Mothers of the missing have nothing to celebrate on their day

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May 11, 2020

A woman places a candle before the photo of a missing relative at a ceremony in Sonora.

Mother’s Day is no time for celebration for women whose children are among the more than 60,000 missing people in Mexico.

Mothers of missing children in Coahuila marked the May 10 holiday by protesting against authorities that they allege have failed to carry out thorough investigations into the disappearance of their sons and daughters, while a group of women in Sonora held a vigil for their absent offspring.

In Torreón, Coahuila, members of a group made up of mothers of missing people gathered at the so-called “tree of hope” in the Alameda Zaragoza park on Sunday to protest against the ineffectiveness of searches carried out by state and federal authorities.

They declared that Mother’s Day is not a day of celebration for thousands of Mexican moms who don’t know where their sons and daughters are.

“Our hearts are the same as the day they were taken,” María Elena Salazar told the newspaper El Universal.

She said there was no way they could celebrate when they can’t give their children a hug or receive the love and affection their sons and daughters once showed them.

About 250 kilometers to the east in the state capital Saltillo, mothers, grandmothers and aunts of missing people took to the streets to participate in the ninth National March for Dignity and Justice for mothers searching for their disappeared sons and daughters.

They demanded that both state and federal authorities speed up their investigations into the disappearance of their loved ones. The women accused the Federal Attorney General’s Office and the National Search Commission of failing to update most family members about the progress made in searches for missing people, claiming that officials only meet with a select few people and organizations.

Marches and protests were also held in other states including Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Veracruz and Mexico City, where more than 50 women defied the stay-at-home recommendation to walk from the Mother’s Monument to the Angel of Independence on Reforma Avenue to draw attention to their cause. Other protests took place on Saturday in Jalisco.

In Hermosillo, Sonora, a group of mothers held a vigil on Saturday night for their missing children. The women gathered outside the State Human Rights Commission, where they lit candles, put up photos of their missing loved ones, joined hands and prayed.

“They were taken alive, we want them back alive,” the women said, a refrain that rose to national prominence after the abduction of 43 teaching students in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014.

They too said they was no cause for celebration when the whereabouts of their sons and daughters remained unknown.

“Son, I will look for you until I find you,” said Cecy Flores, leader of the Sonora Madres Buscadoras group. Her son, Marco Antonio, has been missing since May 2019.

“We’re not demanding justice, we just want our children back,” Flores said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

New York Times a famous newspaper but lacking ethics, charges AMLO

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MND Staff

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May 11, 2020

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The New York Times story: 'conservatives are annoyed,' says AMLO.

President López Obrador has described The New York Times as a famous newspaper with “few ethics” three days after the newspaper reported that the federal government is not reporting all coronavirus-related deaths in Mexico City.

“An article came out in The New York Times a few days ago about the concealment of deaths. It’s the same thing that some media outlets in Mexico have claimed,” he told reporters at his regular news conference on Monday morning.

“The New York Times is a famous newspaper but with few ethics. It is clear in this case that they didn’t do a good job, that they acted in a biased way.”

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell and the mayor of Mexico City have both denied that coronavirus deaths in the capital are not being reported by federal authorities.

López Obrador blamed “neoliberalism” – his favorite punching bag – for a deterioration of journalism in Mexico and the wider world, asserting that “alternate models” need to be created “with the participation of the citizens.”

The publication of the Times‘ story set off a chain reaction on Twitter, he said, asserting that “all the conservatives in Mexico or their spokespersons” retweeted the article.

“Like this,” the president said, drawing a circle in the air with his finger, seemingly indicating that the “conservatives” are caught up in their own echo chamber.

“Journalists, organic intellectuals [and] corrupt politicians” all shared the story on social media, López Obrador said, charging that they knew that the article was to be published because they all immediately – and simultaneously – shared it.

“All of them pounced on it,” the president said with a broad grin on his face.

“There’s no reason to be alarmed, this is normal. The truth is that a transformation [of Mexico] is being carried out and the conservatives are very annoyed,” he said.

“There has never been a situation like this in which privileges were ended, in which the economic power is separated from political power, in which the government is not dominated by groups with vested interests, in which it was decided to put an end to corruption and impunity,” López Obrador added.

“This weighs on them and it will take them time to get used to the new reality.”

Source: Reforma (sp)

Nurse is a ray of sunshine for Covid-19 patients, families

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Cody Copeland

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May 11, 2020

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Nurse Martínez provides a link between Covid-19 patients and their families.

For some Covid-19 patients, the face of Laura Martínez de la Luz is the last they ever see, but the Mexico City nurse makes sure that they know their families loved them to the very end.

Martínez, 31, has devoted extra time to running messages between coronavirus patients and their worried loved ones who wait outside the hospital daily in hopes of receiving good news.

She arrives an hour before her shift begins at the hospital in the southern borough of Tlalpan in order to collect letters they have written to their sick relatives and offer emotional support.

She said she is not afraid of contracting the virus and even feels as though she found her calling treating Covid-19 patients.

“My tranquility arrived the day I entered the Covid [unit]. I love it. The first day I entered, I left smiling because you see the needs in there and you look for strategies to improve a lot, both among hospital staff and patients,” she said.

Playing the messenger between families and patients has been a gratifying experience for her and her fellow nurses. She recites the letters aloud to those who cannot read, and leaves the letters in a plastic bag at the head of the beds of those who are intubated “so that when they wake up they’ll know that the letters are there.”

All letters that make their way into the coronavirus ward are disposed of to avoid further transmission, independent of whether or not the patient survives the disease, and for this same reason patients are not allowed to send letters back to their worried loved ones.

“The first day that I gave a patient [a letter], the man cried. He couldn’t tell me thank you through the sobs so I left him. I came back later and asked him how he was and he said, ‘I’ve been waiting for that for a week. Thank you.’”

Martínez said that she and her fellow nurses and doctors are filled with sadness every time a Covid-19 patient dies, as the last time they saw their families was when they entered the hospital.

“It fills our hearts with anguish, and with rage because of all those who don’t believe [that the pandemic is real] and who say that we’re killing [coronavirus patients]. … We studied to save lives, not to kill,” she said.

Fear of the virus has led to harassment and attacks on nurses and other medical staff throughout the pandemic.

Outside the hospital, Reyna and Angélica await news of their sick loved ones. Preferring not to give their last names, they said that Martínez has helped them a great deal during a difficult time. Reyna’s sister is intubated and recent news has not been encouraging.

“We’ve been here 14 days since Laura began coming by and since then … the whole family writes [my sister], one day one family member, the next day another. [Laura] arrived on a day when we were all sad because of the report they gave us and she was like a ray of sunshine,” said Reyna.

Angélica also thanked Martínez for being there every single day to take the family’s messages of hope and encouragement to her brother-in-law, who is also on a ventilator.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Doctors angered by AMLO’s accusation they were out to get rich

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 11, 2020

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President López Obrador apologized to doctors on Monday after more than 30 medical associations demanded a public apology for comments he made during a May 8 press briefing in which he said that doctors only sought to enrich themselves during Mexico’s “neoliberal” era.

The Mexican College of Critical Medicine expressed “total rejection” of the comments which “slander and offend the entire medical community.”

The Mexican Urology Society also denounced the president’s statements, noting that during the coronavirus pandemic, many medical personnel have put their safety on the line in order to serve the Mexican people despite “profound deficiencies in hospital supplies.”

Similarly, the Association of Otorhinolaryngology also requested a public apology by the president, calling the comments “offensive and derogatory.”

“It is unfair that the president disqualifies our work and assumes that our only interest was monetary,” said Dr. Alejandro Macías, member of the Coronavirus Emergency Commission at the National Autonomous University.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology Colleges considered it unfair, inopportune and inaccurate for the president to speak of “medical commercialism during the neoliberal period,” and asked him to apologize to the doctors and nurses who are “fighting for the health and well-being of all Mexicans.”

On Monday, the president apologized during Monday’s press briefing but said his words were misinterpreted. “If they understood it that way, I apologize, but it was not that,” he said, explaining that he was not referring to all doctors, just a select few who were motivated by greed.

His political foes misrepresented his comments, López Obrador said. “They are looking at me under a microscope, they scrutinize everything, but I did not say that.”

The president was speaking highly of Health Minister Jorge Carlos Alcocer and Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell when he made Friday’s comments about doctors in the years leading up to his taking office in 2018.

He said the two are not in support of “commercialism which unfortunately came to predominate during the neoliberal period in everything related to health; as they used to say before about doctors, they only sought to enrich themselves, right?”

He related a hypothetical doctor and patient conversation in which the doctor wanted to know what assets the patient had before proceeding. “That isn’t Dr. Alcocer or Dr. Hugo López-Gatell,” López Obrador said.

A recent study found that doctors in Mexico are not well paid. A 2019 physician compensation report at the website Medscape revealed that, on average, Mexican doctors earn around 16,146 pesos (US $670) per month, about one-third of what doctors make in countries such as Brazil and Italy. Doctors in the United States make 14 times the salary of their Mexican colleagues.

Source: Reforma (sp), Razon (sp)

Chilangos break quarantine to make Mother’s Day purchases

By

MND Staff

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May 11, 2020

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A woman live-streams mariachis in Mexico City for her mother, quarantined at home.

Traffic and public transit use increased in Mexico City on Sunday as many residents disregarded the recommendation to stay at home in order to make Mother’s Day purchases.

Many capitalinos or chilangos, as residents of the capital are known, ventured outside their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic to buy gifts for their mothers, wives, aunts and grandmothers and meals and beverages to share with them, the newspaper La Jornada reported.

Flowers, chocolates and underwear were among the gifts sought out by capitalinos for the important women in their lives, while paella, barbacoa con consomé (slow-cooked mutton and an accompanying broth), carnitas (pork simmered in its own lard), tacos and roast chicken were all popular meal choices.

Soft drinks flew off supermarket shelves, some of which were destined to be mixed with alcoholic beverages. The ley seca, or dry law, implemented by the authorities in some Mexico City boroughs between Friday and Sunday to dissuade weekend gatherings was no hindrance to making a toast to mom, with many residents stocking up on alcoholic beverages during the week.

“The ley seca wasn’t going to stop us from celebrating with a good tequila, rum or whisky,” one person told La Jornada.

Flower vendors were among those kept busy on Sunday.

Other residents said that they wanted to see their mothers on their special day, even if was only for a brief time, because they had been sheltering in their homes for weeks and had been unable to interact with their moms face to face. Some people said that they planned to return to their own homes before dark out of fear that they could be victims of crime.

The fear of being mugged is bigger than the fear of being infected with Covid-19, some said, explaining that it is easier to protect oneself against coronavirus by using face masks and antibacterial gel than against crime.

The decision by some capitalinos to visit their mothers on Sunday was taken despite authorities urging people to stay at home in order to avoid the risk of transmitting Covid-19 to loved ones.

Many others, however, heeded the call and instead met up with their mothers virtually via online video applications.

One woman found a novel way to show her mother how much she loved and appreciated her – she traveled to Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi and live streamed a performance by mariachi musicians to her mom, who remained out of harm’s way in her own home.

From an economic standpoint, Mother’s Day is big in Mexico. One business organization estimated that last year’s Mother’s Day spending totaled 47 billion pesos (US $1.97 billion at today’s exchange rate), making it second only to Valentine’s Day in terms of economic value.

Source: La Jornada (sp)

On social media, beer goes for 3,000 pesos for 24 cans in Sonora

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 11, 2020

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It's available on Facebook, but it's getting pricey.

The black market for beer in Sonora is booming, with prices soaring to 3,000 pesos, about US $125, on Sunday for a 24-pack on social media. Two months ago, the price for a 24-pack was around 240 pesos in stores.

Those looking to buy beer have turned to Facebook, as have those reselling beer at exorbitant prices. Beer production in Mexico has been shut down since early April, and supplies are nearly exhausted in several states around the country.

Thousands of people began lining up at dawn last Wednesday in the state capital of Hermosillo, waiting for hours in 45 C heat for the chance to purchase just one overpriced 24-pack of beer each at 54 stores that still had stock.

And the beer shortage may not let up anytime soon.

Negotiations to reactivate the beer industry “are at a standstill,” admits the president of the National Agricultural Council (CNA), Bosco de la Vega Valladolid.

Despite predictions last week by the head of the consumer protection agency Profeco that beer production in Mexico might start up again in mid-May, the decision lies with the Ministry of Health’s Hugo López-Gatell, who de la Vega says “won’t listen to reason” as far as beer is concerned.

De la Vega estimates that the beer industry employs, directly and indirectly, around 600,000 people. Beer is also the lifeblood for 800,000 corner stores.

Should breweries be allowed to reopen, it will take time to ramp up production and distribution as the fermentation process alone takes between 30 and 60 days.

Meanwhile, some plants making beer for export have been allowed to continue operating, as has the tequila industry.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Spring breakers planning June holiday in Baja California Sur

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 11, 2020

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Some 2,000 spring breakers will return to Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, in June, Robbin Hernández, a member of the Los Cabos Nightlife Board and Friends of Cabo San Lucas, announced.

“Entrepreneurs and civil associations are looking for ways to certify Los Cabos as a coronavirus-free destination to attract tourism next month,” Hernández said, highlighting that Los Cabos will be mounting an extensive campaign to promote sanitary measures the popular tourist destination is undertaking.

Hotels and other businesses will be guided by a sanitation manual that outlines procedures that will begin as early as this week as the destination prepares for tourism to relaunch next month.

The spring breakers, whose vacations earlier this year were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, will see nightclubs partially opened to prevent crowding and will be subjected to health screening at the airport and upon arrival at their hotels.

The Los Cabos Hotel Association (AHLC) is working on a proposal for the list of resorts that will open beginning June 1.

AHLC President Lilzi Orcí said the goal is to open 40% of hotels in June: 33 hotels in Cabo San Lucas are set to open along with 16 hotels in the tourist corridor, 16 in San José del Cabo and one on the Los Cabos’ East Cape.

In March, 44 spring breakers from Texas who traveled to Cabo San Lucas tested positive for the coronavirus upon returning home, The New York Times reported, although it is unclear if they were already infected before traveling.

Tourism represents 70% of Baja California Sur’s GDP, with 40% of that concentrated in Los Cabos. Last year the state welcomed some 4 million visitors, representing an 8.5% increase over 2018. Los Cabos welcomed 11,000 college students during the 2019 spring break.

As of Sunday, Los Cabos had 218 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and six people had died.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Gold-encrusted rifle seized in suspected gangster’s arrest

By

Cody Copeland

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May 11, 2020

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A criminal suspect in the state of Puebla was arrested in possession of a gold-encrusted assault rifle in Tehuacán on the weekend.

State police officers also confiscated several doses of what appeared to be methamphetamine when they arrested Víctor “El Yori” Iván N., a presumed leader of the regional criminal gang Las Bigotonas.

The police report revealed that El Yori was one of the most active members in crimes including cargo robbery, drug trafficking and arms sales in the Tehuacán region and is linked to a number of homicides and other violent crimes in the area.

The gold and silver-encrusted AR-15 rifle found in his possession features an image of La Santa Muerte, or the Holy Death, an apocryphal saint commonly worshipped by drug traffickers for protection and the safe delivery of illicit goods.

Theft of goods from freight trains and transport trucks has been a problem in Puebla for years. Although heavily involved in drug trafficking, gangs like Las Bigotonas still rely on classic highway and train robberies of everyday goods to make illicit profits as well.

State investigators recovered 60 tractor-trailers full of products including snacks, appliances, furniture, beer, car parts, gym equipment, prescription drugs and more in Amozoc de Mota, between Tehuacán and Puebla City, in May 2017.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Flu season could bring new challenge with second wave of coronavirus

By

MND Staff

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May 11, 2020

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The arrival of the flu season in October could make the fight against Covid-19 even more challenging, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Sunday.

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s nightly coronavirus press briefing, López-Gatell said that the number of serious Covid-19 cases could increase by 15% during the flu season, a period which could coincide with a second wave of infections.

“When the flu season begins in October 2020, there is a possibility that we’ll have a return of Covid-19 with greater intensity,” he said.

López-Gatell said that new restrictions might need to be put in place to contain a second wave of Covid-19 infections that will inevitably occur when current containment measures are eased. However, the restrictions would apply where outbreaks occur and not at a national level, he said.

The deputy minister said that it would be difficult to reimpose restrictions nationally given the negative impact they have on the economy and society.

Accumulated Covid-19 cases had risen to over 35,000 as of Sunday evening. milenio

The federal government ordered the suspension of all nonessential economic activities at the end of March, a move that brought many lucrative sectors, such as automotive and beer, to a halt. The Mexican economy is forecast to suffer a deep recession in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus crisis, with many analysts and financial institutions predicting contractions in the range of 5% to 10%.

Given the likelihood of a second wave of Covid-19 infections, the government is considering the possibility of maintaining the modifications made by public hospitals to increase their capacity to receive coronavirus patients, López-Gatell said.

He also said that the government will continue to bring medical supplies, including personal protective equipment, into the country from China to ensure that hospitals are equipped to respond to the ongoing pandemic.

“We don’t have money left over but we don’t lack money either,” he said.

Earlier in the press briefing, López-Gatell said that the total number of people confirmed to have Covid-19 had risen to 35,022 and coronavirus-related deaths had increased to 3,465.

A total of 3,500 new cases were added to Mexico’s tally over the weekend, while 305 additional fatalities were reported – 193 on Saturday and 112 on Sunday.

As of Sunday, 3,465 people had died from Covid-19. milenio

López-Gatell said that there are 19,979 suspected cases across the country and that 130,956 people have now been tested. Of the more than 35,000 confirmed accumulated cases, 8,457 are considered active, he said.

Mexico City leads the country for both accumulated and active cases, with 9,737 of the former and 2,243 of the latter. México state ranks second in both categories.

All but eight of Mexico’s 32 states have more than 100 active Covid-19 cases, official data shows. After Mexico City and México state, Tabasco, Baja California, Morelos, Veracruz and Yucatán have the largest current outbreaks.

The number of active cases has grown considerably in Morelos and Yucatán in recent days while there are signs that outbreaks in Baja California and Quintana Roo are being controlled.

Colima remains the least affected state in the country, according to Health Ministry data, with just 44 accumulated cases of Covid-19 and 15 active ones.

Mexico City also has the highest coronavirus death toll in the country with 796 confirmed fatalities as of Sunday. Baja California has recorded the second highest number of fatalities, with 416, followed by México state (340); Tabasco (220); Sinaloa (213); and Quintana Roo (183).

At the municipal level, Tijuana has the highest death toll in the country followed by Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City, and Benito Juárez (Cancún), Quintana Roo.

In addition to the 3,465 confirmed Covid-19 deaths across Mexico, 247 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by the infectious disease, López-Gatell said.

Based on confirmed cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is 9.9 per 1o0 cases, three points higher than the global rate of 6.9.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Under pressure from locals, facilities in Yucatán town reopened—and closed

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 9, 2020

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The police station in Dzonot Carretero, where the chief gave in to an angry crowd.

People in at least one Yucatán community are fed up with coronavirus isolation.

As a result, Javier Santos Puc Poot, chief of police of Dzonot Carretero, literally had his back against the wall on Thursday when a large crowd of residents stormed the police station and demanded public spaces be reopened in the town of around 2,200.

The mob of riled-up citizens gathered to insist that stay-at-home guidelines be lifted and the town’s park and athletic field be reopened for public use. “If we are going to die, let us all die!” the angry townspeople shouted at Santos and a handful of officers.

The beleaguered chief gave in. Standing on a bench and addressing the boisterous crowd, he announced that the park and field would reopen, a decision that was met with applause.

But a day later, Santos reversed his decision, saying that his announcement that restrictions would be lifted was made because he was afraid he would be physically attacked.

“I would like to inform you, and offer you my most sincere apologies if I offended this community,” he said in a video released on social media announcing that public spaces would, in fact, remain closed. “For my own safety at that time I said alright, we will remove the [coronavirus restrictions]. If I had said no, the people would have been all over me.”

The town is located in the coastal zone municipality of Tizimín.

Source: El Universal (sp), Por Esto (sp)