform 200 tests per day would be set up outside the shopping center.

Quintana Roo, currently high risk orange on the stoplight map, is one of several states that have seen a recent increase in case numbers as the highly contagious Delta strain of the coronavirus takes hold in Mexico.

Joaquín also reminded businesses that they must adhere to 50% capacity limits and restaurants and bars must close by 12:00 a.m. while the orange light risk level remains in effect in the Caribbean coast state. Any establishments flouting the rules will be sanctioned, he said.

“The objective is to save lives and achieve a balance with the recovery of economic activities,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, the number of active coronavirus cases across Mexico remains above 100,000, according to Health Ministry estimates, a level on par with the number of active infections at the peak of the second and worst wave of the pandemic at the start of 2021.

The Health Ministry reported 5,920 new cases on Monday and 171 additional Covid-19 deaths, lifting the accumulated totals to 2.75 million infections and 238,595 test-confirmed fatalities.

An average of 9,045 new cases per day were reported in the first 26 days of July, a 157% increase compared to the daily average in June. This month’s average daily reported death toll – 213 – is 33% lower than the average in June, an indication that vaccination is saving lives.

Almost 60.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in Mexico since the first shot was given on December 24 and 47% of the adult population has received at least one dose, the Health Ministry said Monday. However, some states have much lower coverage rates.

To address that situation, President López Obrador announced Monday that vaccination would be ramped up in the five states with the lowest rates: Veracruz, Puebla, Guerrero, Chiapas and Oaxaca.

With reports from Milenio and Por Esto

Jeff Bezos’ foundation to support mangrove restoration in 3 states

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MND Staff

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July 27, 2021

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A foundation created by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, fresh off a flight to the edge of space, has agreed to finance the restoration of mangroves in Nayarit, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced the donation on Monday from the Bezos Earth Fund, without specifying the amount. Bezos is the world’s richest person with a net worth of US $177 billion, according to Forbes.

The areas which will benefit from the donation are the National Marshes of Nayarit Biosphere Reserve, the Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve and the Dzilam State Reserve in Yucatán, and the Yum Balam Flora and Fauna Protection Area in Quintana Roo.

Damage has been done to protected areas in recent years due to tourism and other development in what civic associations have termed “ecocides.” A report published Tuesday by Bloomberg showed that the Dos Bocas oil refinery in Tabasco is being build in an area that is home to four types of mangrove, which state oil firm Pemex had previously promised to protect.

The WWF said that mangroves are of vital importance to protect coastal communities as natural flood control systems and hurricane barriers, and also act as natural habitats for fish and crustaceans. The organization has promised to work with local communities over the next five years to “reduce vulnerabilities to climate change.”

The managing director of WWF Mexico, Jorge Rickards, voiced his appreciation for the donation. “WWF is deeply grateful for this transformative investment and for the impact this commitment will have on millions of people around the world,” he said in a statement.

Karen Douthwaite of WWF USA explained how the NGO would collate knowledge for the project. “WWF will work closely with communities and experts … to integrate their information with data from space satellites. This knowledge gathering will help us implement restoration and protection strategies,” she said.

Mangroves cover more than 905,000 hectares of coastline, according to data from the National Biodiversity Commission (Conabio), accounting for 6% of the world’s total mangroves. That makes Mexico the country with the fourth largest area of mangroves, behind only Indonesia, Australia and Brazil, according to Conabio.

Last Tuesday, returning from his trip to space, Bezos said the experience made him realize how fragile the Earth’s atmosphere is. “The atmosphere is so giant, but when you’re above it, what you see is that it’s really very thin. It’s a small, fragile thing and as we move around the planet, we’re damaging it,” he said.

With reports from El Financiero and Bloomberg

Narco-banners signal truce among cartel factions in Tamaulipas

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MND Staff

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July 27, 2021

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Feuding factions of the Tamaulipas-based Gulf Cartel have announced they have reached a truce and want the northern border state to live in peace.

The Grupo Scorpion, Grupo Metros and Tampico Grupo Rojo factions made the announcement on professionally printed narco-banners that appeared in public places on Monday in several Tamaulipas cities including Reynosa, Tampico, Matamoros, Río Bravo and Padilla.

The groups have been fighting each other for the past decade in a turf war that has fueled high levels of violence in Tamaulipas. But they reached a ceasefire agreement on July 19, according to their banners.

“We have agreed to a truce of tranquility and we declare our solidarity with the people, and with ideological principles consistent with keeping the peace,” one banner said.

“We also have family. … The primordial thing is for the communities in which we have a presence to feel secure with it, without any worry. … The Gulf Cartel has principles and its highest priority is the tranquility of the state and the wellbeing of the towns. … Long live peace in Tamaulipas.”

State police said that four people were arrested on suspicion of hanging the banners from buildings and overpasses.

The name of a fourth faction of the Gulf Cartel – Los Ciclones (The Cyclones) – didn’t appear on the banners but given that they were hung in Matamoros, where the group is based, it is likely that it is also party to the truce.

The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office has said that a spate of indiscriminate attacks in Reynosa last month that left 19 people dead were perpetrated by members of the Cyclones and the Scorpions, which is also based in Matamoros.

Prosecutors said the aim of the two factions was to terrorize residents of Reynosa as part of a strategy to challenge the Metros’ long-held sway in the city, located across the border from McAllen, Texas.

Twenty-five people have been arrested in connection with the June 19 rampage in which innocent bystanders including taxi drivers, construction workers, children and a nursing student were killed. Among those detained is Jorge Iván Cárdenas Martínez, a presumed Gulf Cartel plaza chief in Río Bravo.

Splinter groups of the Zetas drug cartel have also been involved in turf wars in recent years in Tamaulipas, a state notorious for violent crime. The state has a 370-kilometer-long border with Texas, making it a lucrative hotspot for the smuggling of drugs and migrants.

With reports from AP and Infobae

696th anniversary of founding of Mexica capital celebrated with music and dance

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MND Staff

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July 27, 2021

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Colorful costumes adorned the capital's zócalo on Monday.

Around 2,000 dancers, musicians, singers and artists joined the annual celebration on Monday of the foundation of Tenochtitlán, the forebear to Mexico City and the capital of the Mexica people, also known as the Aztecs.

The precise date of the historic city’s foundation is debated. Most archaeologists and academics point to 1325, arguing that records indicate the pre-Hispanic year of “2-Calli,” which would make this year the 696th anniversary. However, to their ire, the government has promoted the events this year to mark “Seven Centuries of History,” which places the date at 1321 or 700 years ago.

The numeric symmetry must have been hard to resist for government planners: 2021 marks 200 years since Mexican independence and 500 years since Hernán Cortés’ victory at Tenochtitlán; 15 events are planned this year to celebrate.

However, commemorating the city’s foundation is a well established tradition. Since 1975, groups have converged on the zócalo each year on July 26 to celebrate the arrival of the first settlers.

One participant, Tonawaka Kwauhtlinxan, saw the event as an opportunity for connection. “We are celebrating this great event. It is the time of unification, the time to come back together as one great tribe. We are one tribe, the human tribe,” he said.

A dancer celebrates the founding of the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlán.

At 1:43 p.m. participants paused for the “zenith passage” when the sun reached its highest point in the day.

David Trejo, who arranged a tlalmanalli altar to marks the four elements and the deities, explained the astronomical phenomenon. “We have paused the dance to explain the astronomical pattern that is observed when the shadow disappears … the shadow of the flag [in the center of the zócalo], disappears,” he said.

Trejo added that the commemoration should be inclusive. “All Mexicans should know their roots, their culture, and be proud to be Mexicans. We always talk about September 16 [Independence Day] but there are other dates … that we continue to talk about after 500 years of the arrival of the Spaniards. Mexico is a multicultural world,” he said.

Amid offerings, dances and the “zenith passage,” there was a game of ulama, a Mesoamerican ball game.

Trejo, for one, said he was pleased with the government’s efforts to celebrate pre-Hispanic history. “We have had a lot of openness with the local government and other states. They are supporting us and promoting the rescue of the culture,” he said.

With reports from El Universal and Excélsior

Navy chief blames corruption on lack of honest public servants in government

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MND Staff

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July 27, 2021

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The navy's Rafael Ojeda: 'If you have been told to set corruption aside, let's do it.'

Mexico’s corruption problem is due to a lack of honest public servants, navy chief Rafael Ojeda said Monday.

He told President López Obrador’s morning press conference that a lot of officials haven’t heard or haven’t acted on the government’s call to abandon corrupt practices.

However, members of the armed forces are an exception and can serve as an example to other public servants, Ojeda said.

“[In the military], we create public servants for Mexican society and let me tell you, because it’s something that is very true, Mexico lacks honest public servants; that’s why we have this big corruption problem,” he said.

“What we [the armed forces] give society are public servants, women and men, with a lot of ethics, a lot of values and principles, and that is what we would like the many young people and the many professionals within the public service to understand. If you have been told to set corruption aside, let’s do it.”

In contrast with other government institutions, the armed forces always impose sanctions on members who have done the wrong thing, the navy minister said, explaining that the military cannot afford to have bad apples within their ranks.

“We create women and men with values, with principles – personnel who have professional ethics, who know they must take a course or path … that will generate a full professional life for them and not get them involved in problems,” Ojeda said.

“We have young people who … take another course but they’re punished. The big difference between us and a lot of other institutions is that we can’t afford to have bad elements because from the general to the last soldier, from the admiral to the last sailor, we’re public servants,” he said.

Ojeda’s remarks came two months after he offered a scathing assessment of the judicial branch of government, declaring that it seems to be the “enemy” of the state in many organized crime cases.

Mexico News Daily

One of China’s ‘Big 4’ automakers enters Mexican market

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MND Staff

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July 26, 2021

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A China state-owned automobile manufacturer has announced plans to enter Mexico.

Chang’an Automobile Group, better known as Changan Motors, will market five models through its local partner Motor Nation in 30 dealerships and will open five brand only showrooms in large cities.

Changan Motors is one of China’s “Big 4” automakers, along with Dongfeng, FAW and Shanghai General Motors, which partners with U.S. giant General Motors. Changan is present in more than 60 countries in the world and is more than 150 years old.

The models are to be sold in Mexico are the compact sedan Alsvin; the sports utility vehicles CS35 Plus, CS55 Plus Turbo and CS75 Plus Turbo; and the mini-SUV Uni-T.

Prices start at 259,900 pesos (about US $13,000) for the Alsvin, 300,000 to 415,000 pesos for the CS35 Plus and the turbo model ($15,000 to $20,700) and 490,000 to 560,000 pesos for the CS55 Plus ($24,400 to $27,900). Prices for the other models were not available.

In 2020, Changan Motors produced more than 2 million cars. The company was founded in 1862 by Hongzhang Li as a weapons manufacturer. In 1957, he entered the automotive industry.

In 2009, China produced 13.79 million vehicles, surpassing the United States as the world’s largest automobile producer by volume. Now, China dominates: in 2020 the Asian nation produced more than 25 million vehicles, while the United States produced fewer than 9 million, according to Statista.

Mexico produced 3.04 million vehicles last year and 3.75 million in 2019.

With reports from Dinero en Imagen

Mexico and 5 other nations spearhead new Latin American space agency

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MND Staff

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July 26, 2021

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Marcelo Ebrard, center, with other signatories of the agreement to create a new space agency.

Six Latin American nations have agreed to form a new regional space agency, the foreign minister announced on Saturday.

Mexico joined Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Costa Rica in the commitment, which has been in the offing for a decade, at a meeting of the 32 country members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac).

The plan was first announced in January 2020 when Mexico took over the rotating presidency of the organization, which was created in 2010 in Caracas, Venezuela, as a counterbalance to the Organization of American States (OAS), which is headquartered in Washington, DC.

“Now we are going to [work on space projects] in combination and the [shared] resources will multiply by 20 times … It means multiplying by 20 the technological and scientific potential and power of America and the Caribbean,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.

His Bolivian counterpart, Rogelio Mata, also voiced his optimism about the project. “It’s a fantastic way to not remain behind in knowledge development,” he said.

The Associated Press reported that satellite technology, international partnerships, national pride and local development are all potential benefits of space programs in less developed nations, while critics view them as vanity projects and a diversion from pressing problems on the ground.

Prospects of global internet access from satellites, offering access to data to guide crop-growing and natural disaster management, and to track other conditions linked to disease were further factors named by AP.

Costa Rica-born NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Díaz said criticism of space programs were par for the course. “A lot of people criticized the creation of NASA in 1958 when the United States was struggling with the worst economic recession of the postwar era,” he said in a March statement.

Representatives at the meeting also reached consensus on the necessity for collaboration to distribute Covid-19 vaccines. The meeting was attended by 24 foreign ministers, three deputy ministers and five special envoys.

Authorities are likely to present a concrete plan at the sixth meeting of the Celac Congress in Mexico City on September 18.

With reports from El Universal and Periódico Viaje

Universal Covid vaccination will be applied in 5 states to fight third wave

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MND Staff

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July 26, 2021

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seniors vaccination — An estimated one-quarter of citizens over 60 remain unvaccinated.

The federal government will ramp up Covid-19 vaccination in the five states with the lowest vaccination rates as part of its strategy to blunt the third wave of the pandemic.

Veracruz, Puebla, Guerrero, Chiapas and Oaxaca will have “special treatment starting today,” President López Obrador said at his news conference on Monday morning.

“We’re intensifying vaccination because there’s no other alternative, no other option to confront the virus,” he told reporters in Veracruz city. “The best thing is the vaccine, … if we’re vaccinated we’re protected …”

López Obrador said the efforts to increase vaccination rates will be led by the army in Veracruz and Oaxaca, the navy in Guerrero, the National Guard in Puebla and the Mexican Social Security Institute in Chiapas.

The single-shot CanSino vaccine will be used to avoid having to return to administer second doses to adults who have not yet been vaccinated, he said.

“Complete universal vaccination” even in the most isolated areas of Veracruz, Puebla, Guerrero, Chiapas and Oaxaca is the goal by the end of October, he said, although convincing all unvaccinated people to get a shot – many of whom have already had the chance to be inoculated – will be no easy task.

In Chiapas, for example, many Mayan people have eschewed vaccines, choosing to place their faith in a traditional liquor and a beloved patron saint instead.

Across Mexico, there are some 3.9 million people aged 60 and over who are not vaccinated even though the government has offered shots to all seniors. The figure accounts for about one-quarter of all citizens in that age bracket.

Health Ministry data also shows that some 3.6 million people in the 50-59 bracket – or 29% of the cohort – are unvaccinated, while about 2.4 million of those aged 40-49 – 21% of the cohort – have not had a shot.

Only about one-fifth of Mexico’s population, including children, is fully vaccinated, although 47% of adults have had at least one shot, according to the latest data.

Meanwhile, case numbers are surging as the highly infectious Delta strain circulates across Mexico. More than 13,000 cases per day were reported between Tuesday and Saturday last week before dropping considerably on Sunday, a phenomenon seen throughout the pandemic due to a drop-off in testing and/or the recording and reporting of test results on weekends.

Women line up for vaccination in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.

Despite the worsening situation, the government is not advocating the kind of economic restrictions it recommended during the first and second waves, during which much higher numbers of people were hospitalized and died due to an absence of the protection now provided by vaccination.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said last week there would be no “total closures” of public spaces despite the increase in case numbers because people are tired of restrictions, while López Obrador said Monday there would be no shutdowns of businesses because Mexicans now know how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

“We’ve already received a lot of information [about how to mitigate the risk of transmission of and exposure to the virus], besides … we’re adults,” the president said.

“We have to look after ourselves, not overdo [protection] measures. … The important thing is to save lives but not exaggerate measures that don’t help [stop the spread of the virus] but show … an authoritarian desire.”

López Obrador also noted that the third wave has – so far at least – been less damaging than the first two in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. A majority of recently detected cases have been detected among younger people, who are more likely not to be vaccinated and less likely to suffer severe illness.

AMLO defended the government’s management of the pandemic, asserting that it had found the right balance between guaranteeing freedom, looking after the economy – which shrank 8.5% last year – and protecting people’s health.

However, the government has been widely criticized for its response – especially for not enforcing strict lockdowns and not testing widely enough, and critics point to Mexico’s Covid-19 death toll, the fourth highest in the world, to support their claim.

The official death toll currently stands at 238,424 but that total – like Mexico’s accumulated case tally, which was 2.75 million as of Sunday – is considered a vast undercount. The government itself acknowledged in March that true fatality numbers were almost 60% higher than the official count of test-confirmed deaths.

With reports from Reforma, El Economista, Milenio and El País