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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Indigenous women in Chiapas protest against the Maya Train in November 2018.
A court in Chiapas has issued a provisional suspension order against the Maya Train project, halting construction in three municipalities due to coronavirus concerns.
The ruling came in response to an injunction request filed by a group of Maya Ch’ol people from the municipalities of Palenque, Ocosingo and Salto de Agua.
The indigenous residents argued that construction of the project during the coronavirus crisis would violate their constitutional right to health protection because it could increase their risk of being exposed to Covid-19.
They also said that they would be prevented from protesting against construction of the 1,500-kilometer-long railroad during the pandemic period due to restrictions put in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
In a written decision approving the injunction, the judge agreed that construction would “undoubtedly” increase the risk of the Maya Ch’ol people being infected.
However, the residents can’t celebrate fully yet: another hearing will be held on May 14 at which a judge will decide whether to upgrade the provisional suspension order to a definitive one, which would provide an even stronger guarantee that work on the railroad in the three municipalities won’t start while Covid-19 remains a health threat.
The Maya Ch’ol residents ultimately want to stop the train project altogether, arguing that it will cause irreparable damage to the environment, including natural resources such as water.
The federal government has said that it will enter into dialogue with people who oppose construction of the railroad although it already held a vote last December that found 92.3% support for the mega-project.
Despite the criticism of the consultation, the legal obstacles and the coronavirus crisis, the government is forging ahead with the tourist train project, which will link cities and towns in Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas.
President López Obrador confirmed this week that construction of the first sections of the railway will commence next week. But the injunction might affect the second contract, which is for a section of track between Palenque, Chiapas, and Escárcega in Campeche.
The president said in April that the Maya Train and the government’s other large infrastructure projects, including the Santa Lucía airport near Mexico City and the new Pemex oil refinery on the Tabasco coast, will help to create 2 million new jobs and thus help the economy recover from the sharp coronavirus-induced downturn.
López-Gatell responds to the reports in a video message.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell has rejected reports in foreign newspapers on that claimed coronavirus case numbers and deaths in Mexico are higher than those reported by the federal government.
He also implied there were political reasons for the stories in that all “appeared almost simultaneously” on the same day that health officials had predicted would see the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic in Mexico City.
He said furthermore that they were widely shared on social media, mainly by people “linked to previous administrations,” the pharmaceutical and other health sector businesses or people with political aspirations.
The reports appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the Spanish newspaper El País.
The Times reported on Friday that the federal government is not reporting hundreds or possibly thousands of Covid-19 deaths identified by authorities in Mexico City, the Journal said that it is underreporting deaths because “many patients aren’t being tested for the virus, even if they die,” while El País said that it estimated that between 620,000 and 730,000 people in Mexico have had Covid-19, figures 20 and 23 times higher, respectively, than the current number of confirmed cases.
Responding to the claims, the deputy minister said:
“The deaths of people suffering from Covid cannot always be proven … because people suffering from Covid are arriving frequently [at hospitals] … in a serious state that doesn’t allow laboratory tests to be done. … [For] these laboratory tests, the corresponding samples could be taken after death but this rarely happens.”
“As a result, we have people who … lost their lives and have had the clinical symptoms suggestive of Covid but [their deaths] are not recorded as Covid because there is no laboratory proof.”
López-Gatell said a “technical committee” of medical specialists analyzes such cases and “can form an opinion with respect to the probability that a person effectively died due to Covid,” he said.
However, he didn’t specify how long it takes the committee to analyze the deaths and add them to the official death toll if they are deemed to have been caused by the disease.
The deputy minister took particular umbrage at The New York Times report, which said that Mexico City officials “have tallied more than three times as many fatalities in the capital than the [federal] government publicly acknowledges, according to officials and confidential data.”
Official figures show 729 people have died from Covid-19 in Mexico City, but foreign news reports suggest the figure is much higher.
The Times report also said that Mexico City authorities have alerted the federal government repeatedly about the deaths, “hoping it will come clean to the public about the true toll of the virus on the nation’s biggest city.” It also that in some hospitals in the capital “patients lie on the floor, splayed on mattresses” and “elderly people are propped up on metal chairs because there are not enough beds.”
López-Gatell asserted that the Times‘ claim of a discrepancy in the data demonstrates a “lack of [journalistic] rigor” on the part of the newspaper.
“We maintain extremely close collaboration with Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and her entire team. Besides, the health authorities of the 32 states of the country are the ones that generate the [coronavirus statistical] information; all the information that is in the federal government’s possession comes from the states,” he said.
The Times claimed that Sheinbaum began to suspect that federal data was flawed a month ago but has not spoken out publicly because she doesn’t want to embarrass President López Obrador, her close political ally.
However, the mayor rejected the claim. “It appears that the objective [of the report] is to say that we’re in conflict [with the federal government], that we’re contradicting each other and lack coordination and that’s very far from the truth. We’re in complete coordination,” she said.
Sheinbaum confirmed that the federal government’s coronavirus data on deaths in the capital is correct.
López-Gatell invited international reporters to attend the Health Ministry’s coronavirus press briefing to clear up any doubts they might have.
Responding to the remarks made by Sheinbaum and López-Gatell, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico and the journalist who wrote the newspaper’s report charged that neither had “refuted the information of our report” or those of the other newspapers.
“We would like clarifications, not statements that distract but don’t respond,” Azam Ahmed wrote on his Twitter account. “Could it be that there is an international media conspiracy, or is it that the Mexican government isn’t telling the whole truth?”
Co-workers of one of the victims held a memorial at the hospital where she worked.
Two men have been arrested in the brutal murders of three healthcare workers in Coahuila, state Attorney General Gerardo Márquez Guevara said, and robbery appears to have been the motive.
The victims were nurses Cecilia Pérez, 48, and Dora Pérez, 56, and 59-year-old Araceli Pérez who worked as a secretary at the Social Security Institute (IMSS).
Their decomposing bodies were discovered early Friday in a house in the Compresora neighborhood in the western part of Torreón. The sisters appeared to have been tortured; their wrists and feet were bound and they were beaten about the head with household objects and strangled to death, police said.
“The probable motive according to the preliminary data uncovered during the investigation is robbery, ruling out that it would have been due to the professional practice in the area of health carried out by the three victims,” Governor Miguel Ángel Riquelme stated in a press conference.
One of the alleged murderers was a 23-year-old nurse and co-worker of one of the victims at IMSS clinic 16. His alleged accomplice was a 24-year-old friend who worked at a market.
A van belonging to one of the sisters was found abandoned on the highway to Santa Fe. Upon their arrest, the suspects were found in possession of various items presumed to have belonged to the sisters, including 1,400 pesos in cash, gold and silver bracelets, rings, household appliances, pens, three cell phones, earrings, religious medals, a voter’s identification card and a woman’s purse.
Last night, coworkers of one of the victims paid tribute an emotional tribute to her and her sisters with flowers, tears, white balloons and a full minute of applause.
“Cecy,” as she was known, worked the night shift at IMSS hospital 46 and members of the nursing staff gathered at the hospital’s entrance to remember her as a cheerful person and a friend to all who was dedicated to her profession.
Red ribbons and candles have been placed outside the home where the sisters were found as a memorial.
The coronavirus lockdown has been hard on many, but particularly artisans.
The current virus lockdown has been hard for everyone, but particularly hard for Mexico’s artisans.
The classic way to sell handcrafts is through street and market vending. While there have been efforts by government and private organizations to take this to the next level, success has been sporadic at best.
Today, artisans face an unprecedented situation, perhaps even catastrophe. “Non-essential businesses” are shut, tourism is dead and street traffic is nil, eliminating venues that artisans rely on. Many rural communities where artisans live have shut down entirely, allowing no one in or out.
Noted handcraft researcher Marta Turok of the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City states, “It’s horrible. All who depend on direct sales are suffering beyond belief.” Constantino Martínez Guzmán of the Movimiento Indígenas de Artesanos Originarios de México (indigenous artists movement) states bluntly that “sales have been reduced to zero.” He adds, “We are artisans and we live day-by-day. Our people will not die of the virus, they will die of hunger.”
Even well-placed businesses are teetering on the edge. Mundo Huichol is a boutique store in Playa del Carmen. Closed for two months, owner Carlos Alejandro Cruz does not know if he can hold out. Rent is in dollars, and they just paid for their 20,000-peso business license and invested in their inventory for the year. If they cannot reopen by the end of May, they will have to close permanently.
Some artisans have resorted to raffles to compensate for lost sales.
All events related to Holy Week, a major Mexican vacation period, were canceled. The Guelaguetza, Oaxaca’s major cultural event held every July, was just canceled. A major event held in November specifically for handcrafts, the Feria de Maestros de Arte, is in doubt. Tour operators such as Tia Stephanie are waiting to see if they can go ahead with planned fall tours to artisans’ homes.
Non-governmental organizations for artisans have had to suspend all activities. These include the New York-based Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art (FOFA) and the non-profit tour and microloan organization En Vía. FOFA has been researching ways to support artisans during this time, but find that needs are so great and so widespread that “we do not know where to begin without favoring some artisans over others,” according to organization president Arden Rothstein.
Mexicans often turn to government agencies to demand help in crisis. Unfortunately, there has been limited response. The largest federal organization for handcrafts is National Fund for the Promotion of Handcrafts (FONART). As of this writing, its web page indicates absolutely nothing about the current situation, and its Facebook page only gives information on how to order from them online.
Concepción Guzmán of the Huizache Artisan Cooperative in Oaxaca reports that many people are trying to obtain state resources, but what is available is minimal. Artisans such as Arturo Jorge Navarrete and Gustavo Chiu Fong agree that they have been “abandoned” by government agencies.
In Mexico City, there have been sporadic protests in front of the National Palace and around the historic center. Most of the protesters are indigenous Trique, Zapotec, Mazahua and Otomí artisans and street vendors. Protesters have been demanding support both in cash and despensas, packages of basic foodstuffs.
Artisans qualify for other economic programs, such as those for street vendors, small businesses, and cultural organizations, but they must compete with many others who may be better organized. The governments of Mexico City and Tonalá, Jalisco, have offered 1,500 and 1,000 pesos respectively (US $63 and $42) to those who have lost employment and business.
The state of Nuevo León is offering grants to larger cultural organizations, and the federal government is offering 1 million micro-loans to family businesses. But artisan Carlo Filoteo says many of the programs are available only to those businesses that registered in the 2018 census or have bank accounts, and in some cases one must be affiliated with the Moreno party to apply.
So far only one organization has a program specifically for artisans. The Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation has pledged 5 million pesos in direct purchases from 162 artisan families in 76 communities in eight states.
This situation highlights the inability of artisans to take advantage of modern digital technology. Many, such as Alan Cruz of San Juan de los Lagos, believe it is the government’s responsibility to develop online resources. FONART used to have a national registry, but that died out.
More recently, the Mexico City Ministry of Tourism set up an online catalogue to allow for purchase and delivery in the city, but only 12 artisans participate so far. There is talk among artisans about changing this, but it remains to be seen if that will be the case when the emergency is over.
Another issue is the lack of solid organization among artisans. According to Israel Mondragón the traditional isolation of artisans makes it difficult to organize them, especially for activities that do not result in immediate sales. He heads an organization called Red de Artesanos Anáhuac that aims to do this, but getting efforts going to provide immediate relief now is difficult.
One important bit of good news is that that artisans’ health has not been affected by the virus. The concern is that their economic situation will continue to be dire long after many others have been able to recover. Feria de Maestra de Arte founder Marianne Carlson says, “This has been like living in a science fiction movie. I am very concerned that recovery for artisans may take years.”
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.
Staff from the Legion bar deliver food to people on the streets of Condesa. cody copeland/mexico news daily
It may not have any customers right now, but the American Legion bar in Mexico City hasn’t closed the kitchen down completely. It is now being put to use cooking meals for couriers, street vendors, the homeless and others struggling in the economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Co-owner Grace Stearns said the idea to provide meals surfaced while taking inventory at the beginning of the quarantine period.
“We had a bunch of food that we weren’t going to sell quickly enough with a to-go menu and my business partner Luis thought it would be a good idea to give away free hamburgers and hot dogs,” Stearns told Mexico News Daily.
They gave away approximately 70 servings of food that first night, “and we realized there were a lot of people who could use a hot meal.”
Indeed, a short walk through the normally bustling streets of the trendy and verdant La Condesa neighborhood — popular with tourists before the pandemic — confirms what they learned that night.
Making a living has become difficult for vendors, all of whom depend on busy streets to survive.
“They have given me food before. It’s a big help in this difficult time. It’s hard to make sales,” said a vendor of the chile and lime seasoned fried grasshoppers called chapulines.
From her position as co-owner of the bar and her career as an educator — for which she continues to receive her salary — Stearns said she recognizes her privileged position and feels that people in similar situations should find ways to help those without such resources.
“Mexico City is vast and there is always a lot of need, and that need is only magnified in a crisis. There is an extreme concentration of wealth in the city and the country in general, and all of us who benefit from that should take care of as many people as possible right now,” she said.
That inequality is evident in Parque México, just two blocks south of the American Legion bar. Usually abuzz with dog walkers, exercisers, roller skaters and young lovers canoodling on every other bench, the park almost resembles a refugee camp now.
The amorous couples have been replaced by homeless people who take advantage of the scant amount of shelter provided by the small roofs over the park benches. Many suffer from disabilities and many appear to have lived on the streets for some time.
But others appear not to have been sleeping outside long enough for their clothes to get very dirty: a hint at just how broadly the crisis has affected the Mexican economy.
“I used to sell Minecraft dolls around here, but now, no. Nothing,” said a man who gratefully received a plate of chicken Alfredo from the bar employees, who are still receiving their salaries.
Stearns said she and her business partners “see the Legion as a platform to celebrate what is good about the United States and Mexico, and have always tried to be as inclusive as possible with our events.”
For them, feeding the neighborhood’s needy residents is a natural part of a tradition of solidarity between the two countries that the American Legion has fostered for over half a century.
They’re also asking anyone who wants to be a part of that solidarity to make donations via the bar’s Facebook page or website. They are accepting both monetary and in-kind food donations.
