The fossil, found in Coahuila, is believed to be 93 million years old.
Scientists have found fossil evidence in Coahuila of a flying reptile whose existence in Mexico was previously unknown.
Mexican, British and German scientists discovered metatarsal, or foot bone, fossils of a Pterosauria order flying reptile in a quarry in the municipality of Acuña, which borders Texas.
Héctor Rivera Sylva, director of the paleontology department at the Museum of the Desert in Saltillo and co-author of a paper on the discovery, said the fossils are of the Ornithocheirus genus.
“We’ve made a very important discovery for science. … It’s the youngest evidence of that family in the world,” he said, explaining that the fossils are believed to be 93 million years old.
The Ornithocheirus genus was thought to have gone extinct 96 million years ago, Rivera said.
The fossils are currently being held at the Paleontology Museum in Múzquiz, Coahuila.
Rivera said that Ornithocheirus genus flying reptiles were extremely skillful at catching fish, adding that evidence suggests that they were capable of flying enormous distances. Fossils of the same genus have been found in England and Brazil, he said.
Scientists have found many other prehistoric reptile fossils in Coahuila, including a tooth and vertebra of a Parkosaurus dinosaur, a genus that lived more than 70 million years ago. Before the discovery, that genus’ existence in Mexico was also unknown.
Jiménez waves goodbye to the Ministry of Communications and Transportation.
Communications and Transportation Minister Javier Jiménez Espriú resigned on Thursday because he disagreed with President López Obrador’s decision to put the military in charge of ports and maritime customs.
López Obrador said in a video posted to social media that he had accepted Jiménez’s resignation and announced that Jorge Arganis Diáz Leal, a civil engineer and former infrastructure director with the Mexico City government, would replace him.
The president described Jiménez as an “honorable person” and an “outstanding professional” but said he and the outgoing minister had a dispute over who should manage the nation’s ports.
López Obrador said that Jiménez believes that the Ministry of Communications and Transportation should be in charge whereas he thinks that the military should have control due to their high levels of corruption.
“I am very, very, very concerned about the entry of drugs, fentanyl, all this is coming in through the Pacific ports,” López Obrador said while sitting alongside Jiménez and his replacement at the National Palace.
“We need to avoid the entry of drugs so an institution like the navy is needed. … All the ports will be managed by the Ministry of the Navy,” he said, adding that a modification to the law will be made to allow it to happen.
Jiménez thanked López Obrador for the opportunity to serve in his government over the past 20 months, asserting that it allowed him to participate in projects that were important for the future of Mexico.
Despite deciding to leave his post, the outgoing minister said he remained “faithful and loyal to the goals and projects of the fourth transformation.”
The fourth transformation is a byname for the federal government, which López Obrador says is undertaking a transformative process akin to Mexico’s independence from Spain, the Mexican Revolution and the 19th century liberal reform known as La Reforma.
López Obrador cited corruption as one of the main reasons for canceling the US $14-billion airport in Texcoco, México state, but Jiménez publicly rejected the claim that the project wasn’t above board.
Outgoing minister Jiménez is flanked by his successor, left, and President López Obrador at the National Palace today.
While the president says that his decision to scrap the previous government’s airport project and instead convert a México state Air Force base into a commercial airport will save large sums of money, the move to put the nation’s ports in the hands of the military could cost Mexico dearly, according to one expert.
Marcelino Tuero, president of the Merchant Maritime Advisory Council, told the newspaper El Financiero that military inspections of shipments arriving at the ports will cause an expensive bottleneck for foreign trade due to slow processing of imports and exports.
El Financiero said that some US $800 billion worth of foreign trade will be affected by the decision to militarize Mexico’s ports.
López Obrador claims that giving the navy responsibility will stem the flow of drugs into the country but Tuero pointed out that putting retired and on-leave navy officials in charge of the ports in Manzanillo, Colima, and Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, has failed to stop the entry of narcotics.
Juan Carlos Merodio, Mexico representative on the United Nations International Maritime Organization, argued that ports, which are civilian and commercial in nature, shouldn’t be placed under military authority, a position with which National Autonomous University law professor Rogelio Rodríguez Garduño agreed.
Rodríguez said a presidential decree or agreement to put the military in charge of ports and customs would be unconstitutional and encroach on the authority of the Congress.
He acknowledged that criminal groups have practically seized control of Mexico’s ports and customs offices but added that there was no guarantee that the military will be able to change the situation as López Obrador expects.
“Unfortunately, members of the military can also be co-opted by crime.”
The loan program is expected to provide a boost to help lift the economy.
As a measure to help mitigate the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Tourism (Sectur) has launched an 11.4-billion-peso (US $507.6-million) loan program for the hotel, travel agency and ground transportation industries.
In a video conference at the opening of the Latin America Tourism Summit on Wednesday, Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco announced that the program, which will be operated through private banks, will go into effect this year and offer loans ranging from 220,000 to 30 million pesos (around US $9,800 to $1.3 million) with a six-month grace period and a maximum interest rate of 13.5%.
Sectur’s deputy minister for quality and regulation, Humberto Hernández Haddad, reported that the financing will be provided through Banorte, BBVA, Citibanamex, HSBC, Santander and Scotiabank, among other banks that have yet to join the program.
The president of the Mexican Banking Association (ABM), Luis Niño de Rivera, stated that the loan program will provide a boost to help lift the economy.
Torruco reported that Mexico has 23,000 lodging establishments and a total of 830,000 rooms, and 20,000 new rooms are expected to be added this year.
In addition, he pointed out that although domestic tourism is a key factor in the economic revival of the sector, international tourism must not be forgotten.
Under normal circumstances, 55% of visitors come from the United States, 12% from Canada and 16% from Central America, the Caribbean and South America. European visitors account for 12.4% of tourists visiting Mexico, while 4% of travelers to the country are Asian.
Police in Acapulco, Guerrero, arrested a municipal councilor Wednesday night for driving while intoxicated and ignored his claims of political immunity.
While performing a crime prevention operation, officers saw a black Volkswagen Beetle with tinted windows run through four red traffic lights.
Officers tried to pull over the driver, Andrés Alain Rodríguez Serrano, around midnight on the Miguel Alemán Boulevard but he refused to obey their instructions, giving his political position as a reason.
Patrol vehicles were finally able to stop him in front of the El Presidente hotel. His passengers, a man and a woman, were also intoxicated and no one in the car was wearing a face mask, authorities said. Several alcohol containers were found inside the car.
An arresting officer documented the exchange. “The gentleman argues that he is a councilor here in Acapulco and that is why he has been passing through the stoplights and insulting the authorities” in an abuse of power, the officer said in a video posted to social media.
Rodríguez, who has expressed a desire to run for mayor, initially refused to get out of his car or hand over documentation requested by the police.
Last August, disciplinary action was taken against Rodríguez after he insulted fellow Morena councilwoman Yoloczin Domínguez Serna on a WhatsApp chat by using derogatory and sexist terms. The party’s national honor and justice council suspended his rights as a councilor for one year, although Rodríguez did not relinquish his seat.
The Yaquis blocked Highway 15 as part of their protest this week.
A rail blockade in Sonora by indigenous people demanding the government fulfill social development commitments has delayed the delivery of more than 1,000 shipping containers, according to the president of a transport association.
Yaqui indigenous people have blocked the tracks in Vícam, a town in the municipality of Guaymas, for the past 10 days, said Humberto Vargas García of the Mexican Association of Intermodal Transport.
He said companies seeking to move supplies and final products from central Mexico and the Bajío region to the northwest of the country have spent more than 20 million pesos (US $895,000) to have their goods offloaded from trains and transported to their final destination on trucks.
Vargas said the blockade is causing “significant repercussions” for both companies and consumers because goods, including food, beverages, health products and auto parts, “are not arriving on time.”
Ford México said Wednesday that the blockade was affecting operations at its plant in Hermosillo, Sonora, as well as imports from and exports to the United States.
“The recent blockade of the rail network … has affected operations at our Hermosillo plant,” the company said in a statement sent to the Reuters news agency.
“Currently, we are facing a situation unrelated to us, wherein imports and exports have been affected.”
According to the Mexican Railway Association (AMF), the blockade has prevented some 150,000 tonnes of cargo from reaching the Mexico-United States border crossings at Mexicali, Baja California, and Nogales, Sonora.
AMF President José Zozaya estimated that the Yaqui people’s protest had caused losses of more than 75 million pesos (US $3.35 million) over the past 10 days.
He said Wednesday that the rail association had engaged in discussions with both the government and protesters and expressed confidence that the blockade would soon be lifted.
Yaqui protesters also stopped traffic Monday and Tuesday on Highway 15, which runs through several states including Sonora to the border at Nogales.
Tractors and pickup trucks blocked the highway from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m Tuesday in the community of Loma de Guamúchil, located 30 kilometers east of Vícam in the municipality of Cajeme.
The blockade caused northbound and southbound traffic, including cargo trucks and passenger buses, to back up for several kilometers, the news agency EFE reported.
The protesters are demanding that the federal government fulfill commitments to carry out social development programs and projects in eight Yaqui towns: Cócorit, Bácum, Vícam, Pótam, Tórim, Huírivis, Ráhum and Belem.
Sergio Estrella, a local official from Cócorit, read out a manifesto during Tuesday’s highway protest that said the Yaqui people have reached several agreements with federal authorities to allow the construction of a range of infrastructure projects on their land.
In exchange for granting the government permission to carry out highway, telecommunications, electricity, gas, oil and water projects, federal authorities made commitments to compensate the Yaquis through social programs and projects, he said.
However, they failed to keep their word, Estrella said, adding that the protesters are willing to enter into dialogue with the government to reach an agreement that respects the law as well as “our traditions and customs.”
Attendance at the Cervantino was 414,000 last year.
Businesses and residents of Guanajuato are in shock after learning on Tuesday that the annual International Cervantino Festival (FIC) will be an online event this year.
It was expected that the festival would revive the city’s economy and tourism sector this October.
“We are very sad about what is happening because it is a hard blow for the tourism sector, especially here in the capital, but health comes first,” said Liliana Preciado Zárate, president of the Guanajuato Hotel and Motel Association.
Local authorities and businesses agree that the absence of the festival this year will have potentially dire consequences for the city’s economy, affecting hotels, bars, restaurants, cafés, artists and others in what is already a vulnerable climate.
The news hit the city’s bars “like a bucket of cold water,” said Bar Association president Enrique Nieto Acevedo. Guanajuato’s 70 bars had been looking to El Cervantino, as it is popularly called, as a way to recuperate at least some of the losses suffered during four months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With 2020 being its 48th year, El Cervantino has become one of Latin America’s biggest cultural events. Celebrating the life and work of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, it has hosted plays, dance, concerts, film screenings, workshops, readings, book releases and more.
Performers have included Ray Charles, Lila Downs and Rudolf Nureyev.
Last year Guanajuato hosted 2,969 artists and performers and 414,000 festival attendees who spent 617,700,00 pesos, nearly US $27.5 million.
The city’s 147 hotels and hostels, which normally fill up during El Cervantino are now operating at between 3% and 5% of capacity. The economic loss to the hospitality sector due to the festival’s going online is expected to reach 40 million pesos (nearly US $1.8 million).
Olga Padilla, president of the Canirac restaurant association in the city, speaking for 120 restaurants, said “the news of the format change left us in shock, we are all in shock.”
Mayor Alejandro Navarro pointed out that by holding the festival virtually, and only over four days, the organizing committee will come in under budget, and he hopes that the surplus can be used to help businesses that are most affected.
“The Cervantino represented a great opportunity for the economic recovery of the capital and in the face of these changes we cannot stand idly by,” Navarro said.
The FIC’s director, Mariana Aymerich, assured that artists, businesses and others who regularly work the festival will be taken care of.
“There are 400 people who work with us, we want them to have support from us; the artistic groups that had already been selected will have our support and the option of participating in something virtual, or that they may be asked back next year,” she said.
Exactly how that support will play out is being analyzed, she said, as they review the festival’s 84-million-peso (US $3.7-million) budget.
Volkswagen workers in Puebla intend to go on strike if the German automaker doesn’t agree to a 12% pay rise by the middle of August.
The Independent Union of Volkswagen Workers, or Sitiavw, has begun negotiations with the company with a deadline set for 11:00 a.m. on August 18. If a deal isn’t struck by that date, the union will advise workers to commence job action.
Union press secretary Manuel Aburto said Wednesday that the union had also submitted its demand for a 12% pay hike to the federal Labor Ministry.
A majority of workers voted not to postpone the wage negotiations even though Volkswagen is going through tough times due to the coronavirus pandemic and associated economic restrictions.
The push for a pay rise comes a year after the union and Volkswagen reached an agreement that saw workers’ salary packages – made up of their wages and benefits – rise 6.58%. The union is now seeking a 12% rise to workers’ salaries exclusively.
Volkswagen could argue that it’s not the right time for a salary increase as it was forced to shut down its operations in Puebla in April, May and part of June due to the coronavirus crisis.
As a result, vehicle production declined 54% in the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2019.
According to the national statistics agency, Inegi, Volkswagen made 106,707 vehicles in Mexico between January and June compared to 234,190 in the first six months of last year.
The automaker’s exports fell 54.1% in the same period, with 100,526 vehicles sent abroad from Mexico.
A Oaxacan tlayuda filled with a variety of ingredients. A popular version is the 'mixta,' which contains tasajo (beef), cecina (pork) and chorizo.
What’s your favorite street food of these three Latin American favorites: tlayudas, ceviche or choripan?
As of Thursday, a poll on Twitter by streaming service Netflix had Mexico’s tlayudas in second place behind ceviche, a Peruvian dish of fish marinated in lime juice.
The poll is being conducted by the Netflix show Street Food: Latin America, which explores traditional street food in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
The series profiles several traditional dishes in Oaxaca for its episode based in Mexico, which drew the attention of United States Ambassador Christopher Landau. The diplomat appears to be a fan of tlayudas, a Oaxacan dish made with a large tortilla filled with refried beans, cheese and meat.
He put out a call on social media to vote for the dish, which he said he tried during a trip to Oaxaca 25 years ago. “Mexican friends: let’s support the tlayuda for our friends in #Oaxaca!” Landau posted on Twitter.
Llegó el momento, una final de 3 tiempos. ¿Quién ganará el Campeonato Street Food Latinoamérica?
The poll, which closes Thursday, had received more than 320,000 votes as of noon Thursday, and the tlyauda was in second place with 41.4% of the vote. Ceviche was leading with 45% and choripan had garnered just 13.6% support.
The Zacatecas prison where tunnel-builders have been busy.
A second escape tunnel has been found at Cieneguillas prison in Zacatecas, the state’s Minister of Public Security reported.
The discovery comes after 12 inmates described as “highly dangerous” escaped through a 50-meter-long tunnel in May.
The inmates, members of the Zetas and the Northeast Cartel, were serving sentences ranging from eight to 57 years for drug charges, robbery, kidnapping, firearms offenses and murder.
The newly found tunnel had a height of 1.6 meters and was located in a wing of the prison where 54 inmates are housed. Prison authorities also found a gun, ammunition, telephones and other prohibited items during their search.
After finding the tunnel, guards conducted a head count and determined no inmates had escaped.
Maintaining order in Cieneguillas has proved a challenge.
In 2009, 53 prisoners escaped with the help of a convoy of cartel hitmen who entered the prison disguised as law enforcement.
The medium-security prison has also seen deadly riots.
On December 31, 2019, 16 inmates were killed in a riot and on January 2 of this year an inmate was beaten to death during a riot, after which 165 inmates were transferred to another prison for safety reasons and the prison’s director was fired.
Authorities say the prison population is currently under control and work is underway to seal the tunnel’s entrance. Surprise searches will be conducted to ensure that inmates are not in possession of contraband.
A patient with coronavirus symptoms is transferred to a hospital in Tijuana.
New coronavirus infections declined in Baja California and Sonora in recent weeks but increased in Baja California Sur, a senior health official said Wednesday.
Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía presented data at the Health Ministry’s coronavirus press briefing showing that estimated new case numbers declined 20% in Baja California between epidemiological weeks 27 and 28, a period which ran from June 28 to July 11.
He said that new infections declined in Tijuana, Mexicali and Tecate in recent weeks, while new case numbers plateaued in Ensenada.
Baja California has recorded 12,259 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, the 10th highest tally among Mexico’s 32 states. The northern border state currently has 831 active cases, according to Health Ministry estimates.
It has recorded 2,417 confirmed Covid-19 fatalities, the third highest death toll in the country after Mexico City and México state.
The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths. Deaths are numbers reported and not necessarily those that occurred each day. milenio
Data shows that 44% of general care beds set aside for coronavirus patients in Baja California are currently occupied while 57% of those with ventilators are in use.
In Sonora, estimated new coronavirus case numbers declined 43% between epidemiological weeks 27 and 28, Alomía said.
New infections declined in recent weeks in the municipalities of Hermosillo, Guaymas, Nogales, Cajeme, San Luis Rio Colorado and Navojoa, he said. New cases declined particularly sharply in Hermosillo, Sonora’s capital and largest city, between weeks 27 and 28.
The northern border state has recorded 15,105 confirmed coronavirus cases, the seventh highest tally in the country. The Health Ministry estimates that Sonora currently has 1,099 active cases. The state’s official Covid-19 death toll is 1,581, the eighth highest total in Mexico.
Data shows that 57% of general care hospital beds and 40% of those with ventilators are currently occupied in Sonora.
In contrast to Baja California and Sonora, new case numbers increased in Baja California Sur (BCS) between epidemiological weeks 27 and 28, with a 27% spike recorded.
New case numbers increased significantly in the municipalities of La Paz, Los Cabos, Mulegé and Comondú in recent weeks while Loreto saw a slight uptick between weeks 27 and 28 that halted a downward trend that had lasted for several weeks.
BCS has recorded 3,343 confirmed coronavirus cases, the fifth lowest tally among the 32 states. The Health Ministry estimates that there are currently 899 active cases in the state, which has the lowest Covid-19 death toll in Mexico at 123 confirmed fatalities.
Four in 10 general care hospital beds are currently occupied in the state while 28% of those with ventilators are in use.
Although BCS has the fifth lowest accumulated tally of coronavirus cases, it currently ranks first for active cases per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis completed by the newspaper Milenio.
The state has 111.7 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It is one of 14 states that currently have more active cases per 100,000 residents than the national average of 38.86.
In addition to BCS, four states have more than 70 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Milenio said. They are Tabasco, Mexico City, Coahuila and San Luis Potosí.
Active Covid-19 cases in Mexico as of Wednesday. milenio
The other states with more active cases than the national average are Guanajuato, Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tlaxaca and Colima.
Chiapas has the lowest number of active cases per 100,000 residents with just 3.78.
Across Mexico, there are currently 30,044 active cases, a figure that accounts for just over 8% of total confirmed cases.
The Health Ministry reported Wednesday that Mexico’s case tally had increased to 362,274 with 6,019 new cases registered. The official death toll rose to 41,190 with 790 additional fatalities reported.
Mexico still ranks fourth for total Covid-19 deaths behind the United States, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 11.4 per 100 confirmed cases, well above the global rate of 4.1.
