Federal science agency gets approval for Mexican-made ventilator

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April 23, 2020

Governments across the globe are scrambling to provide ventilators for critically ill coronavirus patients, and Mexico is no different. The country may need up to 20,000, experts say, and currently only has 3,000.

So the government’s announcement that it has approved the production of ventilators developed by the National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt) may be welcome.

President López Obrador said a French aerospace company based in Querétaro will produce Conacyt’s device, and make around 500 a week. The first batch is set to be delivered by the first or second week of May, which health officials suspect will be when the virus begins to peak.

The ventilators’ approval came from the Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risk (Cofepris).

Meanwhile, five other low-cost ventilator production projects are on hold pending Cofepris approval. Three Mexican universities, Volkswagen and the non-profit Reesistencia Team México have plans to make the device.

The latter is a working group of 25 multi-disciplinary engineers out of Sonora looking to use equipment like 3D printers to produce ventilators, mimicking a similar project in Spain. The name is derived from their goal of helping people “resist” the virus.

During a recent press conference, the president said a second ventilator prototype developed by Conacyt is in the final phase of testing and could be in production by the third week of May.

However, while ventilators are sorely needed, having them doesn’t necessarily mean survival for those who are gravely ill.

A new study by the Journal of American Medical Association found that, in New York, 88% of coronavirus patients on ventilators it tracked died. That’s a sobering rate of morbidity and much higher than the 50% survival rate many doctors had hoped for.

“For those who have a severe enough course to require hospitalization through the emergency department it is a sad number,” said Karina W. Davidson, a professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, who authored the study.

Source: Xataka (sp), El Universal (sp), El Financiero (sp), The Washington Post (en)

Coronavirus pushes Tijuana hospitals toward saturation point

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Susy Buchanan

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April 23, 2020

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A man with coronavirus symptoms is admitted to a Tijuana hospital.

Hospitals in Tijuana are struggling to care for coronavirus patients as the city’s medical system nears the breaking point, officials say.

Baja California Health Minister Alonso Pérez Rico described a desperate situation in which for every 10 patients who recover enough to leave the hospital, 12 more will test positive and one of those will need to be put on a ventilator. Resources are simply stretched too thin.

“We have 10 ventilators at our disposal for all the hospitals in Tijuana,” Pérez said. “We’re trying to bring as many as we can get from neighboring communities such as Mexicali and Ensenada.”

Crowds of people gather at hospitals around the state’s capital, some hoping for news of sick family members and others who are symptomatic and seeking treatment.

The newspaper El Universal reported that a man named Juan showed up for screening at Hospital 20 complaining of a fever, body ache and a relentless cough. After a six-hour wait, medical staff screened him from a distance of about 4 meters, pointing a laser thermometer at his forehead which registered a fever of 39 C.

However, Juan was sent home with a prescription for Tylenol. Since then, his wife and sister in law have fallen ill.

Elsewhere in the city the scene is equally grim. At Hospital 1, which has the most number of beds for coronavirus patients, dozens of people wait outside hoping to be seen by doctors. Some hold their heads in their hands while others sleep on the ground, huddling together under blankets to keep warm.

The city is considered an epicenter for the virus in Mexico, and the morbidity rate is high; some estimates place it at 15% compared to 3.5% in San Diego, only a few kiilometers away.

Just 175 beds remain available to treat coronavirus patients, which officials warn may be completely full by the weekend.

Yesterday alone saw 123 new confirmed cases and 37 deaths. Currently, the city of 2.14 million has a total of 557 coronavirus cases and has recorded 86 deaths.

Sources: Border Report (en), El Universal (sp)

Tijuana police chief tests positive for Covid-19

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Cody Copeland

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April 23, 2020

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The chief of police and eight other public servants in Tijuana, Baja California, have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

Mayor Arturo González Cruz appointed Roberto Esparza Trujillo as municipal police chief in February. The municipal government announced the diagnosis and said that he is “being safeguarded in his home [and receiving] medical care.”

Municipal spokesperson Miguel Larre said that the operations of the police force “will not be affected and we will continue serving the population in a timely manner.”

Tijuana ranks among the municipalities with the most cases of Covid-19 in the country with 557, and has reported the most deaths from the disease with 66, according to federal Health Ministry data.

Security forces aren’t the only frontline responders being hit hard by the coronavirus in Tijuana. Baja California Governor Jaime Bonilla said last week that doctors were “falling like flies” in the municipality due to a critical shortage of personal protective equipment.

Despite having taken measures such as closing the municipality’s beaches early on in the quarantine period, cases have continued to rise.

State authorities point the finger to the fact that there are no controls on people entering the country from California, prompting the Baja Congress to request earlier this week that the federal government install health screening checkpoints at the border crossings to detect possible cases coming in.

Source: Milenio (sp)

CORRECTION: The earlier version of this story reported that Tijuana had recorded 149 cases, but those were active cases. The total, in fact, was 557 as of Wednesday evening. Cases are deemed active when a person has symptoms and is contagious.

Tax agency puts embargo on property belonging to owner of Interjet

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Susy Buchanan

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April 23, 2020

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As airlines across the world suffer due to coronavirus travel restrictions, Mexico’s low-cost carrier Interjet may not survive the pandemic.

Aircraft owners have repossessed at least 27 leased planes from Interjet’s fleet, already grounded since the airline stopped flying internationally at the end of March.

The company was dealt a further blow April 17 when Mexico’s tax agency placed a notice of impending embargo on the Mexico City residence of Miguel Alemán Velasco, father of Interjet president Miguel Alemán Magnani.

Interjet was already in the midst of restructuring before the pandemic hit, and struggling with an unhealthy debt to profit ratio. The government’s embargo indicates grave concerns about the company’s solvency.

Founded in 2005, Interjet had been Mexico’s third-largest airline, operating budget flights throughout Mexico and the Americas. The company’s president is the son of a former governor of Veracruz and grandson of former Mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés, who amassed a fortune as an early investor in Televisa. In 2017 Forbes estimated Alemán Velasco’s net worth to be US $2.5 billion, calling him one of the 15 richest men in Mexico.

Last August the Mexican tax agency ordered Interjet to pay off some US $27 million in back taxes, although the company negotiated a settlement in court requiring that it pay 10% of net profits each month in order to chip away at the debt. At that time, Bloomberg reported that Interjet’s chief financial officer declared in a court filing that losses accumulated between 2013 and 2018 “can be interpreted as the airline’s technical bankruptcy.”

The embattled company later denied that statement, arguing that “bankruptcy can only be declared by court order, and cannot be self-imposed by the debtor or any other entity. It’s a legal process through which the insolvency of a company has to be proved. This is not the case of the current situation of Interjet because the company continues paying its debts.”

Not so any longer, according to tax authorities looking to seize the airline’s founder’s personal property, which in addition to the home includes a limousine, library and a replica of the presidential chair his father once sat on during very different times.

Source: Bloomberg (en), Milenio (sp)

CORRECTION: Interjet president Miguel Alemán is the son of a former governor of Veracruz and the grandson of former Mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés. Incorrect information appeared in the earlier version of this story. We regret the error.

1,000 new coronavirus cases in one day pushes total to more than 10,000

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MND Staff

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April 23, 2020

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Active coronavirus cases as of Wednesday. milenio

The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Mexico surged past 10,000 on Wednesday while the death toll from the disease is now approaching 1,000.

The federal Health Ministry reported 1,043 new Covid-19 cases at its Wednesday night press briefing, taking the total number of cases across the country to 10,544. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell also reported 113 new fatalities, taking the coronavirus death toll to 970.

The single-day increase in cases is the biggest since Covid-19 was first detected in Mexico at the end of February while the daily death toll spike is the second biggest after the 145 fatalities reported on Tuesday.

Of the more than 10,000 confirmed cases, 3,618 are active, according to Health Ministry data, meaning that those infected currently have symptoms of Covid-19 and are considered contagious. Mexico City has the highest number of active cases with 1,085 followed by México state and Baja California with 584 and 300, respectively.

Mexico City also has the highest coronavirus death toll with 251 fatalities as of Wednesday. Baja California is second with 118 deaths followed by México state, Tabasco and Sinaloa, where 82, 60 and 59 people, respectively, have lost their lives to Covid-19.

While the case fatality rate is much higher among those aged 60 and over, López-Gatell warned that anyone can become seriously ill from Covid-19. Anyone with serious symptoms of the disease should seek medical care whether they are part of a vulnerable group of society or not, he said.

López-Gatell noted that up to 80% of Covid-19 patients who require respiratory support via a ventilator could die.

“In other words, of people who are critically ill, eight of every 10 could die during their hospitalization despite [receiving] medical treatment,” he said.

The health minister acknowledged, however, that there have been cases in Mexico in which patients have recovered even after being in critical condition for as long as several weeks.

In addition to the confirmed Covid-19 deaths, López-Gatell said that there have been a number of patients with symptoms of the disease who died before they were tested.

Mexico’s true coronavirus death toll is therefore likely well above 1,000. Based on confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 9.2 per 100 cases whereas the global rate is about 7.

However, the Health Ministry estimates that there are about eight undetected cases of Covid-19 for each confirmed one, meaning that the true fatality rate would be about 1.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Bank of México releases 20-peso coin celebrating founding of Veracruz

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2020

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A new 20-peso coin that commemorates the 500th anniversary of the founding of the port city of Veracruz is now in circulation, the Bank of México said on Wednesday.

Made out of nickel, silver, bronze and aluminum, the coin is dodecagonal – that is, it has 12 sides. The coin is slightly smaller, thinner and lighter than previously-minted, completely round 20-peso coins.

It has a diameter of 30 millimeters, a thickness of 2.4mm and weighs just under 12.7 grams whereas 20-peso coins that have been put into circulation over the last 27 years measure 32mm from side to side, are 2.75mm thick and tip the scales at almost 16 grams.

The reverse side of the coin features images of the original Veracruz town hall (still in use as the municipal palace) and a 16th-century ship reminiscent of the one on which Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés sailed to the Gulf coast in 1519. The words “500 years of the foundation of the city and port of Veracruz” encircle the coin’s perimeter.

Like all of Mexico’s coins, the obverse side of the new one features Mexico’s coat of arms – an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattle snake. Mexico’s official name, Estados Unidos Mexicanos, or the United Mexican States, is embossed on the top half of the coin’s obverse side perimeter.

The new coin has security features that its predecessors of the same denomination don’t have including a “micro-inscription” of “500 VERACRUZ” and a “latent image” of the number 20 that can only be seen if the coin is tilted.

For the time being, the new 20-peso coin and the 20-peso banknote will exist side by side but the central bank plans to phase out the latter.

The Bank of México’s announcement that the new coin had entered circulation comes just days after it confirmed that the release of the new 100-peso note will go ahead as planned in the second half of the year.

The bank announced in 2018 that it intended to release a new family of bills that pay homage to Mexico’s historical identity and natural heritage.

A new 500-peso note was released in August 2018 and a new 200-peso bill was put into circulation last September. A new 50-peso note is scheduled for release in 2022.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Hacienda Hedge: platinum lining to Mexico’s cloud

By

Carlisle Johnson

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April 22, 2020

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It has become a Rite of Spring. Each year Mexico rolls the dice and makes a huge options bet on the future direction of oil prices. It’s so predictable that it has its own nickname in financial circles — the “Hacienda Hedge” or the “Pemex Hedge.”

Basically Mexico bets heavily on crude oil’s price, using options to assure a price for future deliveries of Mexican, or “Maya” crude.

Wall Street holds its breath.

The Pemex Hedge answers the question, “What does Mexico, a major oil exporter, think is going to happen to oil prices?”

Like any private financial transaction, especially a massive one such as the Pemex Hedge, there are many unknown and potentially market disrupting details and few known details. Exact numbers of barrels hedged, the cost of arranging the private options to sell at a fixed future price, and the months in which the future sales are price guaranteed are among the unknowns.

But a major “known” is the price.

This year Pemex, or more likely Mexico’s treasury, thought the future price would be an average US$49 a barrel, and publicly disclosed this vital detail.

If the “M” in Mexico stood for “matador,” it would be two ears, the tail, and the horns of the bull — a bravissimo performance. The aficionados would be on their feet, cheering and throwing hats and flowers into the bull ring. The public may never know if the hedges were sold, or closed out prior to expiration as oil process collapsed, but my estimate is that the Hacienda Hedge 2020 earned or saved Mexico US $6 billion, almost a Soros-sized coup.

Taking a reasonable percentage of Mexico’s exports, based on 2019 output, “normalizing” the West Texas Intermediate benchmark price at about $15 a barrel before the fluke of the lack-of storage-capacity price collapse this week, working from too meager publicly available figures, if every cloud has a silver lining, there was a welcome ray of sunshine through Mexico’s cloud, a platinum one instead of silver.

Carlisle Johnson is a journalist based in Guatemala.

Corona water, face shields among corporate donations to aid coronavirus efforts

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Susy Buchanan

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April 22, 2020

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100,000 bottles of Corona water were delivered free to hospitals in México state.

Hospitals in the state of Mexico recently took delivery of 100,000 bottles of Corona, but they weren’t filled with beer.

As many large corporations are doing, the brewery has shifted production to help support medical staff on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic; the bottles with the familiar shape were filled with purified water. Ford México, the giant bakery firm Bimbo, and the resources company BHP have also contributed resources to support medical staff during the pandemic.

Beginning April 27, Ford’s Chihuahua plant will convert operations to produce 100,000 plastic face shields over the coming days, the company announced. The first 20,000 will go to Chihuahua, Sonora, Guanajuato and the state of México, regions where Ford has manufacturing plants.

An additional 60,000 shields will go to the federal government to distribute as it sees fit, and 20,000 will be destined for countries in Central America where Ford also has plants.

Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bakery (which in February had to close its plant in Wuhan, China) is pledging some 200 million pesos (around US $8 million) toward support for medical staff and small businesses in Mexico.

Ford México's Chihuahua plant will turn out 100,000 plastic face shields. — Ford México’s Chihuahua plant will turn out 100,000 plastic face shields.

The aid package includes the distribution of 1 million face masks and 2.5 million box lunches to medical personnel around the country.

Also, 70 million pesos will go to fund the temporary hospital erected in Mexico City’s Citibanamex Center, which has a capacity of 854 beds for patients with respiratory symptoms.

Small businesses will receive financial incentives to keep them afloat, as well as 1 million cloth masks to protect employees.

Joining these efforts is BHP, the Australia-based mining and resources company whose global assets in 2019 were upwards of US $100 billion.

The company has pledged US $100,000 in coronavirus aid. Half of the funds will go to the Mexican Health Foundation and used for training health professionals, converting hospitals to coronavirus units and research projects, among other efforts.

The remaining US $50,000 will go to Cáritas Tampico, a non-profit in Tamaulipas that serves vulnerable communities in the southern part of the state, as well as in northern Veracruz. The funds will provide food and medications to those in need in that region.

For its part, Corona will continue to provide 200,000 liters of drinking water to neighborhoods around Mexico City each week, which it has done since earlier this month. The company also pledged to continue working with the government on ways to support medical personnel.

Mexico currently has 9,501 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and has recorded 857 deaths; 2,627 people have recovered.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp), El Debate (sp)

Chinamperos help Mexico City residents by supplying fresh produce

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Joseph Sorrentino

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April 22, 2020

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Chinampero Coat Rufino with fresh lettuce.

The chinampería, a highly productive agricultural area in the Mexico City borough of Xochimilco, has been providing food for the city for hundreds of years. And before there was a Mexico City, it fed indigenous groups for thousands of years.

The chinampería has now taken on additional importance since much of the city has been locked down. Chinamperos, as the people who farm the land are called, have recently been driving into the city to sell their produce directly to residents who are under government orders to Quedaté en Casa (stay at home).

Coat Rufino and Minerva González, his wife, are chinamperos who usually sell their produce to restaurants in Mexico City, but almost all restaurants have closed and the handful that remain open have few customers.

“We had the idea to sell to people in the city,” said Rufino. “We knew that many people were staying inside. My wife designed a poster and we put it on Facebook.” Hortalizas Mago, as their business is called, had only five clients the first week they opened for business but that grew to around 20 just a week later.

Every Monday, Rufino and González cram their small car with the produce they’ve harvested just a day or two before: lettuce, bok choy, kale and other vegetables. “People text us what they want,” said González. “Sometimes we have to buy tortillas, sweets, mushrooms and other things that we do not grow.”

Ana Sofia Villas is a happy customer of the service.

It’s about an hour’s drive from San Gregorio Atlapulco, where they live and work, to the city proper. When they arrive, they park on the street and send text messages to their clients almost all of whom show up, like Rufino and Gánzalez, wearing masks. The two take the extra precaution of wearing gloves.

Raquel Louctalot is one of the customers that has been buying from Rufino and González since they started driving in. “They’re from the chinampa,” she said. “They’re producers so I want to support them.” All of the customers said the food is fresher, keeps longer and is much cheaper; often less than half the cost of supermarkets.

Ana Sofia Villas walked away with a bag crammed with produce that cost her 300 pesos (about US $13). “I am happy with this,” she said. “If they continue to come in after the crisis, I will continue to buy from them.”

Rufino said they always bring extra food in case somebody walking by wants to purchase something and they always give people a little something for free. “I give them a little verdolaga (purslane),” he said. “Maybe they will want to buy some next week.”

He or his wife hand their customers the samples once the order has been filled, saying, “Here is a little gift.”

It’s a long day for the couple. They spend two or three days harvesting their produce, a couple of hours buying the items they don’t grow and then are up at 6:00 Monday morning to organize the orders. It’s then a long day in the city, usually ending around 3:00, and a drive back to their home.

“I think it is worth it,” said Rufino. “We are bringing food to people who need it. We lost an entire area we planted — red lettuce — because there was no one to buy it. So we are not losing everything and we are earning some money.”

• Hortalizas Mago can be reached at 552 949 3115.

Joseph Sorrentino is a freelance writer and photographer currently living in San Gregorio Atlapulco, which is part of Xochimilco. His articles and photographers have appeared in In These Times, Commonweal Magazine, US Catholic and La Jornada del Campo and other newspapers and magazines.

CORRECTION: The earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the woman in the photo above. Our apologies.

AMLO announces more austerity, slashes spending to confront economic woes

By

MND Staff

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April 22, 2020

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President López Obrador is betting that more government austerity rather than greater spending will help the economy weather the coronavirus storm.

López Obrador outlined a range of spending cuts on Wednesday morning although none will affect the government’s social programs, infrastructure projects, the Health Ministry, the National Guard or the armed forces.

The salaries of high-ranking officials will be cut by up to 25%, they won’t receive end-of-year bonuses and 75% of the federal budget approved for the payment of general services and the purchase of supplies will not be used in 2020, the president said.

Ten deputy ministers’ offices will be eliminated but no federal employees will lose their jobs, López Obrador said, adding that many government offices that don’t provide essential services directly to the public will be temporarily closed to generate additional savings.

While there will be no dismissals, the government will not hire any new staff, he said.

The president said that the deep cuts as well as government “efficiency and honesty” will allow an extra 622.5 billion pesos (US $25.4 billion) to be spent on social programs and key infrastructure projects.

López Obrador also said that the government will provide 3 million loans to poor and middle-class Mexicans to help them through the coronavirus-induced economic downturn and reiterated his pledge to create 2 million jobs by the end of the year.

Many of those jobs are expected to be created by the government’s infrastructure projects. The Santa Lucía airport, the Maya Train, the Dos Bocas oil refinery and many other projects are all going ahead despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Among the social programs that will either maintain their existing funding or receive additional resources are the Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) tree-planting employment scheme, the youth apprenticeship scheme, student scholarship initiatives and the pension schemes for the elderly and disabled.

There will be no cuts to health care or the state oil company and agricultural schemes that deliver fertilizers to farmers and pay them guaranteed prices for five products will continue.

Despite the additional austerity measures, López Obrador stressed that the Finance Ministry will have the funds it requires to provide resources to the states, make debt repayments and pay all government employees.

He said that his response to the crisis – cutting spending while supporting the poor – is “completely different” to what was done in Mexico in the past when “neoliberal” governments responded to economic crises.

The measures outlined by the president will take effect today after their publication in the government’s official gazette and remain in place until the end of the year.

The plan presented by López Obrador this morning includes many of the measures he announced just over two weeks ago to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Mexico’s most prominent business groups have criticized the government’s economic response to the coronavirus crisis, claiming that it doesn’t do enough to support the economy.

The Business Coordinating Council (CCE), an umbrella organization representing 12 business groups, responded much more warmly to the support offered to the economy by the central bank, which cut its benchmark interest rate to 6% on Tuesday and announced 750 billion pesos (US $30.5 billion) in support for the financial system.

Those measures will provide “relief” to the battered Mexican economy, the CCE said.

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