Saturday breaks record with 3,329 new Covid-19 cases for a total of 68,620

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May 25, 2020

Covid-19 cases as of Sunday evening. milenio

More than 6,000 new Covid-19 cases were added to Mexico’s tally over the weekend while the coronavirus death toll passed 7,000 with 405 fatalities reported on Saturday and Sunday.

The federal Health Ministry reported a record 3,329 additional cases on Saturday and 2,764 on Sunday, increasing the total number of cases since the start of the coronavirus pandemic to 68,620.

It reported 190 Covid-19 fatalities on Saturday and 215 on Sunday, lifting the death toll to 7,394.

Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said Sunday that an additional 595 deaths are suspected to have been caused by the disease but have not yet been confirmed.

In addition to the more than 68,000 confirmed cases, there are 28,931 suspected cases across the country, Alomía said. More than 219,000 people have now been tested for Covid-19 of whom 121,613 – 55% – tested negative.

Daily totals of coronavirus cases and deaths as of Sunday. milenio

About one in five of the total number of confirmed cases – 14,247 – are considered active, meaning that those infected first developed Covid-19 symptoms in the past 14 days.

Almost 70% of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in Mexico since the start of the pandemic have now recovered, about 20% currently have the disease and 10.8% died.

Mexico City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, has now recorded 19,682 cases since Covid-19 was first detected here almost three months ago. More than 11,000 people have tested positive in neighboring México state while Baja California ranks third for accumulated cases with 4,218.

Mexico City also leads the country for active cases, with 3,819 as of Sunday. México state has the second largest active outbreak, with almost 1,500 known cases, followed by Tabasco, Baja California, Veracruz and Puebla, all of which have more than 500 active cases.

Only four states – Colima, Zacatecas, Baja California Sur and Durango – have fewer than 100 active active cases.

Mexico City also has the highest coronavirus death toll in the country, with 1,963 confirmed fatalities as of Sunday, according to official statistics. México state has recorded 846 coronavirus-related deaths while Baja California has the third highest death toll, with 696 fatalities.

Two-thirds of the Covid-19 deaths in Baja California occurred in Tijuana, which has recorded more fatalities than any other municipality in the country.

National data presented by the Health Ministry at Sunday night’s coronavirus press briefing showed that 38% of general care beds set aside for patients with serious Covid-19 symptoms are currently occupied while 35% of those with ventilators are in use.

At 79%, Guerrero has the highest occupancy rate for general care beds followed by Mexico City (71%) and México state (58%).

Mexico City has the highest occupancy rate for beds with ventilators, with 67% currently in use. México state and Baja California follow, with more than 60% of critical care beds currently occupied in both states.

Hospitals in coronavirus hot spots, such as Mexico City and Acapulco, are facing increasing demand for their services as the pace of growth of the pandemic quickens and could soon come under even greater pressure with even higher numbers of new coronavirus cases predicted.

The Health Ministry reported more than 2,000 additional cases on each of the past 11 days and daily case numbers passed 3,000 for the first time on Saturday.

Researchers at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) and the National Council of Science and Technology predict that 76,992 people will have tested positive for Covid-19 by Tuesday, meaning that an additional 8,372 cases would have to be reported today and tomorrow.

Based on the number of Covid-19 tests whose results are not yet known and the positivity rate in recent days, the prediction – if it turns out to be accurate – will mean that more than 4,000 new cases will be reported on a single day for the first time.

Juan Eugenio Hernández Ávila, an INSP epidemiological expert, said the researchers’ predictions have not been 100% accurate but have provided a good approximation of how the pandemic will develop in the short term.

Even though coronavirus case numbers are continuing to rise rapidly, the national social distancing initiative will officially conclude this Saturday and decisions will be made on a state by state basis about which coronavirus restrictions can be lifted and which will remain in place.

Many states will begin easing restrictions on June 1 as part of efforts to reactivate their beleaguered economies and alleviate the financial pain the coronavirus pandemic has afflicted on millions of Mexicans.

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

7 governors form common front against federal energy policy changes

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MND Staff

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May 23, 2020

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The seven governors at their meeting in Coahuila Friday.

The governors of seven states have formed a common front to oppose federal energy policy changes that seek to consolidate control of the electricity market in the hands of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and limit the participation of private, renewable energy projects.

The governors of Nuevo León, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Durango, Michoacán, Jalisco and Colima announced their pact at a meeting in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila, on Friday.

The formation of the group comes after the National Energy Control Center (Cenace) announced in late April that surplus fuel oil produced by the state oil company Pemex would be used to ramp up electricity generation at old CFE plants and that trials that allowed wind farms and solar parks to provide electricity for the national grid would be suspended during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure the reliable supply of power.

Cenace’s suspension of the renewable energy trials will delay the commencement of at least 28 renewable energy projects.

The establishment of the common front also comes after the federal Energy Ministry (Sener) published a new energy policy that imposes restrictive measures on the renewable sector that could effectively prevent its expansion in Mexico.

The seven governors said that Cenace’s measures and the Sener policy are harmful to investor confidence and could cause Mexico to violate its commitments under the Paris Agreement, a global pact that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

They also said that thousands of jobs could be lost in the renewable energy sector in which both Mexican and foreign companies have invested, and pointed out that clean energy is generated more cheaply that that generated by fossil fuels.

The availability of electricity at lower prices is a competitive advantage that no country has the luxury to give up, the governors said.

The Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) warned earlier this month that electricity rates could go up as a result of the measures that will delay the commencement of new renewable energy projects and ramp up production at old state-run power plants.

The governors warned that the increased use of fuel oil to generate electricity at inefficient CFE plants would also cause pollution and emissions to increase. They called on the federal government to cancel definitively the Cenace agreement and Sener policy, noting that environmental organizations, business groups, ratings agencies and representatives of the European Union have rejected them.

The governors said they reserved the right to take legal action against the measures that threaten the renewable energy sector and the right of Mexicans to a healthy environment.

Sener’s policy has the potential to cause “serious consequences to the health and lives of millions of Mexican families,” said Tamaulipas Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca.

The governors said they are concerned about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and are thus developing policies to limit it. In that context, they said they are obliged to do all they can to maintain the confidence of renewable energy companies that have invested in their states and created jobs.

The measures announced by the federal government will cause millions of dollars in investment to be lost and lead to a lack of opportunities in the renewable sector for recent university graduates, they said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Clean energy initiatives thwarted by unexpected roadblock in Yucatán

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Jack Gooderidge

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May 23, 2020

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It had always seemed a little too good to be true. When the announcement came in June of 2019 that the Yucatán would play host to its first solar energy facility, the implications were immediately lauded.

At a cost of US $30 million, and capable of producing enough power for 30,000 Yucateco families, the initiative set the Yucatán on course to be the leading Mexican state in the pursuit of clean energy.

But this project was only the spearhead of a more all-encompassing sea change, one that promised 24 clean energy projects for the Yucatán, netting an extra 3,400 megawatts of power for the region. For context, energy output of this level would make it the only state to be entirely self-sufficient, and producing more clean energy than it uses.

Even these 24 pledged projects, projects set to fire the Yucatán to the forefront of the eco age, seemed unable to satisfy the ambitions of policy makers involved.

A myriad of international investors are in direct support of the projects, but multiple Chinese investors in Energía Renovable de la Península, through the necessary transportation of important construction equipment to the region, have marked the beginning of the first regular trade route between Progresso and China. Whichever way this initiative was observed, its merits for the prosperity of the southeast were numerous and undeniable.

Recently, however, the projects that have been promised and praised for the last year have hit a sizable and unexpected roadblock. As is so often the case, the often swampish bureaucracy of central government has slowed the Yucatán’s ambitious reach, with a list of changes only recently made to the clean energy sector.

On May 15, an agreement was published by the Ministry of Energy severely limiting the participation of renewable energy plants in the private sector. The measures, while a major setback for the development of green projects in the Yucatán, were claimed to be an attempt to regulate and safeguard the national electricity system, the future of which seems increasingly unreliable the more progressive initiatives are announced.

The new policy announcement essentially bans all private investment in the development and implementation of electricity generation, prioritizing the fossil fuel plants over new energy initiatives. While official comments from policy makers involved have been few and far between since the new regulations were implemented, the viability of these pioneering projects is threatened, with the majority set to struggle for funding and governmental support over the coming months.

Unfortunately, the new environmental focus that Yucatán Governor Vila Dosal claimed would set the state as a national and international example in the green energy sector looks unlikely to be able to weather the storm.

It’s not even just the hope of an eco-conscious industrial future that stands at risk, but the employment prospects of hundreds of Yucatecos ready to train in the renewable energy industry, and pioneer its future throughout the region. Even those residents in indirect proximity to the projects are set to be left unbalanced should the rug be pulled out from underneath.

Electricity rates can be a pernicious strain on the viability of businesses and families, and the promise of more affordable prices offered from a switch to renewable and sustainable methods would have acted as a life-line to countless people. In total, a possible 12,000 jobs and crucial financial stability for thousands looks set to become history.

To draw a set of rules as to what kind of projects are supported and which are cancelled by the government in the southeast would be nigh on impossible. With the continuation of the Dos Bocas refinery and the unwavering belief in the potential of the Maya Train, the decision as to which initiatives are worth the government’s effort seems arbitrary. What does seem clear is a tenacious disregard for environmental ideas and a prioritization of clearer, economically beneficial projects.

There is no easy fix for this problem, and the frustration of Yucatecos grows with each intervention from outside influences. Too often it seems that lawmakers are inward looking when they need to be looking out, and outward looking when they need to be looking in. The Maya Train has international implications, yes, but arguably threatens the locals at home, and it’s the same dynamic with these new clean energy projects.

The potential of 24 environmental projects reaches far beyond the Yucatán, with the ability to propel Mexico itself into a future we all know is eventually inevitable; sadly, this future will remain illusive as long as the true capability of the Yucatán is overlooked.

Jack Gooderidge writes from Campeche.

US suspects pirate attack numbers are underreported

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Susy Buchanan

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May 23, 2020

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The Maersk Transporter was looted April 12.

The United States government suspects that pirate attacks on vessels and oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are being underreported, according to the latest advisory from the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD).

“A significant underreporting of attacks in this area is suspected. These attacks have involved the discharge of firearms, crew injuries, the taking of hostages and robberies,” the report stated, urging vessels in the area to develop security protocols to prevent pirates from boarding.

MARAD says that a minimum of 20 fishing vessels and 35 oil platforms have been attacked since 2018 in the Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf of Mexico with at least five attacks occurring in April.

An April 20 report from the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) details the latest reported attacks.

At around 9 a.m. on April 4, Remas, an Italian pipe-laying vessel near Dos Bocas, Tabasco, was approached by eight armed men in a fast boat, prompting the captain to sound the alarm and lock down the vessel. The men opened fire on the ship but the captain was able to use his thrusters to prevent the pirates from coming alongside and boarding.

On April 8, around 9:30 a.m., seven armed men in two boats pulled up on another pipe-laying vessel near Dos Bocas and three of the pirates were able to board but later fled.

The following day at 10:30 p.m. eight armed pirates wearing masks managed to once again board the Remas near Dos Bocas, the third pirate attack in five months on that vessel, taking crew members hostage and using them as human shields. The armed men looted the ship, stealing the crew’s personal belongings and navigation equipment. Several shots were fired but no injuries were reported.

On April 12, pirates attacked the Maersk Transporter, a Denmark-flagged supply vessel located north of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, and took several crew members hostage as they looted the ship. The hostages were released when the pirates left.

And on April 14 six pirates armed with automatic weapons and pistols boarded the barge Telford located north of Ciudad del Carmen and opened fire. One crew member was injured.

After a fourfold increase of reported acts of piracy in the Gulf in 2019, the Mexican navy established four monitoring zones which will be patrolled through 2024.

Last year, Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, called Gulf of Mexico piracy “the wave of the future.”

Source: Reforma (sp)

Two babies released from hospital after recovering from Covid-19

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Susy Buchanan

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May 23, 2020

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One of two babies that survived Covid-19 in Tabasco.

Two infants have recovered from coronavirus this week in Tabasco.

After 35 days in the hospital suffering from coronavirus-associated respiratory symptoms and malnutrition, 4-month-old Isaac received a clean bill of health and has rejoined his family.

The infant spent more than a month at the Rodolfo Nieto Padrón children’s hospital in Villahermosa, the Ministry of Health reports.

After overcoming symptoms and testing negative for the coronavirus, baby Isaac was discharged Wednesday from the hospital to applause from medical staff.

The child’s mother thanked the hospital for caring for her baby over the last five weeks and rang the “Bell of Life,” a symbol of victory and hope, before taking him home.

A second baby in Tabasco, 9-day-old Lupita, was discharged from the same hospital with similar fanfare less than 24 hours later after she too recovered from the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization reports that worldwide “relatively few cases of infants confirmed to have Covid-19 have been reported; those who are infected have experienced mild illness.”

As of Friday, Tabasco had 2,930 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 371 deaths.

Source: El Horizonte (sp), ABC Noticias (sp)

Domestic violence 911 calls totalled 400,000 in April: federal agency

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 23, 2020

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Nadine Gasman of the federal women's agency Inmujeres.

Coronavirus stay-at-home measures have generated a marked increase in attacks on women, says the head of a federal agency, who called it a “second pandemic.”

In a virtual meeting with federal lawmakers, Nadine Gasman Zylbermann, president of the National Institute of Women (Inmujeres) reported that 400,000 domestic violence calls were made to 911 during April.

Gasman also pointed out that 91% of victims of violence do not file complaints at all. Frustration with the system may be one reason behind their silence.

“When a woman is experiencing such violence, she has very little recourse,” World Justice Project lawyer and researcher Layda Negrete told the website Foreign Policy. “If she calls the police, they might not come, and even if they do, they have no training in how to respond to family violence. To pursue charges and protection from the violence they must go to the prosecutor’s office, who typically fail to do anything about the complaint.”

Numbers from the Spotlight Initiative, a partnership between the United Nations and the European Union working to eradicate violence against women and girls, show that Mexican women made more than 115,000 domestic violence-related calls to 911 in March a 22% increase compared to February.

The majority of calls came from the state of México, Mexico City and Chihuahua, with Chihuahua having the largest number of calls per capita in the country.

Sexual assault reports are also on the rise. In March 395 rape-related calls were made to 911, representing a 20.06% increase over February when 323 calls were received, and 15.83% more than in March 2019 which saw 341 complaints.

On May 15, President López Obrador rejected numbers from his own government showing that violence against women has increased during the coronavirus emergency.

“I’m going to give you a piece of information that doesn’t mean that violence against women doesn’t exist,” López Obrador said. “I don’t want you to misinterpret me because a lot of what I say is taken out of context: 90% of those calls … are false, it’s proven.”

Reports from activists claim that 209 women have been murdered since stay-at-home measures were implemented.

According to the non-profit women’s justice organization Equis, three factors have led to an increase in calls during the pandemic. First, self-isolation means women spend more time with their aggressors, thus increasing their risk of being attacked. The economic crisis also puts added stress on households, and finally, some support networks available to help women deal with violence, although considered an essential service by the government, are operating at limited capacity due to the coronavirus.

During the meeting, Gasman appealed to the the Gender Equality Commission of the lower house of Congress to use the opportunity to develop a “new normal” for women and families in the nation, calling on institutions, government and non-profits to work together to create a unified front in the prevention of domestic violence.

Interior Minister Olga Sánchez told the meeting that most public funds have been directed toward the Covid-19 crisis, putting budgetary pressures on other projects, including the protection of women who are victims of violence.

Source: Foreign Policy (en), El Universal (sp)

Despite doubts, Mexico to administer hydroxychloroquine to 20,000

By

MND Staff

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May 23, 2020

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The federal Health Ministry will use the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine to treat 20,000 Covid-19 outpatients despite doubts about its efficacy and the risk of it causing an irregular heartbeat and even death.

The director of the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition told the newspaper Milenio that the health regulatory agency Cofepris has authorized the administration of the drug to patients recovering from Covid-19 in their homes.

José Sifuentes acknowledged that clinical trials have shown that high doses of hydroxychloroquine for a prolonged period of time can cause a range of side effects in Covid-19 patients but emphasized that the drug has been shown to reduce generalized inflammation in people with the disease.

In that context, he stressed that outpatients will be given only low to medium doses for a maximum of seven days starting in the early phase of their illness.

Sifuentes said that all patients receiving treatment with the drug will be closely monitored, explaining that the “careful follow-up” will occur at people’s homes and via telephone and video calls.

He said that 130,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine donated by the Swiss healthcare company Novartis will be distributed to national health institutes, regional hospitals and specialty hospitals, among other facilities. The use of the drug among ambulatory Covid-19 patients will commence next week.

The announcement of the plan came just two days after the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated that the drug should only be used in closely-monitored clinical trials due to the potential side effects.

Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program, said that hydroxychloroquine and the similar drug chloroquine have “yet to be found effective in the treatment of Covid-19” or to prevent the disease.

The medical journal The Lancet published a study on Friday that said that there were no benefits to treating Covid-19 with either drug and that their use actually increases the risk of dying for coronavirus patients.

In a study of 96,000 coronavirus patients, 18% treated with hydroxychloroquine and 16.4% of those treated with chloroquine died. For patients in a control group, the death rate was 9%.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, Mexico’s coronavirus point man, is among a large number of medical professionals who have warned against taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure against Covid-19.

But United States President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly promoted the drug as a Covid-19 treatment, was not dissuaded from using it to try to stave off Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

“A lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy, you’d be surprised about how many people are taking it … before you catch it. … I happen to be taking it …” he told reporters on Monday.

“Couple of weeks ago, I started taking it because I think it’s good, I’ve heard a lot of good stories. And if it’s not good I’m not going to get hurt by it. It’s been around for 40 years for malaria, for lupus, for other things. I take it, frontline workers take it, a lot of doctors take it …” Trump said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Covid-19 deaths hit new daily record of 479; total nearing 7,000

By

MND Staff

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May 23, 2020

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Covid-19 deaths as of Friday evening. milenio

Mexico recorded a new daily record for Covid-19 deaths for the second time in three days on Friday with 479 additional fatalities.

The official coronavirus death toll now stands at 6,989 just over two months after the first Covid-19 fatality was recorded in the country.

The death toll reported on Friday is 13% higher than the previous high of 424 on Wednesday. More than 1,300 new Covid-19 fatalities were reported in the past three days.

Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía told a press conference Friday night that an additional 814 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by Covid-19 but have not yet been confirmed.

He reported that the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Mexico since the start of the pandemic had risen to 62,527, an increase of 2,960 compared to Thursday.

The daily tally of new coronavirus cases and deaths. milenio

The single-day increase in cases is the second highest since Covid-19 was first detected in Mexico at the end of February. The daily record was set a day earlier on Thursday with 2,973 new cases reported.

Alomía said that 13,347 of the confirmed cases are considered active, an increase of 442 compared to Thursday. He also said that there are 33,801 suspected cases across the country and that a total of 210,070 people have now been tested.

Alomía said that there are currently more than 413,000 testing kits available in Mexico after a shipment of 300,000 arrived from China last weekend.

Mexico City continues to lead the country for accumulated Covid-19 cases, active cases and deaths. The capital has recorded 17,690 cases since the start of the pandemic of which 3,495 – about one in five – are active.

There have been 1,854 confirmed Covid-19 deaths in Mexico City although media reports have claimed that fatalities in the capital are being drastically underreported.

México state has the second largest active coronavirus outbreak, with 1,437 cases. Tabasco, Veracruz and Baja California rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, for the size of their active outbreaks. Each of the three states has more than 500 active cases.

Colima is the only state in the country with fewer than 50 active cases while three – Zacatecas, Durango and Baja California Sur – have between 50 and 100.

México state also has the second highest death toll after 187 additional fatalities were reported on Thursday. It has now recorded 809 Covid-19 fatalities, 161 more than Baja California, which has the third highest death toll in Mexico.

Based on confirmed cases and deaths, the coronavirus fatality rate is now 11.1, significantly higher than the global rate of 6.4.

Despite the rapidly rising case tally and death toll, Mexico’s national social distancing initiative – La Jornada Nacional de Sana Distancia – will officially conclude next Saturday just over two months after it commenced.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell stressed on Friday night that the conclusion of the initiative will not “in any way” mark a return to normality and a resumption of all economic and everyday activities.

After May 30, “the majority of large cities” will be allocated a red light on the government’s color-coded “stoplight” system, he said, meaning that “work and school restrictions will continue.”

López-Gatell said that plotting the return to the so-called “new normal” is very complex and that the government is endeavoring to find the right balance. He stressed that the authorities place a higher priority on health and life than on the economy but noted that a lot of Mexicans are currently experiencing severe economic hardship as a result of the coronavirus mitigation measures.

“We live in an extraordinarily unequal country; half of all people live day by day and they’re suffering. … They don’t have [money for their] daily sustenance, to feed themselves. That affects their health and can affect their lives.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

From floating islands to abandoned lots: urban gardening in Mexico

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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May 23, 2020

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A gardener harvests greens at Vía Orgánica in San Miguel de Allende.

Urban gardening is nothing new in Mexico. Lack of space and a growing population led to the invention of chinampas, artificial islands in the lake waters of ancient Mexico City. Today, some of the islands still exist as productive farmland.

The modern concept of reclaiming urban space for agriculture has become popular in Mexico for many of the same reasons as other parts of the world – concerns about the environment, food quality and food availability. It started in the United States, with the victory gardens of World War II, but by the 1980s had spread worldwide.

Mexican urban agricultural organizations are also involved in issues related to genetically modified food, organic farming, food labeling and community building. More recently, Mexico has seen an upsurge of interest in gardening because of Covid-19.

But there are reasons why urban gardening is attractive specifically to Mexico. About 80% of Mexicans now live in urban areas, and much of this population consists of recent migrants from rural areas. In addition, urban sprawl has swallowed former farms and villages.

Poverty is an issue for former rural residents and former rural lands. According to Patricia Iglesias of Tierra Permanente, a Mexico City organization that promotes sustainable agriculture, even small fluctuations in the prices of staples can strain small household budgets. Gardening is one strategy to combat this.

Young gardeners at Vivero la Esperanza in San Juan Tecomatlán, Jalisco.

But the issues are not just economic. Mitigating the heat-island effect is particularly important in Mexico as most of the country is in a tropical or semi-tropical zone. Rural migrants and newly urbanized lands are often from highly traditional communities, mestizo and indigenous. These communities risk losing cultural values and the social cohesion that comes with it. This is particularly true for Mexico’s three largest cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.

Many urban and community gardens are bottom-up initiatives, but unlike Europe, they tend to be controlled by an individual or well-defined group, with physical restrictions to outsiders. The group may be non-profit, but economic issues tend to dominate over ecological ones.

Mexico can and does grow a wide variety of produce in its urban gardens, which in many places can grow year-round with irrigation. Gardens grow fruit trees, medicinal plants and specialty produce, but the most popular crops are the staples of the Mexican diet: tomatoes, squash, chayote, chile peppers and various greens including lettuce. Iglesias says that even egg production is done in many gardens, something rare in more developed countries.

Urban agriculture is most developed in Mexico City, but gardens and organizations exist all over the country. It includes taking advantage of roofs, balconies, inner courtyards and windowsills along with the more traditional backyards and abandoned lots. From 2013 to 2017 over 63,000 people participated in urban gardening in Mexico City alone.

Although most projects supplement family food supplies, urban gardens exist for other reasons, mostly concerns related to commercial agriculture. These gardens tend to produce organically and work to increase awareness about problems with pesticides, the development of seeds (including GMO) and depletion of soils.

Some gardens exist to produce gourmet and specialty produce such as uncommon species of mushrooms and plants that were common in the pre-Hispanic diet. Some give the long-term unemployed a chance to contribute economically. There are even corporations that have installed gardens on their grounds, with the produce used in their own cafeterias.

Las Cañadas center for agroecology and permaculture in Veracruz.

Only 24% of Mexico’s urban residents have access to green spaces. Government agencies, especially at the local and state level, support urban gardening with resources such as space, compost, information and legal rights. In 2017, the city passed a law specifically stating that residents have the right to an urban garden, and all government agencies are required to have at least one in their installations. The capital was named one of five cities in Latin America doing the most to promote urban agriculture by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Just about all of Mexico’s major cities have urban gardening initiatives, almost all of which were started in the past 15 years. These include Huerto Tlatelolco, Huerto Roma Verde and the Cultiva Tu Espacio programs in Mexico City, along with the Colectivo Hurto Agroecológico Universitario and Huerto Comunitario Mejor Santa Tere in Guadalajara. The Huertos Familiares program in Monterrey provides fresh vegetables for 300 families in 39 neighborhoods. The first program in Mérida was established by the municipality in 2018.

Non-profit urban agriculture organizations accept volunteers, and many offer other kinds of services including cultural activities, cooking classes and workshops on a myriad of topics from composting to reclaiming wastewater and even non-gardening topics. Because of the Covid-19 situation, almost all are physically closed at present, but many are offering classes and other services online, although in Spanish. Many for-profit businesses also exist, catering to urban gardeners. Many of them are in Mexico City but can ship nationwide.

Those initiatives near areas where many expats live are likely to have workshops and services for non-Spanish speakers. Huerto Roma Verde has members who speak German, French and Japanese as well as English. Rancho Ecológico, just outside of San Miguel Allende, has one founder who is American. Vivero La Esperanza on Lake Chapala is run by Francisco Nava, who speaks English, and Chapala proper has the Lake Chapala Garden Club as well.

On Lake Pátzcuaro there is Tierramor, which was cofounded by Holger Hieronimi, originally from Germany. If you do speak Spanish and live in a rainforest area, Las Cañadas Centro de Agroecología y Permacultura in Veracruz offers 20-day intensive apprenticeships.

Another way to find urban and community gardeners is through businesses that share their worldview, especially health food restaurants and cafes. Several organizations were found for this report by contacting business such as Huerto Café in Chapala and The Green Place in Puerto Vallarta.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 17 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture. She publishes a blog called Creative Hands of Mexicoand her first book, Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta, was published last year. Her culture blog appears weekly on Mexico News Daily.

Acapulco hospitals on point of collapse: mayor

By

MND Staff

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May 22, 2020

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A lone musician seeks customers on a deserted Acapulco beach.

Hospitals in Acapulco, Guerrero, are on the verge of collapse due to the large numbers of Covid-19 patients they are treating, the resort city’s mayor said on Thursday.

“I’m deeply concerned about the situation we’re going through in our municipality,” Adela Román Ocampo said in a video posted to social media.

“The coronavirus pandemic has spread out across all of Acapulco. The situation is very serious. … The virus exists, it’s not an invention and it’s causing the deaths of thousands of people across the whole country. In Acapulco 38 people have lost their lives and we have almost 520 infected people.”

Román said that Acapulco hospitals are approaching 80% of their capacity and that more people with coronavirus-like symptoms are arriving every day.

If the situation isn’t controlled within a short period of time, “Acapulco’s hospitals will collapse and they won’t be able to attend to more patients,” she said.

The mayor also said that one of the two crematoriums in Acapulco is on the brink of saturation.

Román implored residents of Acapulco to take the pandemic seriously, asserting that “the danger is very high” and pointing out that the pandemic is growing more quickly in Guerrero than in all but two other states of the country.

“Acapulco is the center of the pandemic in the state. That’s why it’s necessary for you to stay at home; don’t go out [where you can] catch or spread a virus that could cause your death or that of your family,” she said.

The Morena party mayor said that she was aware of the economic hardship people are going through due to the shutdown of the tourism sector and economy more generally.

In that context, Román announced a series of measures she said would help to reactivate the Acapulco economy amid the pandemic.

She said that fertilizer will be distributed to 10,000 farmers to allow them to sow new crops “during this very difficult stage of the pandemic,” that jobs will be offered in a local government program to repair potholes before the commencement of the rainy season and that financial support will be made available to 5,000 local fishermen and fishing cooperatives.

However, a true reactivation of the Acapulco economy will be heavily dependent on the resumption of activities in the tourism sector. While authorities in Quintana Roo are hoping to welcome tourists to the Caribbean coast resort city of Cancún as soon as June 8, it is unclear when visitors will be able to return to the port city sometimes referred to as “the Pearl of the Pacific.”

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Wednesday that “the critical time” of the pandemic in Acapulco “is still a long way off” and that its tourism industry won’t be able to open any time soon.

According to federal government statistics, 555 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in the city while case numbers in Guerrero are just short of 1,000.

There have been 147 coronavirus-related deaths in the state, where many residents in rural areas don’t have easy access to health care facilities should they require urgent medical attention.

Source: La Jornada (sp)