AMLO vows to be elections ‘guardian;’ elections body says ‘that’s our job’

June 23, 2020

The National Electoral Institute (INE) has dismissed President López Obrador’s pledge to be a “guardian” of the 2021 midterm elections.

“Mexico already has an elections guardian, an autonomous constitutional body that is the guarantor of our democracy,” INE president Lorenzo Córdova said on Monday.

INE councilor Ciro Murayama highlighted that the electoral institute is the sole body responsible for organizing and overseeing elections.

“The INE is not part of the opposition nor does it align itself with the government: it’s independent and autonomous, that’s the way it will be in 2021,” he said.

The officials’ defense of the electoral institute came after López Obrador claimed that the INE is the most expensive electoral body in the world and has “never guaranteed clean and free elections.”

The president, who claimed fraud was the reason for his losses at the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections, said that he will personally ensure that the will of the people is respected at next year’s midterms.

“So that there is no electoral fraud, I’ll become a guardian so that the freedom of citizens to freely elect their authorities is respected. I know that the INE already exists, I’m not going to get involved in that; I’m just obliged to report if there are any fraud attempts,” López Obrador said.

The president’s remarks were interpreted by some as a sign that the autonomy of the INE is under threat.

Former electoral tribunal judge María del Carmen Alanis said that López Obrador’s comments are cause for concern and charged that it is “a fallacy” to say that the INE has allowed fraud to occur.

Speaking at a political forum, she said there are “ominous signs” that efforts are being made to return to a time when the power of the Mexican state was concentrated in one sole individual, namely the president.

National Action Party Senator Gustavo Madero also said that there are signs that the government is attempting to return Mexico to how things were in the past. (The Institutional Revolutionary Party dominated Mexican politics for most of the 20th century and used a range of questionable and/or illegal practices to ensure that its power was perpetuated).

Madero said that he was concerned about what might happen to the INE, “but beyond that I’m worried about the threat to our democracy.”

Benit Nacif, a former INE councilor, said that it would be “an enormous backward step to return to what we fortunately left behind” and asserted that the autonomy of the electoral institute must be protected.

Experts who spoke with the newspaper El Universal said that López Obrador doesn’t have the legal authority to become an elections guardian,” pointing out that in addition to the INE, the federal electoral tribunal and the electoral prosecutor’s office have a role to play in ensuring that elections are free and fair.

María Eugenia Valdés Vega, a researcher at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Autonomous University who specializes in electoral processes, said that the INE has “evolved very favorably” in its organization and supervision of elections and “in this there cannot be a backward step.”

Ivonne Acuña Murillo, a politics professor at the Iberoamericana University, claimed that López Obrador had directed his electoral guardian message to the INE as well as opposition parties and state governors as a warning that he will not be afraid to call out what he sees as fraudulent electoral conduct.

While the president can’t do anything from a legal standpoint to oversee elections and prosecute fraud, he can “in terms of communication” and from a political perspective, she said.

Jessica Rojas Alegria, a specialist in electoral law at the National Autonomous University, said that while everyone has the right to free speech the president’s claim that he will oversee the elections is “dangerous” and “out of place.”

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

Political scientist, Morena supporter predicts rough electoral ride ahead

MND Staff

June 23, 2020

Mexico’s ruling party is in crisis and at risk of losing its congressional majority at the 2021 midterm elections, says a political scientist.

Gibrán Ramírez Reyes, a supporter of the Morena party, also believes that President López Obrador could face difficulties completing his term at his planned “revocation of mandate” vote in 2022 if the party he founded doesn’t address its problems and plot a clear – and improved – course toward the elections.

In an interview with the newspaper Milenio, Ramírez charged that opposition parties have a well-planned road map for the upcoming elections whereas Morena is in disarray.

He claimed that interim national president Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar’s leadership of Morena is “adrift” and that the party is plagued by internal chaos, a lack of ideological rigor and political incapacity, among other problems.

Ramírez, a proponent of the political philosophy or movement known as lopezobradorismo, said the problems within Morena are more significant than the president himself thinks, adding that López Obrador has “preferred not to get involved” in the process to fix them.

However, without his involvement, “the political process won’t advance in the way the president wants,” he charged.

Given that there is a very real possibility that Morena will lose its majority in the lower house of Congress at next year’s midterms – only 33% of respondents to a recent poll indicated that they would vote for the ruling party – Milenio asked Ramírez if López Obrador can govern without a party.

The political scientist responded that “the president has shown that he can” but conceded that there would be complications.

Ramírez said it would be especially difficult for López Obrador to carry out the transformation he envisions for Mexico without the support of friendly state governors. (Fifteen gubernatorial elections will also be held next year).

If the party doesn’t resolve its problems, the president’s so-called fourth transformation, or 4T, will be left weakened in many parts of the country, he predicted.

Asked whether some governors and mayors already elected under the banner of the Morena party have governed poorly and thus run the risk of eroding the president’s political capital, Ramírez responded emphatically:

“Without a doubt. Of course they will cost Morena,” he said.

Ramírez added, however, that the party’s lack of organization will inflict a greater electoral cost on López Obrador. While the opposition parties are preparing themselves for the upcoming elections, Morena is not, he said.

“I think that’s more serious, the [Morena] governors’ management [of their states] won’t just cost the president [at the ballot box] but also the management of his own party. While Morena continues in limbo, we can’t have expectations of having a reliable apparatus to face up to the challenges of an organized opposition,” Ramírez said.

He said that no “substantial” discussions have yet occurred within Morena about the party’s candidates for the 2021 elections at which mayor and councilor positions will also be up for grabs in some municipalities.

“The apparatus of the 4T [Morena] is in crisis and if it’s not resolved between now and September, … Morena will go to the midterm elections in a very weakened [position],” Ramírez said.

“I believe that if [the problems] are not fixed now, those of us in favor of President López Obrador will be left in political orphanhood.”

Ramírez claimed that Morena never “institutionalized” itself as a party and as a result is now a “collection of empty bureaucracies that were left over as a product of López Obrador’s [2018] campaign committee.”

“There are no clear rules and no pragmatic and ideological discussions,” he said.

Ramírez also warned that if poor gubernatorial candidates are chosen by Morena, the party could suffer negative consequences at the federal level as well. (All 500 lower house seats will be renewed in 2021 but the terms of the 128 senators don’t expire until 2021).

Asked whether an electoral disaster is on the horizon for Morena if it doesn’t get its house in order, Ramírez replied:

“I don’t know if there will be a disaster but there will be complications, turbulence and of course we’ll lose the majority [in the lower house of Congress].”

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

Newborn triplets test positive for Covid-19 in San Luis Potosí

Susy Buchanan

June 23, 2020

In a rare case, newborn triplets tested positive for the coronavirus just hours after birth in a hospital in the central state of San Luis Potosí, health authorities announced on Monday.

The babies, two boys and a girl, were born to a mother who tested positive for the coronavirus while pregnant but showed no symptoms, officials at the Dr. Ignacio Morones Prieto Central Hospital stated. The father also tested positive and was also asymptomatic.

The triplets were tested shortly after being born on June 17 and before they had nursed, ruling out the possibility of transmission via breast milk.

Although all three are positive, one of the boys was born with pneumonia and paralytic ileus, a condition that causes obstruction of the intestine, and is receiving medical care. The babies are being kept in incubators due to their low birth weights, and in isolation from other newborns.

“This unprecedented situation, from a scientific point of view, occurred where triplets were identified and their tests for Polymerase Chain Reaction were confirmed on Saturday,” said Miguel Ángel Lutzow Steiner, a spokesman for the state’s Ministry of Health.

The hospital’s medical staff suspect the babies were infected in the womb, with the virus traveling through the placenta. A post-birth infection, they say, would need at least a two to seven-day incubation period before becoming detectable.

Health Minister Mónica Liliana Rangel Martínez also ruled out that the possibility that the babies could have been infected in the hospital.

“What strikes us, in this case, is that on the day they were born all three babies tested positive for coronavirus, which rules out any possibility that they have contracted it through a hospital infection,” she said in an interview with the newspaper Excélsior.

Another newborn in San Luis Potosí has tested positive for the coronavirus, but in that case testing was conducted two days after birth.

Mexican health authorities say that this is the first time in the world that vertical transmission of the coronavirus is suspected in a case of multiple births.

Source: El Universal (sp), Associated Press (en), BBC (en)

Tax fraud charges are being brought against 43 invoicing companies

MND Staff

June 23, 2020

Buenrostro talks to reporters Tuesday morning.

Criminal complaints against 43 invoicing companies allegedly involved in tax fraud are being prepared, the head of the federal tax agency SAT said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the presidential press conference, Raquel Buenrostro said that 8,212 companies and individuals evaded the payment of their taxes by participating in fraudulent schemes set up by the 43 companies.

Invoicing companies provide payroll and tax services to companies and individuals but in some cases allegedly failed to forward income tax and sales tax payments to the SAT. President López Obrador said Monday that the majority of companies and individuals got involved in the fraudulent schemes “innocently.”

Buenrostro, nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her hardline approach to recovering unpaid taxes, said that the 43 invoicing companies failed to pay 55.1 billion pesos (US $2.5 billion at today’s exchange rate) in taxes owed to the SAT.

She said it would be difficult for the SAT to recover the full amount but added that it will seek to recoup at least 19 billion pesos.

Buenrostro said fraudulent invoicing companies began to proliferate in 2010 and that the 43 companies against which charges will be brought have links to each other. She said that some of them have the same owners, legal representatives and clients.

The SAT chief said that the companies and individual taxpayers caught up in the fraud will have the opportunity to settle their tax debts with the SAT, explaining that many of them were deceived by the invoicing firms and may have unwittingly paid for invoices related to organized crime.

If they fail to settle their debts, their cases will be referred to tax prosecutors, Buenrostro said.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Mazatlán hotels focus on health certification in preparation for reopening

Susy Buchanan

June 23, 2020

The tourism industry in Mazatlán is hoping for an early return to this.

Although Mazatlán has yet to announce an opening date for the more than 200 hotels in the city, preparations are underway for it to happen on July 1, should coronavirus conditions allow.

Seventy percent of hotels are already working toward their health certifications in order to resume activities when authorities give the green light, and an announcement on a firm date is expected later this week.

Mazatlán’s Minister of Economic Development, Tourism and Fisheries, David González Torrentera, pledged that once the infection rate decreases enough to move the city’s coronavirus rate from maximum to low risk, “tourism activity will be the first to reactivate.”

González said that in virtual national meetings, municipalities and tourist destinations have asked that the federal government consider classifying tourism as an essential activity, although that hasn’t happened yet.

He projects that domestic tourism, particularly from those within driving distance of the beach destination, could resume quickly once hotels are allowed to open, with hotel occupancy rebounding quickly.

Several resorts have already announced the July 1 reopening date, including Las Flores Beach Resort, El Cid Resort, RIU Emerald Bay Mazatlán, and Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay.

With projects like the new aquarium and the professional soccer team, the city’s economy remains dynamic, and a big draw for national tourism. González says that in the past 18 months private companies have invested some 24 billion pesos, just over US $1 billion, in Mazatlán, with more commercial and residential projects planned to start later this year.

Beaches, hotels and restaurants have been closed since April 2 in the port city known as the Pearl of the Pacific.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Sol de Mazatlán (sp)

Earthquake felt in 6 states leaves at least 4 dead, 30 injured in Oaxaca

MND Staff

June 23, 2020

At least four people were killed and more than 30 others were injured in a 7.5-magnitude earthquake that rocked southern and central Mexico on Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Authorities in Oaxaca, the southern state where the quake’s epicenter was located, also said that at least seven hospitals sustained damage, homes collapsed and landslides sent rocks tumbling onto highways.

They said that a 22-year-old woman in La Crucecita, a town in the tourist destination of Huatulco located 23 kilometers north of the earthquake epicenter, and another person in the same area were killed by walls that collapsed in the quake.

A man died in San Juan Ozolotepec, a municipality in Oaxaca’s Sierra Sur region, as a result of the quake but the exact cause of his death was unclear. Civil Protection authorities also said that a Pemex worker died from burns after the earthquake triggered an explosion at the oil refinery in Salina Cruz.

They also said that more than 30 people had been injured in different parts of the state.

General hospitals in Pochutla, Puerto Escondido and Pinotepa Nacional were damaged in the quake as were community hospitals in Santa Catarina Juquila, Santa María Huatulco, Río Grande and Santos Reyes Nopala.

An IMSS health clinic in the community of Los Naranjos de la Costa also reported structural damage after the temblor that struck at 10:29 a.m.

The newspaper El Universal reported that military personnel were traveling to San Juan Ozolotepec, located north of the quake epicenter, where there were reports of collapsed homes.

Highway authorities reported that a landslide caused a blockage on the highway between Oaxaca City and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on the Totolapan-El Camarón section. They also said that federal highway 200 was impassable in the Pochutla-Huatulco area.

The earthquake also sent rocks tumbling onto a road in San Juan Ozolotepec, injuring two people.

The temblor was felt in at least six states and triggered the earthquake alarm in Mexico City, where people rushed out of their homes to seek safety.

It also triggered a small tsunami on the coast of Oaxaca but it didn’t pose a threat to human life. The National Seismological Service (SSN) said that the sea level rose 60 centimeters in Huatulco, which currently has few tourists due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The earthquake also rocked Juchitán, an Isthmus of Tehunatepec town that was devastated by an 8.2-magnitude temblor in September 2017.

Miguel Candelaria, a 30-year-old resident, said that he rushed into the street with his family when the quake struck but they had to stop in the middle of the street because the pavement was buckling.

“We couldn’t walk … the street was like chewing gum,” Candelaria told the news agency Reuters.

In Mexico City, where hundreds of people were killed in a second powerful earthquake in September 2017, helicopters flew low overhead to check for damage.

Mayor Claudia Shienbaum said on Twitter that only minor damage had been reported although videos posted to social media showed buildings and posts swaying violently.

The SSN said that there had been 303 aftershocks by 1:00 p.m. and that the largest of those had a magnitude of 4.6.

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

Oaxaca massacre: 15 tortured, killed for territorial control

Susy Buchanan

June 23, 2020

Fifteen people in Huazantlán del Río, Oaxaca, were tortured, beaten, set on fire and finally killed, authorities in the largely indigenous municipality of San Mateo del Mar announced.

The massacre was carried out Sunday night by six people with ties to organized crime. They ambushed their victims, reportedly while they were stopped at a coronavirus checkpoint.

“The events were orchestrated by these people and backed by someone who claims to be the leader of an organized crime group called Gualterio Escandón, alias ‘Gual Perol,’” and because of his sadism we have lost innocent lives of men and women,” said a statement by local officials.

The victims were attacked after holding a protest in which they claimed that in previous weeks they had been illegally detained. Only five bodies have been identified thus far.

Organized crime seeks to gain control of the area due to its strategic location for the traffic of undocumented immigrants and the storage of stolen fuel, municipal authorities claim.

The attacks may have also been related to a longstanding dispute over a proposed wind farm in the area, which members of the Ikoots indigenous group were able to block in 2012, arguing that its construction would interfere with their subsistence rights and sacred areas.

Thirty-nine members of the National Guard and 80 state police officers were deployed to the Pacific coast town to restore order and were able to rescue two victims of the attacks, a man and a woman.

Municipal authorities acknowledge that violent conflicts between different interest groups have gone on for years, but the violence of Monday’s events is unprecedented and local authorities are calling for justice to be served, as is the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).

“The CNDH deeply regrets these violent acts and demands the urgent intervention of the state government, the Attorney General’s Office and the Ministry of Public Security so that they carry out an effective investigation process that leads to the clarification of the facts,” the CNDH said. “It is the duty of the local government to safeguard the integrity and human rights of the members of their communities, as well as preserve liberties, order and public peace.”

Today, in his morning press briefing, President López Obrador described the killings as a “very sad and regrettable” dispute between communities and said the federal government will intervene using “conciliation, dialogue, peace and avoiding the use of violence.”

Source: Reforma (sp), Reuters (en), La Jornada (sp), Seattle PI (en), The Guardian (en), ADN 40 (sp)

Official sees signs of flattening in epidemic curve after 4,000 new cases confirmed

MND Staff

June 23, 2020

Covid-19 deaths as of Monday evening. milenio

More than 4,000 new cases were added to Mexico’s coronavirus case tally on Monday and the death toll increased by over 700 but there are signs that the national epidemic curve may have begun to flatten, according to a federal health official.

Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía reported 4,577 new Covid-19 cases, increasing the total number of accumulated cases to 185,122.

He said that the Health Ministry registered 759 additional Covid-19 deaths on Monday, lifting the death toll to 22,584. An additional 1,874 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by Covid-19 but have not yet been confirmed.

Alomía said that 23,155 confirmed cases are considered active – a decrease of 1,070 compared to Sunday – and that there are 57,281 suspected cases across the country. More than 488,500 people have now been tested for Covid-19 since the disease was first detected in Mexico at the end of February.

Alomía presented a graph showing both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases, explaining that the latter are cases for which the results of Covid-19 tests are not yet known.

Coronavirus case tally as of Monday. milenio

He said that if both the confirmed and suspected cases are taken into account, the epidemic curve is showing a clear upward trend. However, he stressed that not all of the suspected cases will actually turn out to be actual cases of Covid-19.

In that context, Alomía explained that health authorities use testing positivity rates – around 40% of Covid-19 tests have so far come back positive – to estimate what percentage of the suspected cases will become confirmed coronavirus cases.

That allows the creation of “an estimated epidemic curve,” he said, explaining that at the start of June said curve – “which was rising” – started to show “a little bit of stability.”

“In coming days, we’ll see if this stability is maintained,” Alomía said, adding that it was possible that the national epidemic curve will start to trend downwards.

However, health officials have emphasized repeatedly that the coronavirus pandemic is not affecting Mexico uniformly. Therefore, a downward trending national epidemic curve will not signify that all regions of the country have passed the peak of the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak.

Some states currently have relatively small active outbreaks of Covid-19, with cases numbering fewer than 250, while others have thousands of patients who tested positive after developing symptoms in the past 14 days.

In the former category are states such as Colima, Chihuahua and Zacatecas, while in the latter are Mexico City and México state, among others.

Mexico City currently has 3,935 active cases, while México state has 2,400, according to Health Ministry data. Four other states – Puebla, Tabasco, Veracruz and Guanajuato – have more than 1,000 active cases.

The capital also has the highest Covid-19 death toll in the country, with 5,515 confirmed fatalities as of Monday.

Four states have recorded more than 1,000 deaths: México state, with 3,415; Baja California, with 1,768; Veracruz, with 1,267; and Sinaloa, with 1,032.

Based on confirmed cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 12.2 per 100 cases, well above the global rate of 5.2.

The average age of coronavirus patients who have died is 61 and men account for 66% of fatalities. Seven in 10 of those who died had at least one existing health condition that made them more vulnerable to Covid-19.

The most common health problems among those who have died are hypertension, diabetes and obesity. About one in 10 deceased patients were smokers, Health Ministry data shows.

Among the more than 22,500 people who have succumbed to Covid-19 in Mexico were 50 pregnant women and 43 foreigners.

National data presented at Monday night’s coronavirus press briefing showed that only 44% of general care beds set aside for coronavirus patients are currently occupied while 38% of those with ventilators are in use.

Hospitals in Mexico City, México state and Tlaxcala have the highest occupancy levels for general care beds, with rates of 69%, 69% and 60%, respectively.

México state, Baja California and Sonora have the lowest availability of beds with ventilators, with 65%, 63% and 57%, respectively, of their total number currently in use.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

No damage reported after 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Oaxaca

Tony Richards

June 23, 2020

Epicenter of Tuesday's quake. National Seismological Service

There have been no reports of casualties or damage after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake today in Oaxaca.

The epicenter was located 23 kilometers south of La Crucecita, a town in the tourist destination of Huatulco, but was felt as far away as Mexico City where the alarms sounded, sending residents into the streets.

The quake occurred 10:29 a.m. CDT. Power outages were reported in the area, and as far west as Puerto Escondido. Electrical service was also affected in parts of México state, the governor reported.

A 5.2 tremor was reported in the same area on Monday.

Mexico News Daily

A chaotic week for federal anti-discrimination watchdog

MND Staff

June 22, 2020

The offices of anti-discrimination watchdog Conapred.

Not much is going right for the federal anti-discrimination watchdog: its director resigned last week after President López Obrador suggested that the organization should be disbanded, and its website was the victim today of a cyber attack.

Mónica Maccise officially resigned as head of the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred) last Friday, two days after the Interior Ministry (Segob) asked her to leave the post.

The request for her resignation came after López Obrador suggested that Conapred — which he claimed he had never heard of before — should be dissolved and that Segob should be in charge of all issues related to human rights. Having an anti-discrimination agency only creates unnecessary bureaucracy, he said.

Three members of Conapred’s Advisory Assembly also tendered their resignations after Maccise announced her departure.

López Obrador’s remarks about Conapred came as it was facing a public backlash for an online forum it organized for last Wednesday.

Ultimately canceled, the forum was criticized for both its title – “Racism and/or Classism in Mexico?” – and more fervently because a comedian with a history of making racist and discriminatory comments had been invited to be a panelist.

“We were very critical of the event, first of all, because they presented it as if it were a question,”José Antonio Aguilar, founder of the advocacy group RacismoMX, told the magazine Americas Quarterly (AQ).

Conapred came under harsher criticism for inviting Chumel Torres, a well-known comedian, to participate in the forum.

Torres is quoted as saying that an indigenous Barbie doll would “sweep and mop … just like in real life” and last year mocked the then 12-year-old son of López Obrador and Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller by referring to him with a nickname that alluded to his physical appearance.

Gutiérrez, the first lady, was one of the most influential people who criticized Conapred’s decision to invite Torres onto a panel to discuss racism.

“You invited this person to a forum on discrimination? I’m still waiting for his public apology,” she wrote on Twitter.

Torres, whose HBO show was suspended last week pending a review of allegations of racism, responded by asserting that he had hoped to “build bridges” at the forum.

AQ reported that the comedian offered an “apology of sorts” to Gutiérrez but also blamed her for the cancelation of the Conapred forum.

A day after the forum was to be held, López Obrador renewed his attack on the anti-discrimination watchdog, suggesting that it should have never been created.

“We have to fight racism and discrimination … but we don’t need to create a government agency for every demand,” he said.

The president even claimed that he hadn’t heard of Conapred before the controversy over its forum, and asserted that it hasn’t done anything to benefit the Mexican people.

López Obrador’s remarks and Maccise’s resignation triggered an outpouring of support for the agency.

Aguilar, the anti-racism advocate, told AQ that the council “should have more responsibilities, more capacity, more power, and above all more resources.”

He said “it would be a mistake to think that it could disappear” and that “on the contrary, it should be strengthened.”

The global anti-racism movement triggered by the death of African American George Floyd in Minnesota last month has led to a period of self-reflection about racial prejudice in Mexico, a country where people who have dark skin and speak an indigenous language are much more likely to have lower levels of education and suffer economic hardship, according to a 2019 Oxfam study.

In that context, López Obrador’s insinuation that Conapred has achieved nothing and shouldn’t even exist was bound to spur controversy.

While three members of the Conapred Advisory Assembly quit in the wake of his remarks and Maccise’s apparently forced resignation, other members are seeking dialogue with the government to ensure its survival.

Haydee Pérez Garrido, a spokeswoman for the remaining Advisory Assembly members, told the news website Animal Político that a document has been sent to López Obrador and Interior Minister Olga Sánchez asserting that the elimination of Conapred would represent a step backward in the fight against discrimination.

She said the council should be strengthened while acknowledging that its “regulatory framework, mandate, responsibilities and operational capacity” should be reviewed.

In the document sent to the government, the Advisory Assembly members rejected the president’s claim that Conapred has done nothing to benefit Mexicans.

They stressed that in the 17 years since it was created, the council has made “significant progress in the defense of the rights” of people with disabilities, the elderly, people with different sexual preferences and those of diverse racial backgrounds, including Afro-Mexicans.

Discrediting Conapred and its work amounts to an attack on the “just struggles and demands” of a range of social groups, the Advisory Assembly members said.

“It must be highlighted that the president’s project, supported by the powerful idea of putting the poor first, implies recognizing that many of them [the poor] are in that position precisely because they are victims of discriminatory practices,” the document said.

Convincing the government of its worth is not the only battle currently faced by Conapred.

Hackers took the council’s website offline on Monday morning and at 5:00 p.m. it remained inaccessible.

Anonymous Iberoamérica, part of an international activist/hactivist collective known for cyber attacks, claimed responsibility for the website’s removal. It said that it had hacked the site to protest against federal government censorship.

“The new regime of the government led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador makes use of censorship when it can’t debate with solid arguments that which is not in its interests for the people to know,” it said.

“Anonymous will not allow censorship to once again form part of our everyday life as it did in the past.”

It was unclear whether the decision to target the Conapred website was related to López Obrador’s remarks about the anti-discrimination council last week.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Animal Político (sp), Americas Quarterly (en)

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