1 patient dead, 67 poisoned by contaminated medication in Tabasco

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March 2, 2020

The Pemex Regional Hospital in Villahermosa.

At least one person is dead and 25 more are in the hospital after they were given contaminated medication while undergoing dialysis treatment at the Pemex Regional Hospital in Villahermosa, Tabasco.

The state oil company said in a statement that a total of 67 people became ill after they were given sodium heparin, a blood thinning drug. Six of those hospitalized are in serious condition, Pemex said.

The statement said that health authorities ordered the disposal of the tainted batch of medication and that a complaint has been filed against those responsible for the contamination. Pemex accused the manufacturer of the medication, which it didn’t name, of delivering heparin that was contaminated with bacteria.

While the state oil company has announced only one death, the newspaper El Heraldo de Tabasco reported that, according to family members of those poisoned, nine people have died, including one person who passed away on Monday. They also say that hospital management has failed to provide clear information to them about the condition of their loved ones.

Dora Elena Alvarez Morales, whose 80-year-old husband is hospitalized, called on President López Obrador to intervene to ensure that family members are properly informed. Without mentioning a specific number, she said that “several people” have died.

Other family members complained about other shortcomings at the hospital, such as a lack of medications and poor hygiene.

The newspaper El Financiero reported that some relatives had photos that showed buckets catching water that was leaking into the area where patients received dialysis. It also said that photos showed that equipment used to draw patients’ blood had not been maintained.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Heraldo de Tabasco (sp)

UPDATE: One more death was reported on March 3.

AMLO shouted down by complaints in home state of Tabasco

By

MND Staff

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March 2, 2020

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An angry President López Obrador reacts to a boisterous crowd in Macuspana.

President López Obrador threatened to suspend his speech at an event in his native Tabasco on Sunday as he faced a boisterous crowd intent on voicing their discontent with the reach of government welfare programs and their local leaders.

Taking the stage in Macuspana, Tabasco, where Mayor Roberto Villalpando and Governor Adán Augusto López Hernández – both of whom also represent the ruling Morena party – were given a hostile reception, López Obrador asked, almost incredulously, whether the still-rambunctious crowd was going to treat him the same way.

“Are you also going to shout at me?” AMLO, as the president is widely known, asked with a wry grin on his face. “No!” they responded emphatically but it wasn’t long before they broke their word.

“Do you know how many scholarships we are delivering?” the president asked at one stage during his address. “Not enough!” many of those in attendance yelled in reply.

“Of course, not enough,” López Obrador conceded before adding: “But do you know how many we’ve delivered? Eleven million scholarships across the whole country. Let’s see. … Don’t all those who are studying at high school have scholarships?”

Once again, the president was met with an assertive response: “No!” many in the crowd shouted.

“How can you say no? … Lies come from the devil: they’re reactionary, conservative. The truth is revolutionary. I repeat, are those who are studying at high school receiving scholarships?”

The president finally got the answer he was looking for, with most in attendance responding that the students are in fact receiving financial support from the government.

López Obrador was also given a less than friendly response when he spoke about the delivery of pensions for the elderly, government support for disabled people and the cancellation of customer debt to the Federal Electricity Commission (many Tabasco residents continue to complain that they are charged too much for power).

The crowd also made sure that the president heard their concerns about their mayor and governor – a cousin of AMLO – shouting out messages such as “Villalpando is a thief” and “Adán is corrupt, he does nothing.”

Amid the clamor, a visibly angry López Obrador threatened to terminate his talk if the crowd didn’t settle down.

“I’m not going to be able to continue speaking because like this, one cannot. I don’t want politicking,” he said, waving his arms around in frustration.

“Are you going to listen to me?” AMLO asked. After the crowd assured him they would, the president began a new train of thought but was soon interrupted again.

“It shouldn’t be like this. Authority has to be respected,” he declared.

“It’s as though we [the government] are not doing anything,” López Obrador said angrily. “We’ve been in government 14 months. … Is it the same as before?”

The event in Macuspana brought to an end the president’s three-day tour of Tabasco, where he attended four other rallies at which crowds aired their grievances to their mayors and governor.

López Obrador learned on Sunday that even he is not immune from feeling the wrath of residents in his home state, a place where the “tropical messiah,” as AMLO is also known, is more commonly met by fawning adoration verging on idolization.

Source: Animal Político (sp), Reforma (sp)

Fat Vegan bellies up to the Mexico City meatless table

By

Andy Hume

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March 2, 2020

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Restaurant mascot Pancho Vegan welcomes guests to Roma's best new restaurant.

In a tiny nook along a busy stretch of San Luis Potosí street in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood the kitchen is bustling at Fat Vegan, as burgers flip and fries and “wings” drown in boiling oil.

It’s a bit of a 1950s soda counter vibe. The friendly staff decked out in Fat Vegan hats and T-shirts whisk by with expertly created soft-serve ice cream shakes in fountain glasses, while the company mascot, Pancho Vegan, watches over everything from his post above the entrance.

Roma Norte has become the epicenter of CDMX’s vegan movement (meaning all menu items are 100% plant-based – no animal products). Fat Vegan opened in November and is the newest addition, nestling among favorites like Por Siempre Vegana Taquería, Los Loosers, and Forever Vegano.

But Fat Vegan’s doing it a little differently. They sling comfort food: a burger joint eschewing the notion that vegetarian food should necessarily be “health food.” Their menu simply revels in flavor and is quickly becoming a local favorite, as each week they break new sales records to become the go-to home for vegans, the vegan-curious, and straight-up meat eaters (that might otherwise avoid vegetarian offerings).

The last thing Zack Bezunartea wanted to do after moving to Mexico City from New York was to open another restaurant. He’d opened at least a dozen in the U.S. “I moved here for the same reason [every other expat] does,” says Bezunartea. “I was sick of my corporate job.”

Papanachos with everything are a sight to behold.So, Bezunartea and his partner, Rodrigo Rodríguez, “jumped off the cliff” and quit their jobs, moving to Roma about a year and a half ago. “Leaving New York, we didn’t have any plans,” says Bezunartea. “Not only did we not have plans, I swore it wouldn’t be in the restaurant industry.”

But once they’d settled in, Bezunartea realized that restaurants were what he knew – and knew well – so he started experimenting with vegan burgers.

“We knew what kind of menu we wanted, but it was hard to figure out how to develop it with vegan ingredients. We probably started six months before we opened. For the burger we went through maybe 50 or 60 versions before we got to the final recipe. I worked on it really hard on my own and then, what’s great about having always been in the restaurant industry, is that I have trained chefs on my side, and a few of them that are investors. They came down and helped me fine-tune the recipes to get something that was really unique.”

Their signature Fat Vegan Burger is quite intentionally Mexican, using native ayocote beans and huitlacoche (the national corn fungus delicacy), as well as soy protein, local mushrooms, and a number of native spices.

“Something that’s very cool about this neighborhood and cool about opening,” continues Bezunartea, “is that, literally, everything that goes into that burger comes from this neighborhood. We did a collaboration with Pancracia on Calle de Chiapas and Orizaba – they’re doing our burger buns. The flour tortillas come from La Trigueña in the Medellín Market. All of our produce comes from Paty, which is a family run stand in Medellín. They do a daily delivery of all our produce. [Japanese grocery store] Mikasa sources all of our tofu. It’s been sort of a community effort.

“Everything we need is just three or four blocks away from us. We have our little wagon, and we go around and buy everything. And all of a sudden, you have all these strong ties, and it’s very rewarding. Sure, they buy from big companies, and we’re all part of a supply chain. But the idea that you keep a lot of that money in this micro-economy of Roma Norte is very cool.”

Fat Vegan's sweet and savory malteada ice cream shakes will keep you coming back for more. — Fat Vegan’s sweet and savory malteada ice cream shakes will keep you coming back for more.

Among the other favorites at Fat Vegan are the Alitas Búffalo – breaded and fried tofu “wings” with an absolutely spot-on spicy buffalo sauce that they developed in-house. Their Papanachos – nacho French fries topped with soy chorizo, beans, mock cheddar and mozzarella, onion, jalapeño, and “Fat Sauce” are so good that Bezunartea says they brought a young vegan acolyte to tears because he simply couldn’t believe that the chorizo and cheese hadn’t come from an animal. He thought they’d tricked him into eating meat.

And absolutely don’t miss the “ice cream” malteada menu, with homespun frozen soy combinations mixed with peanut butter, pretzel, coffee, banana, mango – sweet and salty mixes to delight even the most pro lactose.

Although he went against his original judgment, returned to the restaurant business, and is pretty overwhelmed these days with 60+ hours of work, Bezunartea feels good running a restaurant in Mexico City.

“The owners of other vegan restaurants in Roma have been extremely supportive,” he says. “And within the first few weeks they came into Fat Vegan to introduce themselves. And that was great because you never know how you’re going to be received as foreigners opening up in a new neighborhood. People have been extremely, extremely receptive.

“When you think of what Mexico offers,” Bezunartea continues, “… anything you can think of: art, design, etc. … There’s room for experimentation and having fun. That’s what got me to opening a restaurant. I don’t think we would have done this in New York. Our branding and everything was a ‘fuck you’ to the corporate restaurant world. Here you can be authentic and not contrived.”

When you’re wandering around Roma, keep your eyes peeled for the Fat Vegan hand-pulled wagon full of tofu, veggies, pretty much everything they use. Follow it over to one of the best new restaurants in the neighborhood. You won’t be disappointed.

• Fat Vegan: San Luis Potosí 130, Roma Norte, Mexico City

• Closed Monday; Tuesday: 1:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.; Wed-Sat: 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.; Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Med students march to protest murders of their peers in Puebla

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Cody Copeland

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March 2, 2020

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Mexico City protest: 'How do you expect us to care for your life if you take away ours?'

Medical students from several universities held a march in Mexico City’s historic center on Monday morning to demand justice for the murders of a doctor and medical students that recently took place in the capital and the state of Puebla.

Hailing primarily from the National Autonomous University (UNAM) and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), the protesters marched in white coats with black ribbons tied around their left arms.

They marched in memory of three medical students who were murdered along with their Uber driver on Sunday, February 23 while returning to Puebla city from the Carnival of Huejotzingo.

Two of the victims — José Antonio Parada Cerpa, 22, and Ximena Quijano Hernández, 25 — were foreign exchange students from Colombia. Francisco Javier Tirado Márquez, 22, was a Mexican student, and Josué Emanuel Vital, 28, was the driver.

Gathering by the hundreds, the demonstrators also demanded justice for Mayte Viridiana Aguilar Martínez, a doctor who was murdered in an Uber by two men aboard motorcycles on February 12 in the Mexico City borough of Tláhuac.

The demonstrators met around 6:00 a.m. in front of the Palace of Fine Arts and slowly made their way to the zócalo along 5 de Mayo street. They chanted and held up signs outside the National Palace after taking almost two hours to make the six-block trek.

Sources: Sin Embargo (sp), La Jornada (sp)

Tourism loses its shine for foreign investors, discouraged by unclear policy

By

MND Staff

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March 2, 2020

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foreign investment in tourism — The orange columns represent the first years of two federal administrations, those of Enrique Peña Nieto and López Obrador. el universal

The cancellation of the previous government’s Mexico City airport project, the disbandment of the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) and an unclear national tourism policy all contributed to a decline in foreign investment in the tourism sector last year, according to two experts.

The tourism sector received US $1.13 billion in direct foreign investment in 2019, government statistics show, a 12.4% decrease compared to the $1.29 billion that flowed into the country in 2018.

Foreign investors earmarked more for tourism in the first full year of the governments led by former presidents Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto than they did during 2019, President López Obrador’s first full year in office.

Presenting a report to the National Tourism Business Council last week, the organization’s president, Pablo Azcárraga, criticized the government for taking decisions that have had an adverse impact on tourism investment and reduced the industry’s competitiveness.

He charged that the decision to cancel the airport at Texcoco, México state, and instead pursue a less ambitious plan to meet growing demand for airline services in the Valley of México (the government is building a new airport at an existing air force base and upgrading the Mexico City and Toluca airports) has hurt the tourism industry.

Azcárraga also said that the decision to disband the CPTM, which was the government’s tourism marketing agency, hasn’t helped the tourism sector, one of the most important contributors to GDP in Mexico. In addition, the government doesn’t have a clearly-defined tourism strategy, he claimed.

Humberto Molina, an economist at the consultancy firm Gemes who specializes in tourism, agreed that the airport cancellation and the lack of a clear national tourism policy were factors in the lower investment last year.

“There’s no clarity in Mexico about what the tourism promotion policy is,” he said, adding that the government has taken decisions and floated ideas that affect the tourism industry, such as López Obrador’s proposal to eliminate long weekends, without consulting with stakeholders.

With regard to the impact that the global outbreak of coronavirus might have on tourism in Mexico, Molina said that it’s too early to tell.

If the number of cases remains low and Mexico “manages to position itself as a safe place,” it could gain a competitive advantage over other destinations where tourists believe that there is greater danger of being exposed to the virus, he said.

However, Gerardo Herrera, an economist at the Iberoamericana University, predicted that tourism will decrease worldwide this year due to the outbreak of coronavirus, and that investment in Mexico will suffer as a result.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Jacarandas are blooming in Mexico City: where to see them

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Cody Copeland

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March 2, 2020

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Jacarandas at the Glorieta de los Cibeles in Roma Norte, La Roma — Perhaps no other neighborhood is as associated with 21st-century Mexico City as La Roma is. (Cody Copeland)

The warm weather in February gave one Mexico City spring tradition a head start. The jacaranda trees are already in full bloom, their bright purple blossoms filling their leafless branches like something out of a book by Dr. Seuss.

There are some neighborhoods in the capital where their colorful splendor is on full display. A stroll down the famous Paseo de la Reforma Avenue is an essential start on any jacaranda tour of the city.

The famous stretch of this avenue from the city’s Historic Center to Chapultepec Park is a great place to snap photos of the trees with a famous monument or two in the background. The avenue continues to dazzle as it extends through the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, to the west of the park.

Popular with tourists, the Condesa neighborhood also has a couple of fine spots for viewing jacarandas. Parque México and Parque España are both lit up purple in the month of March.

Horacio Street in the ritzy neighborhood of Polanco, north of Chapultepec Park, is also lined with jacarandas, as are the streets of Concepción Beistegui and Nicolás San Juan in the Colonia del Valle neighborhood, to the south of the Roma district.

Jacaranda trees at University City in Mexico City. — Jacaranda trees at Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City.

Further south, the Ciudad Universitaria, the sprawling campus of the National Autonomous University boasts lots of jacarandas whose purple blooms drift like snow over the black volcanic rock of the Pedregal area.

Just beyond, the Bosque de Tlalpan Park is a great place to view the trees in a less urban setting.

Not native to Mexico, jacarandas were brought here from South America by Japanese gardener Tatsugoro Matsumoto at the beginning of the 20th century. The tree is native to Brazil, where it is called yacarandá.

There are a couple of versions to the story of how Matsumoto filled the city with the purple trees. The most widely accepted is that a wealthy landowner from Hidalgo brought Matsumoto to Mexico after the Revolution to design a garden for him.

The capital at that time was expanding out from its Historic Center, and neighborhoods like Roma and Condesa were attempting to carry on the European style of architecture and city planning promoted by Porfirio Díaz.

It is said that Matsumoto fell in love with the city and decided to make it his home. The trees became a popular element in people’s private gardens. His work became famous throughout the country, and now jacarandas can be found from Oaxaca to California.

Parque México in La Condesa. cody copeland/mexico news daily

Although there is no documentation to back it up, another version of the story claims that Matsumoto was sent by the Japanese government to work with Mexican authorities to have them adopt the jacaranda tree as a Mexican version of Japan’s famous cherry blossoms.

No matter which version of the story is true, people today are grateful for Matsumoto’s work and flock to the streets in search of that perfect purple photo for their social media profiles.

Act quickly, because the magic doesn’t last long. Deep green leaves will soon replace the purple blooms, and you’ll have to wait until next year to see them again.

Sources: El Heraldo de México (sp), La Verdad (sp)

Women’s earnings have plummeted nationwide in last 10 years

By

Cody Copeland

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March 2, 2020

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Fewer women are earning higher salaries, the statistics institute reports.

Women’s salaries across the country have fallen drastically in the last decade, according to data published by the national statistics institute, Inegi.

The data reveal that the number of women earning five times the daily minimum wage fell 55% in the last 10 years, from 1.255 million workers to just 555,000 in the last trimester of 2019.

With the minimum wage set at 123.22 pesos (US $6.33) per day, the benchmark used for the study, five times that amount, works out to a daily salary of 616 pesos. The number of women earning that much fell to its lowest level since Inegi began collecting this data in 2005.

The study found, however, that the number of women earning twice the daily minimum wage rose 64.2%.

On the state level, those women earning a higher salary in Morelos, Baja California, Guerrero and Tamaulipas fell over 75% in the last decade. In Morelos, that decline was as high as 90.4%.

There are only 1,173 women in the state that earn more than the 616-peso benchmark, much lower than the 12,243 women in this earning category in the state in 2009.

Baja California saw a similar drop in the 2010s, with an 89% reduction in women earning such a salary. Their numbers fell from 49,195 in 2009 to just 5,576 at the end of 2019.

Baja California Sur, on the other hand, saw these numbers change very little, with only 89 fewer women earning 616 pesos per day at the end of the 10-year period.

The 555,000 women earning higher salaries represent only 2.5% of the total number of women in the workforce, who numbered 22,032,000 at the end of last year. Among men, that sector is higher, as 4.3% of men in the workforce earn five times the daily minimum wage, which equals 18,483 pesos per month.

The Senate is currently discussing an initiative proposed by the Chamber of Deputies that would aim to bring equity to this disparity in earnings. The initiative cites information from the International Labor Organization revealing that women earn on average 23% less than men.

The project would oblige government institutions and public and private companies to offer equal pay for the same job regardless of the worker’s sex.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reports that the national average of monthly earnings for men is 7,206, while for women it is 5,536. In some states the difference is much higher, such as in Nuevo León, where men on average earn 3,000 more pesos per month than women.

The only state in the country without such a disparity in wages is Chiapas, where both genders earn the same average salary. However, that average salary is the lowest in the country at 4,250 pesos.

The state with the lowest wages for women in the country is Oaxaca, where females earn an average of only 3,600 pesos per month.

The Ministry of Public Administration announced that it would launch an open call for applications to federal public administrative offices on Thursday in honor of International Women’s Day, which will be celebrated on Sunday, March 8.

The ministry has allocated 300 positions to be occupied exclusively by women.

“This is another example of the perspective of gender and human rights of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” said Public Administration Minister Irma Eréndira Sandoval.

Source: Milenio (sp)

10 detained, suspected of setting up cartel HQ in Cancún

By

Cody Copeland

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March 2, 2020

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Police in Cancún arrested 10 presumed members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) for possession of drugs and firearms on Sunday.

Quintana Roo Attorney General Oscar Montes de Oca told a press conference that the people arrested were planning to establish a center of operations for the cartel in the popular tourist destination.

He also said that they are believed to have already carried out murders and kidnappings of rival gang members in the city.

Among the 10 was a man identified as José R., who is believed to be the leader of the CJNG’s illicit activities in Cancún.

“From the investigations we were able to determine that one of the people arrested, who responds to the name José R., is identified as the leader of this criminal cell and that he was about to establish an operations center in the city,” said Montes de Oca.

The arrests were carried out in two separate operations. Six were arrested in the first when police found them moving guns from a building to a vehicle outside.

Authorities seized five .223-caliber rifles, 381 rifle cartridges, 135 bags of marijuana, tactical gear, shirts similar to those worn by state and municipal police, radio broadcasting equipment, cellphones, handcuffs and hats bearing the initials CJNG.

Montes de Oca noted that another of the objects seized was a state police riot helmet bearing the name Archi. The discovery could shed some light on the killing of state policeman José Antonio Archi Yama, who was murdered in Cancún in September of last year.

The second operation led to the arrests of four more presumed CJNG members and the seizure of 175 bags of marijuana, two pistols — a 9mm and a .40-caliber — and ammunition.

The detainees were brought before a local judge to be tried by the delegation of the federal Attorney General’s Office and investigated on charges of possession of firearms and drugs and other federal crimes.

“For its part, the state Attorney General’s Office is continuing to consolidate its investigations to avoid impunity,” said Montes de Oca.

Source: El Universal (sp)

AMLO’s approval rating plunges 19 points, though most still like him

By

MND Staff

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March 2, 2020

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President López Obrador’s approval rating has fallen nine points in the space of three months and 19 over the past year but he still retains the support of almost six in 10 Mexicans, a new national survey shows.

Conducted by media company Grupo Reforma with 1,200 adults between February 25 and 29, the poll found that 59% of respondents approve of López Obrador’s performance as president. A similar number – 55% – said that they had a lot or some confidence that the president is taking decisions that benefit the country.

Reforma polls published in March and December 2019 showed that AMLO, as the president is commonly known, had an approval rating of 78% and 68%, respectively. The government’s failure to reduce violence and improve the economy appear to be the main reasons for López Obrador’s lower rating.

Two-thirds of respondents said that the president has not made any ground toward reducing violence – 2019 was Mexico’s most violent year on record – while 62% said that he hasn’t produced any results that show that his government has succeeded in weakening organized crime.

Almost three-quarters of those polled said that they believed that violence against women has increased during the past 12 months and six in 10 said that impunity is to blame. Only 25% agreed with AMLO’s claim that neoliberal economic policies implemented by past governments were the reason behind the high number of femicides.

Just over half of those polled said that the economy – which contracted 0.1% last year – has not improved under López Obrador’s leadership.

Seven in 10 respondents identified insecurity as the main problem in Mexico today, the highest level Reforma has recorded since it began conducting polls in 1994. The figure has grown 15% compared to March 2019, when 55% of those polled said that insecurity was the No. 1 concern in the country.

The government has, however, had success in reducing the perception of corruption: just over one in six respondents identified corruption as Mexico’s main problem a year ago whereas the latest poll showed that just one in 17 people thought that it was the country’s biggest concern.

Still, only 37% of respondents said that AMLO is doing a good job tackling corruption compared to 42% who told Reforma that he is doing a bad job.

Those polled rated the president more highly for his efforts on education, reducing poverty and taking care of the environment, with 46%, 39% and 38% of respondents, respectively, saying that he is doing a good job compared to 30%, 37% and 34% who said that he isn’t.

Just 35% of respondents said that López Obrador is managing the economy well, while 34% said the same about the public health system. Medicine shortages and problems with the introduction of the government’s new universal healthcare scheme have both damaged AMLO’s popularity.

Only a quarter of respondents said that the president is doing a good job on the issue of insecurity, and just under a quarter had a positive view about his response to organized crime. The government came under heavy criticism after it took the decision to release one of the sons of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán after the Sinaloa Cartel reacted violently to his capture in Culiacán last October.

Although AMLO was rated harshly in terms of his response to a range of issues, the president scored well when poll respondents were asked about his personal attributes. Two-thirds of those polled said that he is likable compared to just 23% who said he is not, while 60% said that he is fair, more than double the 26% who said he is not.

AMLO is an honest president, according to 58% of respondents, while only 24% said he is corrupt. Almost six in 10 said that he is capable of governing, 54% said that he governs for everyone and 53% believe that he speaks the truth. Just under half of respondents said that they believe that the president unites the country compared to 38% who said that he divides it.

The poll also shows that a majority of respondents believe that by the time López Obrador leaves office in 2024, the quality of public education will be better, access to healthcare services will have improved, quality of life will be better, there will be less poverty and corruption and the justice system will have improved.

In addition, the survey shows that the ruling Morena party remains the most popular political force in the country, making it well-placed ahead of midterm elections next year. Asked who they would vote for if there was a lower house election today, 46% said Morena.

The next most popular parties were the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which was last in power during the 2006-12 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, and the National Action Party (PAN), which governed from 2000 to 2012 under the leadership of ex-presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. However, the PRI and the PAN garnered just 16% support each from the poll respondents.

Speaking on Monday about his lower approval rating – another poll published Sunday showed that the president’s rating had declined to 62% from 67% in late November – López Obrador said that his popularity had taken a hit because his government has faced up to “corrupt conservatives.”

However, he brushed off any suggestion that the people were abandoning him en masse. “About my popularity, we’re fine. We have the majority, the people are supporting us,” López Obrador said.

The president charged that conservatives, a term he often uses to disparage his political opponents and members of the governments that ruled Mexico in recent years, are “extremely annoyed” that his administration has cracked down on corruption and closed tax loopholes.

He also said that if the people come to the view that they don’t want him as president anymore, he will retire to his ranch in Palenque, Chiapas.

“I’m not going to be like some presidents who have 10%, 15%, 20% approval in their countries and they’re still [in power]. How can one govern without the support of the citizens?”

López Obrador said that his aim in running for president was not just to occupy the position but to transform the country, adding “that’s why we’re not going to stop carrying out the changes [it needs].”

The president has said repeatedly that he intends to hold a “revocation of mandate” vote halfway through his six-year term, which will give the people the opportunity to decide whether he continues as president or not.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Whale calf freed off Pacific coast after becoming trapped by fishing nets

By

Cody Copeland

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March 2, 2020

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The net in which the whale was entangled.

Students and faculty from the University of Colima freed a humpback whale calf that was trapped in a fishing net off the state’s coast with the support of the navy and the federal environmental protection agency, Profepa.

Members of the university’s School of Marine Sciences noticed the trapped whale calf on February 26 and immediately contacted Profepa and the navy to ask for boats and equipment to free it.

The researchers are part of an interinstitutional group called the Network of Assistance to Enmeshed Whales, which is dedicated to rescuing the marine mammals from fishing nets.

The calf and its mother were spotted between the coastal towns of Manzanillo and Barra de Navidad, traveling north on their migration route as water temperatures rise in the higher latitudes.

University of Colima whale researcher Cristian Ortega said that he hopes to hear good news of the pair from researchers and activists up the coast. A similar group in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, keeps watch for migrating whales and also helps free them from fishing nets.

He and other students and researchers are expecting to see dozens of whales this month as they migrate to warmer waters. He asked fishermen and others who spot whales to check to see if they have nets attached to their bodies in any way and to contact his department if so.

Profepa said in a press release that it “continues to support surveillance and rescue actions for the protection of marine mammals, with the purpose of … conserving their populations during the season that they arrive to [Mexico’s Pacific coast].”

Sources: El Noticiero de Colima (sp)