Swedish furniture brand Ikea has opened its doors online, although its physical store will have to wait due to delays in construction caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ikea announced its arrival in Mexico last year with a 23,000-square-meter store that was to open in October in the Oceania area of Mexico City. But the company now says the brick-and-mortar opening will happen in the first quarter of 2021.
The company estimated that 300 to 350 direct jobs will be created in the communities surrounding the location, which will include the brand’s Swedish restaurant with seating for up to 665 people.
But as of Monday, shoppers have been able to browse online through 18 categories of goods, including bathroom products, furniture, linens, decor, home security, plants and a host of products offered at less than 50 pesos (US $2.30) including bags, candleholders, frames, planters, containers, rugs, and curtains, among others.
However, the story is shipping only to addresses in Mexico City and certain México state municipalities.
Shipping costs are 79 pesos (US $3.69) for most items weighing less than 24 kilos, and delivery was being promised within three to five days. However, according to the website on Tuesday deliveries were being delayed by as much as four weeks due to high demand.
“Today we open our e-commerce site with more than 7,500 articles and distribution capacity in Mexico City and the metropolitan area. Why first in this area? Well, our goal is to reach as many people as possible, as fast as we can, and this part of the country is the most populated,” Ikea told Forbes México yesterday.
“In the near future, our ambition is to expand delivery to other large cities in the country, and eventually, to the entire Mexican territory.”
With the construction of the store, an e-commerce warehouse and a production plant, Ikea is investing approximately US $500 million in Mexico. Its 10-year plan for Mexico includes opening stores in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Puebla and Querétaro, the company says.
The world’s largest furniture retailer, Ikea was founded in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad who was the eighth richest person in the world at the time of his death in 2018. The company operates more than 430 stores in 52 countries.
An Obregón searcher sniffs a metal rod for evidence of a body.
Everything changes when you lose a child, and for Nora Lira one of the consequences of her daughter’s disappearance was an enhanced sense of smell, a useful skill when you are looking for decomposing bodies.
Tragically, it was this heightened sense that led her to her 17-year-old daughter Fernanda’s grave on October 2, two years to the day after she last saw her.
Lira was able to identify Fernanda’s clothing as well as a green bracelet she always wore on her right wrist. “Your mom has come for you, we’re leaving,” Lira wept as she cleared dirt from her daughter’s bones.
“I don’t want to put her in the ground anymore, she lasted for years in it. My daughter was not bad, she didn’t mess with anyone, and she’s come to end up here,” she sobbed.
Lira is the founder of Las Rastreadoras de Obregón (Searchers of Obregón), a brigade of 20 women — mothers, sisters, aunts and wives of the missing in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, who have taken it upon themselves to actively search for their loved ones.
Members of the Ciudad Obregón search brigade.
In the past two years they have found the remains of 50 missing people, including Fernanda.
“This year the reports have grown a lot, there are too many. It is a problem that you do not want to see. Women are disappearing, young people with a future ahead of them, and we have no idea why. They are people who were not doing bad things, who did nothing to anyone,” Lira says.
Lira formed the search brigade — it is one of dozens across the country — in February 2018, a few months after Fernanda disappeared. Gradually other women like Lira who felt abandoned by state and local authorities joined her.
Women like Blanca Hermosillo, who joined the group in April 2018 to find her son Tomás. He went missing after getting in a car with unknown people near his home.
That same month, the searchers located a property on the outskirts of the city where 38 bodies were found buried in clandestine graves. Four months later, the state prosecutor’s office notified Hermosillo that Tomás was among them.
Hermosillo refuses to believe that the remains were his, and continues searching, hoping to find her son in a better condition than the “bones they gave me,” she says.
[wpgmza id=”46″]
For Hermosillo, too, the smell of decomposition is what leads her to bodies. “It is an unmistakable, unique and also indescribable smell,” she says.
The group has its searches down to a routine. They go out two to three times a week clad in gloves, hats and cloth masks. When they come across a potential burial site, they sink a rod into the dirt, then pull it out and smell it. “If it smells — we already know the smell — we start digging because there is a body,” says Josefina, whose daughter went missing a year ago.
Government officials say that since 2006, more than 4,000 clandestine graves have been found throughout Mexico. In just the past four years 143 have been found in Sonora, but the Obregón searchers, as well as similar groups in other Sonoran cities, say the number is much higher.
Between January and September of this year, 4,960 people have been reported missing in Mexico. In total, 77,146 people across the country have disappeared.
Beaches such as Zicatela have been closed until the end of the month.
Authorities in a coastal municipality of Oaxaca have announced the closure of beaches and the implementation of an alcohol ban due to a large outbreak of coronavirus.
The government of Santa María Colotepec, one of two municipalities across which the resort town of Puerto Escondido is located, announced Sunday that 13 coronavirus mitigation measures would be in place between October 12 and 31 due to the Oaxaca Health Ministry’s notification of “a large scale outbreak of positive Covid-19 cases in our municipal jurisdiction.”
An official statement said that all beaches in the municipality, from Puerto Piedra to El Puertecito, would be closed and that the permitted capacity of restaurants and hotels would be reduced to 40% and 20% of normal levels, respectively.
The statement also said that bars must close; that the installation of street stalls in the Punta Zicatela area would be prohibited; that the sale of alcohol in the entire municipality would be banned; and that no parties or events would be allowed.
In addition, it said that recreation spaces near the Colotepec River would be closed; that a local cattle market would be suspended; that buses and taxis from outside the municipality would not be allowed to enter Santa María Colotepec; that local taxis and public transit vans would be limited to carrying three and seven passengers, respectively; that all public transit drivers and passengers must wear face masks; and that workers and customers at the Zicatela Market must strictly comply with preventative health measures.
The Colotepec government said the measures are designed to prevent an increase in cases of Covid-19,“which continues to take lives in our municipality.”
Anyone found not complying with the health measures will be sanctioned, the statement said.
Despite municipal authorities referring to “a large scale outbreak” of the coronavirus, Santa María Colotepec has only recorded 50 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and three Covid-19 deaths. Just six cases are considered active.
In neighboring San Pedro Mixtepec, which includes the central area of Puerto Escondido, 167 confirmed cases have been detected and 17 people have lost their lives to Covid-19. The municipality also has six active cases but authorities have not announced any new measures to control the virus.
Oaxaca, one of seven states that regressed to orange light “high risk” from yellow light “medium” on Monday according to the federal government’s stoplight system to assess the risk of coronavirus infection, has recorded 18,931 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic, the 18th highest total among Mexico’s 32 states. The southern state’s case tally rose by 28 on Monday.
There are 736 active cases in Oaxaca, according to state authorities, with about three-quarters of that number in the state’s Central Valleys region, which includes Oaxaca city. There are just 47 active cases in the state’s Pacific coast region, where Puerto Escondido is located.
Oaxaca’s official Covid-19 death toll is 1,516 with five additional fatalities reported on Monday. Just under half of the state’s deaths occurred in the Central Valleys. The coast region has recorded 80 deaths.
Nationally, the coronavirus case tally increased to 821,045 on Monday with 3,542 new cases reported, while the Covid-19 death toll rose to 83,945 with 164 additional fatalities registered.
A senator holds a cartoon of López-Gatell, left, during his appearance in the Senate.
An appearance by Mexico’s coronavirus czar before the health committee of the Senate was suspended on Monday after the session descended into a farce.
National Action Party (PAN) senators repeatedly confronted Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell over his management of the pandemic, which has now officially claimed the lives of 83,945 people in Mexico.
They held up signs that condemned him with messages such as “excess of ineptitude,” “excess of arrogance” and “enough lies.”
Senator Lily Téllez used her opportunity to question López-Gatell to give him a cane, accusing him of being blind to the real extent of the health crisis and the strategies required to confront it.
Senator Martha Márquez stood beside the coronavirus point man at one point during his appearance and held up a canvas sign featuring a caricature of him holding a sheet behind which was a pile of skulls. Across the top of the sign was the question “How many [Covid-19] deaths have there been?” and the response, “As many as you say, Mr. President.”
The implication was that López-Gatell has told the Mexican people what President López Obrador wants him to tell them about the coronavirus pandemic and the number of lives it has taken.
The president of the health committee, Morena party Senator Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero, called for order on several occasions as López-Gatell was interrupted by verbal attacks and stunts while he was speaking.
After countless interruptions, Quintero suspended the session, declaring that there was insufficient civility to continue.
“I ask you to please allow me to suspend the meeting given that there is not proper behavior for an appearance,” he said.
Later on Monday, López-Gatell told reporters at the Health Ministry’s coronavirus press briefing that the senators who attacked him appear to be suffering from “cognitive dissonance.”
“We identified … a small group of senators who are not only small in number but who also represent a social minority. … They appear to be enclosed in a series of fixed ideas that were put together at the start of the epidemic. They don’t leave them behind, they insist on maintaining the same vision,” he said.
“… A lot of these fixed ideas are about the use of face masks and the necessity … of using public force [to enforce a lockdown], undertaking coercive actions, using the police, the National Guard. They’ve said it over and over again; they appear to have a vision … [of] cognitive dissonance with the social reality.”
Meanwhile, the cartoonist who drew the caricature of López-Gatell that was presented at yesterday’s Senate session acknowledged on Twitter that his work had made its way into the upper house of Congress.
“I hope they don’t blame the suspension on me,” joked Miguel Parras.
President López Obrador defended the deputy minister this morning and charged that senators had “mistreated” him.
“They’re very annoyed, very angry when they should be offering apologies for all this. They continue wishing to return to the old regime of corruption, injustice and privilege.”
Three police officers were wounded during a gun battle Monday in Calera, Zacatecas, in which 14 armed civilians were killed, state Security Minister Arturo López Baltazar said.
Police were carrying out tactical operations in the municipality located 29 kilometers from the state capital when they were attacked by gunmen.
Of the three officers injured, two had shrapnel wounds and one suffered a gunshot wound. All were reported to be in stable condition.
Authorities seized three of the assailants’ vehicles, as well as an arsenal of weapons that included eight rifles and a grenade launcher. Ammunition and drugs were also seized.
López said that police presence in Zacatecas has been increased to include ground and air patrols and vowed the state would spare no resource to restore order and tranquility.
[wpgmza id=”260″]
The violent attack was not an isolated case. On October 5, just meters across the border in San Luis Potosí, 12 bodies were discovered, bringing the total to 21 dumped at the site recently and 46 for the year. Most have been found in Villa de Ramos and Vanegas, both bordering Zacatecas.
Authorities suspect gangs in Zacatecas, most likely the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, are using the region as a body dump. Officials from both states plan to meet to discuss how better to coordinate public safety issues.
Monday’s gun battle comes on the heels of the most violent weekend in Mexico’s history.
Official numbers show that between Friday and Sunday there were 273 murders throughout the country, with 114 occurring on Sunday alone. Thirty-four people were killed in Guanajuato, 34 in the state of México, 26 in Jalisco, 16 in Chihuahua, 14 in Puebla and 11 in Mexico City.
Previously, the most violent weekend on record was over Father’s Day, when 265 people were murdered between June 19 and 21.
Last week federal Security Minister Alfonso Durazo assured Mexicans that “we have progressively left behind the blackest days of insecurity,” and claimed that “the day is near when we will see ourselves walking in the streets free of fear.”
López Obrador in Quintana Roo on the weekend, where he predicted that tourism will have almost recovered by the end of the year.
The federal government will invest in urban improvement projects in five Quintana Roo municipalities through which the Maya Train railroad will run, President López Obrador announced Sunday.
Speaking at an event in Playa del Carmen, López Obrador said that funds will be allocated for projects in that city as well as Cancún, Felipe Carillo Puerto, Bacalar and Chetumal.
“There will be investment … in these population centers, in these cities where the Maya Train stations will be,” he said without revealing how much money the government intended to spend or the exact nature of the projects.
He did say that the projects would help to reduce contrasts between tourist zones with five-star hotels and “marginalized neighborhoods without services and with constant growth.”
The president reiterated that construction of the railroad between Cancún and Tulum and the upgrading of the highway between the same two cities will take about two years.
“I’m asking for the understanding … of residents of this municipality of Solidaridad [Playa del Carmen]. We’re going to work quickly but it’s going to take us two years in any case. [The railroad] will be built along the route of the current highway,” López Obrador said.
He said that the highway and rail projects will cause some inconveniences but that the region will subsequently benefit from the modern thoroughfares.
The president also predicted that the tourist industry will almost fully recover from the coronavirus by the end of the year. “I predict that by the end of the year we shall almost be in the same situation we were in before Covid in Quintana Roo …”
López Obrador’s announcement that the federal government will allocate additional resources for urban improvement projects in Quintana Roo came 10 days after he revealed that an airport would be built in Tulum. He said last week that the army will build the facility and that it will open in 2023.
Late last month, federal Finance Minister Arturo Herrera visited Quintana Roo and announced more than 2.2 billion pesos (US $103.7 million) in funding for projects in the Caribbean coast state.
The lion’s share of the funding – some 2 billion pesos – will go to the construction of a bridge over Nichupté Lagoon in the Cancún hotel zone while 203 million pesos is to be allocated to the city’s Parque de la Equidad (Equity Park) project.
An additional 70 million pesos in federal funds has been earmarked for water projects in Benito Juárez, the municipality where Cancún is located, and Isla Mujeres, another Quintana Roo municipality that includes the holiday island of the same name.
Morena lawmaker Rosales: his son, who has a primary level education, earns a wage that is 40% higher than the average wage of university graduates.
There’s nothing extraordinary about nepotism in government, according to a lawmaker in Veracruz.
After it was revealed that he had obtained a state Congress job for his son, Deputy José Magdaleno Rosales of the Morena party told reporters that many former and current lawmakers have done the same.
“This has always been done, not just now [but also] in previous governments,” he said.
Rosales said his son is employed as his chauffeur and delivery driver and receives a monthly salary of 15,000 pesos (just over US $700), more than 40% higher than the average wage of university graduates.
Probed about his son’s education, Rosales admitted that he had only completed primary school. The deputy said that he had never denied that his son was on the Congress payroll before providing a commitment that he would remove him from his position.
In a video posted to social media, Rosales said that Aldo Valero, the head of the social communication department of the Veracruz Congress, had leaked information about his son’s employment and claimed that it was part of internal pressure to which he is subjected.
He said the communication department demands payments of up to 10,000 pesos from Morena lawmakers in exchange for disseminating information about their legislative activities via official channels.
Rosales called on Congress president Juan Javier Gómez Cavarín, also a Morena party deputy, to dismiss Valero for seeking bribes.
“I didn’t want to give them [money] because … they [the social communication department employees] have a salary but they ask for money from deputies. … The fact that I don’t appear on the Congress website is because this young man [Valero] doesn’t want to disseminate my [political] activities,” he said.
Meanwhile, in light of the revelation of Rosales’ son’s employment, Deputy Rodrigo García Escalante presented a proposal to Congress that seeks to classify nepotism as a serious crime. He said that lawmakers found guilty of nepotism should be disqualified from public office for a period of five to 10 years.
García also called for a congressional investigation into Rosales’ hiring of his son. The Morena party to which the latter lawmaker belongs was founded by President López Obrador, who has pledged to rid Mexico of government corruption including cronyism and nepotism.
The purplish-black, pear-shaped eggplant is the most common.
My first memories of eggplant are not good ones.
Every Sunday, my mother would make the recipe from the New York Times Magazine for dinner. Whatever it was – cold cucumber soup comes to mind — it would be on our plates that evening. My siblings and I learned to dread Sundays.
“Eggplant fries” was one of those Sunday night dishes.
Now, if she’d just told us it was eggplant instead of saying they were a “new kind” of French fries, we might have been more open to at least trying them. Even today, the recollection of the soft sponginess of those breaded, baked sticks of eggplant makes me shudder whenever I see eggplant-anything on a menu.
Thankfully, as an adult I’m able to take a deep breath and look beyond that unfortunate childhood memory. I’ve learned that properly cooked eggplant is a delight in all kinds of dishes. The trick is in the preparation.
Eggplant, Tomato & Ricotta Frittata.
First, to peel or not to peel? It’s a personal preference; I always do. Salting eggplant before cooking to draw out the bitterness is another step that’s easily avoided (ahem) but it does make a difference. Simply lay out the slices of eggplant on a towel, sprinkle on both sides with kosher salt and let sit for 45 minutes. Pat dry — don’t rinse. Then proceed with the recipe.
You don’t need to do this with Japanese eggplants (the long thin ones) as they’re sweeter.
The most common types of eggplant are the purplish-black, pear-shaped ones and the aforementioned Japanese variety. In either case, look for firm fruits with shiny skin. Eggplant is a fruit in the nightshade family, as are tomatoes. The name “eggplant” came about due to the white-skinned variety, not seen very often.
Interestingly, although berenjena, as it is called in Spanish, is grown in Mexico and found in mercados all over the country, I didn’t find any Mexican recipes with eggplant that weren’t Italian inspired.
Swordfish with Caramelized Eggplant & Capers
The extra steps are worth the time — you’ll love this melt-in-your-mouth caramelized eggplant and tender swordfish in a caponata-like sauce. Use another firm white fish or even chicken if swordfish isn’t available.
1½ pounds eggplant, in 1-inch cubes
2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more as needed
Salt and pepper
1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
2 Tbsp. butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
⅓ cup dry white wine or chicken or vegetable broth
2 Tbsp. chopped, pitted Castelvetrano or other firm green olives
1 Tbsp. drained capers
1½ pounds swordfish, cut into 1½ -inch chunks
¼ cup chopped parsley
Garnish: Basil leaves, lime juice
Heat broiler. Set rack 4 inches from heat source. If grilling, heat grill.
In a bowl, toss eggplant with enough oil to coat; season with salt. Broil or grill until golden all over and charred in spots, 2-4 minutes per side.
Heat large skillet over medium-high. Add 2 Tbsp. oil; sauté onion till lightly browned. Add tomatoes and ¼ cup water. Simmer until tomato turns saucy, about 5 minutes. If needed, add splash more water. Add eggplant and drizzle of oil to pan; turn heat to medium-low. Cook until mixture is very tender, 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer eggplant mixture to a bowl and set aside.
Without wiping out pan, raise heat to medium, add butter and garlic. Sauté 1 minute. Add wine, olives, capers and pinch of salt; bring to a simmer. Add swordfish, gently turning pieces so they don’t fall apart, until cooked through, 3-5 minutes. Return eggplant mixture and parsley to pan and gently stir. Heat until mixture bubbles, 1-2 minutes. Garnish with basil leaves and a squeeze of lime juice. –nytimescooking.com
Caponata Flatbread
1 lb. pizza dough
Flour
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. honey
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 small eggplant, peeled & halved lengthwise
1 red pepper, quartered
Salt & pepper
1 Tbsp. capers, chopped
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1 cup ricotta
Heat oven to 425 F and heat grill to medium-high. On a lightly floured surface, shape pizza dough into large rectangle, transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven; increase heat to 475. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, honey and 1 Tbsp. oil.
Brush tomatoes, eggplant and red pepper with 1 Tbsp. oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill, turning occasionally, until just tender; transfer to cutting board and cut into large pieces. Add vegetables, capers and parsley to bowl with vinegar mixture and toss. Spread ricotta on crust, leaving a ½-inch border all the way around, then top with vegetables. Brush rim of crust with oil and bake until crust is deep golden brown, 4-6 minutes.
Eggplant Parm Chips
Use a mandoline if you have one to slice the eggplant thin, or slice by hand, trying to make them all the same thickness.Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.
Crisp and golden Eggplant Parm Chips.
1 eggplant
2 Tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut eggplant into very thin rounds and salt as described above. Transfer eggplant to a bowl and toss with oil. Add Parmesan, Italian seasoning, garlic powder. and pepper and toss. Arrange eggplant slices in a single even layer (not overlapping) on a baking sheet. Bake until golden and crisp, turning once, 16-20 minutes. Let cool before serving.
Roasted Eggplant, Tomato & Ricotta Frittata
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 eggplant, peeled, cut into ½-inch dice
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Salt and pepper
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. oregano
1 lb. ricotta
Heat oven to 450 F. In a large bowl, toss oil, eggplant, tomatoes and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes, until eggplant is tender and tomatoes are bursting.
Lower oven to 375. In another bowl, whisk eggs, milk and red pepper. Grease 9-inch pie pan. Combine egg mixture with vegetable mixture. Pour into prepared pan. Top with ricotta. Bake 30-35 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Janet Blaser has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life and feels fortunate to be able to write about great food, amazing places, fascinating people and unique events. Her first book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, is available on Amazon. Contact Janet or read her blog at whyweleftamerica.com.
Delgado, left, and Muñoz are vying for the Morena leadership.
Two Morena party politicians are engaged in a war of words as they both seek the national leadership of a deeply divided ruling party.
Mario Delgado, Morena’s leader in the lower house of Congress and a candidate for the party’s national presidency, accused rival Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, a veteran lawmaker, of seeking the party’s leadership in order to convert it into a movement opposed to the administration of President López Obrador.
“Porfirio Muñoz Ledo could convert Morena into an opposition party to the government of Andrés Manuel [López Obrador],” Delgado said at an event in Saltillo, Coahuila, on Sunday.
“That is the route he is proposing via ruptures [within the party], sectarianism and exclusion.”
Delgado claimed that with his “self-proclamation” that he has won the national presidency of Morena, Muñoz is attempting to carry out “a kind of coup” against the party.
Muñoz claims to have won a survey conducted to determine the new leader.
“That’s not a good sign for Morena or the country. What a contradiction it would be for our democratic struggle to have a spurious leader. With this level of impetuosity, Porfirio Muñoz could repudiate Andrés Manuel López Obrador at any moment or even attack him for his democratic conviction. This would place at risk everything that we’ve achieved, everything for which we’ve fought for more than 20 years so that López Obrador [could] reach the presidency and lead a true transformation of the country’s public life.”
Delgado also said that Muñoz’s desire to lead Morena was related to his ambition to set a Guinness World Record as the leader of three different parties.
“He was the leader of the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party], the PRD [Democratic Revolution Party] and now he’s obsessed in leading Morena as a personal whim in order to go into, as he says, the Guinness records,” he said.
The warring between the aspiring leaders followed a declaration by the National Electoral Institute (INE) that a survey of party members held to decide who would lead the party produced a tie between the two candidates.
Later on Sunday, Muñoz participated in a digital forum with party members in Puebla during which he rejected Delgado’s remarks.
“There is a campaign that [my] opponents have started and which I have already corroborated … [saying that] I want to take power from Andrés Manuel López Obrador; it’s the last recourse they have [to defeat my candidacy for the national presidency]. Andrés and I have been fighting together since 1989,” the 87-year-old deputy said.
“My adversaries are saying that untruthfully, stupidly and … dangerously. I personally blame Delgado, … this is extremely serious,” Muñoz said.
The lawmaker, who claims that he has already won the national presidency of Morena via an internal election process, said his aim as leader will be to pass on a party to his successor that is strong both in terms of ideas and members.
“Due to my age and the circumstances, I’m not seeking to replace anyone,” Muñoz said, adding that he will retire from public life once his term as national leader comes to an end.
He said on Twitter Sunday that he would be sworn in as national president of Morena at the party’s Mexico City headquarters at midday Monday. But he announced on Twitter this morning that an impediment had arisen.
“Today at 12:00 p.m. I was going to be sworn in as the legitimate president of the party. It turns out that the headquarters of the party were taken over in a violent assault brought about by the candidate I defeated. I demand the cessation of hostilities … [and] I ask the membership of Morena to declare themselves in favor of legality,” Muñoz wrote.
Delgado, who says that the internal election process has not yet concluded, wrote to the current national leadership of Morena to ask that they not allow Muñoz to be sworn in as president today.
Delgado says Muñoz is staging a coup against the party.
Allowing it would be an attack on the “democratic principles of our movement,” he wrote. “Do not allow a breach of legality. We demand respect of the process of this consultation.”
In a Twitter post this morning, Delgado said that a third survey consulting party members about who should lead Morena has still not been conducted.
“We’re waiting for the third survey for the leadership of Morena, such as is provided for in the rules the aspirants signed before the INE [the National Electoral Institute]. They are trying to manipulate the results in order to carry out an illegal act [the planned swearing-in of Muñoz],” he wrote.
It is not the first time controversy has surrounded the election of a new national leader of Morena, which López Obrador founded as a political party in 2014.
Children and parents protest medications shortage in Oaxaca. 'Help us, AMLO," reads the sign.
Mexico has long been plagued by a shortage of medications for children with cancer. Now the problem has been exacerbated by thieves who got away with a large consignment of drugs last week.
Health sector regulator Cofepris announced Saturday that it had been informed of a robbery from the company Novag Infancia in Mexico City last Wednesday.
A total of 37,956 doses of medication including the chemotherapy drugs raunorubicin, fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide were stolen from the company’s facilities. The medications were made by Argentine pharmaceutical company Laboratorio Kemex and were to be distributed by Novag to the public health sector.
A group of parents of children with cancer were told told about the theft at a meeting with federal authorities in the National Palace a day before Cofepris announced it publicly in a health alert.
Israel Rivas, one father who attended the meeting, told the newspaper El Universal that the parents had some doubts about the robbery because they were only shown Cofepris’ health alert and not any documents related to an investigation into the crime.
However, the theft is “very serious because they are medications that thousands of children need,” he said. “It makes us very angry … because the lives of our children [are at stake].”
In its health alert, Cofepris noted that cancer drugs are only available with a prescription and must be administered under the supervision of health professionals.
The regulator also said that the stolen medications, among which were also oxaliplatin, dacarbazine, mitomycin and etoposide, are for “exclusive use” of public health care facilities.
Cofepris warned people not to purchase medications destined for the public health sector, suggesting that they could be offered for sale on social media platforms and other websites. It urged citizens to report anyone selling cancer drugs among those listed as stolen.
In light of the theft and ongoing shortage of cancer medications, a group of parents said they would hold a press conference in Mexico City on Tuesday to announce the legal action they will take to ensure the supply of drugs for their children. They also said they would provide an update on their discussions with federal authorities.
The Mexican Social Security Institute, a major health care provider, said in early September that it had agreed to meet with parents of child cancer patients on a weekly basis to inform them of efforts to supply life-saving drugs and discuss concerns.
Parents of children with cancer have protested against medication shortages on numerous occasions since last year, most notably in Mexico City where young patients have died after their treatment was delayed due to a lack of chemotherapy drugs.
Young cancer sufferers have also passed away in other parts of the country due to their inability to access medications. In Nuevo León, six children died in a period of just five days last month after their treatment was delayed by a drug shortage.
