2 more states get serious about face masks; Mexico City stays orange but only just

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November 27, 2020

Not wearing a face mask in Nayarit is punishable with 36 hours in jail.

Two more states have passed laws that make the use of face masks mandatory as Mexico faces a surge in new coronavirus infections while Mexico City is on the verge of regressing to the red light “maximum” risk level on the Covid-19 stoplight system.

Lawmakers in Nayarit and Morelos passed laws on Thursday that make face masks mandatory in those two states.

In Nayarit, members of Congress unanimously approved a bill put forward by Governor Antonio Echevarría García. People not wearing face masks in public places or who fail to follow social distancing recommendations can now be arrested and held in custody for 36 hours or alternatively face fines of up to 1,700 pesos (US $85).

Citizens can also be sanctioned for spitting, coughing or sneezing without making an effort to prevent the spread of respiratory droplets.

Nayarit has recorded 7,127 confirmed coronavirus cases and 924 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The federal government estimates that there are 223 active cases in the Pacific coast state, where the risk of coronavirus infection is currently yellow light “medium” on the stoplight system.

In Morelos, 17 lawmakers in the 20-seat unicameral Congress voted in favor of making masks mandatory. Residents of the state will be required to wear them in all open-air and enclosed public spaces including their workplaces.

Mask scofflaws could be reprimanded, ordered to undertake community work or fined, according to the law. Businesses where owners or employees are not wearing masks could be temporarily closed.

Morelos has recorded a total of 7,772 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,288 Covid-19 deaths. There are currently an estimated 352 active cases in the state, which like Nayarit is currently yellow on the stoplight map.

Six states have now legislated to make masks mandatory during the pandemic. The others to have done so are Chihuahua, Colima, Sonora and Zacatecas. The governors of many other states have ordered the use of masks by decree while some municipalities around the country have done the same.

In Mexico City, where masks are ostensibly obligatory but their use is not enforced, 196,028 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 and the infectious disease has claimed 17,259 lives. Those figures account for 18% and 16.5%, respectively, of Mexico’s accumulated case tally and official death toll.

The Health Ministry estimates that there are 16,273 active cases in the capital.

Mexico City's contact tracing system has been extended to pharmacies and supermarkets. — Mexico City’s contact tracing system has been extended to pharmacies and supermarkets.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced Friday that Mexico City will remain at the orange light risk level “with alert” next week but warned that the capital is on the “limit” of switching to the “maximum” risk level.

“Hospitalizations have increased. … [We’re] on the limit of the red light,” she said.

As of Thursday night, there were 2,755 coronavirus patients in general care hospital beds in the capital and 844 people in beds with ventilators. Some hospitals in the capital are completely full with coronavirus patients, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Wednesday.

Sheinbaum warned last week that there is a risk that hospital occupancy next month will reach reach the peak levels seen in May. Mexico City authorities have tightened restrictions in recent weeks, limiting the opening hours of many businesses and ordering bars and cantinas to close.

A prohibition on alcohol sales that applied last weekend in half of the capital’s 16 boroughs will take effect at 6:00 p.m. Friday in the other eight and remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. Sunday. The so-called ley seca, or dry law, will apply this weekend in Álvaro Obregón, Azcapotzalco, Benito Juárez, Coyoacán, Cuajimalpa, Cuauhtémoc, Milpa Alta and Venustiano Carranza.

The Mexico City government also announced that street vendors in the historic center will only be permitted to sell until 5:00 p.m. after which they will be moved on by police.

Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio

In addition, it said that a new contact tracing program will be extended to pharmacies and supermarkets. Citizens scan a QR code with their phones so that their number is registered and they can be contacted if they are found to have had contact with an infected person at stores and restaurants.

North of the capital in Querétaro, Governor Francisco Domínguez announced a range of new coronavirus restrictions on Thursday. He said the capacity of shopping centers will be reduced from 50% to 30% of normal levels and they will be required to close by 8:00 p.m.

Supermarkets and convenience stores will also be limited to 30% capacity and must close by 10:00 p.m.

Domínguez said that restaurants can operate until 10:00 p.m. at 50% capacity but are limited to providing takeout and delivery on Sundays. The sale of alcohol is prohibited in Querétaro on Sundays and only permitted until 10:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

The governor said that face masks are mandatory in all public places and reiterated that events that seek to gather more than 100 people are banned.

“We can’t relax, we can’t allow the disease to get away [from us],” Domínguez said.

Querétaro has recorded 20,578 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Thursday and 1.457 Covid-19 deaths. The Health Ministry estimates there are currently 2,715 active cases in the state, where the infection risk level is orange light “high.”

Along with Mexico City, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Zacatecas and Aguascalientes, Querétaro has been identified by federal health authorities as at high risk of going red on the stoplight map.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s national case tally rose to 1,078,594 on Thursday with 8,107 new cases registered. More than 10,000 cases were registered on both Tuesday and Wednesday, the only two days since the start of the pandemic on which a five-figure tally of new cases has been reported.

Health authorities have stressed that not all of the cases reported on a daily basis were actually detected in the preceding 24-hour period.

The official Covid-19 death toll increased to 104,242 on Thursday with 645 additional fatalities. Mexico’s coronavirus mortality rate – deaths per 100,000 inhabitants – is 82.6, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The rate here is higher than those of the United States, Brazil and India, which are the only countries to have recorded more Covid-19 deaths than Mexico.

Mexico’s case tally and death toll are widely believed to be much higher than official statistics show due to Mexico’s low testing rate.

Source: Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp)

Some of Mexico’s caves harbor an invisible enemy: histoplasmosis

By

John Pint

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November 27, 2020

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The strange beauty of this Michoacán cave hides dangerous bat guano droppings.

Having explored caves in such far-flung places as Jamaica, France and Saudi Arabia, I naturally wanted to keep the tradition when I moved to Mexico in 1985. The first thing I tried to do upon settling in the hills outside Guadalajara was to find a caving club in Jalisco.

However, when a letter to the editor of México Desconocido magazine produced no results, my wife and I founded our own club, named Zotz, which is Mayan for “bat.”

In every pueblo we visited, we asked whether there were any caves nearby. If we got a sí, it would inevitably be accompanied by one of the following remarks: a) the cave is full of treasure or b) The cave is full of mal aire (bad air). If this article were about the treasure, I wouldn’t have much more to say, but mal aire turned out to be very real indeed and impacted our lives again and again.

“Cuidado,” they would tell us. “More than 30 people in our town have died over the years from breathing the air in that cave.”

It didn’t take long for us to find out that it wasn’t the air that was bad but something floating in it: the tiny spores of the fungus histoplasma capsulatum, which loves to grow on guano, the droppings of bats or birds. The spores are invisible to the eye, and you won’t know they’ve found their way to your lungs until 11 days after you’ve visited the cave — the typical incubation period in western Mexico.

Thousands of tequila bats inhabit this cave near Guadalajara.

Once your immune system discovers the invader in your lungs, it tries to encapsulate it. You experience a cough, perhaps accompanied by chest pains and a fever; the symptoms vary tremendously. One person may experience what seems like a passing cold while another may be hospitalized for a year. Yet another may die from histo while still others may notice nothing and then come down with a persistent cough years later.

Naturally, it occurred to us that people entering a cave should wear masks to prevent breathing in the spores. So we tried that … and the following case indicates our results: in 1988, a group of 17 people, both adults and children, many of them with no previous experience in cave exploration, visited a cave with a small vertical entrance.

Most of these erstwhile explorers were from Mexico, but two were from the United States. Many of them wore a simple cloth face mask that they removed for photos while in the cave.

Eleven days later, the leader of the group, Mario Guerrero, started receiving phone calls.

“How do you feel? Do you have something like the flu?”

Mario soon discovered that everyone, including himself, had similar symptoms: headache, a fever up to 40 C, exhaustion, respiratory congestion and, for most, a hacking cough. He contacted a Social Security (IMSS) clinic, which asked all 17 of the explorers to come in for X-rays.

Histoplasma capsulatum is a lung disease caused by this fungus.

“You all have histoplasmosis,” said the doctor. “Please go tomorrow to IMSS headquarters for more tests.”

The next day, in Mario’s words, “they examined our blood, our stools, our urine and our spit … and then they again told us to come back tomorrow.”

“What about the medicine?” Mario asked. “What should we take?”

“There is no medicine,” the doctor said. “You should rest, eat well and wait. It will probably go away in two weeks.”

“What?” members of the group exclaimed. “So why should we come back tomorrow?”

“Oh, we’ve never seen a case like this before,” the doctor answered. “Seventeen people with histo … It might be a record! What a great opportunity for a study!”

Histoplasmosis spores can travel long distances, even in very wet caves.

Later, Mario told me, “Sixty days after entering that cave, everybody in the group felt normal … and ready to go off and explore another one.”

Questions about masks and histo later provoked lively debate among members of the U.S. National Speleological Society. Tests were carried out, with the conclusion that masks can indeed protect a caver from histo spores but only if that mask is sealed around the edges to the wearer’s face; that’s bad news for bearded spelunkers.

A few years later, IMSS Guadalajara had a second case of numerous individuals infected with histo, only this time they had not been in a cave. Instead, they all worked for the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). They were put into the hands of the late Dr. Amado González Mendoza, who learned that all of them had been digging ditches in a certain place.

Dr. González discovered that dirt taken from one meter below the surface in that area contained numerous histoplasma capsulatum spores which, it was surmised, had been present in guano dropped by bats flying over the place long, long ago. Nevertheless, the spores were still alive and able to grow.

Dr. González then had a study done of the subsurface around Jalisco. He discovered histo spores in many places. When he showed me a map of the worst areas, I told him, “Doctor, your map looks like a guide to the caves of Jalisco. These are exactly the places with large outcrops of limestone.”

While doctors typically prescribed no medicine to the victims of histoplasmosis 30 years ago, today the situation is much improved. Says a doctor at Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil:

Thirty people are said to have died after entering Paso Real Cave in Jalisco.

“My husband is a speleologist, and after years of caving in Mexico he ended up with a persistent cough that hounded him day and night for months. They x-rayed his lungs and found nothing, but when they gave him an MRI, they found a nodule, which was calcified, in one lung.

“A biopsy revealed a great deal of inflammation in this nodule, as well as the presence of other smaller nodules. So he was put on itraconazole, which is effective against fungi not only in the lungs but in the throat, nails or skin. The treatment is oral but slow. After several months, the cough disappeared.”

At first, we thought only caves filled with tons of guano presented a serious risk to visitors. As time passed, however, we realized that any dry, dusty cave or mine probably hosts the fungus.

Then, unfortunately, a group of visitors to a very wet river cave came down with histo, every one of them triathlon athletes.

We could only surmise that currents of air from the lower part of the cave 100 meters downstream, where bats roost, had carried spores all the way to the nostrils of those unfortunate young visitors.

Our final conclusion: you can’t be sure that any cave is completely safe — and Jalisco might just be the histo capital of the world.

Guano samples being collected for analysis by IMSS researchers.

Even a tight-fitting mask did not prevent this caver from suffering for a year.

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for 31 years, and is the author of “A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area” and co-author of “Outdoors in Western Mexico.” More of his writing can be found on his website.

2,500 tonnes of aid is being distributed in flooded Tabasco

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 27, 2020

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Aid for flood victims in a Tabasco warehouse.

State and federal government entities say they will distribute more than 2,500 tonnes of provisions over the next few days to communities affected by severe flooding in Tabasco.

The army, the navy, and the state’s Civil Protection agency say they have already given out 72,000 individual packages of food and other supplies to affected residents from a staging center in Villahermosa. Trucks are shipping out oatmeal, beans, powdered milk, sugar, and other nonperishable foods divided into large plastic garbage bags for distribution.

Members of the armed forces are also helping to evacuate people who live in the vicinity of the Usumacinta River in southeastern Tabasco, particularly in the municipality of Tenosique.

Areas throughout southern Tabasco have been flooded for over a month now due to Hurricane Eta and heavy rains from two cold fronts. The Usumacinta has risen to a record 12.87 meters, nearly three meters above a level considered critical, forcing more evacuations of people around the river to temporary shelters. Officials believe the river will soon rise even higher.

The federal government has declared 17 Tabasco communities to be in a state of emergency.

tabasco floodwaters — It’s been a wet month in Tabasco.

At the staging center, two buildings have been converted into warehouses, receiving supplies from the federal government and private Mexican donors and international sources. A navy spokesman said they have received 150 tonnes of supplies from a federal government fund as well as from donations by countries like Spain, Turkey, Germany, and Argentina.

“Everything here is being taken to the affected municipalities,” he said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Despite Covid restrictions, the Baja 1000 still offers up the ride of a lifetime

By

Tiffani Burkett

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November 27, 2020

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The unpredictable Baja 1000 racecourse covers every surface from hard pack to soft sand, with deep ruts and rocks. Racers carry food and water in case of a breakdown.

It’s Thursday, November 19 on the eve of the Baja 1000. The streets of Ensenada are silent, save the usual hustle of daily life. But this year, there are no big crowds or vendors packing the streets with churros and colorful trinkets. It’s a ghost town. But while there may be no fanfare or crowds to cheer them on in this uncertain world of 2020, there’s one thing you can always rely on: racers will race.

Through the serendipity of the small world of racing, a friend had introduced us to Francisco Septian, owner of Moto Garage 730 and a local hero and multi-time winner of the Baja 1000, the Baja 500 and other off-road races. He invited us to join his chase team that would follow him and two other racers, Shane Esposito and Justin Schultz, in a couple of chase vehicles.

Ordinarily, the Baja 1000 has riders leaving Ensenada and barreling down to La Paz, over approximately 1,000 miles, but this year, because of Covid-19 restrictions, it was an 898.40-mile loop through the mountains of Baja California. This course was widely considered the most technically difficult to date and 187 entries from 14 countries showed up to meet the challenge.

The chase van arrived outside our hotel at 3 a.m. “Are you ready for 24 hours of craziness?” Francisco’s head mechanic grinned back at us.

Racers in the motorcycle and quad classes started at 4 a.m., released in one-minute intervals. Trophy trucks and UTVs gridded up at 10 a.m., giving riders a head start to gain a margin of safety. Having a 1200-horsepower trophy truck pass your motorcycle on a narrow road, kicking up rocks the size of your head, isn’t an ideal situation for a rider. This year, spectators, including the rider’s own team, were banned from the grid, so each rider launched into the dark unknown, their high-intensity discharge headlights blaring, to the quiet applause of a handful of officials. And then we were off. The crew ran to the van, loading up as quickly as possible, and peeled out onto Baja’s Highway 1.

Being in a chase vehicle is a race in itself. If you don’t get to each pit stop before your racer does, he will lose invaluable time that could cost him the race.

Chase crews must act as a well-oiled machine. Every moment affects a racer's finish time. — Chase crews are well-oiled machines. Every moment affects a racer’s finish time.

Our first stop was at a restaurant an hour from town. The mountains were dark silhouettes in the distance until the headlight of rider 1x lit up the mountainside. He descended the hills, then roared up a steep jump into the pit area. His bike bucked and slid its way onto the highway as quickly as it came. Moments later, to the crow of roosters under the pre-sunrise glow, our rider on 370x emerged from the trail. In a split second, Shane dismounted the team’s Honda CRF450X bike, Francisco hopped on and the crew swapped on the daytime headlight. With one last spin of a T-handle, Francisco began a six-hour marathon.

Having done many Baja races, Francisco pre-organized all of his pit locations. Everyone knew exactly where to go, where to set up, and what to do when the rider arrived. Any second lost could mean losing the race, so this took away all the guesswork. As soon as he was off, our van weaved through Baja traffic, taking the bonus lane past trains of semis and cutting red lights by skirting the road in the dirt. The regular world going on around the race continued to operate as if nothing were happening, but the racing teams were on the ride of their life.

Francisco slid both tires through a turn, threading a needle into a tunnel beneath the highway as his route crossed ours. On the next stop, his teammate tossed him his daytime goggles, amidst the glaring reflection of the desert sand. We followed the Pacific Coast to San Quintín, then the course hooked back north.

Six hours and 300 miles down, we set up in a quarry. The team avoided flying rocks as Francisco crunched through them and onto the mat. Within a minute, a new rear wheel was mounted. That’s when Shane took over, riding into the most challenging section of the course; we were back on the move.

While the next 100 miles could take as long as four hours, the next pit stop required a long haul over a twisting mountain pass of washboards. However, it was noon now, and every car in the Baja seemed to be out running errands. The lines of trucks were endless as our driver carved around the caravans, screeching tires through turns.

Officials mark the racers' engines to ensure that they're not changed mid-race, but teams carry spare bikes for allowed parts changes and loan each other parts. — Officials mark the racers’ engines to ensure that they’re not changed mid-race, but teams carry spare bikes for allowed parts changes and loan each other parts.

For hours, we twisted through desert hills, passing Picacho Del Diablo, the highest peak in the Baja. Each jolt to the suspension reverberated through my spine, but we couldn’t slow down. As we passed a small town, families stood outside their gates, jumping up and down and waving at every chase vehicle that drove by.

The Baja racers really are heroes here.

Our van barely arrived in time to meet Shane. He came barreling into the pit before they even had time to set up; perhaps this was partly because his front brakes had gone out. They swapped the air filter while Shane showed us the failed brakes. But with no way to fix it, he had to continue with only a rear brake to rely on. We followed behind him with our emergency flashers on, rolling at 60 kilometers per hour, the mandated speed for riders on all the paved motorways. It was all we could do.

Ten miles more down the road, we got a surprise: Francisco waved us into the dirt. Even on this level, racers never hesitate to help each other, and so another racer had offered us his spare Honda to use for parts. Within minutes, the master cylinder and brake lines were stripped from the parts bike, installed on the race bike and ready to go. Shane got back on, tearing into the course to make up time. Next stop: the Sea of Cortés.

The chase truck drove to the southern end of San Felipe’s loop, whereas our van went north. There wasn’t enough time to get from one pit to the next if we stuck together, so having two chase vehicles came in handy. The sun set behind us at mile 660 as we sat parked at the bottom of a sandy jump. Hundreds of people were set up on either side of the course, campfires burning, mariachi music blasting and laughter filling the air. We continued to wait.

The last tire change of the race happened under headlamps around midnight.

Three hours passed. Still no sign of our rider. Meanwhile, the “weatherman” played over the radio, a channel where crew members can call for updates on their riders. That’s when we heard it: “370X-ray is stopped at mile marker 567.”

We pulled up live tracking through the Score app, made for fans to follow the Baja 1000, the Baja 500 and the San Felipe 250. On the app we could see that our rider was stopped, but no one knew why. As we continued watching, we realized he was veering off course: he was lost! But with no way to communicate, all we could do was sit helplessly and wait. A rider getting stranded out in the middle of the desert is a real risk, so much so that it’s required that riders bring enough food and water for a couple of days.

We lost a half-hour before he got back on course. But then he was blazing through the night at nearly 50 mph, making up for lost time. When he arrived, we got the scoop: a truck parked on the course had thrown him off track. The bike didn’t have GPS, and he had accidentally followed signs left standing from a Baja 500 race. When the tire tracks turned to cow tracks, he realized he was going the wrong way. Additionally, the brakes failed again, but with another parts bike, they swapped the entire brake system, and Francisco took over.

It was midnight when we arrived at the next stop. With 20 hours in, we had 200 miles left to go. At the fueling station, where Francisco eventually came skidding in, there was nothing wrong with the bike this time. Just one more stretch. The riders swapped, and Shane sped off. There was only one person he needed to pass to take the victory. We raced another hour down the road, just to make sure he was in good shape, but as he blasted by us within inches of the van, we knew he had it handled.

I fell asleep on the two-hour drive back to Ensenada. The whole van did. We pulled into Moto Garage 730 at 5:30 a.m. Shane rolled in shortly afterward with the elation of someone who had just finished 898.40 miles of one of the most intense, dangerous, and grueling races in the world. The total race time? 24:32.19.

At the end of the day, it’s not where you finish in the Baja that matters. It’s that you finished at all. Sure, everyone wants a coveted spot on the podium, but to simply stand on your own two feet, alive and successful after all those hours of rocks and sand and mishaps is the greatest victory of all. While I’m sure it’s nothing compared to the fanfare of prepandemic times, for the racers themselves it’s still every bit as satisfying.

But our team did take first in its class; so winning is pretty great too!

Mexico News Daily

Lawmaker’s refusal to don face mask causes stir at elections agency

By

MND Staff

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November 27, 2020

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Fernández argues his point at a meeting of the National Electoral Institute.

A federal lawmaker came under heavy criticism on Thursday after he refused to wear a face mask while speaking at a session of the National Electoral Institute (INE).

Labor Party Deputy Gerardo Fernández Noroña, never one to shy away from a controversy — or create one, removed his mask when he was given the opportunity to speak, prompting INE president Lorenzo Córdova to remind him that the protocols of the institute make the use of face masks obligatory while inside its premises.

“I know that you want me gagged,” Fernández responded. “I will speak without a gag. Besides I drink a lot of water, I use a lot of energy when I’m speaking.”

The deputy, who is currently the secretary of the energy committee in the lower house of Congress and the Labor Party’s new representative at the INE, attempted to justify his decision to remove his mask by asserting that he wasn’t sick, pointing out that he was at an appropriate distance from other participants and saying that the space where the session was being held was ventilated.

Fernández also noted that Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, the government’s coronavirus czar, has questioned the effectiveness of masks in preventing the spread of the virus.

fernandez norona — Fernández alone in the council chamber after everyone else left.

The INE representatives of the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) among others protested Fernández’s obstinacy and demanded that he follow the mask rule or otherwise remove himself.

INE officials called a recess, allowing attendees to leave and subsequently join the session virtually. Fernández remained in the INE meeting room, the only person to do so, and proceeded to speak without a mask once the session resumed.

After the conclusion of the session, Córdova took to Twitter to once again point out INE’s rules with regard to face masks.

“In light of the events that occurred in the general council session today, it’s important to remember that the protocols for the return of face-to-face activities at INE during the Covid-19 pandemic mandate the obligatory use of face masks,” he wrote.

Former PRD deputy Fernando Belaunzarán lumped Fernández together with United States President Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and President López Obrador, all of whom have played down the threat of the coronavirus and largely eschewed the wearing of masks.

“Trump, Bolsonaro, AMLO and his minion Noroña [are all] against face masks and science. … The fight is against obscurantism. Not even 100,000 official [Covid-19] deaths (about 300,000 real ones) make them correct [their positions],” he wrote on Twitter.

San Luis Potosí state Deputy Pedro Carrizales, a former gangster better known as “El Mijis,” also weighed in on the issue.

“How can we ask people to respect the rules when our deputies fight against complying with them?” he asked his 167,000 Twitter followers.

Similarly, Citizens Movement Deputy Martha Tagle said that lawmakers must respect the coronavirus rules and set an example for others.

Addressing Fernández’s refusal to wear a face mask at his regular news conference on Friday, López Obrador said that “the most important thing is freedom.”

“People have to decide freely [what to do] and have confidence in [their fellow] Mexicans because they always act wisely, the people are wise,” he said.

His remarks came a day after he presented a government ethical guide, which provides advice about how people should conduct themselves in their personal relationships and society.

Source: Infobae (sp), El Universal (sp)

Sonora mayor’s gift to mothers of missing persons: shovels and buckets

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 27, 2020

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Families of missing persons with their new shovels.

The mayor of Guaymas, Sonora, is under criticism after presenting mothers of missing persons with shovels and buckets to help them dig up clandestine graves.

In a ceremony on Wednesday meant to honor the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women, Mayor Sara Valle Dessens gave the Women Warrior Searchers group shovels, buckets and gift baskets containing face masks, latex gloves, antibacterial gel and bottled water.

Members of the Guaymas municipal council publicized the event on social media, where commenters from all over Mexico were soon posting derogatory comments toward the mayor and the council, expressing outrage at what they said was the ceremony’s insensitivity.

“What little empathy you have,” said one commenter on Facebook. “May these shovels never be used to look for one of your own relatives.”

“On the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women, we give them buckets for digging up bodies,” said another commenter. “How sinister.”

“Today we have a Fourth Transformation that is geared toward addressing the emotional first,” the Morena party mayor said during the ceremony. “Many years of injustice have brought us violence of all types, but now we want to eliminate them.”

The gift also drew criticism on Twitter from Sonora’s National Action Party president.

“The insensitive and indolent [politicians] of the Fourth Transformation think that their failings can be compensated for with public money,” Ernesto Mauro said. “To those who lost a loved one due to the administration’s ineffectualness, they are giving a shovel so that they can go find them themselves.”

According to government numbers, more than 4,000 clandestine graves have been found throughout Mexico since 2006, including 143 in Sonora, although groups like the Women Warrior Searchers and The Searchers of Obregón believe that the real number is much higher.

There are 73,000 missing persons in Mexico, according to government data released in July.

Sources: El Universal (sp), Reforma (sp)

Exports hit a record US $42 billion in October, up 2.9% over previous year

By

MND Staff

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November 27, 2020

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Mexican exports hit a record high of almost US $42 billion in October, according to data published Friday by the national statistics institute Inegi.

Exports totaled $41.94 billion, a 2.9% increase compared to October 2019 and the highest monthly amount since records were first kept in 1991.

It was the second consecutive month that the value of exports rose on an annual basis after a 3.6% spike in September. Exports slumped earlier in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, especially in April and May when they declined 40.9% and 56.7%, respectively.

Total exports between January and October were worth $336.19 billion, a 12.6% decline compared to the same period last year.

Petroleum exports last month were worth $1.28 billion, a 30.2% decline compared to October 2019, while non-petroleum exports were worth $40.66 billion, a 4.5% increase.

About 94% of the latter amount, or $38.33 billion, came from manufactured products including vehicles, whose export value was up 12.8% to $13.98 billion.

Agricultural exports were worth $1.45 billion in October, a 5.7% annual increase, while mining exports accounted for $873 million, a 66.4% surge.

On the other side of the ledger, imports to Mexico totaled $35.72 billion last month, 13.8% less than in October 2019. The value of imports has now declined for 15 consecutive months.

Petroleum imports were worth $2.71 billion in October, 33.4% less than in the same month last year, while non-petroleum imports were worth $33.01 billion, an 11.7% decline. Consumer goods imports declined 34.4% to $4.05 billion.

During the first 10 months of the year, imports to Mexico totaled $311 billion, an 18.8% decline compared to the same period of 2019.

The Inegi data shows that Mexico had a current account surplus of $6.22 billion in October – a record high – and $25.18 billion in the January-October period.

The surplus is partially attributable to a decline in demand for imports as consumer demand fell because millions of Mexicans lost their jobs or saw their income reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions.

GDP plummeted 18.7% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year and declined 8.6% on an annual basis in the third quarter.

The central bank is predicting a contraction of between 8.7% and 9.3% this year, which would be the worst result for the Mexican economy since the Great Depression.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

97-year-old Nuevo León woman beats coronavirus

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 27, 2020

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Leonor leaves a Monterrey hospital to the applause of staff.

A 97-year-old Nuevo León woman who beat the odds and survived Covid-19 left a Monterrey hospital Thursday to the applause of medical staff celebrating the end of her 21-day stay.

The woman, identified as Leonor, survived despite a hypertension condition and being the oldest patient ever treated at Santa Cecilia Hospital, an IMSS facility, said Cinthia Mariel Mota Guzmán, the hospital’s Covid response leader.

“Leonor’s case was a challenge for the medical stuff,” she said. “Fortunately we have a geriatric treatment setup as well as interdisciplinary care management … Integrated treatment was important.”

Leonor was on antibiotics and supplemental oxygen and received respiratory and mobility therapy, she said.

“Little by little we were able to reduce the amount of oxygen she needed,” general practitioner Liora Elizabeth Barra Farfán said.

She said working with Leonor made her think of her own grandparents. The elderly woman looked fragile on the surface, Barra said, “but in fact, she’s quite strong.”

Leonor left the hospital quietly upbeat, rolled out in a wheelchair by a staff member, and thanked her doctors for their care.

“I am happy and thankful,” she told them. “Thanks to everyone, I’m leaving here very content with all the services you gave me … Everything you do is a great sacrifice for the sick; may God pay you back for it.”

She told the newspaper Milenio that she doesn’t know the secret to longevity, but despite aches from a previous leg surgery, she keeps herself active even at 97.

“I feel good. I still get up in the morning to bathe and tidy up my room. I am also able to cook for myself. I use a walker and a cane, and I get along.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Removing president’s protection from prosecution advances with Senate vote

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MND Staff

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November 27, 2020

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mexican senate — Senators voted Thursday to eliminate the fuero.

The Senate on Thursday approved a constitutional reform that eliminates legal immunity for Mexico’s sitting president.

Eighty-nine senators voted in favor of the reform, which has already been approved by the lower house of Congress, while 23 opposed it.

It must now be ratified by a majority of Mexico’s 32 state legislatures in order to be declared constitutionally valid.

While in office “the president of the republic can be charged and tried for treason, acts of corruption, electoral crimes and all crimes for which any citizen can be tried,” the reform says.

The constitution currently states that the sitting president can only be tried for treason and “serious crimes of the common order,” a protection known in Spanish as the fuero.

The Senate also approved a constitutional reform stipulating that federal lawmakers can be charged with and tried for any crimes they commit while in office. That reform has been sent to the lower house of Congress for revision.

President López Obrador, who has informally accused his recent predecessors of all manner of corrupt and illicit activities, described the approval of the reform that removes the head of state’s protection from prosecution as an “historic act.”

“[I want to] thank the senators because the initiative to remove presidential immunity was approved. It’s an historic act, the sitting president couldn’t be tried … except for treason and that meant immunity,” he said.

“This was established … in the 1857 constitution, it was maintained in [the] 1917 [constitution]. It’s not until now that presidential immunity is removed, we’re talking about 150 years that this privilege was maintained for the president,” López Obrador said.

“In half plus one of the state legislatures, 17, there won’t be any problem [ratifying the reform]. Before the year ends this constitutional reform will come into force.”

Some lawmakers were critical of the reform because prosecution of a sitting president has to be approved by the Senate.

National Action Party Senator Víctor Fuentes labeled the process “fifí,” or elitist, a word the president favors for describing his adversaries. Fuentes said that in reality the president will not be treated as a common citizen because of the requirement for Senate approval.

Juan Zepeda Hernández, a senator with the Citizens Movement party, said that there was no possibility that López Obrador could face justice should he commit a crime because the ruling Morena party has a majority in the upper house.

“His majority in the Senate gives him unanimous support. The issue has a propagandistic purpose,” he said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Taxes will be halved in southern border region states effective January 1

By

MND Staff

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November 27, 2020

0

Chetumal, the capital of Quintana Roo, will become a duty-free zone.

Lower tax rates will apply in Mexico’s northern and southern border regions until the end of 2024, President López Obrador announced Friday.

A northern border free zone where the IVA value-added tax is 8% instead of 16%, the maximum income tax rate is 20% instead of 30% and the minimum wage is 50% higher than the rest of the country was established by the federal government on January 1, 2019. The zone was initially created for a period of two years but will now remain in place for four more.

“We started this program in 2019 at the start of the government and it has yielded very good results – it’s extended,” López Obrador told reporters at his regular news conference.

The president announced that tax breaks and a higher minimum salary rate will also apply in the southern border region effective January 1.

“Two decrees will be signed. One to extend the tax support on the northern border … with the United States. The other very important announcement is that similar treatment will apply … on the southern border,” benefiting Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche and Quintana Roo.

Fuel will also be cheaper on the northern and southern borders because it won’t be subject to the same taxes that apply elsewhere in the country.

In addition, López Obrador announced the creation of an additional special economic zone in Chetumal, the capital of Quintana Roo, located just north of the border with Belize.

“There is something very important that I believe will make the people of Quintana Roo, in particular those in Chetumal, and the residents of the southeast in general very happy. Chetumal will once again be a free economic zone, free of import duties for countries with which we don’t have trade agreements,” he said.

“Tax on imports won’t be charged. Goods at very low prices will be able to arrive in Chetumal, like before the changes at the start of the neoliberal period.”

Finance Minister Arturo Herrera noted that Chetumal was located in its own special economic zone from 1934 until the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.

“That was the status it maintained until 1993 but when NAFTA came into force [the special economic zone] stopped operating,” he said.

Source: Reforma (sp)