Oaxaca police work till they’re 90, can’t afford to retire: NGO

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October 23, 2019

In Oaxaca, some are getting long in the tooth.

An association that defends the rights of police says that some officers in Oaxaca must work until the age of 85 or 90 because of meager pensions.

Aquiles Cornelio Cruz Ramales, representative of the National Movement for Security and Justice (Monseju), said that many police don’t retire even if they are very old or have health problems because they would receive pensions of less than 5,000 pesos (US $260) a month, even after working for 40 years or more.

In a letter to President López Obrador, Monseju said that police departments in Oaxaca have mistreated their own officers.

The letter also said that some police have even had to keep working after sustaining serious injuries on the job.

Monseju said it plans to work with officers to create a retirement home.

Cruz denied that officers in Oaxaca are planning a strike.

“At no point are we planning a strike, or a protest march, or any action that will affect the citizens, or people who use the services in the capital or the rest of the state,” he said. “But we would like to have a dialogue with people who have decision-making power, and who understand the work of police officers, not army or navy men. That way we could fix many problems that have previously been dealt with arbitrarily.”

Cruz said that Monseju decided to send the letter to the president because of the lack of response from Oaxaca authorities.

Source: El Universal (sp)

50 vehicles stranded after filling up with gas containing water

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Cody Copeland

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October 23, 2019

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One of the vehicles affected by water in the gasoline at México state Pemex station.

Around 50 vehicles were stranded after being filled with watered-down gasoline at a gas station on the Mexico-Toluca highway on Tuesday.

Many of the cars broke down before they even left the station. Suspecting damaged fuel injectors, drivers came to an agreement with the owner of the station to cover the costs of repairs once a mechanic was able to diagnose the damage for certain.

“I’ve been here since five in the morning waiting to see what happens, but I had to deliver a load and now I’ll be penalized for not arriving on time,” said Juan Carlos Hurtado, one of the affected drivers. “So I hope to work something out with the station owner so that he covers the costs.”

More than a dozen tow trucks arrived at the station, located in Ocoyoacac, Mexico state, to take stranded cars back to the owners’ homes. Some lived as far away as Ixtapan de la Sal, 73 kilometers southeast.

Some drivers whose cars had made it onto the highway were forced to walk back a number of kilometers after their vehicles broke down on the way into Mexico City.

The Toluca head of the Consumer Protection Agency (Profeco) in Toluca, Araceli Delón, and station owner Gerardo Cendón met Tuesday with the angry customers.

Pemex personnel inspected the station’s tanks and found one of them contained gasoline diluted with water.

Cendón said he was shocked at what had happened and that he would make things right with the affected drivers.

“We get our fuel from Pemex. It was one tank that they filled in the early morning and which supplied gas to pumps one and two. It’s a loss, but we’re going to accept our responsibility to the affected motorists. We’ve been here five years and this has never happened. This issue is on Pemex,” he said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

AMLO fails to keep promise to improve security in 6 months, says opposition

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MND Staff

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October 23, 2019

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Yunes, left: violence worse than ever; AMLO: 'the people support us.'

Opposition lawmakers criticized President López Obrador on Tuesday for failing to keep a promise made in April to improve security in six months, claiming that the situation has in fact deteriorated.

After the massacre of 13 people at a bar in Minatitlán, Veracruz, in April, López Obrador said the security situation would improve in six months.

The implementation of the government’s social programs, the operation of the National Guard and the elimination of corruption would allow that to occur, he claimed.

But Mexico is on track to record its most violent year in recent history even though homicide numbers have trended downwards since June.

In addition, the government suffered a major embarrassment last week when it took the decision to release Ovidio Guzmán, son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, when faced with an unprecedented show of cartel strength in Culiacán, Sinaloa.

In the lower house of Congress on Tuesday, lawmakers of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and National Action Party (PAN) led the criticism of López Obrador.

“He made the commitment that in a period of six months we would see results from the security strategy. That deadline is reached today and the situation we have is a lot worse than what we had then,” said PRI Deputy Héctor Yunes.

“If the government doesn’t recognize its errors, if it doesn’t correct what has failed, this will be the most violent six-year presidential term in the history of the country . . .” he said.

Yunes also accused the government of politicizing the insecurity problem by emphasizing that more than 40% of homicides this year have occurred in Guanajuato, Baja California, México state, Jalisco and Chihuahua, none of which is governed by the ruling Morena party.

On Twitter, he asserted that the federal government’s security strategy has been an abject failure.

“. . . More than 27,000 deaths and a capitulation in the face of organized crime is the outcome of the [security] strategy. Violence and insecurity are worse than ever, according to their own figures,” Yunes wrote.

PAN Deputy Fernando Macías Olvera was similarly forceful in his criticism of López Obrador and his government.

“Exactly six months ago, he promised that today . . . violence and insecurity would end in our country and today we’re worse than ever,” he said.

The lawmaker blasted the president for not recognizing the failures of his security strategy – a day after the Culiacán attacks, López Obrador said it was working “very well” – and for blaming previous governments for the violence plaguing the country.

“He invents data, makes excuses, offers pretexts and blames others but he’s not capable of taking on the biggest responsibility in this country, which is to look after the security of Mexicans,” Macías said.

He also claimed that the government’s decision to release Guzmán amounted to a “peace agreement” with organized crime.

López Obrador responded to the criticism on Wednesday, telling reporters at his regular news conference that citizens remain confident in the government’s security strategy despite the events in Culiacán.

“. . . The people have confidence in this strategy . . . The latest Inegi [national statistics institute] survey says so . . . Of course, [critics] will say that the survey was completed before the events in Culiacán but I would tell them that even with what happened . . . the people continue to support us,” he said.

The president reiterated that the government is “doing well” in the fight against crime even though rates for a range of offenses including homicide, femicide, kidnapping and extortion remain high.

In the face of criticism about the government’s actions in Culiacán, Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo, part of the security cabinet that took the decision to release Guzmán, will appear in the Senate next Tuesday to present a report about the events that took place in the northern city.

He said on Thursday night that the decision to free El Chapo’s 28-year-old son was taken “to try to avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel and recover calm in the city.” López Obrador said he fully supported the decision.

Federal security officials admitted on Friday that the operation to capture Guzmán was poorly planned and hastily executed.

Fourteen people were killed in the wave of violence unleashed by Sinaloa Cartel members in Culiacán, according to state authorities, including a state police officer, a member of the National Guard and four innocent civilians. The rest were suspected cartel gunmen.

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

Mexico is world’s most unwelcoming country for social entrepreneurs

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MND Staff

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October 22, 2019

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Mexico is the worst country for social entrepreneurs out of the world’s 45 largest economies, according to a new poll.

Conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in conjunction with Deutsche Bank, the poll surveyed about 900 social enterprise experts about the favorability or otherwise of setting up and running companies that are seeking to tackle social problems in the world’s biggest economies.

It was the second time that the poll has been carried out. Mexico’s 43rd-place ranking (Iran and Saudi Arabia were excluded due to difficulties polling there) was 15 places lower compared to its position in the inaugural survey in 2016.

Mexico fared poorly in most of the 12 indicators that were used to assess the political, economic, regulatory and cultural factors that affect social entrepreneurs.

The news agency Reuters reported that Mexico was one of the two worst countries in terms of the public’s understanding of what social entrepreneurs do, which makes it hard for them to sell their ideas and products to people.

Mexico was also in the bottom two countries in terms of support for social entrepreneurship from government policy. It ranked among the lowest for access to funding and the ability to sell social enterprise ideas and products to business.

Assessing the momentum that social entrepreneurship is gaining in the world’s 45 largest economies, the poll respondents ranked Mexico 40th. The position is 32 places lower than Mexico’s ranking in the 2016 survey. No country slumped as much.

“There’s only a small minority of people who see social entrepreneurship as a significant or important value proposition,” Alejandro Morales Garcia of the Eugenio Garza Laguera Entrepreneurship Institute at Mexico’s Tec. de Monterrey university told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“It’s difficult for projects to flourish or be born or to continue to develop if we keep thinking in this same way.”

Mexico also ranked poorly for the presence of women in leadership roles in the social entrepreneurship sector, coming in third last ahead of Brazil and the United States.

Marcela Torres, co-founder of Hola Code, a startup that teaches young deportees how to code, said that machismo is a constant challenge for women working in the sector.

She said that investors would often only address her male co-founder during the period in which they were launching the company.

“There’s an expectation in Mexico that a woman should behave a certain way or talk a certain way,” Torres said. “I know a lot of women who develop strategies to seem more likable, so that they’re not perceived as hard.”

Torres said that the federal government’s decision to disband the National Institute for Entrepreneurs (Inadem) wasn’t “bad” in itself because “Inadem was a fairly corrupt institute.”

However, she added that its dissolution has “left a gap” in terms of government support for social entrepreneurs.

One entrepreneur who has experienced firsthand the difficulty of getting support from both the government and the private sector is Álvaro Velasco.

Attempting to secure funding and legal assistance to set up SkyAlert – a technology startup that provides earthquake warnings via a mobile app – Velasco struggled immensely.

“In Mexico City, there’s been a brutal slowdown in the atmosphere for entrepreneurship,” he said.

“With few resources, with zero possibility of accessing public funds . . . and always fighting local and federal governments that don’t want you to operate, it becomes mission impossible, and that’s what we have to fight against in Mexico.”

The Mexico City government issued a decree in August stating that the only entity authorized to send early earthquake alerts was the non-profit organization Center for Seismic Instrumentation and Registry, or Cires.

The United States also fared very poorly in the social entrepreneurship poll, plunging to 32nd place from first in 2016.

The poll found that Canada is the best country for entrepreneurs setting up companies that seek to combat social problems. Australia ranked second followed by France, Belgium, Singapore, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Indonesia and Chile.

The worst five countries for social entrepreneurs are Mexico, Turkey, Japan, Venezuela and Colombia.

Source: Reuters (en)

Recycling continues to take off but there’s room for growth

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MND Staff

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October 22, 2019

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More than 100,000 tonnes of trash are generated in Mexico every day but less than 10% is recycled, leaving ample room for the recycling industry to grow.

According to 2015 data from the Secretariat of the Environment, 102,895 tonnes of solid waste are generated across the country on a daily basis.

Just seven states – Mexico City, México state, Jalisco, Veracruz, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas and Nuevo León – produce more than half that amount.

Just under 84% of the garbage is collected but only 9.63% of that amount is recycled, meaning that the vast majority of Mexico’s trash ends up in landfills.

Alejandro Anaya, vice president of Industrias VQ, a company that uses recyclables to make a range of products including poly-aluminum roofing, shoe soles and paper, believes that Mexico’s low recycling rate can be attributed to a lack of “recycling culture” among the population.

Mexico lags well behind the world’s best recyclers such as Germany, Austria, South Korea and Wales, where more than 50% of all waste is recycled. The United States recycles 35% of its waste, according to a recent report in the newspaper The Guardian.

Anaya told the newspaper Milenio that the recycling industry would like to see recycling rates double in the short term but he explained that achieving that depends on people making the effort to separate their trash.

“What we want . . . is for people to become more aware of the situation we’re experiencing so that the collection of material is easier,” he said.

Anaya said that one way people can ensure that their recyclables are repurposed is by giving them directly to “small collectors.”

If more people do that, more people will start working as collectors and the recycling chain will be strengthened, he said.

Among Mexico’s 32 federal entities, Querétaro currently sets the standard in recycling practices.

Of 241 recycling centers across the country, 51 – just over one in five – are in the small Bajío region state. Querétaro also leads the country for waste sorting, separating 57% of all trash generated.

Jalisco ranks second both for the number of recycling centers – 45 – and waste sorting, separating 40% of its trash.

México state, the country’s most populous, ranks fifth for sorting yet only 15% of trash is separated, underscoring the potential for recycling growth across the country.

Anaya said that recyclables such as plastic and glass bottles and paper and cardboard packaging can be used in “several industries.”

“Construction, for example, or in making paper and cardboard,” he said, explaining that Industrias VQ also makes toilet paper, napkins and hand towels out of recyclables.

Anaya added that it is a common misconception that products made out of recyclables should be cheaper than those made out of non-recycled materials.

“People believe that a recycled product has to be cheaper because [its content] was already used in something else. But they don’t see the supply chain that’s behind [the manufacturing process]. It’s not at all easy [to collect recyclables] mainly because of the [lack of recycling] culture . . .” he said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

AMLO at 67% approval in spite of disagreement over Culiacán decision

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MND Staff

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October 22, 2019

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The president's performance rating month by month since last December. Blue indicates approval; orange indicates otherwise.

President López Obrador achieved an approval rating of 67% in a new poll even though a slight majority of respondents said it was a mistake to release Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s son after he was captured in Culiacán, Sinaloa, last week.

Conducted by the newspaper El Financiero, the poll shows that the president’s approval rating declined by just 1% compared to September.

In turn, the percentage of respondents who disapprove of López Obrador’s performance as president increased one point to 31%.

The highest approval rating the president has achieved in the monthly El Financiero poll since he took office last December was 83% in February. Since May, López Obrador’s approval rating has held steady between 66% and 68%.

Half of the 820 respondents were polled after the arrest last Thursday of suspected Sinaloa Cartel leader Ovidio Guzmán López. The capture of the alleged narco, who is wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, triggered a wave of cartel attacks across Culiacán that left 14 people dead.

(The death toll was believed to be eight until Tuesday, when security officials released new information. Four of the dead were innocent bystanders, the remainder were identified as cartel gunmen.)

Nine in 10 people polled said they had heard about the violence in the Sinaloa capital and 51% said the decision taken by the security cabinet to release Guzmán was wrong.

In contrast, 39% of respondents said that freeing the 28-year-old son of “El Chapo” was the right thing to do. One in 10 of those polled said that they didn’t know whether the decision was right or wrong.

Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said the security cabinet gave the order to release Guzmán “to try to avoid more violence in the area and preserve the lives of our personnel and recover calm in the city.”

López Obrador said on Friday that he supported the decision because “the capture of a criminal cannot be worth more than people’s lives.”

However, the release of Guzmán shortly after he was arrested – and the Sinaloa Cartel’s takeover of Culiacán with an unprecedented show of strength – is widely considered to be a major embarrassment for the federal government.

A majority of the poll respondents offered a similar opinion.

Asked who the winner was in Culiacán, 56% of the 410 people polled last Friday and Saturday said organized crime.

A quarter of respondents said that society was the winner, 8% claimed that the government came out on top, 6% responded that there were no winners and 5% told El Financiero that they didn’t know who won.

Six in 10 people said the government should actively fight organized crime groups, while 35% said that the aim should be to avoid violence.

López Obrador is betting on the latter strategy, reiterating on Monday that “we will never choose war, confrontation or the use of force.”

While the president’s approval rating barely moved in the latest survey compared to September, he took a bigger hit in the assessment of his personal qualities.

In September, López Obrador was rated “very well” or “well” for his honesty, leadership and capacity to achieve results by 63%, 60% and 48% of those polled, respectively. This month, however, those figures fell to 61%, 54% and 43%, respectively.

Poll respondents were also once again asked to rate the president’s performance using baseball terminology in recognition of the fact that the sport is López Obrador’s favorite.

Just 14% of those polled said that the president’s performance over the past month was equivalent to a home run, while 30% said he had scored a hit. The combined home run/hit figure of 44% is the lowest recorded this year.

Three in 10 people said that López Obrador had struck out – the 30% figure is the highest this year – and another 13% likened his performance to hitting a foul.

Certain aspects of the government’s performance were also assessed more harshly this month than in September.

Only 32% of those polled viewed the government’s performance in public security matters favorably compared to 45% last month. The unfavorable perception of the López Obrador administration’s performance in the area increased from 34% to 47%.

El Financiero said the changes in the figures are “very likely” reflective of the government’s botched operation in Culiacán.

The strategy to reduce poverty in Mexico was also viewed less favorably in October than in September as was the National Guard. Asked to offer an opinion about the new security force, 65% of respondents said they viewed it favorably and 18% said that they viewed it unfavorably. The former cohort declined by 2% and the latter increased by the same figure.

In contrast, the government was assessed more positively this month than in September for its performance in managing the economy. Four in 10 people rated the government’s performance in the area as favorable, a 5% increase compared to last month. The improved assessment came despite forecasts that the economy will only grow minimally in 2019.

The government also fared better in the areas of education and health, while the poll results send a mixed message about its efforts to combat corruption.

The percentage of respondents who looked favorably on the government’s performance in the area increased two points to 33% but the number of people who said that it was unfavorable also increased, jumping three points to 49%.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Filmmaker documents stories of victims of violence and impunity

By

Cody Copeland

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October 22, 2019

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For the relatives, a long and often unending road to justice. — For the relatives, a long and often endless road to justice.

The documentary Soles Negros (Dark Suns) by Canadian filmmaker Julien Elie, now being shown in Mexican cinemas, is an attempt to shine a dark light on the pervasive violence driven by unchecked impunity.

The film focuses on the victims of this violence, taking on the topics of femicides in Ciudad Juárez and México state, assassinations of journalists, the forced disappearances of the 43 students in Iguala, Guerrero, the 2011 San Fernando massacre of 72 migrants and the ruthless force of the drug cartels.

“I wanted to make a movie about femicides,” said Elie about his inspiration for the film, “but upon seeing the violence in the whole country . . . it seemed important to me to portray the terror [in all its forms].”

The relatives of the victims of each one of these stories offer harsh accounts of how the country’s unbridled and rising violence has taken from them their sons and daughters, sisters and fathers. The camera focuses on their faces as they recount their journeys on the often endless road to justice and the strength they have to keep going.

“It is, of course, a tough, difficult film, but I also think that there is so much humanity in the people in it. I’m often asked if there’s a kind of hope in the movie and I think that yes, it can be seen in these people, in their eyes, in their struggles,” said Elie.

Dark Suns | Trailer

Watch this video on YouTube

Impunity is the common denominator in the stories told in Soles Negros. The rebellious voices telling their stories to Elie have lost faith in authorities who constantly fail to give them answers.

The majority of the stories in the film have even been covered heavily in the media, and the names of the guilty parties widely known, yet the perpetrators remain completely free.

“Impunity is the sources of all these cases,” said Elie, “and of the violence in the country.”

In many, the whereabouts of the victims are unknown. Many are disposed of in mass graves, making identification extremely difficult or often impossible.

“There is an incredible number of disappeared persons and mass graves in the country, but I hope that [the film] doesn’t sum the country up as a grave. Mexico is much more than that . . . Mexico has many more things than what we see in the film,” Elie said.

Soles Negros premiered on September 27, and is now being shown in commercial and independent theaters across the country.

Source: Sin Embargo (sp)

Officials close store after Zombie mannequin makes fun of mayor

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Cody Copeland

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October 22, 2019

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The 'makizombie,' left, and the closed sign placed by authorities.

What was meant as a ghoulish Halloween joke turned out to be rather more serious for a business owner in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

The owner of K1 Wine and Liquor found his business has been shut down by local authorities after he put a zombie mannequin wearing a photo of the city’s mayor, Maki Ortiz Domínguez, outside the entrance.

It appears that Mayor Ortiz did not see the humor in the prank although neither she nor her officials have offered a reason for the closure.

The doors to the store were taped shut with yellow “Clausurado” (Closed) stickers put there by municipal authorities on Monday.

The closure may not have pleased the owner of K1 Wine and Liquor, but it was a source of hilarity for those following the event on social media.

Photos of the mannequin and closed store went viral on social media, with users dubbing the decoration “Makizombie.”

“It looks like the mayor of #Reynosa #Tamaulipas doesn’t like the series The Walking Dead,” said one Twitter user. “They set up a mannequin with a photo of @MakiOrtizD, users christen it #Makizombie and they close the business . . .”

“#Makiavelian #Makizombie,” said another on Facebook. “I hope she doesn’t close my Facebook account.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

Archaeologists find tunnel with pre-Hispanic images in Ecatepec

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MND Staff

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October 22, 2019

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The Ecatepec tunnel where the petroglyphs have been found. — The Ecatepec tunnel where the petroglyphs and other images have been found. Edith Camacho, INAH

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have found 11 pre-Hispanic images in a tunnel in Ecatepec, México state, that is part of a dike system that dates back to colonial days.

Among the images discovered on the sides of the 8.4-meter-long tunnel are petroglyphs and stucco relief panels, INAH said in a statement.

The tunnel is part of the four-kilometer-long 17th-century dike system known today as the Albarradón de Ecatepec.

A war shield, the head of a bird of prey and a “paper ornament” are among the images carved into the walls of the tunnels while a teocalli, or temple, is etched into the central stone of the arch entrance. The temple is dedicated to the rain god Tláloc, the INAH archaeologists concluded.

Some of the images are still being studied to determine their exact nature and meaning.

Images discovered in the tunnel arch. Edith Camacho, INAH

Raúl García, coordinator of a project to preserve the archaeological treasures of the dike system, said that one hypothesis is that the images were made by indigenous people who lived in the pre-Hispanic towns of Ecatepec and Chiconautla. Residents of both towns worked on the construction of the dike, he said.

The archaeologist explained that the tunnel where the images were discovered is in a section of the dike known as the Patio de Diligencias.

The glyphs and stucco panels, all of which have been damaged by hundreds of years of rain, will be covered for protection, García said.

The Albarradón de Ecatepec was declared a historical monument in 2001 and will soon be incorporated into a public park.

México state INAH director Antonio Huitrón said the opening of the park will allow people to enjoy the “cultural heritage to which they are heirs.”

The tunnel where the images were discovered will also be open to the public although the originals won’t be on display.

The tunnel site were archaeologists have been working — The tunnel site where archaeologists have been working. Edith Camacho, INAH

Huitrón said the stones featuring the petroglyphs and stucco panels will be removed and transferred to the Casa Morelos Community Center in Ecatepec. Stones with replicas of the images will be installed in their place, he explained.

Ecatepec, Mexico’s second most populous municipality, is located just north of Mexico City and is part of the Valley of Mexico metropolitan area.

Mexico News Daily

Kimberly-Clark recants after announcing no new investment

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MND Staff

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October 22, 2019

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González, left, is all smiles with López Obrador but the two are not close.

Kimberly-Clark México indicated on Monday that it wouldn’t invest any new money in the country in the short term due to the slowing economy and a lack of confidence in the policies of President López Obrador.

But in a statement issued on Tuesday, the consumer products company did a quick turnaround, saying it was actually investing 3 billion pesos (US $157 million) in Mexico this year and expects to make an even bigger investment in 2020.

The CEO of Kimberly-Clark México made the initial announcement in a call with investors and analysts to review the company’s third quarter results.

“Unfortunately, we are continuing to see signs that the economy in general is slowing and we’re continuing to see announcements from the government, or new policies of the government that are not what we would like to see in order to start investing in the short term,” said Pablo González Guajardo.

The company’s criticism of the government is not surprising considering that Kimberly-Clark chairman Claudio X. González Laporte, Pablo González’s father, is a prominent opponent of the president, with whom he shares a strained history.

González Jr. expressed doubts about the government's policies. — González Jr. expressed doubts about the government’s policies.

In the lead-up to the 2018 presidential election, López Obrador described González Laporte as “malicious” and “influential” and accused him of participating in “the electoral fraud of 2006.”

The president believes that he was the rightful winner of the 2006 poll, which he narrowly lost to Felipe Calderón.

López Obrador also claimed that González Laporte instructed the previous government to raise gasoline prices and asked former president Enrique Peña Nieto to “steal the presidency” from him.

“It’s scary . . . It’s something very serious . . . Claudio X. González is endeavoring to carry out a dirty war against us,” he said in a video posted to Facebook early last year.

“He went to Los Pinos [the former presidential residence] to see Peña Nieto and he asked Peña Nieto to apply himself completely against us, against me . . . with the same [fraud] as 2006 . . .” López Obrador claimed.

Despite the bad blood, Kimberly-Clark México said today that it is committed to investing in López Obrador’s Mexico.

“Since its foundation, the company has invested in our country to improve the quality of life of its collaborators, offer better products to consumers and contribute to the economic development of Mexico,” the statement said.

“As has been announced in financial reports, the company will invest about 3 billion pesos in 2019 and it is estimated that in 2020 – contrary to what has been published in some media reports that refer to the call with investors – the figure will be greater,” the company said.

“In said call, the company referred to the national and international context in which a slower pace of growth is observed. Consequently, an improvement of conditions is required to attract more investment in the short term. Particular judgements about specific [government] policies were not expressed,” the statement continued.

“KCM is a proudly Mexican company that generates approximately 13,000 direct and indirect jobs. The company has always collaborated with authorities of the three levels of government and will continue to do so to improve the quality of life of all people with whom it comes into contact and to contribute to the development of the country.”

Kimberly-Clark México, which makes toilet paper, tissues, diapers and feminine hygiene products among other goods, reported sales of 10.4 billion pesos (US $543.3 million) in the third quarter, a 5.1% increase compared to the same period last year.

In the first nine months of year, the company recorded sales of just under 32.7 billion pesos and recorded a net profit of 3.7 billion pesos.

Source: Infobae (sp), Aristegui Noticias (sp), El Economista (sp)