Railway blockades continue in Michoacán this week.
Teachers and teachers in training blocked railway tracks at four different points in Michoacán on Monday to demand the payment of bonuses and scholarships and the automatic allocation of jobs to teaching graduates.
Members of the dissident CNTE teachers union stopped trains in the municipalities of Pátzcuaro, Múgica, Maravatío and Uruapan.
Six trains traveling to Michoacán from Nuevo León and three that departed the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas were affected by the blockades, according to the Michoacán Industry Association (AIEMAC).
The blockades were reestablished after being removed at the end of last week. Teachers and teaching students known as normalistas had blocked rail tracks for more than three weeks, causing extensive economic damage.
The National Guard attended all four blockades in Michoacán on Monday but took no action against the protesters.
AIEMAC, which estimated last week that each day of blockades costs industry about 50 million pesos (US $2.3 million), said it was regrettable that teachers and students had returned to the tracks. Their actions damage the state economy and Mexican families, the association said.
AIEMAC president Carlos Alberto Enríquez Barajas said the protesters justify their blockades by saying “this is the way things are done in Michoacán.”
But he rejected that sentiment, declaring that the disgruntled teachers and their way of protesting “don’t represent us.”
Enríquez said the rail blockades scare off investors and drive up logistical costs that reduce Michoacán’s competitiveness.
He said Michoacán’s geographical advantage – its Pacific coastline provides trade access to the west coast of the United States as well as Asian markets – is being squandered due to problems in the state, including the teachers’ protests.
Enríquez urged the federal government to intervene to end the rail blockades so that third parties aren’t affected and “we can all continue carrying out our operations.”
There have also been blockades of tracks in Puebla, Veracruz, México state and Tamaulipas.
Felipe de Javier Peña, president of the transportation commission of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers, said there have been rail blockades on 100 separate days this year, 36 more than during all of 2019.
He said the blockades affect the transportation of goods within Mexico and are an impediment to exports via Pacific coast ports such as Lázaro Cárdenas and Manzanillo, Colima.
“Hopefully [the government] can negotiate [with the protesters] because they’re paralyzing the country,” Peña said.
He called on federal and state authorities to uphold the rule of law and promptly seek solutions to the issues that cause different groups to erect blockades on Mexico’s rail network.
Two massacres in the last five days have taken the lives of six women and four men, bringing the number of people killed in massacres across Mexico to 330 in at least 47 separate incidents since President López Obrador took office in late 2018.
On Tuesday morning five people were killed and one person was injured in a pre-dawn attack on a group of people celebrating with mariachis at a taquería in Irapuato, Guanajuato. At least one of the victims was a musician.
Minutes before 2 a.m., witnesses told 911 operators they heard several shots near the El Cuñado restaurant after armed subjects opened fire on a group of people inside before fleeing in two vans.
Authorities found the lifeless bodies of four men and one woman a few meters from the taco shop’s entrance next to a parked truck.
One person survived the massacre and was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
Just five days earlier, assailants shot and killed five women who were at a wake in Celaya, Guanajuato.
The attack was levied on a private home where a vigil was being held for a man who had been murdered two days earlier. Four people inside the home were injured in the 4 a.m. attack.
Municipal police, the army and the National Guard were dispatched to search the neighborhood for the attackers.
The police came across four suspects who were traveling in a vehicle that matched witnesses’ descriptions and a confrontation followed in the Hacienda Natura neighborhood
“Municipal police were attacked with firearms, so in legitimate defense and to safeguard integrity they repelled the aggression,” authorities said in a statement.
One of the suspects was killed in the exchange of gunfire, and the other three were arrested.
Officers seized a truck with superimposed license plates, firearms, ammunition and tactical and communications equipment.
The attack was similar to one on September 1 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, where 10 people lost their lives and at least 14 were injured when gunmen opened fire at a wake for a 16-year-old boy. No arrests have been made in that attack but warring cartels are suspected.
People who are illegally occupying toll plazas in Nayarit are set to come face to face with members of the National Guard (GN) this week.
However, it appears unlikely that they will be forcibly removed. President López Obrador on Monday ordered the GN to remove people who are illegally collecting tolls from motorists but the security force said that it would seek to persuade them to withdraw through dialogue.
Protesters and alleged criminals have occupied toll plazas in Nayarit for months, charging motorists between 50 and 80 pesos to pass.
Until February, those collecting the tolls claimed to be farmers who said they weren’t adequately compensated for ceding their land for the construction of highways.
But according to the newspaper El Heraldo de México, members of criminal groups subsequently took control of the toll plazas and started collecting tolls for their own personal gain.
Among the occupied toll plazas are those on the highway between Tepic, Nayarit, and Mazatlán, Sinaloa.
“Action will be taken at all the occupied toll booths on the highway from Tepic to Mazatlán,” López Obrador told reporters at his regular news conference.
“I take this opportunity to tell these people that this illegal business is finished,” he said, adding that companies that built the toll roads have filed a complaint because they can’t recoup the money they invested.
The president said that the GN will ensure that the toll booths on the Tepic-Mazatlán highway will be cleared this week.
The newspaper El Economista sought comment from the GN about when and how it will carry out the operation to remove the illegal toll collectors.
A spokesperson for the security force responded that no specific operation had been planned but indicated that it would act in accordance with the directions of authorities. However, the spokesperson stressed that the GN will always favor dialogue over force.
Farmers protest lack of compensation for expropriated land at the Acaponeta toll plaza in Nayarit.
For his part, the head of the Association of Road Infrastructure Concessionaires said he was confident that López Obrador’s commitment would be fulfilled and that those occupying toll plazas in Nayarit and elsewhere will be removed.
“What the president pointed out [about lost revenue at toll booths] is very important. It’s not the first time he’s referred to the issue; in Nayarit a few weeks ago he compared [the illegal collection of tolls] to fuel theft, which is a very pertinent statement because it represents a very significant loss for the treasury beyond” what the road operators lose, Marco Antonio Frías Galván said.
He said 11 different toll plazas are currently occupied in Nayarit and that 25 others have been taken over in Sonora, Jalisco, Michoacán, México state, Morelos, Guerrero and Mexico City. The concessionaires association has filed more than 1,500 criminal complaints against toll plaza occupiers since 2018, he said.
Frías said that economic losses at toll plazas in 2020 already exceed the 3 billion pesos (US $139.1 million) that was lost last year.
He said the association he leads is working with the federal Security Ministry to develop a plan to prevent the takeover of plazas.
Although López Obrador claimed that his government is putting an end to the practice and that it has avoided losses of up to 7 billion pesos, Frías said that impunity remains a significant incentive for would-be occupiers.
“While there’s no punishment for those who take over toll booths, … the incentive will remain. It’s also clear that this very impunity has led to the creation of groups that exclusively dedicate themselves to blocking [toll plazas]. They’ve found a significant source of illegal revenue,” he said.
According to El Heraldo de México, a group of people occupying a toll plaza can collect more than 1 million pesos (US $46,300) per day.
Tacos of carne asada made with an orange marinade.
What’s green on the outside, orange on the inside and deliciously sweet and juicy?
The answer, my friends, is oranges grown in tropical climates.
A reader’s question last week prompted me to look into this. I’d seen green oranges too, year after year, and just assumed it had something to do with the weather. I didn’t give it a second thought because they were still sweet, and orange inside.
In Mazatlán, Kari noticed her favorite orange juice vendor was charging 5 pesos more for juice from green oranges. He said people think they have more vitamins.
“What’s the difference?” she wrote. “And why are there only green oranges in the market now?”
A bit of research found that climate is indeed the reason. Turns out oranges develop chlorophyll as they mature on the tree. Then cool temperatures cause the chlorophyll to die off, turning the skins orange. But a sudden rise in temperature can turn them green, sometimes overnight. Especially near the equator, where temps are consistently high, ripe oranges are commonly green. Ethylene gas can be used to turn the green skin orange, but that’s not customary for fruit sold in Mexico, where most oranges are regionally grown.
Although Mexico is one of the top producers of oranges in the world, drought and high temps have wreaked havoc on the 2019-2020 crop, cutting it by almost half to the lowest levels since the 1990s. Expect to see higher prices and less availability, and mostly green skin.
While oranges are grown all over the world, they’re a domesticated fruit, a deliberate (or accidental) hybrid of the mandarin and pomelo, first referenced in China in 314 BC. Sweet oranges spread to Europe via Portuguese traders in the 1500s, and then on to Mexico and South America.
Interestingly, the word for the color “orange” comes from the name of the fruit, a derivative of the Old Provencal auranja, based on Arabic nāranj. (It’s easy to see where the Spanish word naranja comes from.) Old French turned that into une norenge, and if you merge the “n” sounds, you end up with the English “orange.” Some languages “credit” those Portuguese merchants for the fruit’s name: the Albanian portokall, Neapolitan portogallo, Greek portokali.
This week’s recipes focus on the common sweet orange; I chose not to include bitter or Seville oranges, used in marmalade. Another interesting variety is the bergamot orange, a hybrid of bitter orange and lemon, whose peel is used for perfumes and — yes!—to flavor Earl Grey tea.
Carne Asada Tradiciónal
Every family has its own recipe for this classic Mexican dish, but here’s a basic one to get you started.
3 cups fresh orange juice, or more as needed
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp. (or more) minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
3 lbs. trimmed skirt or flank steaks (arrachera)
16 corn tortillas, or as needed
Toppings: onion, cilantro, salsa Mexicana
To make marinade, combine orange juice, 2 Tbsp. cilantro, lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin in a large zip-lock freezer bag. Place steaks in the bag and seal, squeezing out as much air as possible. Refrigerate at least 1 and up to 8 hours.
Preheat grill to medium-high. Cook steaks to preferred doneness, 6-8 minutes per side. Remove from grill and slice as thinly as possible against the grain. Heat corn tortillas, add steak and toppings and enjoy.
Orange Dipping Sauce
An easy and irresistible sauce for coconut shrimp or chicken fingers, or for making classic Orange Chicken over rice.
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced (or more)
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger (or more)
2 Tbsp. honey
Optional: 1 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. crushed red pepper, sesame seeds, chopped green onions
Classic chicken with orange sauce.
Combine zest, both juices, garlic, salt, ginger and red pepper, if using. If using cornstarch, remove 2 Tbsp. of juice mixture and whisk in cornstarch until combined thoroughly. In small pan, bring remaining juice mixture to a boil over medium heat; add honey. Stir in cornstarch mixture. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly until thickened. For Orange Chicken, garnish cooked chicken with sesame seeds and green onions. –marthastewart.com
Stovetop Candied Yams
These are usually baked in the oven; here’s an easier, quicker way.
3 lbs. sweet potatoes (yams), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
Salt
2 cups fresh orange juice
1¼ cups brown sugar
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. butter
Boil sweet potatoes in salted water about 10 min till fork-tender. Drain and set aside. Mix remaining ingredients in a shallow, wide sauté pan and bring to a boil on high heat. Add sweet potatoes and cook on high heat until sauce reduces to a syrup, about 10 minutes.
Crispy Honey-Orange Glazed Salmon
1 Tbsp. olive oil OR 2 tsp. butter
4 (6-oz.) salmon filets
¼ cup fresh orange juice
3 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional: ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
If cooking fish on stovetop, heat butter or oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sear salmon skin-side up for 3-4 minutes. from pan and cover with foil. If using grill, place salmon skin-side down and cook over high heat for 6-8 minutes. Flip carefully with spatula and cook another 2-3 minutes till done.
In small skillet, cook orange juice on high heat until reduced to about half (it takes about 1 minute to reduce down if your pan is hot enough). Add garlic, then honey, soy sauce and red pepper flakes if using, stirring constantly to combine well. Simmer about 1 minute till reduced to a syrup. Carefully place salmon back in pan with sauce, skin-side up, and sauté for 2-3 minutes till cooked through. Serve immediately.
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.
More than 4,000 public buildings and cultural spaces that were damaged in the powerful earthquakes of September 2017 and February 2018 have still not been repaired.
According to the federal government’s National Reconstruction Program website, 4,153 schools, hospitals and cultural spaces including churches are awaiting repairs.
The buildings are located in 11 states that were affected by the September 7, 2017 earthquake in southern Mexico, the temblor that shook central Mexico 12 days later and the quake on February 16, 2018 in Oaxaca.
The states are Chiapas, Mexico City, Guerrero, Hidalgo, México state, Morelos, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tabasco, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.
Of the more than 4,000 buildings awaiting repairs, 3,077 are in schools, 1,055 are cultural spaces and 21 are hospitals.
About one-third of the school buildings that remain damaged are in México state. Many schools in Oaxaca, Puebla and Morelos are also awaiting repairs.
In Morelos, where some earthquake victims remain homeless three years after their homes collapsed, there are 216 cultural buildings waiting to be fixed, more than in any other state.
The government website says that almost 30 billion pesos (US $1.4 billion) was allocated to repair 42,642 homes, health care facilities, schools and cultural buildings.
All 34,604 homes included in the reconstruction program have been repaired or rebuilt as have 95 health care facilities, 3,165 schools and 625 cultural buildings, according to the site.
The federal government provided financial aid to people whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the 2017 earthquakes but some victims claimed that they didn’t receive the money they were entitled to while other said they were defrauded of the funds by unscrupulous construction companies.
The Federal Auditor’s Office said in late 2018 that the government’s census to assess damage and identify victims after the twin devastating earthquakes of September 2017 was incomplete and hindered the distribution of financial aid.
Pre-Columbian tradition met classic German car engineering this week when a Oaxacan artist team revealed their perhaps most unique piece of artwork ever: a Mercedes-Benz G-Class all-terrain vehicle painted with iconography and colors inspired by alebrije art.
Jacobo and María del Carmen Ángeles, artists from San Martín Tilcajete, about 30 kilometers from the capital city of Oaxaca, revealed their latest masterpiece on their Facebook page, as did Mercedes-Benz México.
The company provided the vehicle, documented on social media its trip through Mexico to get to the artists and the work in progress, and showed off the final results to promote the company’s G-class model, one of the granddaddies of all-terrain and sport utility vehicles, first offered for civilian sale in 1979.
Alebrije art is distinctive folk art that originated in both Mexico City and Oaxaca. In the case of the former they are made from papier-mache; alebrijes from Oaxaca are carved from wood.
Jacobo and María have been creating artworks since childhood. Jacobo specializes in wood sculpture, while Maria has always the best in their house at painting the wooden figures.
Mercedes new paint job,Zapotec style.
They are well-known among artisan collectors for their colorful, fanciful works on copal wood.
They recently shared a video on their Facebook page, capturing the days of work they and a team of artisans did to decorate the vehicle. They said they were very pleased with the results.
The Dos Bocas refinery under construction in Tabasco.
The depreciation of the peso and higher steel prices are among the factors that could drive up the cost of the new Pemex refinery, according to an independent energy analyst.
In an interview with the newspaper Milenio, Ramsés Pech said the cost of the Dos Bocas refinery, currently under construction on the Tabasco coast, could increase by 20% to 35% due to the lower value of the peso compared to when the project was conceived and contracts were signed, as well as higher steel costs and higher costs for equipment the facility needs.
In a report published in April, the newspaper El Financiero also warned that the cost of the refinery could increase due to the peso’s decline in value compared to the U.S. dollar. The peso has appreciated since then but still remains lower than when contracts were awarded.
President López Obrador, who announced in May 2019 that the state oil company and the Energy Ministry would take charge of the project because bids submitted by private companies were too high, has pledged that the refinery won’t cost more than US $8 billion.
But Pech disagrees, noting that United States engineering and construction company KBR has withdrawn from the project because it couldn’t comply with the costs set out in its contract.
When it was awarded the contract, the exchange rate was 19 pesos to the U.S. dollar, the analyst said, whereas one greenback now buys about 21.5 pesos.
Pech said the departure of KBR is not a problem because other companies have stepped in to take its place but warned that they too could have trouble meeting the costs they agreed to in their contracts.
He said the government should reassess the costs it calculated when it first conceived of the project. At its current cost, the project is becoming “unviable,” Pech said.
“Pemex is given its budget in pesos; when the project was drawn up in 2018 it was with an exchange rate of 18 [pesos] to the dollar,” he said, explaining that the price in pesos will be higher because its value is now lower.
Pech also said that there is uncertainty about how the coronavirus pandemic will affect steel prices.
Given the uncertainty, the government should change its plan and build a refinery with a capacity to process 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, the analyst said. That amount is less than one-third the 340,000 bpd capacity the Dos Bocas facility will have.
By entering into a public-private partnership, the government could build a 100,000 bpd facility in less than two years, Pech said, adding that he doubted that a 340,000 bpd refinery could be completed by 2023, as López Obrador has pledged.
However, reducing the facility’s capacity by 70% is not a suggestion to which the president is likely to be amenable given that he has pledged to make Mexico self-sufficient in gasoline by 2023.
Jonathan Health, deputy governor of the central bank, said earlier this month that Pemex, which has in excess of US $100 billion in debt, could become an “incurable cancer” if the government doesn’t come up with a structural solution to its financial problems.
But a more expensive refinery would only add to the financial pressure the state-owned company is under. Even at its current budgeted price of US $8 billion, many analysts have been critical of the refinery project, arguing that it is using funds that would otherwise be spent on Pemex’s more profitable oil exploration business.
On her horse Pico, Kerry of Chapala is part of a sort-of virtual 100-mile horseback ride.
So here we are, six months or so down the road from the first lockdown orders. We’ve realized the pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon; like it or not, we’re in this for the long run.
So what have you been doing?
Several hundred responses to posts on multiple expat Facebook pages gave us some answers. Many have picked up things they used to enjoy doing: playing music, knitting and sewing, all sorts of hobbies. Since there’s no going out to restaurants as much (or at all), you’re also spending lots of time in the kitchen. trying new recipes and revisiting old ones.
“A friend gave me some sourdough starter, so I’ve been playing with that,” shared Molly from Puerto Vallarta. “So far I’ve made bread, flatbread, crackers, pancakes, focaccia and cinnamon rolls.”
Mazatlán snowbird Claudia — whose plans are on hold this season — started playing the piano again. “Signed up for lessons online and am really enjoying it!” she wrote. In Lake Chapala, Sidmini is using this time to improve her ukulele skills.
Molly from Puerto Vallarta has started painting again.
And she wasn’t the only one: Sam, Tish, Carol and Greg all said they’re learning to play the ukulele through YouTube and lots of practicing.
YouTube seems to be the “teacher” of choice for just about everything.
“Using tutorials on YouTube, I started painting again,” Molly added. “I’ve been dabbling in both acrylics and oils.”
From their home in San Antonio Tlayacapan, Sharlene (who must be a saint) said her husband has been using YouTube to learn to play the harmonica. They’re both taking Spanish lessons on YouTube as well.
Learning a language, mostly Spanish, was mentioned by many. Whether starting from scratch or adding to what they already know, most people are using DuoLingo and YouTube for learning, although some chose other options.
“I’ve been taking a remote course in Náhuatl,” wrote Pat from San Miguel de Allende. “It’s lots of fun and I’m learning about the influence and remnants of Náhuatl in Mexican Spanish.”
In La Paz, photography and cooking classes have kept Jack busy.
A reader in Bucerías, Nayarit, wrote that she wanted more structure than DuoLingo offered to help her learn Italian, so she ordered the “Living Language” course through Amazon. It includes CDs and workbooks and also has an online audio component.
“I’m thrilled that my brain is open to learn another language,” said Kristen. English is her first language and she’s about 85% fluent in Spanish. “Learning Italian ties in with my long-term goal of finally going to Italy, where my family is from. That may not be for a couple of years, but at least I’ll be able to communicate once I’m there.”
In La Paz, Baja California Sur, amateur photographer Jack has been learning macro photography and Photoshop techniques and exploring Mexican cooking with online classes. But, he says, “I’m more than ready to go to a restaurant with friends, have a drink, take their photo, and then make a caricature of them!”
Those who sew have completed projects that had been stuffed away in closets and cupboards (which got a good cleaning in the process too).
In Mazatlán, Karen finished three quilts she’d started 10 years ago, and then “pieced and completed” a fourth. Her newest project is making reusable shopping bags out of old blue jeans, since the city just passed an ordinance doing away with plastic bags in grocery stores.
From outside of Guanajuato, Annie, who runs a local women’s sewing group, pivoted to keep the group going. Now they meet in her garage in groups of three at a time. “Happy to be busy!” she said.
Lots of people are doing puzzles, and in Mazatlán, Nancy found a papelería with good quality puzzles. She’s dedicated an entire room and table to her new hobby.
“Puzzling has become sort of a ‘pandemic obsession’ during the past few months for me,” she wrote, adding that she spends “about 15 hours doing puzzles during a particularly obsessive week.”
Some of you looked at the proverbial “bucket list,” and finally started doing something about it.
“I’d always been fascinated by origami and thought this was the perfect time to try it,” said Lori in Mexico City. “When I read about the tradition of senbazuru, that anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted happiness and eternal good luck, I thought, hey, why not?”
Lori ordered the patterned paper and an instruction book from Amazon, and also uses YouTube. She folds three to five cranes a day, and has made so many she had to empty a drawer to store them in.
When lockdown started, Glen, an artist in San Miguel de Allende, began looking beyond her studio for things to do. She dug out a dart board she’d bought years ago, ordered darts from Amazon and looked up games and rules online.
Puzzles have become a pandemic obsession for Nancy in Mazatlán.
“You can’t go out with friends, and I do so much stuff on the computer, this gives me an ‘exit stage left’ activity,” she said. “And I think it’s good for you — it sharpens eye/hand coordination, visualization and just going for it.”
“In the beginning I kept hitting the wall of my patio, so I put a sheet of cork around the target,” Glen laughed. “Then I got better! It’s satisfying and rewarding to see my progress.”
Covid restrictions have forced many of us to expand our technological abilities in ways we never thought we would. Besides binging Netflix series, rewatching Game of Thrones and playing video games like the super-addictive Animal Crossing, you’re having book club meetings, happy hours, yoga and pilates classes on Zoom; spending more video-call time with grandkids and family north of the border using Messenger, Facetime, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts, and discovering all kinds of virtual activities to keep you busy, productive and happy.
In Chapala, Kerry and her horse Pico have perhaps the most unusual online activity we heard about.
“I’m participating in a virtual 100-mile horseback ride called the Virtual Tevis Cup,” she wrote. Because of the pandemic, this equestrian race – usually held live on the United States’ historic Western States Trail — pivoted to a virtual competition based on the honor system.
Participants log in and “see” where on the trail they would be while they log the miles on their own horses, wherever they are. So far, Kerry and Pico have logged about 65 miles.
But Joanne shared perhaps the simplest and most satisfying stuck-inside activity of all.
“My husband and I are daydreaming and planning our retirement in Mexico!”
Reopening beaches and easing of other restrictions have contributed to the rise in numbers.
New coronavirus cases increased 13% in Baja California Sur (BCS) last week due to increased mobility, according to Health Minister Víctor George Flores.
There are currently 742 active cases in the state, according to BCS authorities, a figure that accounts for about 8% of the 9,359 cases detected since the start of the pandemic.
Flores attributed the uptick in case numbers last week to the reopening of beaches and reactivation of tourism and recreational activities.
“We knew that we were going to have an increase and that’s why we must proceed with caution,” he told a virtual press conference.
The coronavirus risk level according to the state’s health alert system will remain at level 4 “very high” this week, Flores said.
The health minister said that despite the increase in case numbers, the number of coronavirus patients in the hospital remains stable. Flores also said that while authorities are not implementing stricter restrictions, people need to be more cautious as they go about their daily lives during the so-called new normal.
Increases in new case numbers of up to 20% could be seen in the coming weeks if mobility levels continue to rise, he added.
One positive for BCS is that its case fatality rate is well below the national rate. Based on confirmed coronavirus cases and Covid-19 deaths – currently 484 – the fatality rate in the state is 5.2 per 100 cases.
The national fatality rate is more than twice as high at 10.5 per 100 cases. That figure is based on 697,663 confirmed cases and an official Covid-19 death toll of 73,493.
However, the real number of coronavirus cases and deaths is widely believed to be much higher due to Mexico’s low testing rate.
Students at UNAM's preparatory schools are among the worst affected.
The National Autonomous University (UNAM) opened the 2020–2021 school year Monday with classes again conducted online. But according to university officials, around 44,303 students enrolled have no internet access while about 13,000 have neither internet nor access to a computer.
Combined the numbers represent 12% of last year’s total enrolment of 360,000 students.
The return of students to distance learning this fall has given education officials at all levels across Mexico a harsh reminder of an already open secret: thousands of students enrolled in k-12 schools and universities here normally count on their school campuses to give them internet access or access to computers or both, a mostly-working situation thrown into disarray by the Covid-19 requirement to study at home.
Bryan Valencia, 18, a third-year UNAM student, was forced to drop out last April when his cell phone — his only access to the internet and his only way to attend classes once Covid-19 sent students home — was robbed. As the pandemic drove down his mother’s sales income, Valencia saw his economic difficulties multiplying and found he wasn’t able to make academic progress.
He opted to drop out for the rest of the school year so he could work and save money to pay for an internet connection.
Bryan Valencia feels ‘academically stuck.’
He started the school year today, but a semester behind and not in a better economic situation: he has a phone again, but that’s it, other than a neighbor’s weak internet connection too unstable to stream his classes on his phone. He often encounters other technological obstacles as well: software required by his university is either difficult or impossible to use on a phone.
“I’m sad at how I’m falling behind, frustrated and disappointed at the situation in which I find myself,” he told Milenio. “I feel academically stuck.”
It’s not unlike the situation faced by Ana Paula González, a seventh-semester food chemistry student also at UNAM’s main campus. She can at least share a computer with her older sister, also a college student, but they struggle to coordinate computer use schedules. Buying a second computer for González is out of the question with Covid-19’s hit to the family’s finances, she said.
“With distance-learning classes, there are professors who put a real effort behind it and then there’s others who just don’t understand. I think that the university has not wanted to listen to the students, to what they need.”
A recent UNAM survey revealed that students studying at the preparatory level (senior high school) at UNAM are even worse off. Thirty-five percent of those students have no access to computers, compared to 17% of university students.
According to the survey, of the 111,067 students attending UNAM’s preparatory schools and science and humanities colleges, 42% —around 46,000—have no internet access. About 35% have no computer, and 22% have neither.
The problem is not limited to UNAM: one preparatoryschool in Sonora is asking the community for economic support for its low-income students and help them keep up technologically now that they’re learning at home. They don’t have the computers and internet access they need to succeed academically and communicate with teachers.
The Sonora science and technology colleges’ (Cecytes) new program, “Support Their Future,” is drafting volunteers from the community and from the school’s pool of alumni and asking them to provide the technological devices that are a necessary part of today’s college experience to a student without resources.
“We realize that we are going through difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” director Amos Benjamin Moreno Ruíz said. “And the economic circumstances are not equal for everyone. For that reason, we’re inviting ex-students and general community members to sponsor students and help them finish their studies, giving them a computer, laptop, tablet, or cell phone — new or in good condition — or help them have access to the internet, and thus be part of their education.”
Anyone interested in helping can contact Cecyte Sonora via their Twitter and Facebook accounts (@CecytesSonora) or by going to one of the school’s campuses. Volunteers will be officially named a Cecyte sponsor, Moreno said.
