AMLO goes on the attack after intellectuals propose opposition bloc

By

-

July 16, 2020

lopez obrador — The president said the conservatives who pretended to be liberals are finally removing their masks.

President López Obrador has hit back at a group of intellectuals after they penned a letter calling for the creation of an opposition bloc to seize congressional control from the ruling Morena party at the 2021 midterm elections.

“I celebrate that writers and journalists who have always defended the neoliberal … model are forming a group, defining their position and leaving simulation to one side in order to seek to restore the old regime, characterized by an absence of democracy, corruption and inequality,” López Obrador wrote in a response published online on Wednesday night.

“History teaches us that when a process of transformation is put into practice, a conservative reaction is always produced,” the president said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the newspaper Reforma, which López Obrador frequently rails against, published a letter signed by 29 people including journalist and historian Héctor Aguilar Camín, former foreign minister Jorge Castañeda, former health minister Julio Frenk and historian Enrique Krauze.

In the letter entitled “Against the authoritarian drift and for the defense of democracy,” the intellectuals charged that the ruling Morena party and its allies have increased their power in Congress by “buying” lawmakers who were elected as representatives of other parties.

“The consequence has been the asphyxiation of pluralism … in the interest of subjugating legislative power to the dictations of the executive,” the letter said.

The intellectuals claimed that López Obrador has taken steps to concentrate power in his hands at the expense of the other two branches of federal government and the states. They said that the president has “destroyed or damaged public administration and constitutional institutions” and harmed “the capacities of government.”

“He takes unilateral decisions, polarizes society, … discredits the authority of specialized bodies such as the INE [the National Electoral Institute] and attacks all forms of expression that don’t identify with his political vision,” the letter said.

The intellectuals also took aim at the federal government’s “contemptuous attitude” toward Mexico’s scientific and cultural communities, and “the movement of women who are fighting for equality.”

In addition, they slammed the government’s economic response to the coronavirus crisis, asserting that it has adopted a policy of “suicidal austerity.”

The López Obrador administration rejected a national agreement to reactivate the economy and save thousands of jobs and instead used the pandemic to “accelerate the demolition of the state and the control of power,” the intellectuals said.

The letter by intellectuals, published as a paid advertisement Wednesday in Reforma.

If the president and his political allies continue to take Mexico down the same path, hard-won “democratic advances” will be lost, they said.

“We think that it’s imperative to correct the course and recover the political pluralism and balance of powers that characterize constitutional democracy,” the letter said.

“The only way to achieve it is through a broad citizens’ alliance which, together with the opposition parties, builds a bloc that via the popular vote at the 2021 parliamentary elections reestablishes the true face of citizens’ diversity. It’s necessary that this alliance obtains the majority to ensure that the Chamber of Deputies recovers its role as a constitutional counterweight to the executive power and [thus] forces the government to respect democratic diversity.”

In his response, López Obrador said it was “completely legitimate” that opposition to his government exists but expressed doubt that those who oppose him will be successful in seizing control of the lower house of Congress.

“In 2021, the people will freely decide their destiny. And the truth is I don’t believe that the majority will support the return … of corruption, tycoons, organic intellectuals, privileges, hypocrisy, marginalization, classism and racism,” he wrote.

“There is no doubt that we are living in interesting times. Whether it’s out of interest or anger, the conservatives who pretended to be liberals are finally removing their masks,” concluded the president’s missive.

Speaking at his regular news conference on Thursday, López Obrador declared that he is the “most attacked president in the last 100 years,” charging that there are attacks against him every day.

The president said that the constant attacks against him and his administration amount to “a badge of pride because it means that we’re making progress” in transforming the country.

The intellectuals who put their name to yesterday’s letter “long for a return to the decay” of corrupt past governments whose officials entered into pacts with criminal groups, López Obrador said.

“They’re within their rights because we live in a democracy but the people will decide [who governs Mexico]. In a free way, they will decide what they want moving forward, how they want their destiny, that of their family, and that of their children, to be shaped. It’s a free and sovereign decision.”

Source: Expansión Política (sp), Infobae (sp), El Financiero (sp)

Face masks, face shields among virus precautions at private school

By

Susy Buchanan

-

July 16, 2020

0

The new normal at a Mexico City private school.

When Mexico’s schools reopen remains uncertain but measures to protect students and teachers from the coronavirus are being prepared.

One school that has been planning for the eventual opening — schools were closed across Mexico in mid-March — is Universidad Motolinía, a private Christian school in Mexico City that has announced strict coronavirus protocols.

Its measures go beyond those planned in the public school system, where teachers have expressed concern that they don’t go far enough.

Motolinía’s 600 students, ranging from preschool to high school, will have to pass through virus protection tunnels before entering the school. Their temperatures will be taken and blood oxygen levels tested. Face shields and hand sanitizer will be required and Plexiglas shields will surround each desk.

In the cafeteria, students will have 15 minutes to eat their lunch surrounded by a Plexiglas barrier.

During recess, students will not be allowed to play with balls or engage in any other activity which may lead to direct contact with other students. Singing and dancing at a safe social distance will be encouraged.

Although the school year is supposed to begin August 10, the first day of school may be postponed due to the coronavirus as schools are not permitted to open until the state they are in is classified as “green” on the government’s coronavirus risk map, indicating the risk of contracting the virus is low.

Last week the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) sent public schools guidelines for their eventual reopening, which include the use of masks or bandanas, soap and water, and a staggered attendance schedule depending on the first letter of a student’s last name.

Entrance exams for secondary school have been canceled, as have all assemblies and parent-teacher conferences.

Still, some public school teachers feel the government protocols are not enough to keep students and education workers safe.

A poll in Mexico City indicated that 80% of the 2,203 teachers and principals surveyed do not feel that the government’s protocols will help protect staff and students.

More than one-third of teachers in Mexico City work in schools with insufficient drinking water and no cleaning supplies. Additionally, 11% of teachers said their schools were still damaged from the September 2017 earthquake.

The teachers surveyed would like the SEP to take steps similar to what Motolinía is implementing and provide schools with digital thermometers, oximeters, cleaning supplies, masks, face shields and Plexiglas shields for desks.

Teachers also want the SEP to hire doctors, nurses and special cleaning crews for schools, as well as establish a defined protocol for working with disabled students, where physical contact is often necessary.

“We will never, for any reason, risk the health of children and teachers,” said the SEP’s Marcos Bucio. “Students will return to class as soon as there is not a single risk in the classroom for children and teachers.”

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), La Silla Rota (sp)

New coronavirus restrictions implemented in 8 states

By

MND Staff

-

July 16, 2020

0

Highway health checks are conducted in Veracruz.

Authorities in at least eight states have decided to implement new coronavirus restrictions due to a spike in case numbers.

In Tamaulipas, where case numbers have increased by almost 500% since June 1, authorities have decided to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages this weekend and nonessential businesses are required to shut their doors by 5:00 p.m. on a daily basis.

Public transit is only permitted to operate at 50% capacity in the northern border state while there are restrictions on people’s movement between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.

Authorities in the neighboring state of Nuevo León have also implemented a 10:00 p.m.-5:00 a.m. curfew and and restaurants have been told that they can’t accept any sit-down diners. Nonessential services have also been suspended in the state, where coronavirus case numbers have surged more than 600% since June 1.

In Yucatán, Governor Mauricio Vila has once again implemented a ley seca, or dry law, prohibiting the purchase of alcohol all week, and residents are banned from using their cars between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Nonessential businesses must shut by 6:00 p.m. and the state’s marinas have been closed.

Mérida, the Yucatán capital and the state’s largest city, currently has the third largest active coronavirus outbreak in Mexico, with 803 cases.

Farther east, the southern half of Quintana Roo returned to “red light” restrictions this week due to an increase in case numbers and high occupancy levels in hospitals.

Hotels, restaurants and theme parks in the municipalities of Felipe Carillo Puerto, José María Morelos, Bacalar and Othón P. Blanco are only permitted to operate at 15% capacity, while the “red light”rules required churches, theaters, hair salons, malls and bars to close.

In Veracruz – which has the fourth highest case tally among Mexico’s 32 states – security authorities carried out operations on Wednesday to partially shut down the downtown areas of cities in 38 municipalities, while bars and nightclubs have been ordered to close in San Luis Potosí, where coronavirus case numbers have recently spiked.

In Nayarit, businesses are only permitted to operate at 30% capacity and police are carrying out patrols to ensure that citizens comply with restrictions. Governor Antonio Echevarría García warned in late June that the consequences could be dire if people didn’t heed the call to act responsibly.

Authorities in Colima are expected to announce new restrictions today that could include the mandatory use of face masks and stricter rules for nonessential businesses.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday that the epidemic in the small Pacific coast state is in a growth phase.

Colima has recorded 980 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, of which 219, or 22%, are currently active.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Among companies, Pemex leads internationally in coronavirus deaths

By

Susy Buchanan

-

July 16, 2020

0

A Pemex hospital in Villahermosa, Tabasco.

Government-owned Pemex leads the world as the company with the most coronavirus deaths. As of Tuesday, 202 employees and five contractors had died from the disease.

The news agency Bloomberg says the number of deaths at Pemex far surpasses that of any other company.

New York’s Metropolitan Transport Authority, which employs around 75,000 people, has recorded 131 coronavirus deaths among its employees in a city that for a time was the epicenter of the virus in the United States.

Similarly, the meat and poultry industry in the U.S. has seen 128 workers die, but among a workforce that is four times larger than that of Pemex, which had 125,735 employees in late 2019.

The difficulties of social distancing on oil rigs, where hundreds of employees sleep in dormitories and crowd together in mess halls, may be a factor in the high number of deaths. But the company was also hesitant to enact protective measures early on, such as reducing its workforce, and many of its employees suffer from health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.

In May, the Petromex oil workers union denounced crowded working conditions and demanded health and safety protocols be implemented across the board in a letter sent to Pemex chief Octavio Romero by Petromex secretary-general Yolanda Morales Izquierdo.

Since then, the company has begun taking precautionary measures, including sending some oil rig workers home, taking temperature checks, disinfecting work areas and conducting rapid coronavirus testing, and mortality rates appear to be going down as a result.

Pemex, which runs hospitals and clinics for its employees, their families and retired workers, has tested less than 1% of the 750,000 people in its system for the coronavirus. As of Tuesday, 4,119 people had tested positive.

And although the news from the oil company isn’t good, Pemex has been applauded for the transparency of its data. “It’s really good that they actually do release this kind of data,” said Duncan Wood, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute in Washington, D.C., adding that the Pemex health care system may allow for better testing and care than the general public would receive. Pemex reports that 66% of those infected with the coronavirus have recovered.

In addition to those who have died of the virus since the pandemic began, 301 retired workers and 230 relatives of current employees have also perished from the disease, bringing the total number of deaths in the Pemex system to 738.

Source: Bloomberg (en), Infobae (sp), Sin Embargo (sp)

Virus case numbers soar in Guanajuato, Durango, Nuevo León during ‘new normal’

By

MND Staff

-

July 16, 2020

0

A temperature and oxygen level check in Guanajuato, where case numbers have soared. — A temperature and oxygen level check in Guanajuato, where case numbers are up 693%.

Coronavirus case numbers have soared in Guanajuato, Durango and Nuevo León since the national social distancing initiative concluded at the end of May, while Sonora, Jalisco and Tamaulipas have seen sharp spikes to their Covid-19 death tolls.

Between June 1 – the date of the commencement of the so-called “new normal” in which coronavirus restrictions applied on a state by state rather than national basis – and July 15, Guanajuato’s coronavirus case tally increased from 1,680 to 13,329, a 693% surge.

The Bajío region state now has the sixth highest total of accumulated cases among Mexico’s 32 states behind only Mexico City, México state, Tabasco, Veracruz and Puebla.

Over the past 1 1/2 months, case numbers in Durango have increased by a similarly alarming 631%, increasing from 400 on June 1 to 2,924 on Wednesday.

The coronavirus epidemic in Nuevo León has also grown by 631% since the beginning of the “new normal,” with case numbers increasing from 1,481 to 10,830. The northern border state has the ninth largest case tally in Mexico.

Active coronavirus case numbers by state as of Wednesday. milenio

For confirmed Covid-19 deaths, Sonora has seen the sharpest increase since June 1. The northern border state had recorded 129 fatalities by the first day of June but by Wednesday its death toll had risen to 1,198, an increase of 829%.

Jalisco’s death toll rose 647% in the same period, increasing to 1,105 from 148. Confirmed Covid-19 deaths in Tamaulipas increased 533% from 101 on June 1 to 639 on July 15.

Across Mexico, confirmed case numbers have risen 250% since the beginning of the “new normal,” increasing from 90,664 to 317,635. Just over 71% of all cases detected in Mexico since the beginning of the pandemic in late February were reported since June 1.

Covid-19 deaths surged by an even higher 272%, increasing to 36,906 on Wednesday from 9,930 a month and a half earlier. Just over 73% of all confirmed Covid-19 fatalities were reported in the period.

And the numbers continue to climb.

The federal Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that it had registered 6,149 new cases and 579 additional Covid-19 deaths.

The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths. Deaths are numbers reported and not necessarily those that occurred each day. milenio

Of the more than 317,000 confirmed cases, 28,361 are considered active, a decrease of 968 compared to Tuesday. There are also 81,411 suspected cases, meaning that the results of that number of Covid-19 tests are not yet known.

Mexico City leads the country for confirmed accumulated cases, with almost 60,000 as of Wednesday, while México state ranks second with more than 44,000. There is a big gap to third-ranked Tabasco, where almost 16,000 people have tested positive.

Seven other states have recorded more than 10,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. They are Veracruz, Puebla, Guanajuato, Sonora, Baja California, Nuevo León and Sinaloa.

Mexico City also has the highest number of active cases, with 3,869, followed by México state and Guanajuato, which have 2,463 each.

Seven other states have more than 1,000 active cases, according to federal data. They are Nuevo León, Tabasco, Veracruz, Jalisco, Yucatán, Coahuila and Puebla.

At the municipal level, León, Guanajuato, has the largest active outbreak followed by Centro (Villahermosa), Tabasco, and Mérida, Yucatán.

Ten states have recorded more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. They are Mexico City, 7,910; México state, 5,439; Baja California, 2,336; Veracruz, 2058; Puebla, 1,864; Sinaloa, 1,714; Tabasco, 1,485; Sonora, 1,198; Guerrero, 1,128; and Jalisco, 1,105.

Four municipalities have recorded more than 1,000 deaths. They are Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero in Mexico City, Mexicali, Baja California, and Puebla.

Based on confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 11.6 per 100 cases, well above the global rate of 4.3.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Acapulco water utility accused of environmental damage

By

MND Staff

-

July 15, 2020

0

discharge in Acapulco bay — It's either just dirty water or a sewage discharge.

The National Water Commission (Conagua) has filed a criminal complaint against the Acapulco water utility, alleging that it discharged sewage into the ocean at a local beach.

The commission said in a statement on Tuesday that it filed an environmental damage complaint against the utility with the Guerrero branch of the federal Attorney General’s Office.

Conagua alleges that Capama, as the water utility is known, discharged sewage into the water at Icacos beach on June 25. The commission said it carried out six analyses of ocean water in the area and confirmed the presence of contaminants.

The Guerrero Environment Ministry has also filed a complaint with the federal environmental protection agency Profepa over the sewage contamination at Icacos beach but it didn’t say who was responsible.

Capama chief Leonel Galindo said Conagua’s claim was “completely false,” asserting that it was merely “dirty water” that ended up in Acapulco Bay.

Despite his denial, Acapulco Mayor Adela Román Ocampo said Tuesday she would ask for the resignation of all Capama directors due to the alleged discharge and ongoing water supply problems in the Pacific coast resort city.

She also said that she would seek the resignation of the municipal ecology director so as to “facilitate” an investigation into the alleged discharge of sewage.

Icacos beach, located in Acapulco’s Zona Dorada, or Golden Zone, had been awarded the Blue Flag distinction in recognition of its cleanliness but was stripped of that status as a result of the alleged spill late last month.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Guanajuato, feds set aside differences to work jointly on security

By

MND Staff

-

July 15, 2020

0

Guanajuato Governor Rodríguez and President López Obrador shake hands on a security collaboration. — Guanajuato Governor Rodríguez and President López Obrador shake hands on security collaboration.

President López Obrador said Wednesday that the governor of Guanajuato has agreed to set aside his differences with the federal government and work with it to combat insecurity in the state, Mexico’s most violent.

As a result, National Action Party Governor Diego Sinhué Rodríguez will participate in daily federal government security meetings, something that he has previously refused to do.

Speaking in Guanajuato city at his regular morning news conference, López Obrador praised the governor for his change of heart but also took a thinly-veiled swipe at him.

“We can’t be self-indulgent, gloat over our positions when they’re not the best for the benefit of the community. … That we’re all now moving ahead together is a sign of great responsibility from the governor,” he said.

The federal and Guanajuato governments will thus begin a new chapter in their relationship, López Obrador said.

Celaya is one of five homicide hot spots in Guanajuato.

“A joint [security] strategy is being applied that is led by the governor, which in essence means working [together] every day and daily meetings,” he said.

For his part, Rodríguez, who has previously criticized the government for freeing suspected gangsters and cutting funding for municipal police, said it was clear that better security results could be achieved by working in conjunction with federal authorities.

“In Guanajuato, we’re sure that the presence of the president shows his legitimate concern about security. Beyond our differences is a greater good, which is peace for the residents of Guanajuato,” he said.

Rodríguez said his government is willing to collaborate extensively with federal authorities to combat criminal groups that operate in the state, among which are the feuding Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

“We’re more united than ever. We will move ahead accompanied by the federal government,” he said. “I hope to return peace and tranquility [to Guanajuato] shortly.”

At the same press conference, National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said the incidence of crimes in Guanajuato is generally trending down with one notable exception – homicides.

Small-scale drug trafficking, burglaries, rape, extortion, kidnappings and vehicle theft are all on the wane, he said, while weapons seizures are up.

However, the army chief acknowledged that Guanajuato has recorded more homicides than any other state since the federal government took office in December 2018 – a total of 4,422.

Sandoval said the highest numbers of murders have occurred in the municipalities of León, Celaya, Irapuato, Salamanca and Pénjamo. Many of the homicides are believed to be linked to the turf war between the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which are vying for control of drug trafficking and fuel theft in Guanajuato.

To combat organized crime, security force numbers have been bolstered, Sandoval said, explaining that almost 14,000 state and municipal police and more than 21,000 members of the armed forces and National Guard are deployed in the state.

López Obrador highlighted that the federal government’s crackdown on fuel theft in Guanajuato has reduced the amount of petroleum stolen from 14,500 barrels per day to just 510 barrels, a 96% drop.

Source: La Jornada (sp), Milenio (sp)

Sources say ex-Pemex boss has 12 videos showing lawmakers taking bribes

By

MND Staff

-

July 15, 2020

0

Lawmakers applaud Peña Nieto, center, and the new energy reform. — Lawmakers applaud Peña Nieto, center, and the new energy reform in 2013. Which ones took the alleged bribes?

Former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya – arrested in Spain on corruption charges in February and expected to arrive in Mexico on Thursday – has agreed to hand over at least 12 videos of politicians accepting bribes in exchange for supporting the former government’s energy reform and other initiatives, according to sources cited by the newspaper Reforma.

The newspaper reported on Wednesday that sources with knowledge of Lozoya’s case say there are 16 hours of footage in which federal senators and deputies are seen receiving bribes before voting on the energy reform in late 2013.

According to the sources, money was handed over to the lawmakers in Lozoya’s offices in the Mexico City Pemex tower and in another nearby building where the former CEO also had an office.

The sources didn’t say which lawmakers received bribes but Reforma listed the main opposition party negotiators whose support was required by the the then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in order to pass the constitutional reform that opened up Mexico’s energy sector to private and foreign companies.

Reforma said the main negotiators in the Senate were National Action Party (PAN) senators Salvador Vega Casillas, Jorge Luis Lavalle, Raúl Gracia Guzmán, Francisco Domínguez and Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca.

Domínguez is now governor of Querétaro, and García is governor of Tamaulipas.

Reforma said that former Democratic Revolution Party senator Miguel Barbosa, now governor of Puebla for the Morena party, was also closely involved in the negotiations.

In the lower house of Congress, former PAN deputy Ricardo Anaya – the party’s candidate in the 2018 presidential election – and Luis Alberto Villarreal, who was fired as PAN house leader in 2014 after a video emerged of him partying with young women reported to be table-dancers or sex workers, were key energy reform negotiators.

Among lawmakers from other opposition parties involved in negotiations with the PRI were Arturo Escobar and Pablo Escudero of the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM).

Speaking at his news conference on Wednesday morning, President López Obrador acknowledged that “there is information that there were bribes to obtain votes for the energy reform.”

“All this must be made known,” he said, adding that it’s a good thing that Lozoya has agreed to return to Mexico and committed to “informing about this situation.”

“We’re interested in the whole truth because we have to put an end to corruption, pull it out by the roots,” López Obrador said.

Asked who exactly received bribes in exchange for supporting the energy reform, the president responded that he wasn’t privy to that information.

“I don’t have direct information, it’s an investigation of the Attorney General’s Office [FGR]. … [However], citizens know and the president knows that there was a lot of corruption in Pemex during that period,” López Obrador said, referring to the 2012-18 term of former president Enrique Peña Nieto.

In addition to the bribes, the president cited the Odebrecht case, in which Lozoya was allegedly paid multi-million-dollar bribes in exchange for awarding a lucrative refinery contract to the Brazilian construction company, and the 2015 purchase by Pemex of a rundown fertilizer plant in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, at an allegedly vastly inflated price.

“According to the valuations, they paid at least US $200 million too much,” López Obrador said.

Lozoya, who was a close associate of Peña Nieto, was arrested in Málaga, Spain, in February on corruption charges related to the Odebrecht and fertilizer plant cases.

Lozoya and Peña Nieto were close associates.

In late June, he dropped his extradition fight and Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero said the former Pemex chief had “offered his collaboration to establish and clarify the matters of which he has been accused.”

A government plane left Mexico City for Madrid on Thursday to collect Lozoya and bring him home. It is expected to return to the Mexican capital on Thursday.

López Obrador said Tuesday that Lozoya’s arrival in Mexico will help to “clear up” a range of corruption matters, including how the PRI obtained the votes needed to put an end to Mexico’s constitutionally-enshrined energy sector monopoly.

Ninety-five senators voted in favor of the reform in a sitting on December 12, 2013 to make it law. Fifty-three of that number were PRI senators, 35 represented the PAN and seven were with the PVEM. Just 28 Senators opposed the reform.

López Obrador, long an outspoken critic of the sweeping changes to energy policy, renewed his attack on the constitutional change on Tuesday.

“They sold us the idea that more oil was going to be produced, that foreign investment was going to arrive in torrents, that a lot of jobs were going to be created, that the price of gasoline and electricity was going to go down. But it was the complete opposite,” López Obrador said.

For his part, the leader of Morena in the lower house of Congress, Mario Delgado, said that Peña Nieto will not be exempt from investigations into corruption allegedly committed during his presidency.

“The Attorney General’s Office will have to do the corresponding investigations and sanction corruption no matter who falls. There mustn’t be exceptions nor protected people, not even the ex-president,” he said.

Peña Nieto’s six-year term between 2012 and 2018 was plagued by corruption scandals including the so-called “master fraud” scheme in which government agencies allegedly diverted billions of pesos in public money via shell companies, and the “white house” affair, in which Peña Nieto’s now ex-wife purchased a mansion built by a favored government contractor.

With Lozoya, who also worked on Peña Nieto’s 2012 campaign, apparently willing to shine a light on corruption during the previous federal government’s term – and soon to be on Mexican soil – the former president and members of his government may well be starting to feel quite nervous.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

Presidents find a distraction while their countries are in crisis

By

Sarah DeVries

-

July 15, 2020

0

lopez obrador and donald trump — Best friends forever?

Back in 2017 I bought a nice, large, tempered glass desk — the kind that looks like it’s tinted that light mint-green color from the edges. By mid-2018, I’d decided that the room I had it in was actually too pretty to be an office and that it should be my bedroom instead, so I decided to switch out the furniture between the two rooms.

The rooms were separated by half a flight of stairs, and the desk was much heavier than I really should have tried carrying on my own. I could barely move it, but as often happens when I decide to make changes to my home, I was determined to finish what I’d started, and immediately.

About half-way up the steps, the desk shattered. I hadn’t knocked it against anything; it didn’t break from force. It just seemed to suddenly disintegrate in my hands, taking a full three seconds for all of the pieces to fully rain down onto the flight and a half of stairs below.

Reading about tempered glass later, I realized it had broken from strain. It didn’t need a hammer to fall on it or to have it slammed against a wall. It was much more delicate than it looked, with a surprisingly low tolerance for the kind of subtle movements that happen when you grab onto something large only from the middle of it.

I tell this story because it feels (both now and when it happened, which was a deeply sad and rough time in my life) like both a metaphor and an omen. Our world feels like it’s at that very point right before the gigantic pane of glass shatters and falls onto the ground in a million tiny pieces. Maybe we’re already in those three seconds where it’s all in the process of raining down.

And what do our presidents do while this is happening? I mean aside from playing down the seriousness of both the break and its effects, that is.

They meet to celebrate a new trade deal as if our economy, not to mention our lives, weren’t rushing to the ground in sharp fragments all around us.

If there were ever a time that we could accuse our leaders of sticking their heads in the sand and refusing to face society’s problems, it’s now.

As anyone who’s been following the news knows, last week President López Obrador traveled to the United States to meet with President Trump. The point of the meeting, they said, was to celebrate the new trade deal among Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, with his flawless social graces and penchant for setting quiet examples for his own citizens, smartly backed out early on with talk of important previous engagements. (As a side note, I’d like to thank you, PM Trudeau, for taking that jab at Trump by implying you had something more important to do than hang out with him; truly, it’s appreciated.)

In his absence, the two men who see themselves as the victimiest victims of the media in the world got together for a celebration. And guess what? They’re BFFs now.

I suppose at this point I shouldn’t be surprised. Though they’re ideologically at opposite ends of the spectrum, they both love political showmanship and grand announcements about how great everything is as a result of their “excellent leadership.”

AMLO has been accused of unfairly helping Trump in the wake of an upcoming election. While I think this may indeed wind up as a latent function of his visit, I very much doubt that it was an explicit purpose.

There were also plenty of complaints from both ends of the political spectrum here in Mexico (worryingly, everyone who publicly criticized his visit was immediately designated as “our opposition,” giving further evidence to the fact that AMLO considers anyone who disagrees with a decision he’s made as an enemy — remind you of anyone?) Critics accused López Obrador of prostrating himself before a man who has hurt not just our feelings and pride, but many of our people on “his” side of the border.

After all, Mexico essentially changed its entire security policy in order to become Trump’s wall, causing an increasingly precarious humanitarian crisis on our side of the border.

So why did he go?

Well, it’s probably just smart politics at least to pretend to be friends with an all-powerful bully who can really hurt you if he decides to, and Trump has proven his ability to do so to pretty much every vulnerable group of people out there. Still, I think recent history has proven that a previous friendship with Trump is absolutely no guarantee of safety from his easily-released wrath. Why, just ask Reince Priebus. Or Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Or Steve Bannon. I could use up the rest of my space here on a complete list, but it hardly seems worthwhile.

It was also a smart(-ish), albeit obvious, political distraction for both of them: the coronavirus is swallowing both people and livelihoods whole on both sides of the border with no end is sight. We were facing plenty of crises each even before the pandemic hit, and those problems, while coming in and out of focus occasionally, haven’t even nearly disappeared.

Is anyone really thinking about trade right now? Never mind that our economies will be unrecognizable by the time this is over anyway. Our world is literally falling apart; our economies and the hard-won living standards that so many have only recently achieved are disintegrating before our eyes.

Mr. Presidents, not even the two of you can spend your days walking over tiny shards of glass as if they weren’t there. It’s time to get to work for real. Please.

Sarah DeVries writes from her home in Xalapa, Veracruz.

Has the ubiquitous cheek kiss been lost to the coronavirus?

By

Lydia Carey

-

July 15, 2020

0

Before coronavirus, the cheek kiss was an integral aspect of Mexican social life. — Before Covid-19, the cheek kiss was an integral aspect of Mexican social life. online for love

I’ve kissed thousands of cheeks since I moved to Mexico 13 years ago. I’ve also had more than one disaster.

Working in a small, rural community outside San Miguel de Allende, I once watched a weathered farmer eye me with horror as I went in for it. I’ve brushed lips with strangers and colleagues alike in blundered attempts to hug and not kiss, or kiss and not hug.

More than once a little extra lip pressure from an attractive friend of a friend at the bar made my inebriated mind run wild with visions of our future passion.

And the obligation of it all! Everyone in the room has to be kissed hello and kissed goodbye. It’s often made me wish that I could just scrap the cheek kiss altogether. Despite my love for Mexico City’s touchy-feely freedom — metro make-outs, spontaneous dirty dancing, park bench snuggling — the cheek kiss has never been something I waxed nostalgic about.

But recently, the enforced social distancing put in place to deal with the Covid virus has elicited a strange response in my body. Upon seeing people I know I find I take an instinctive lunge forward, my hands starting to rise to mid-bicep, my head inclining forward, lips poised for a brush on the cheek.

cheek kissing — Will such intimacies return when the pandemic is over?

I stop myself, as the responsibly paranoid citizen I’ve become in the past five months, but an odd feeling lingers. Something unsaid, something undone. Conversations have no beginning and no end, deep within I’m uncomfortable, itchy. After almost a decade and a half this particular habit has become so ingrained in my social interactions that my body responds without guidance; I guess you’d call it natural.

They say that the cheek kiss started with the Romans, a passionate bunch that not surprisingly spread the salutation wherever they went. While it might seem like a perfunctory gesture, search the internet and you will find hundreds of articles named things like “To Kiss or not to Kiss,” with charts explaining each kissing country’s specific kissing parameters.

There have been entire books written on the history, meaning, and tradition of the cheek kiss. Its appropriate delivery can make or break first dates and business deals. The 14^th-century plague reportedly put a pause on kissing for a while, but it came back with a vengeance after the First World War and has been going strong since. So while U.S. writers are ready to dig the handshake’s grave, I ask myself, is it really possible that the cheek kiss will be so easily banished?

The fear of losing this and other intimacies is very much alive in my neighborhood. Every Saturday in front of my apartment in Mexico City the local soccer team drinks themselves happy at the convenience store. Handfuls of guys in gym shorts and long socks sip beers, make jokes, and even sing opera from time to time. I can hear the timbre of their laughter and the thud of palms against backs from my upstairs window.

I admit I don’t always share the joy of their weekly sidewalk party, but most of the time their presence is soothing. People are on the street, life is happening. These past Saturdays have been silent, the taco stand next door that houses half of the group at a time has been closed for months. Many are likely kept home by wise wives. Their missing presence in the soundscape feels ominous.

That goes for the coffee shop kids too, who a few storefronts down huddle around cold brews and Japanese siphons, telling high-decibel stories to hide the insecurity of their gangly bodies and over-caffeinated hands. They are gone too, replaced by a single nerdy barista serving coffee to go from behind a wooden barrier. The street that used to be so lively is as quiet as a three-day weekend.

kissing with face masks — The new normal.

In Mexico life is lived in the street. As one friend puts it, “we were taught to live outside, not inside.” And the country’s publicness – kissing in the park, eating on the street, and sitting down beside a neighbor to share a smoke or gossip – doesn’t exactly fit with the new restrictions in our lives. How does a city of more than 28 million people socially distance from one another? Do we even want to?

Life on the street keeps you informed about what is happening, who’s sick, who has a new baby. Plenty of the neighbors don’t even know each other’s names but we recognize each other by face, and now even that is harder to do. “I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t see people smile,” one of my neighbors tells me on a recent morning.

Mexico’s president got a lot of negative press at the beginning of the pandemic for hugging and kissing his supporters at public events. He said he wanted to put them at ease, let them know that everything was fine, but honestly, I think maybe he just couldn’t help himself. Our everyday norms are just powerful.

So while we’ve nothing to do but move forward, with our ghost gestures, like ghost limbs, haunting us in conversations, we wonder will the little intimacies of our lives return once the pandemic has passed? Or will we know them simply as things from the time before?

I think we are all envisioning a day when we will be able look at each other without cloth barriers, and astonishingly enough, I’m even hoping for a return of the cheek kiss.

Lydia Carey is a frequent contributor to Mexico News Daily.