The National Science and Technology Council (Conacyt) will spearhead a bee conservation project on the Yucatán peninsula to counteract the threats apiculture faces from pesticides and genetically modified crops.
At a meeting with Yucatán peninsula beekeepers at the Maya Intercultural University in Quintana Roo, Conacyt chief Elena Álvarez-Buylla said the science council is committed to looking after Mexico’s natural resources and biological diversity.
“Beekeeping is an activity that is compatible with these principles. It’s important to support local communities, universities and technological colleges in . . . the production of Mexican honey and its national distribution,” she said.
“There will be no honey if the jungle is destroyed! It is possible to regain first place in the production of the best honey in the world,” Álvarez-Buylla added.
She explained that Conacyt is speaking with communities about genetically modified crops and pesticides with a view to banning both.
“Genetically modified crops, including soybeans, involve the use of toxins that are harmful to human health and destroy beekeeping . . .” Álvarez-Buylla said.
Communities and civil society organizations will collaborate with Conacyt on the bee conservation project on the peninsula, where bees have died off en masse allegedly due to crop dusting.
“The conservation of native bees is essential for the preservation of the forests and native flora of the Yucatán peninsula. Deforestation, fumigation in industrial agriculture and especially, genetically modified crops threaten the essential foundation of beekeeping,” the Conacyt chief said in a Twitter post.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Guanajuato have unanimously approved a law that protects bees and beekeeping.
People found to have killed bees or harmed their habitat in the state will face fines of up to 8,000 pesos (US $420).
Paulo Bañuelos Rosales, a National Action Party lawmaker and president of the Congress’s agriculture commission, said the decline of bee populations is concerning and could represent a serious risk to food security and ecosystems.
“In the face of this reality, the residents of Guanajuato can’t remain in silence. We have to take make good use of legislative tools and public resources to make a difference, to save our environment and our families,” he said.
Bañuelos explained that 42 experts contributed to the drafting of the law.
“This law wasn’t designed from a desk, we went out to consult with beekeepers, [experts] at the University of Guadalajara . . . civil society organizations, ranchers, environmentalists . . .” he said.
“This is a good law that positions Guanajuato as a state where bees are considered a priority species . . .”
The three best cities in which to live in Mexico are San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León; Colima, Colima; and Mérida, Yucatán, according to a new study.
Conducted by polling firm Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica, Mexico’s Most Livable Cities surveyed residents of the 76 largest cities in the country including the 16 boroughs of Mexico City.
Their responses were used to generate ratings for each city in four different areas: quality of life, social cohesion, satisfaction with municipal services and performance of mayors.
San Pedro Garza García, part of the metropolitan area of Monterrey, came out on top in each of the first three while Colima residents thought most highly of their mayor.
San Pedro received a combined score of 61.7 to rank as the best city in Mexico, edging out Colima, which was two points behind with 59.6. Mérida followed just ahead of Sin Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, and Saltillo, Coahuila.
Ecatepec, dead last.
Rounding out the top 10 were Mazatlán, Sinaloa; Apodaca, Nuevo León; Chihuahua; Aguascalientes; and Mexicali, Baja California.
Venustiano Carranza was found to be the most livable borough in Mexico City, ahead of Benito Juárez and Iztapalapa.
On the other end of the scale, Ecatepec, México state – a municipality in the Mexico City metropolitan area notorious for violence – was ranked the least livable city in the country ahead of Tehuacán, Puebla, and Chetumal, Quintana Roo. Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, and Puebla ranked as the fourth and fifth least livable cities.
The study also ranked six different regions of the country in terms of livability. The northern region was the best place to live followed by western Mexico, the northeast, Mexico City, the south and central Mexico.
Presenting the report, the director general of Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica, Federico Berrueto, noted that there is a wide divide between Mexico’s most and least livable cities. Life in San Pedro Garza García is “completely different” to life in Ecatepec, he said.
Berrueto also noted that residents’ ratings of three northern border cities – Ciudad Juárez, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa – fell this year compared to 2018.
The “deterioration” is “not necessarily associated with the quality of government,” he said, adding that the influx of migrants “seriously compromises the quality of life in those cities.”
Insecurity and poor municipal services were significant factors in the low rankings of many municipalities in the greater Mexico City area, Berrueto added.
Here is the full list of the 76 cities surveyed:
1-San Pedro Garza García
2-Colima
3-Mérida
4-San Nicolás de los Garza
5-Saltillo
6-Mazatlán
7-Apodaca
8-Chihuahua
9-Aguascalientes
10-Mexicali
11-Querétaro
12-Campeche
13-Guadalupe
14-Matamoros
15-Nuevo Laredo
16-Venustiano Carranza
17-Torreón
18-León
19-Culiacán
20-Hermosillo
21-Monterrey
22-Reynosa
23-Benito Juárez
24-Zapopan
25-Zacatecas
26-La Paz
27-Manzanillo
28-Iztapalapa
29-Gómez Palacio
30-Guanajuato
31-Cuajimalpa de Morelos
32-Veracruz
33-Lázaro Cárdenas
34-Miguel Hidalgo
35-Guadalajara
36-Azcapotzalco
37-San Pedro Tlaquepaque
38-Carmen
39-Cuauhtémoc
40-Gustavo A. Madero
41-Tepic
42-Coyoacán
43-Iztacalco
44-Benito Juárez (Cancún)
45-Pachuca
46-Milpa Alta
47-Durango
48-Juárez
49-Tlaxcala
50-Toluca
51-Tlalpan
52-Álvaro Obregón
53-Chimalhuacán
54-Nezahualcóyotl
55-Tlalnepantla de Baz
56-Chilpancingo
57-Xalapa
58-Cajeme (Ciudad Obregón)
59-Acapulco
60-Xochimilco
61-San Luis Potosí
62-La Magdalena Contreras
63-Centro (Villahermosa)
64-Tijuana
65-Morelia
66-Oaxaca
67-Cuernavaca
68-Tapachula
69-Naucalpan
70-Tláhuac
71-Tuxtla Gutiérrez
72-Puebla
73-Victoria
74-Othón P. Blanco (Chetumal)
75-Tehuacán
76-Ecatepec
UPDATED November 11:The full list of cities was appended to the original story.
Is Mexico safe? After an attack Monday that left nine dual Mexican-American citizens dead and with the country on track to record its most violent year in recent history, more and more people are asking the question.
With that in mind, Forbes news magazine asked experts whether traveling to Mexico is a good idea, while Mexico-based journalists with The New York Times responded to readers’ questions about the security situation in the country.
“Millions of Americans go to Mexico on vacation every year, so if we play the numbers game, the number of incidents is very small,” said Carlos Barron, a 25-year veteran of the FBI and founder of US Traveler Assist, a security and safety company that provides advice and services to American travelers.
According to the United States Department of State, 196 U.S. citizens died in Mexico in 2018 of whom 67 were murdered. The remainder died as the result of accidents.
The figures don’t dissuade Barron from recommending Mexico as a tourism destination.
“When I’m asked if Mexico is a safe place to go travel on vacation, my response is yes,” he told Forbes. Barron said that staying safe in Mexico largely comes down to common sense.
“Be smart about where you go. How are you going to get from the airport to your resort? When you check into a hotel, did you lock your door and use the top lock? What if something happens? Do I have the number of the embassy?
“Have I filled out a form for the Department of State so they know that I am traveling? Always think of safety and security as something that’s part of your trip,” he said.
Elisabeth Malkin of The Times pointed out that the security situation “varies drastically across the country,” and that drug cartels are most active in the northern border region and along the Pacific coast.
She said that a quarter of all homicides in 2018 occurred in just five cities: Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Cancún, Acapulco and Culiacán. Tourist areas in Cancún, however, “are fairly insulated from the city’s broader violence,” Malkin said.
Despite rising violence, Mexico City is fairly safe provided precautions are taken while Mérida, Yucatán, is considered as safe as Europe, she said.
Looks safe enough but use common sense regardless.
Asked by a Times reader whether it is safe to travel to Mexico, Malkin responded:
“Yes, it is safe for Americans to travel in most parts of Mexico, although tourists should exercise caution, just as they would in some parts of the United States.”
Adam St. John, CEO of travel risk management company Sitata, told Forbes that travelers need to be well-informed when choosing holiday destinations in Mexico.
He noted that Acapulco was once “a world-renowned tourist hotspot” but is now “one of the most dangerous cities in the world due to violent crime.”
Anyone visiting the faded resort city “would be prudent to keep a low profile,” St. John said.
He also advised tourists to “stick to your resort area, do not dress in flashy or expensive clothes, and leave your accessories at home – do not make yourself an easy target for theft.”
St. John added that “female travelers should remain very cautious as violence against women is very high in several parts of Mexico and [has been] known to have taken place in secluded resorts, too.”
However, the operations manager for the Americas at the global travel risk intelligence company Riskline believes that it’s safe for women to travel to Mexico provided they use common sense and keep safety precautions in mind.
“While Mexico does suffer from high crime and homicide rates — undoubtedly linked to the drug trade — many areas of the country are still safe to visit, even for women,” Suzanne Sangiovese said.
“The vast majority of cartel-related violence that occurs in Mexico is geographically limited in its intensity, with narco-traffickers targeting each other, Mexican authorities or entities that stand in their way. It is rare for such violence to specifically target a female traveler or tourist unless she’s caught in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Sangiovese advised tourists never to leave their drinks unattended or accept drinks from strangers or new acquaintances and only use official and registered taxis. “Avoid public transport, especially at night, to limit exposure to possible cases of harassment,” she said.
The Department of State’s Mexico Travel Advisory remains at “Level 2: Exercise increased caution” although “Level 3: Reconsider travel” and “Level 4: Do not travel” warnings apply to several states.
Tourist areas of Cancún are ‘fairly insulated’ from violence.
Level 4 warnings apply to Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán and Sinaloa due to crime and to Tamaulipas due to crime and kidnapping. Level 3 warnings apply to Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, México state, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora and Zacatecas.
Will the security situation change for the better any time soon? Not likely, says The Times’ Kirk Semple.
“President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said he would focus his crimefighting strategy on addressing the problem at its roots, by investing in social development programs and initiatives that alleviate poverty. But this approach could take years to work — if it works at all.”
One day I received an invitation to hike in the hills above the town of Ajijic on the north shore of Lake Chapala. My guide was to be long-distance walker and author Cam Honan, who goes by the name of “Swami” when he’s trekking.
“I want to show you a place everyone calls the Indian Ceremonial Grounds,” said Honan. “Every so often a large number of indigenous people gather together up there for something called La Danza del Sol. It’s a beautiful, wide open space with good vibrations and a magnificent view of Lake Chapala.”
As we started our hike, I couldn’t help but reflect on how lucky the people are who live along Chapala’s northern shore. They don’t have to drive 50 kilometers to the nearest mountain; all they have to do is walk out the door, stroll up the street and step onto any one of dozens of narrow trails.
It’s amazing. One minute you’re on a city street and suddenly you are engulfed by high walls of luxuriant green vegetation. You feel like you’re in some exotic jungle, thousands of miles from civilization.
Honan took me on a long, meandering route to several picturesque spots overlooking the lake (he is, after all, a long-distance walker) and it was only after a few hours that we found ourselves approaching the Ceremonial Grounds along a narrow trail beneath a canopy of creeping vines.
The Tree of Life, well decorated with colorful strips of cloth.
Then, suddenly, we stepped out onto a wide, flat, grassy meadow that took my breath away. In the middle of it there was a lone tree festooned with long red, white, blue, green and yellow strips of cloth. The tree was surrounded by a very large circle of stones and nearby, there were two buildings which, said my guide, serve for sheltering and feeding the many indigenous people who come here from far and wide.
Just outside the circle there were two igloo-shaped frameworks made of thin branches. With the help of blankets, these are transformed into temazcales, or sweat lodges.
“Back in 2002 or 2003,” said Honan, “I saw a ceremony performed here. A group of men, shirtless, attached cords to bones which were literally sewn inside part of their chest. The cords were attached to this tree and all the men walked around it. There was music playing in the background. Then the music stopped and they all pulled back simultaneously — and out came the bones.”
Well, that description certainly got my attention and, back at home, I started to search for information about La Danza del Sol. I learned that the piercing ceremony is ancient and that its purpose is to offer personal sacrifice as a prayer for the benefit of one’s family and community.
The ritual became well-known thanks to the 1970 movie A Man Called Horse with Richard Harris, which is said to be based on the real-life experience of the Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.
Of course I made a point to get myself a copy of A Man Called Horse and was truly amazed that such a fine film could have come out of Hollywood in 1970, not to mention the fact that it’s a western in which the Sioux speak Sioux the whole time!
The Ceremonial Circle on La Mesa de los Encinos.
The story of how the very first Danza del Sol was held in Ajijic is described in a thesis written by Aldo Daniel Arias, who was allowed to be present at the campsite by volunteering to do work like cutting wood and carrying water.
Arias says the organizers decided to hold the event at the spot I visited, known as La Mesa de los Encinos. This was a picturesque place, it seems, but originally it consisted of two hills side by side, not exactly a suitable site for holding a dance.
So, all sorts of volunteers went to the place and “a punta, pala y carretilla” — with picks, shovels, wheelbarrows and much hard work — they lowered the high places and raised the low places and ended up with a wide, flat, Meseta de la Danza.
Finally, in 1991, the first Danza del Sol was held on this mesa. Many people showed up from all over Mexico and the United States, plus over 100 dancers. It seems that the Danza is traditionally held in July or August, when plant growth is at its maximum.
I understand that, according to Arias Yerena, the main purpose of the event is to thank the Great Spirit for the gift of life. Curiously, the Tree of Life, which is four to five meters high, is not growing inside the circle but, like a Christmas tree, is chopped down in the woods, carried to the site and made to stand up in the center of the ceremonial circle. Decorated with colorful strips of cloth, it stays there all year and is replaced before the next dance begins.
To be admitted as a dancer, candidates must have assisted the group for at least the previous two years and must present an offering of copal or tobacco. In the ceremonial area, they must refrain from certain practices such as yoga, politics and Catholic rituals and may not use alcohol, marijuana, peyote or other plants, except for sage and tobacco.
When covered with blankets, this wooden framework becomes a sweat lodge.
During four days and nights, the dancers fast from all food and drink. Every day, in the full glare of the summer sun, they dance and sing for seven rounds (sessions), each lasting from 45 minutes to an hour. The singing is in the Lakota language, which most of the participants don’t understand.
Unlike Muslims, who can eat and drink once the sun goes down, these dancers must aguantar (endure) without sustenance for the entire period and I can’t imagine how they could do it. It is said that many suffer spells of dizziness, headaches, stomach aches, kidney pains and sheer exhaustion.
Perhaps some relief is experienced during daily sessions in the temazcal, but I doubt it, because another test of a warrior is to endure extreme heat during this ceremony.
Arias’ description of the rituals which take place before, during and after this steam bath tally with those practiced all over Mexico and suggest to me that the sweat lodge is the one indigenous ceremony which really unifies all the native peoples of the American continent.
The Offering of Skin takes place on the last day. According to Arias, it is made by passing two wooden stakes through the chest of the (male) participant, stakes which are attached to two cords which are tied to the tree.
At the end of the ceremony, the dancer dances backward away from the tree and breaks the skin where the stakes are embedded. When this happens, he prays and gives thanks and then makes a circuit of the stone circle, saluting the four cardinal directions.
[soliloquy id="93716"]
Says Arias, “the offering of skin is an act through which the dancers sacrifice a part of themselves, that is, a piece of their own flesh. In this way, the dancer becomes the offering itself, an act which results in his unity with nature and the Great Spirit.
In case you are thinking of giving this ceremony a try (which, they say, Richard Harris did), note that Arias states, “. . . Among these offerings, the most valued are those which are carried out with the most enthusiasm and pain.”
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
There may be a government inquiry into the salaries — or absence thereof — of senior citizens who bag groceries at stores like Walmart and Soriana.
President López Obrador said Friday it was up to the Labor Secretariat to look into complaints about the remuneration those employees receive.
He was asked during his morning press conference whether his administration would take action on reports that the seniors receive no pay at all beyond customers’ tips.
The president said the issue was one of labor justice and should be resolved by the applicable department, although in fact the seniors are employed under a federal government program.
“They should present a complaint over not receiving a fair salary or benefits, that’s what they can do . . . The Labor Secretariat must intervene, it will intervene because all human beings have the right to a fair salary, it’s an enshrined right in the constitution.”
However, he went on to say there may be no need for an investigation because the companies involved would likely pay the employees a fair salary now that the issue is being discussed.
“I’m sure that without the need for complaints, without proceedings, the directors of Walmart are listening to us, and in this way there will be justice,” he added.
The National Institute for the Elderly (Inapam), a federal agency, administers a program that connects senior citizens to this kind of employment. One is for “voluntary merchandise packers,” by which people 60 and older find employment with retailers.
Their remuneration comes in the form of customers’ tips, which augment pensions such as the senior citizens’ bimonthly Wellbeing Pension of 2,550 pesos (US $133).
For 78-year-old Félix Saucedo, who works six hours a day six days a week at a Chedraui store in Tlalnepantla, México sate, the tips represent 10,000 pesos a month.
It’s a hefty supplement to monthly pension income of just 3,775 pesos — 1,275 from the Wellbeing pension and 2,500 from IMSS, the social services institute.
Barzonistas at a LeBarón family ranch in April 2018.
A criminal organization has been mentioned as a possible suspect in Monday’s ambush of a Mormon family in which nine women and children were killed.
But the LeBarón family of Chihuahua has few friends among members of a farmers’ group called El Barzón.
The family’s ranch was attacked last year by neighboring farmers who claimed that illegal water wells had been drilled on the property.
More than 100 members of El Barzón broke into the LeBarón family’s walnut farm in the municipality of San Buenaventura in April 2018.
Video footage shows a convoy of pickup trucks entering the La Mojina ranch, where barzonistas, as the members of the farmers’ group are known, set a house and warehouses on fire, destroyed 11 water wells and ran over small walnut trees.
El Barzón farmers at La Mojina, a LeBarón ranch, in April last year.
Another video shows the pickup trucks traveling along a dirt road on the ranch before confronting members of the LeBarón family.
According to Julian LeBarón – who provides a voiceover to the footage broadcast by television station Televisa – the barzonistas broke down fences to enter the ranch.
LeBarón said that members of his family tried to stop the farmers and talk to them but they responded by shouting “racist” and “xenophobic” remarks at them.
He said the barzonistas subsequently began throwing stones, after which his brother fired warning shots into the air and ground.
The LeBarón family, part of a breakaway Mormon community that has lived in northern Mexico for decades, has allegedly drilled more than 2,000 water wells on its ranches without the permission of the National Water Commission (Conagua) or by obtaining permits through the payment of bribes.
Conagua said that 740 wells were closed in Chihuahua in 2016 and 2017 because they had been drilled illegally.
Momento del enfrentamiento entre familia LeBarón y barzonistas - En Punto con Denise Maerker
In 2018, Conagua data showed that 14 of 61 aquifers in Chihuahua were overexploited. Several of them are located in municipalities where the LeBarón family owns ranches.
Before the ranch attack, El Barzón claimed that the LeBarón family planned to drill 50 new wells on the property for the irrigation of walnut trees, which require significant amounts of water.
The farmers’ group has long claimed that the LeBarón family’s illegal use of water resources will leave communities without any. The family denies any wrongdoing.
After last year’s attack at San Buenaventura, the then leader of El Barzón, Eraclio Rodríguez (now a federal lawmaker with the ruling Morena party), said that he and other members of the farmers’ group received death threats from the LeBarón family.
“They told us that our heads now had a price on them. We asked the authorities to intervene as soon as possible,” he said.
However, federal authorities have said that La Línea, a gang with links to the Juárez Cartel, may have mistaken the vehicles in which the women and children were traveling for those of a splinter cell of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Los Salazar. Family members reject the hypothesis.
President López Obrador said on Friday that a special team has been formed to investigate the case, which triggered an offer from United States President Donald Trump to help Mexico “wage war” against the cartels.
“. . . They’re analyzing all the hypotheses, all of them, nothing is ruled out, they’re gathering information,” the president said.
“. . . There is nothing that prevents a thorough investigation . . . There is no limit because of an agreement with any criminal or political group or because of vested interests . . .” López Obrador declared.
The National Lottery's headquarters in Mexico City.
The National Lottery plans to eliminate its 540-million-peso (US $28-million) deficit with austerity, efficiency and honesty, according to the institution’s general director, Ernesto Prieto Ortega.
Almost a year into his term, Prieto dreams of the lottery returning to its glory days and being able to make donations that benefit all Mexican citizens.
“The lottery has greatly supported the Mexican state,” Prieto said in an interview with the newspaper El Universal. “In the age of Benito Juárez, for example, they did three drawings for the construction of the Mexico-Toluca railway, which was made possible by lottery and government resources.”
With its 250th anniversary coming up on August 7, 2020, the National Lottery is one of Mexico’s oldest institutions, and the pending birthday has encouraged lottery and government leaders to revive the struggling organization.
“The president gave us two instructions: the fusion of the National Lottery with the Public Assistance Forecasts office in order to improve economic conditions and have funds for public assistance, and that we take care of lottery ticket vendors, not leave them unprotected.”
In order to achieve liquidity, Prieto enacted austerity measures, such as reducing the salaries of high-ranking employees and cutting unnecessary office costs, like floral arrangements, meals and rental cars.
Prieto’s strategy also includes creating new lottery products, such as selling tickets online, and renewing interest in the lottery among young people.
“Another strategy to bring in more money is to reach people aged 18-40 because they aren’t buying lottery tickets, and many don’t even know about it. So we’re sponsoring the apprenticeship program ‘Youth Building the Future’ to get more young people to buy lottery tickets.”
Said Prieto, “What we hope to be able to do is generate resources in order to be able to make donations again.”
Of the lottery’s eight products, only one made a profit last year, and that was just 2.1%, or 12.8 million pesos, according to the Federal Auditor’s Office.
Mammoth bones that were found in a trap in México state. edith camacho, inah
Two mammoth traps have been found in Tultepec, México state, demonstrating that hunters in the late Pleistocene era used more sophisticated hunting methods than previously thought.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said this week that the traps are the first to be discovered anywhere in the world.
Workers found the 1.7-meter-deep pits in January on a municipal property about 40 kilometers north of Mexico City while preparing the land for a garbage dump.
During a 10-month excavation by INAH archaeologists, more than 800 bones from at least 14 mammoth skeletons as well as the jawbone and two vertebrae of a camel and the tooth of a horse were found in the traps, which were built about 15,000 years ago.
Archaeologists detected a spear wound on the front of one of the mammoth skulls they found.
Mammoth remains in Tultepec, México state. Luis Córdoba Barradas, inah
It is believed that hunters may have steered the now-extinct mammals into the traps using torches and branches.
Archaeologists previously thought that hunters only killed mammoths when they were easy targets because they were hurt or had been trapped naturally in swamplands or mud.
INAH director Diego Prieto said the discovery “represents a watershed, a turning point in what until now we imagined to be the interaction between hunter-gatherers with these huge herbivores.”
Luis Córdoba Barradas, leader of the excavation team, said that archaeologists believe that there could be three more mammoth traps in the area.
INAH archaeology coordinator Pedro Sánchez Nava said the site won’t be opened to the public but the remains will go on display at the Mammoth Museum in Tultepec.
A mammoth skeleton was previously found in Tultepec in 2016 just two kilometers from the site where the traps were discovered.
Bones from 14 mammoth skeletons have been found. Luis Córdoba Barradas, inah
Remains of the extinct mammals, ancestors of modern-day elephants, have also been found in other parts of Mexico including Puebla and Jalisco.
A Mexico prison: rights commission identifies deficiencies in many.
Self-government, insufficient personnel, poor hygiene and deficiencies in health services and rehabilitation programs are among the problems in Mexico’s prisons, according to a report by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
CNDH president Luis Raúl González Pérez said that despite legal efforts, corruption and impunity prevail in the Mexican prison system.
“. . . there is an enormous gap between the semantics and the reality,” he said. “The rule of law in Mexico is weak. There is indifference toward compliance with the law, and one of its effects is impunity and the other is corruption.”
The institution’s 2019 assessment of penitentiaries inspected 203 of the country’s 309 prisons, which account for 94% of the total prison population. It included male, female and mixed-gender facilities.
A third of all state facilities were found to operate under self-government or collaborative government with prison authorities.
Insufficient staffing was found in 72% of state prison facilities, and in about two-thirds there were cases of prisoners processing other prisoners along with deficiencies in equipment and hygiene in the living quarters.
The study also found significant deficiencies in the prevention and attention to violent incidents in half of the facilities inspected, and bribery and corruption in 40% of them.
Insufficient personnel were found in 16 of the 17 federal prisons, and many were found to be lacking in health services.
The federal facilities with the poorest ratings in the study were in Durango, Veracruz, Jalisco, Michoacán and México state.
The worst among state prisons were those in Reynosa, Tamaulipas; Huixtla, Chiapas; Zihuatanejo, Guerrero; and Zacatlán and Tecamachalco in Puebla.
President López Obrador told teacher training college students who have blocked railways and hijacked delivery vehicles in Michoacán to behave themselves as businesses reported losses of 500 million pesos (US $26 million).
He also called for authorities to speak with the protesting normal school students and listen to their demands.
“Open a dialogue, the government should be open to dialogue, so that the situation doesn’t affect third parties and we don’t end up as the oppressors, like previous administrations,” he said.
“But at the same time, we all need to act responsibly, all of us need to behave ourselves.”
Protests by students of the Vasco de Quiroga Rural Normal School in Morelia on October 21 have spread to Uruapan and Arteaga, also located on the railway line.
Businesses report that 19 trains have been blocked on the Lázaro Cárdenas-Morelia line, halting the movement of almost 1,800 shipping containers full of products, including Pemex gasoline.
Spokesperson for the state’s Industrialists’ Association, Diana Pinette, said the auto industry has been hit hard because the stoppages have detained the delivery of 2,357 new vehicles.
Head of the association, Carlos Alberto Enríquez Barajas, requested that López Obrador crack down on the protesters.
In addition to blocking tracks, the students have also hijacked delivery vehicles, taking four more on Thursday on the Morelia-Pátzcuaro highway.
Two of the vehicles were property of the La Violeta chain of supermarkets, and were reported to have been carrying over 500,000 pesos (US $26,000) worth of groceries.
Michoacán Attorney General Adrián López said his office has received 25 complaints against the students, but ruled out using public force to remove the blockades.
The federal Attorney General’s office (FGR) has opened an investigation into the students’ activities.
Meanwhile, students of the Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Normal School in Tenería, México state, seized a toll booth on the Toluca-Atlacomulco highway to protest promised dialogues that they say never came to fruition.
