5 new cases of coronavirus confirmed among travelers from Spain, US; total now 12

March 12, 2020

Travelers with face masks have become a common sight at Mexico City airport.

There are now 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus Covid-19 in Mexico after health authorities announced five new cases on Wednesday night.

Two of the new cases were detected in Mexico City, and one each in Querétaro, México state and Nuevo León.

Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía told a press conference that the two people who tested positive in Mexico City are a 41-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman, both of whom recently traveled to Spain, where there are almost 3,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 84 deaths. Both have mild symptoms and are in isolation at home, he said.

In Querétaro, a 43-year-old man who recently arrived in Mexico from Spain also tested positive, Alomía said. He also has mild symptoms of the infectious disease. The Querétaro Health Ministry said in a statement that the man is a resident of Spain but traveled to Mexico to visit family. He is quarantined at home.

A 64-year-old woman also tested positive for Covid-19 in México state and has mild symptoms. She recently returned to Mexico from the United States, where almost 1,300 people had tested positive for coronavirus as of Thursday morning.

England-based professor of medicine Paul Hunter predicted earlier this week that new cases of the disease linked to the United States would soon show up in Latin American countries.

The fifth new coronavirus patient is a 57-year-old Nuevo León man who returned to Mexico from Europe on March 3. He developed symptoms of Covid-19, including a cough, fever and headache, the day after his arrival but wasn’t tested until this week. He is also in home quarantine.

With regard to a German man who tested positive to Covid-19 in Puebla on Tuesday, Alomía said that authorities were no longer including the case in the total number of confirmed cases in Mexico because he remains asymptomatic.

The health official also said that 264 people had tested negative for Covid-19 but added that there were 49 suspicious cases.

Globally, there were almost 120,000 coronavirus cases as of Wednesday in 113 countries and just under 4,300 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, which has now declared Covid-19 a pandemic.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said that health authorities are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help protect Mexicans who live outside the country.

“We’re working to act in a coordinated way and protect our compatriots abroad,” he said.

Speaking at his morning news conference on Thursday, President López Obrador called for calm and said that the government will respond to the growing health crisis based on expert advice.

“With regard to coronavirus, we should be calm. … Our economy is strong, we have healthy public finances, sufficient reserves to face up to any crisis that might occur. We’re going to maintain an economic policy that protects the weakest,” he said.

“All the decisions we take will have the instructions of experts – scientists and doctors – as a reference, [there will be] no politics here. It will be what the experts tell us,” López Obrador said.

Also at the presidential press conference, López-Gatell said that Mexico is considering the possibility of allowing the entry of planes from European countries that will not be permitted to land in the United States as of 12:00 a.m. Friday as a result of the 30-day travel ban announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday night as a measure to contain the spread of Covid-19.

He said that the risk of allowing passengers from continental Europe to disembark in Mexico will be evaluated. The Health, Tourism and Foreign Affairs ministries will be responsible for determining whether Mexico will be offered as an alternative for North America-bound planes departing Europe, the deputy minister said.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Milenio (sp), Debate (sp), Expansión Política (sp)

México state craftspeople market their wares on Amazon.com

Cody Copeland

March 12, 2020

State of México artisanal products now available on Amazon.

The government of México state has signed a deal with Amazon to sell over 300 artisanal products on the worldwide digital platform.

“We’re signing an agreement with Amazon. … It’s the first time in Mexico that a state has joined its artisans to the platform,” said Governor Alfredo del Mazo Maza at the signing ceremony on Wednesday.

“[Amazon] has allowed us to put over 300 artisanal products from México state on the platform, which are currently in warehouses and ready to be bought by anyone in any part of the world, and what’s really important: without intermediaries for the craftspeople,” he added.

The ceremony was held in the México State House of Artisanal Products (CASART), located in Toluca, where Amazon shoppers will be able to find such products as the rugs of Temoaya and the famous “trees of life” made in Metepec, Del Mazo told reporters.

Other stand-out products that will be available include shawls from Tenancingo, piñatas from Acolman and quexquémitl ponchos from the Mazahua region, as well as carved wood and textile products, among others.

The state government also helps promote these products in the eight CASART stores located in various parts of the state, in addition to organizing craft fairs and expositions to showcase and market their art.

Selling the products online will immediately benefit 50 families of craftspeople whose exhibited pieces embrace 13 different categories of folk art from México state.

State Tourism Minister Evelyn Osornio said the goal of the agreement is to help artisans innovate and to give more value to their work, as well as to initiate the marketing of products carrying the “Hecho en Edoméx” (Made in México state) label.

She estimated that around 1,000 pieces of folk art and other artisanal products from the state will be sold on Amazon this year.

The state of Querétaro announced a similar arrangement with Amazon two years ago, but nothing seems to have come of it. A search for products marketed under the brand Auténtica Queretana produced no results.

Source: La Jornada (sp)

Peso hit hard as WHO deems coronavirus a pandemic

MND Staff

March 11, 2020

The Mexican peso lost almost 3% of its value against the United States dollar on Wednesday after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus Covid-19 a pandemic.

The declaration, along with the United States government’s failure (to date) to announce stimulus measures to combat the economic effect of the spread of the infectious disease, led investors to stay away from assets that are considered risky, such as the peso, the newspaper El Financiero reported.

Trading closed on Wednesday with the peso at 21.38 to the US dollar, a decline of 60 centavos or 2.89%. The currency’s closing level was the worst since January 2017, El Financiero said.

A single greenback was buying an average of 21.5 pesos at banks on Wednesday, a 1.9% increase compared to the 21.1-peso average recorded on Tuesday.

The peso briefly fell to more than 22 to the US dollar early Monday after a sharp decline in global oil prices caused by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia but had recovered to 20.77 at the close of trading on Tuesday, according to data from the Bank of México.

The rapid global spread of Covid-19 is posing a huge economic threat to markets around the world.

“We have no idea when the coronavirus, the spread, is going to subside. That uncertainty is going to continue to create a lot of volatility,” said David Spika, president of GuideStone Capital Management. “We have no idea how to model it, we have no idea what to expect from it.”

United States President Donald Trump said that he planned to make a formal statement on Wednesday night on the growing coronavirus outbreak and how his government would respond to it.

Earlier on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference that there are now more than 118,000 cases of the disease in 114 countries, and that 4,291 people have lost their lives.

“In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” he said.

There are currently only eight confirmed cases in Mexico but the numbers are expected to increase, especially considering the growing number of cases in the United States.

If a widespread outbreak occurs in Mexico, the nation’s healthcare system will struggle to provide adequate treatment to all those who require it, Mexico City infectious disease specialist Francisco Moreno Sánchez said Tuesday.

The Mexican economy, however, is well fortified amid the current global volatility created by the spread of coronavirus and other factors, according to Finance Minister Arturo Herrera.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

After 2 days of women’s protests, López Obrador rejects changing strategy

MND Staff

March 11, 2020

After two days of huge protests by women against gender-based violence, President López Obrador said on Tuesday that the government’s strategy to combat femicides – the killing of females on account of their gender – would not change.

Responding to a reporter who asked him whether the marches to mark International Women’s Day on Sunday and the national women’s strike on Monday would force the government to rethink its approach to tackling the high number of murders of girls and women, López Obrador responded:

“No – on the contrary, we’re going to reinforce the same strategy of attending to the causes of violence: finding ways to live in a better society, taking care of young people, looking after the countryside, [making sure] there that there is no unemployment, that there are good salaries, that family breakdown is avoided, that values are strengthened.”

The president said that the strategy would resist the attacks by conservatives, a blanket term he uses to describe anyone who opposes his administration.

“They [the conservatives] are very opportunistic. … They latch onto any movement, as happened now. … Suddenly they’ve become feminists,” López Obrador said.

“This very hypocritical conservatism puts on a feminist mask and says: ‘We’re going to get rid of the government.’ I’m not making anything up, … there is proof,” he said.

Reiterating his support for his so-called “hugs, not bullets” security strategy, López Obrador asserted that “you can’t confront violence with violence, you can’t put out fire with fire, you can’t confront evil with evil – evil has to be confronted by doing good.”

The president charged that truly transformative “movements” – he claims that his government is carrying out a “fourth transformation” of Mexican society (after independence from Spain, the 19th-century liberal reform and the Mexican revolution) – are “peaceful movements, especially in recent times.”

Change can come “peacefully, without breaking windows, without attacking anyone,” López Obrador said, apparently referring to recent feminist marches that have been marred by vandalism and violence.

Women, however, are growing increasingly angry both with the high levels of violence against them and the president’s response to the issue. Many have labeled him tone-deaf, out of touch, insensitive and no different from his predecessors.

At one of his morning press conferences, López Obrador expressed annoyance when asked a question about femicides, stating that it overshadowed his plans to hold a raffle to raise funds to maintain the unwanted presidential plane. At others, he has asked women not to paint on the walls and doors of the National Palace and blamed gender violence on “neoliberal policies” implemented by past governments.

On Tuesday, the president did take the time to announce the latest statistics on the murder of women, telling reporters that there were 587 victims between January 1 and March 9, a figure that equates to 8.5 deaths per day.

On Sunday, when large numbers of women marched in cities across Mexico, there were 11 murders of women, López Obrador said, while on Monday, when millions of females skipped work and school, there were 10.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Mazatlán to build new cruise ship terminal, upgrade tourism experience

Cody Copeland

March 11, 2020

Officials in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, have confirmed the construction of a new 2.5-billion-peso (US $117-million) cruise ship dock that will increase the city’s capacity to 140 ship arrivals per season.

The ports and merchant marine chief of the federal Ministry of Communication and Transportation (SCT), Héctor López Gutiérrez, made the announcement at a ceremony to honor the 140th anniversary of a local merchant marine school.

Sinaloa Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel called the announcement “a great piece of news” because it will change the face of the city for international visitors who currently disembark among towers and water containers on the town’s municipal dock.

“What’s important is that [visitors] go home happy, that we have the infrastructure, the capacity, with a nice shopping center inside, like the best cruise tourism centers in the world,” he said.

He added that the decision is a good use of the port city’s resources, as Mazatlán has always lacked adequate cruise ship installations, leaving a less than favorable impression on the thousands of people who visit the city each season.

“That’s why I applaud this great decision,” he said.

López said that tenders for the project will open in the next few weeks and that they plan to make a decision on a contractor within three to four months.

The winning company will be given a year and a half to complete the project, setting a predicted opening date sometime in mid-2022.

The project will consist of three docks fitted to receive the most modern of cruise ships, tourist services and a shopping center inside the terminal. Tourism service providers will await visitors to inform them of the best in tours, beaches and activities that the city has to offer.

During a tour of the docks currently serving cruise ship passengers, Ordaz and López said that the city welcomed 452,000 cruise and ferry passengers in 2019.

A new terminal was announced last year by the previous federal government.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Prepping your pandemic pantry for coronavirus: self-quarantine essentials

Janet Blaser

March 11, 2020

An Italian waiter practises 'social distancing.'

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a pandemic, adding that it is concerned both by “the alarming levels of spread, and the alarming levels of inaction.”

What does this mean to expats living in Mexico, or snowbirds preparing to go back home? The full scope of Mexico’s response remains to be seen, but right now we can all individually prepare for the likelihood of restrictions on travel and gatherings or of advised self-quarantines.

Whether or not the coronavirus has affected the community where you live remains to be seen, as Mexico’s testing and containment efforts seem to be limited to the immediate people connected to the eight confirmed cases. Besides stringent hand-washing after being out in public and not touching your face, every one of us can help prevent its spread and protect ourselves by practicing what the WHO calls “social distancing.”

That means more than trying to keep a 2-meter distance between yourself and others while out in public – it also means avoiding crowds whenever possible. Dozens of sports, music and political events have been cancelled in the U.S., Canada, Europe and South America; schools and colleges are cancelling in-person classes and scrambling to retrain professors to work online; nursing homes are closing their doors to all but urgent visits from the outside.

Experts say Covid-19, like any virus, will spike before it plateaus, and we haven’t seen that – yet – here in Mexico. And with Semana Santa (Holy Week) coming up – a time when thousands of people travel around the country – the likelihood of the coronavirus spreading is almost guaranteed.

On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommended that “people with underlying conditions or who are over 60 stock up on medications, household items and groceries to stay at home ‘for a period of time.’”

What is Mexico doing? That remains to be seen. Where I live in Mazatlán it seems to be business as usual. In fact, as I write this, I can see two just-arrived cruise ships docking. The official government position is that there are eight confirmed cases in the country and the virus is “contained,” with no community spread. (Why this would be the only country in the world where that is happening makes no sense.)

At any rate, I’m not here to criticize, only to pass on suggestions from WHO as to what regular citizens everywhere can do to help stop the spread of the virus.

One of those things is to practice responsible social distancing by minimizing the trips we make to the grocery store or mercado over the next few weeks. When you do go shopping, go early in the morning when stores first open to encounter the least number of people. It’s also not a bad idea to stop using that credit card everywhere; get cash and pay with exact change as much as possible just to avoid the back-and-forth.

Keep some disinfectant wipes in the car for the grocery cart handle, those credit cards, your hands and even the ATM. Hmm, maybe the person before you just sneezed all over the machine. How long can the virus live outside the body? Here’s what the WHO says:

“It’s not certain how long the virus that causes Covid-19 survives on surfaces, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses. Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the Covid-19 virus) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different conditions (e.g. type of surface, temperature or humidity of the environment).”

Panic buying triggers a lineup at a Costco store in the US.

Before you go to the store, make a careful list so you can shop strategically. Only buy things you and your family will actually eat. Should you be quarantined for two weeks and couldn’t leave your house, what would you want to eat, and what meals would be possible to prepare? Think of this shopping trip as your usual meal prepping, but with some limitations.

This is not meant to incite panic – only to counsel preparation and prudence as we head into this unknown territory.

Water

Have your own filtration system? You’re set. Those of us who buy garrafones of water would be wise to buy some extras. As a single person, I have five bottles I keep filled.

Medicines

Recommendations call for a 30-day supply of medications; while you’re at it, stock up on basic first-aid supplies too. (Tip: On Mondays, Farmacias Similares has a 25% discount on everything.) And it’s never a bad idea to have vitamin C on hand to help strengthen your immune system.

Pets

Buy your furry or feathered friends whatever canned or dry food – or medicines — they’ll need.

Paper goods and cleaning supplies

Those photos of people stocking up on toilet paper at Costco in the US notwithstanding, this is a product we use every day. Or several times a day. (Ahem.) It can’t hurt to have enough tp, paper towels, laundry soap and other cleaning supplies, but no need to go overboard.

Canned and packaged foods

This is obvious. Buy all your favorites: tomatoes, beans, sauces, tuna or other fish, broths, soups and chile, salsas, peanut or other nut butters, coconut milk (finally make that Thai curry!), shelf-stable tofu, pasta, popcorn, snacks (chips, crackers, nuts), cereals, dried beans, rice. Don’t forget sweets: cookies, candy, whatever it is you turn to for comfort. Electrolytes or sports drinks (I use the small packets of powder available at farmacias to make my own). Like to bake? Stock up on flours, sugars, nuts and such.

Meats

Smoked and cured meats – think bacon, ham, lunch meat – will keep almost indefinitely in the fridge.

Dairy

Shelf-stable milk lasts about two months. Most hard cheeses can be frozen although they’ll be more crumbly when thawed. Butter and margarine both freeze well.

More information and daily updates on Covid-19 can be found on the World Health Organization website.

Mexico News Daily

Oaxaca acid attack victim plays her saxophone for TV audience

Cody Copeland

March 11, 2020

Sax player Ríos, back to the camera, performs with singer Ximena Sariñana on the Televisa show hosted by Paola Rojas, right.

Six months after being attacked with acid, Oaxaca saxophonist María Elena Ríos Ortiz played her instrument for a national TV audience on Tuesday morning.

Ríos suffered severe burns to her face, chest and legs when a man posing as a customer at the travel agency where she worked doused her with sulfuric acid on September 9 of last year.

Playing with her back to the camera, Ríos was accompanied by singer Ximena Sariñana on the popular Oaxacan folk song La Llorona (The Crying Woman) on the Televisa morning news show.

Earlier in the show, host Paola Rojas interviewed Ríos, who spoke of the hardship the attack has brought on her and her family and her frustration that authorities have yet to bring the author of the attack to justice.

“I don’t understand why they haven’t done it. Yesterday it was six months … since they did this to me and changed my life — not just mine, but my whole family’s,” she said.

Ortiz before she was attacked with sulfuric acid.

She said that there is sufficient evidence to implicate former state deputy Juan Antonio Vera Carrizal as the man behind the attack, but he has yet to be brought to justice.

Despite a 1-million-peso (US $53,000) reward offered by the Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office, Vera is still at large, his whereabouts ostensibly unknown.

Ríos said that the healing process has been long and difficult, and that it is still not over. The scarring of the wounds is painful, sometimes an itch, sometimes a stabbing pain. At times it feels as though her skin is contracting, which makes her want to stretch her face and neck to counteract it.

One of the most difficult results of the attack has been its effect on her parents, who are both over 60 years old. Ríos, 23, feels as if she has “become a baby again” and regrets that her parents have had to take care of her, when she feels she should be doing that for them.

Her mother also received burns on her arms, as she instinctually ran to her daughter and embraced her in the moment of the attack, though she is not listed as an official victim in the investigation. Ríos lamented how the two have been linked by the tragic event.

“Unfortunately, we’re connected by this painful situation. I would rather we be connected in a way that brought us happiness, not pain,” she said.

Saxofonista atacada con ácido, toca con Ximena Sariñana - Al Aire

Watch this video on YouTube

However, little by little she improved in physical therapy, recovered mobility and is now able to do what she loves most: play the saxophone.

“I can move now. Thank God I can play, which is what killed me most to think about [not being able to do],” she said.

Authorities have apprehended two men who confessed to having received money from Vera to carry out the attack. Vera’s accounts have also been frozen by the federal government’s Financial Intelligence Unit in an attempt to locate him.

Source: Infobae (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp)

Transgender Mexican wins international beauty contest

Cody Copeland

March 11, 2020

Mexican contestant Valentina Fluchaire was crowned Miss International Queen in a beauty pageant for transgender women held in Pattaya, Thailand, on Saturday.

The native of Colima state received the crown from the previous year’s winner, Jazell Barbie Royale, from the United States.

“I have no words. … I have worked so hard to get here. I don’t want to get sentimental, I don’t want to cry,” said Fluchaire, who added that she will wear the crown with “much respect and responsibility” and that she will work to benefit transgender people and other social causes.

She hailed her coronation as a victory for all transgender women in Latin America.

“This is for you. I made this for you,” she said. She won 450,000 baht (US $14,300) for taking home the top prize. There were also awards for Miss Photogenic and Miss National Outfit, among others.

Fluchaire won out over contestants from 21 countries, including such women as Ariella Moura, 22, a finalist from Brazil.

“People are very open to many things in Brazil, but it’s a very big country … and people suffer a lot of sexually motivated discrimination. Many of my friends were killed,” said Moura, who was crowned Miss Trans Brazil in 2019.

“I hope things change,” she said.

Contestants said the competition is an opportunity to speak out about the conditions in which trans people live and to raise their voices against transphobia.

“Having a good attitude shows the people who have no love for us that being a transgender person isn’t a bad thing,” said Ruethaipreeya Nuanglee, 22, the runner-up from Thailand.

“We can’t force people to love us. But I have a better idea. I want to be a voice that effects change in the laws for transgender people,” she said.

Now in its 15th year, the Miss International Queen competition saw a smaller crowd than in previous years due to fears of the coronavirus.

Thailand has garnered a reputation for acceptance toward transgender people and other types of gender diversity, but activists say that LGBTI people still face discrimination in the workplace, schools and health centers, and often from their own families.

Sources: El Sol de México (sp), Sin Embargo (sp), Bangkok Post (en)

Panic in the time of coronavirus: a tropical double standard

Jack Gooderidge

March 11, 2020

Mosquito-caused dengue fever has been replaced by corona fever.

There’s hand sanitizer in the supermarkets. Baristas in the local coffee shops are donning protective face masks and Mérida airport has already set up its own quarantine zone. From the beginning of February, before a single case had been confirmed in the country, Mexico had vowed to the people to learn from the swine flu epidemic, setting up a toll-free number and testing potential carriers.

Yes, Covid-19 is in Mexico (eight confirmed cases), but after briefly sliding their medical mask below their mouth, those on full alert will almost certainly explain that it’s “better to be safe than sorry.”

They may be right, but the panic-to-reality ratio in Mexico currently is incredibly lopsided. The confirmed cases currently span six federal entities, with suspected cases bringing the number of “danger states” to 14 in total. Many of these have only one suspected case, let alone any coronavirus patients.

No deaths have been reported as of yet as a result of Covid-19’s outbreak in Mexico. But the virus itself isn’t the only thing spreading like wildfire. The reaction is far outweighing the facts of the current situation; it seems as if “corona fever” has overtaken coronavirus.

It is of course understandable to have a knee-jerk reaction to the sort of global panic caused by an unknown virus the origin of which no one truly understands, and the destination even fewer have an answer for. Italy has effectively closed its entire country, the United States is slack-handedly imposing travel bans, and residents of Wuhan, China, itself remain indoors in self-quarantine — a state of affairs that could make the strongest knees wobble. But why is it that global scares such as this one are able to galvanize such a response, more so than something arguably far worse albeit on a more local scale?

Enter stage left, our old and consequently forgotten friend, Tropical Disease. This isn’t a huge twist for the people of Mexico. Countless waves of new and exotic illnesses are able to make their way through the humid incubation of Latin America and up into the lower regions of the country. Dengue fever, for example, has been present in southern Mexico for years, continuing to spread perhaps less dramatically but consistently throughout the tropics.

While coronavirus has an untreated mortality rate of something in the region of 2-3%, dengue left untreated will kill 20% of the infected. In January, cases of dengue in Mexico skyrocketed by 62%, killing 19 people — there were 441 confirmed cases throughout the country with 223 being considered serious. Of course, rates of infection naturally differ between these two diseases, but even so, the measurable difference in people’s reaction to mortality across both shows how far a media storm can stir the panic.

There is a chasmic double standard demonstrated here, and the numbers simply don’t add up. In “high risk” dengue states like Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Veracruz and Oaxaca, you couldn’t hope to raise an eyebrow with the mention of the disease but Covid-19 is a very different story. With coronavirus, Mexicans are able to see the fallout of a wider global outbreak, scenes that perpetuate the alarm in their own heads; but a close look around the south wouldn’t show a dissimilar story.

Southern Mexico is historically overlooked, not just by ongoing administrations, but also by Mexican media itself. Health services in the south are particularly fractured owing partially to a lack of economic investment, but also to the fragmented nature of its populous areas. Away from the tourist beaches, the southern states have some of the most isolated and marginalized communities of the entire country and millions of people struggle with access to healthcare, as well as the means to obtain it.

It has been far too easy for the (n)ever-rotating governmental structure to pay lip service to the problem and even easier for the media to ignore the reality when crisis inevitably does sweep the region. Luckily for the powers in Mexico City, the effects of devastating tropical illness are conveniently sequestered on a tropical spit, far enough away to be ignored if necessary.

Mexico is understandably concerned with its global reputation. An international crisis pits nations against one another as to which will react swiftly and with confidence, and which will again stumble in the face of such an obstacle. While the current administration continues to claim that the well-being of the southern states is a high priority, their reaction to Covid-19 exposes an emphasis on image across borders as opposed to responsibilities at home.

Part of this incessant transmission of calmness and control surely comes down to worries for the potential collateral damage to the crucial tourism industry. The government has always been understandably preoccupied with the preservation of these dollars, and the hope is that a uniform message of competence on the world stage may limit the impact of nervous travelers who are set to avoid the risk of vacation. A grand reaction for global issues works perfectly in tandem with a muted response to more local news; the first affirms that all is in capable hands, the latter subtly quietens what may pass unnoticed.

Naturally, almost immediately following the outbreak in Europe, the government was vociferously reassuring the country and the world that it was on alert and prepared to deploy counteractive measures: AMLO could be found repeatedly proclaiming readiness at his daily morning press briefings. The federal Health Ministry followed closely behind saying that the country is in a “phase of permanent monitoring” and is totally prepared for the treatment or isolation of patients.

It is easy to see how this may not only have fueled the mad scramble nationally to prepare and protect, but also the frustrations of a region whose voices have been silenced in uncannily similar circumstances. It can be hard to take Mexico’s response seriously within a context that shows its relatively indifferent response to domestic epidemics.

If one is prone to give the Mexican government the benefit of the doubt, a truth self-evident would simply be an inherent operational failure within its very system, whatever best intentions lie at heart. Whichever way the hand of government falls, be it to intervene in said crisis and quell the chaos or to look the other way and focus on “greater” issues, it will always lack the economic and structural agency to see a solution to fruition.

Despite this reality, Mexico continues to deal in voices, either loudly claiming to be able to contain an uncontainable disease or silently brushing the issue to one side. As always, however, the government is aware that it can’t be seen to fail the world — but all too often, no one cares when it fails the south.

Writer Jack Gooderidge is based in Campeche.

Mexican economy well fortified amid global volatility: finance minister

MND Staff

March 11, 2020

Finance Minister Herrera: four lines of defense.

The Mexican economy has four lines of defense that protect it against events such as the slump in global oil prices, the depreciation of the peso and the spread of coronavirus, Finance Minister Arturo Herrera said Tuesday.

He told a press conference that carefully designed public finance policies, strong lines of credit, healthy stabilization funds and the government’s oil price hedging program all serve to insulate the economy from uncertainty and volatility.

Since 1995, the Finance Ministry “has tried to build public finances [within] a framework of extraordinary caution,” he said. “In other words … leave the economy protected in the face of very bad scenarios.”

The minister said that 78% of Mexico’s public debt is in pesos and that 81% of the amount owed is subject to fixed interest rates. He added that 100% of Mexico’s external debt is subject to fixed interest rates and most of it is repayable over long periods.

Secondly, Mexico has “extremely strong” lines of credit that allow it to “confront any storm,” Herrera said, explaining that the government, if required, could access up to US $61 billion from the International Monetary Fund and $9 billion from the United States Treasury.

Thirdly, the minister said, the government has healthy stabilization funds – mechanisms set up to protect against commodity price fluctuations and other unfavorable circumstances. One fund currently has 158 billion pesos (US $7.4 billion) and another has 60 billion pesos, Herrera said.

“The fourth line of defense has to do with the hedging of oil income,” he added.

The government said in January that the Finance Ministry had locked in a $49-per-barrel price for oil worth a total of $1.37 billion, while Pemex CEO Octavio Romero said the same month that the state oil company had already contracted a “small portion” of its 2020 hedge, although he didn’t reveal the price it had locked in or the number of barrels of oil to which it would apply.

Herrera’s remarks came a day after the Mexican peso fell to more than 22 to the United States dollar after a sharp decline in global oil prices due to a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. The currency has since recovered some of its loss, with one greenback buying about 21.4 pesos at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday.

Herrera said that Mexico and other countries are seeking to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Russia with a view to ending the price war. “We along with some other countries are looking to be a type of third party to build bridges,” he said.

Some analysts said that the decline in global oil prices precipitated by the price war places additional pressures on the already ailing finances of Pemex and could affect its credit rating,

Another cause for economic concern, not just in Mexico but around the world, is the global spread of Covid-19. The infectious disease that originated in Wuhan, China, late last year is having a huge impact on economies around the world as cases, and deaths, continue to climb, despite efforts to contain it.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report earlier this month that the slowdown of manufacturing in China due to the outbreak of Covid-19 is disrupting world trade and could result in a $50-billion decrease in exports across global value chains.

According to UNCTAD estimates, Mexico will be the eighth most affected economy, with exports predicted to decline by $1.37 billion.

There are currently only eight confirmed cases of Covid-19 here but a Mexico City infectious disease specialist believes that the real number of cases is much higher, while a professor of medicine in the United Kingdom predicts that more cases linked to the growing outbreak of the virus in the United States will arrive in Mexico and other Latin American countries in coming weeks.

Source: Milenio (sp)

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