New North American trade pact launches under a cloud

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June 29, 2020

Former president Peña Nieto, Trump and Canada's Justin Trudeau signed the new agreement in 2018.

A new trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada begins on Wednesday with the top U.S. negotiator threatening litigation, investor distrust rife and supply chains tested by the Covid-19 pandemic.

While U.S. President Donald Trump and his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, plan to toast the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at the White House, probably after U.S. Independence Day on July 4, others are more cautious.

“I don’t believe that on July 2, there is going to be a queue of foreign investors in Mexico,” warned Carlos Salazar, head of Mexico’s main business lobby, which has seen relations with the leftist nationalist leader sour.

The North American Free Trade Agreement was born with fanfare and the sense “that Mexico was opening to the world and would become developed and prosperous, and that it could negotiate as equals with the U.S.,” according to Verónica Ortiz, head of Comexi, a foreign affairs think tank.

By contrast, the USMCA which replaces it was forced into being by Donald Trump. The U.S. president branded NAFTA the worst deal ever and vowed to pull out unless there were changes that would encourage companies to repatriate jobs from low-wage Mexico.

US Trade Representative Lighthizer warned Mexico to prepare for challenges.

Three arduous years of talks ensued, culminating in a deal that went well beyond NAFTA. López Obrador is betting the USMCA will bring investment and jobs. The business community, meanwhile, hopes it will enable Mexico to position itself as a manufacturing hub for companies relocating from China amid trade tensions with the U.S.

But U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned Mexico to brace for challenges, including over its enforcement of new labour rules, long a thorny issue in negotiations.

“After July 1, I expect to … look at complaints … and to the extent that we have problems, I expect to bring cases. I think Mexico understands that, I hope they understand that, I’ve made it as clear as I can,” he told a legislative hearing this month.

The new trade pact also comes at a time when abrupt policy shifts from the Mexican president, especially those designed to favour state-run oil company Pemex and utility CFE, have triggered outrage from U.S. companies.

“Just as China is losing its luster and Mexico should be saying ‘we are open for business, come on over,’ they’re putting the brakes on new FDI [foreign direct investment],” said Nelson Balido, a trade consultant based in Texas.

Christopher Landau, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, admitted in a conference call last week with Mexican executives: “I can’t lie. I can’t say it’s an opportune moment to invest in Mexico if we’re seeing things that are very discouraging.”

President López Obrador received US Ambassador Landau in Mexico City last year. — US Ambassador Landau, left: not an opportune moment to invest in Mexico.

Mexico’s changes to the rules in the electricity sector, penalizing renewables projects to favour the CFE, have triggered complaints and threats of arbitration. Investors are also upset over delays in issuing permits for gas stations, fuel storage and imported fuel, for example.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and trade officials, the American Petroleum Institute this month blasted “recent actions … [that] discriminate against U.S. investors in violation of commitments that Mexico agreed to in both NAFTA and USMCA.”

The American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers wrote to Trump to complain about Mexican policy which, it said, “threatens not only the direct investment U.S. companies have made but also future revenue and U.S. jobs to make those investments viable.” It raised “serious questions about whether such actions are permissible under Mexican law and Mexico’s obligations under the new USMCA.”

The Global Wind Energy Council, meanwhile, wrote to Rocío Nahle, Mexico’s energy minister, to say that policy changes “have severely deteriorated the investment climate in the sector, and recovering that confidence is all the harder … given the Covid-19 crisis.”

Cross-border supply chains and a tightly intertwined North American manufacturing industry, in which components cross between the U.S., Mexico and Canada multiple times before winding up in a finished car, TV or other manufactured good, are the lifeblood of NAFTA and USMCA.

But a failure to harmonize Mexico’s official definition of essential industries during the Covid-19 pandemic with that in the U.S. has led to bottlenecks and delays. “Supply chains aren’t keeping up,” said trade consultant Balido. He added that some U.S. production lines had risked having to close and furlough workers “because they lack parts from Mexico … We’ve tried to talk sense into the López Obrador administration but they’re very difficult to work with.”

Still, the USMCA held much promise, said Luis de la Calle, a former NAFTA negotiator. He said the treaty could be a significant lever of development in Mexico’s poor southeast, which López Obrador has vowed to revitalize.

“There is enormous potential to detonate investment in agriculture, as happened in the Bajío [Mexico’s main central manufacturing region] under NAFTA,” he told a seminar.

“USMCA is far from being a panacea,” cautioned Duncan Wood, head of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, a think tank, but the treaty did provide clear rules and the legal protections that investors craved.

But Landau, the ambassador, was blunt. “This is a moment to try to attract new investment to the whole of North America … [with] supply chains looking very vulnerable especially in China and Asia,” he said.

“It’s golden opportunity for Mexico to attract foreign investment. I hope they don’t waste it, frankly.”

Rate of coronavirus contagion and deaths is slowing: deputy health minister

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MND Staff

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June 29, 2020

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A taxi is disinfected against the coronavirus in Mexico City.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to grow but the speed at which new infections and deaths are occurring is slowing, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Sunday.

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s nightly coronavirus press briefing, López-Gatell highlighted that the increase in case numbers in percentage terms from one day to the next is much lower now than during March, the first month of the pandemic.

He made the same point last week while acknowledging that the percentage increases are in comparison with an increasingly higher number of total cases.

López-Gatell also presented graphs from the University of Oxford website Our World in Data to support his claim that the pandemic in Mexico is stabilizing and has not grown as quickly as in some other countries.

He highlighted that Spain reached a point in its pandemic at which more than 170 new confirmed Covid-19 cases per million inhabitants were reported on a single day.

Brazil has recorded more than 160 new cases daily per million people, the United States has detected more than 100 cases per million and the pandemic in Italy peaked at almost 90.

In contrast, Mexico thus far has reached a peak of just over 40 new confirmed cases per million inhabitants per day.

Referring to Mexico’s epidemic curve, López-Gatell said that “we’re starting to see a much slower rise” than in earlier phases of the coronavirus outbreak.

He stressed that the inclination of Mexico’s curve is not as steep as the other countries shown in the graph, which also included the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

“This is another one of the signs … of the famous flattening of the curve,” López-Gatell said, claiming that the coronavirus mitigation measures put in place by the government achieved their goal and avoided the health system being overwhelmed.

The deputy minister also emphasized that no country in the world knows exactly how many Covid-19 cases it has. Therefore, Mexico’s comparatively low number of daily cases cannot be attributed solely to a low testing rate.

The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths. Deaths are numbers reported and not necessarily those that occurred each day. milenio

López-Gatell also presented a graph showing that Mexico’s number of cumulative confirmed Covid-19 deaths per million people is lower than that of the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy and Brazil. Only Germany has a lower per-capita death rate than Mexico among the eight countries included in the graph.

López-Gatell said the rate at which deaths are occurring in Mexico is slower than that of all the other countries bar Germany.

He highlighted that many of the Covid-19 fatalities in Mexico are related to diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other chronic diseases. The population of Mexico is more affected by those illnesses at a higher rate than the populations of almost every other country in the world, he said.

López-Gatell’s assertion that the pace of growth of the pandemic is slowing is also supported by recent data for the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, Mexico’s coronavirus epicenter.

Health Ministry data shows that the number of new cases detected between June 15 and 21 in the 16 Mexico City boroughs and 59 México state municipalities that are part of the Valley of México metropolitan area was 12.3% lower than in the previous week.

A total of 7,154 cases were detected between June 15 and 21 compared to 8,162 during the week before. It was the second consecutive week that case numbers declined in the Valley of México after a 7.2% drop between June 8 and 14.

The 7.2% decrease was the first weekly drop in case numbers since Covid-19 was first detected in Mexico at the end of February.

At the national level, the number of cases reported on Saturday and Sunday declined in comparison with previous days, although López-Gatell acknowledged that the Health Ministry usually registers fewer cases over the weekend.

He said that 4,050 additional cases were registered on Sunday, increasing Mexico’s cumulative case tally to 216,852.

Mexico’s Covid-19 death toll increased by 267 – the smallest daily spike since June 7 – to 26,648.

López-Gatell said that an additional 2,004 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by Covid-19 but have not yet been confirmed.

Of the total number of confirmed cases, 25,558, or about 12%, are considered active.

Mexico City currently has the highest number of active cases in the country, with 3,838, followed by México state and Puebla, where 2,513 and 1,826 people, respectively, tested positive for Covid-19 after developing symptoms in the past 14 days.

Six other states have more than 1,000 active cases. They are Guanajuato, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán and Jalisco.

Eighteen states including Mexico City are starting this week with an orange light on the Health Ministry’s stoplight map to assess the risk of coronavirus infection, while the other 14 states currently have a red light.

An orange light denotes a high risk of coronavirus infection while a red light is indicative of the maximum risk of contagion.

Source: La Jornada (sp), Milenio (sp), Infobae (sp)

Nuevo León governor hopes Trump will broaden AMLO’s vision

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Susy Buchanan

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June 27, 2020

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López Obrador, left, has no vision, according to Rodríguez. — López Obrador, left, lacks vision, according to Rodríguez.

Nuevo León Governor Jaime “El Bronco” Rodríguez hopes some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Covid-related economic strategies will rub off on Mexican President López Obrador next month.

“It is good that the president is going to the United States, because that will open up his vision, which unfortunately he does not have at the moment,” quipped Rodríguez in Tamaulipas at a meeting of governors from nine states.

Rodríguez contrasted López Obrador’s economic plan, mainly focused on increased social aid, the delivery of small micro-credits and the construction of legacy projects such as the Maya Train, with that of the Trump administration.

The governor expressed support for employment subsidies in the United States where the government has invested up to 30% of its gross domestic product in creating jobs to stimulate economic recovery, something that is not happening in Mexico, he said

The meeting between the two presidents coincides with the entry in force of the new trade treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada on July 1, and it will be the Mexican president’s first trip abroad since taking office in 2018.

Rodríguez urged the president to use the meeting with Trump to standardize the terms of the treaty in sectors such as agriculture, logistics and the production of goods destined for the United States. “Mexico has enormous opportunities to be productive, and we need to take advantage of them,” he said.

Some of López Obrador’s critics are skeptical that the meeting will be beneficial for Mexico, where Trump is not generally well-liked, and did not mince words.

In a post to Twitter last week, the former Mexican ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhán, called the potential visit “a big blunder and a mistake,” saying that Trump would only use the Mexican president as an electoral prop.

In an interview earlier this month Sarukhán called such a visit “suicidal for Mexico’s long-term and strategic relationship with the United States.”

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

Musician’s efforts introduce rural children to the performing arts

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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June 27, 2020

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Cellist Alan Durbecq performs with a young student in Amatlán, Morelos.

Not content with a successful international career, a Mexican musician has chosen to work at providing artistic opportunities to Mexican children.

World-renowned classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski, born in Mexico City in 1979, has created an organization that so far has offered music workshops to more than 17,000 children.

Szymanski is descended from Coronel Ignacy Szymanski, a Polish military officer who migrated to New Orleans in the 19^th century and whose son, Jean, made his way to Mexico after the civil war. His mother came from Scotland to study Mexican textiles, married his father, and served as the head of the Edron (British) School in Mexico City for a number of years.

Their son started playing the guitar at age 6 with the support of his parents. After studying at the National School of Music in Mexico he continued at the Edinburgh Music School and the Royal College of Music in London, graduating in 2004.

In 2015, he was named by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of 100 Mexican artists with international impact.

Musician Lavinia Negrete with children in Valle de Bravo, México state.

During his time in the U.K. he worked with Live Music Now! (LMN) a project of international violinist Yehudi Menuhin that takes young performers into nursing homes, hospitals and rural villages to play music.

In 2016, Szymanski founded PRISMA (Programa de Retribución e Impacto Social Mediante las Artes), using a crowdfunding campaign that collected money from all over the world.

PRISMA is affiliated with LMN, but is more ambitious. The latter focuses only on setting up live musical performances but PRISMA does more and integrates more kinds of art.

Its main performance events are festivals. In February for each of the past four years it has put on multi-day events in the towns of Tepoztlán, Morelos, (where Szymanski lives) and Valle de Bravo, several hours west of Mexico City.

After the earthquake of 2017, PRISMA organized an “artistic campaign” for damaged schools in Tepoztlán, offering workshops and raising money. It did the same for in Oaxaca after seismic events during the same year.

Fortunately, PRISMA festivals for 2020 were held before the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down. This year the theme was Mexican folk music and featured two special guests — María Bernal and Angelina Benavides. It also included jazz guitarist Chris Van Buren, Finnish clown Sampo Kurppa, and Mexican violinist Nabani Aguilar.

Andrés Loewe, a Tepoztlán artist, teacher, actor and musician wows students with a drum. — Andrés Loewe, a Tepoztlán artist, teacher, actor and musician, wows students with his drum.

During the rest of the year PRISMA sponsors workshops with schoolchildren living in highly marginalized areas, mostly in the state of Morelos. (Now, of course, they are on hold.) Artists go into schools and introduce their art, after which the students interview the artists to learn about their career. Of course, the artists perform as well.

Some workshops introduce children to multiple arts. For example, at one Szymanski played his guitar while students painted what they felt listening to the music.

The workshops are special because for many children it is their very first experience with the art presented. One appreciative teacher told Szymanski that “one of these workshops is worth six hours in the classroom.”

The organization recruits Mexican and international performers in music, visual arts, dance, film, acting and clowning to give the workshops to children, allowing them not only to see a live performance, but to learn something about it.

With luck, some of the children will be inspired to pursue an artistic activity. One of the artists is British violinist Lizzie Ball, who takes her experiences working with Mexican children home when she plays in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.

The shows and workshops also give young performers a chance to develop their careers. They receive only a small fee, but almost all want to return. One very possible reason is that these artists are often the guests of the communities they visit — receiving food, lodging and other support from local families.

Classical guitarist and PRISMA founder Morgan Szymanski.

The “very Mexican welcome” that artists receive is a huge change from impersonal hotel rooms and gives artists, especially foreign ones, a glimpse into Mexican life they might never otherwise get.

PRISMA is the only program of its type in Mexico. Most of the activities are privately funded although the government of Valle de Bravo has provided support there. Szymanski believes it is important for Mexico as there are so many children in need of artistic contact.

It is easy to get children and schools interested in the workshops but the problem is that once the activities grow past a certain size, it becomes necessary to work with government bureaucracies.

But Szymanski believes that PRISMA can go national. He says that despite the organization’s small size, they have reached thousands of children. Sometimes, he says, “If you keep things small, you can do things well.”

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 17 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture. She publishes a blog called Creative Hands of Mexicoand her first book, Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta, was published last year. Her culture blog appears weekly on Mexico News Daily.

Navy reports removal of 5,000 tonnes of sargassum in Quintana Roo

By

Susy Buchanan

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June 27, 2020

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A sargassum-free beach Friday in Playa del Carmen.

Saharan dust clouds, the consequences for tourism of the coronavirus and the advent of hurricane season have given residents and businesses in Quintana Roo plenty to worry about as the state faces one of its most difficult summers in history.

However, reports from Playa del Carmen and other beach destinations in the state have added another concern to the list of worries: the return of sargassum which has blighted beaches in the area for several years.

As of this week, 5,678 tonnes of sargassum have been removed from the region’s beaches since the algae first washed up in May, according to a report by the navy.

Photos published on Facebook by the Citizens’ Sargassum Observatory showed the foul-smelling weed on several beaches.

“Seven workers and a single tractor is all they have on the ground to collect the sargassum in Playa del Carmen,” the organization reported, posting an image of a group of people attacking the seaweed with shovels.

Playa Mamitas in Playa del Carmen on Wednesday. Observatorio Ciudadano Sargazo

The upscale, gated community of Playacar has also seen its beaches covered in a blanket of sargassum this month.

So far, Playa del Carmen, the Riviera Maya and Akumal have recorded the highest concentrations of sargassum, which can cause irritation if it comes in contact with the skin.

There were significant quantities in Punta Piedra, Tulum, and an image captured from Krystal Hotel and Resorts, in Punta Cancún, showed a long line of sargassum on its white sand beaches, although the seaweed problem there was minimal compared to other areas.

Puerto Morelos, Cozumel, Holbox and Punta Allen have also seen low quantities of seaweed, and Isla Mujeres and Isla Contoy have so far been immune, according to reports.

The navy warned this week that large accumulations of sargassum will hit the Quintana Roo coast over the next three months. According to forecasts, the most affected beaches will be in Solidaridad, where Playa del Carmen is located, Cozumel, Tulum and Othón P. Blanco.

“With cleaning of the sea in the Mexican Caribbean area as a priority, naval personnel work constantly for the eradication of the algae with the support of state, municipal and civil organizations,” the Navy said. More than 20,000 people have been involved in the coastal cleanup.

Additionally, Navy marines have installed 4,252 meters of floating barriers at sea to stop the seaweed from washing up on beaches.

The navy also uses flyovers to determine the position of the seaweed, and deploys sargassum-seeking ships to intercept the floating brown algae before it blights the coastline.

Source: Milenio (sp), Infobae (sp)

Officials learned 2 weeks ago Jalisco cartel was planning an attack

By

Susy Buchanan

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June 27, 2020

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Police guard the crime scene Friday in Mexico City.

Government officials, including President López Obrador, had known for two weeks that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was planning an attack against a top-level official.

Friday morning, Mexico City Police Chief Omar García Harfuch was ambushed by 28 armed men who sprayed the armored car he was traveling in with more than 150 high caliber rounds in a brazen murder attempt.

García received three bullet wounds but has been reported in stable condition and expected to recover.

Two police officers were killed in the attack as was a 26-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo confirmed what Milenio reported on June 17: that between June 8 and 12 the National Intelligence Center (CNI) intercepted a telephone conversation between CJNG members.

Government officials and President López Obrador were made aware of the threat two weeks ago when security officials revealed the content of the phone call, in which cartel members were allegedly discussing their plan. They talked about which hitmen would be dispatched to attack public servants who were disrupting their criminal operations.

Authorities say the targets mentioned include Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, for the recent extradition of El Menchito, CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera’s son; Minister Durazo for federal operations against the cartel; Financial Intelligence Unit head Santiago Nieto for recently blocking 1,939 bank accounts linked to the cartel; and Chief García for arresting some of the cartel’s main leaders.

Security for some government officials was intensified as authorities worked to assess the validity of the threat, which played out at 6:35 Friday morning.

As García was on his way to his morning meeting with Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a construction truck and an SUV blocked the Paseo de la Reforma near the intersection with Monte Blanco in the upscale Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood and opened fire, killing two officers who were escorting García as well as a woman driving through the area. Four police officers and one 23-year-old female bystander also suffered injuries.

Fragmentation grenades, .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifles, pistols and bulletproof vests were recovered from the scene.

García was shot in the shoulder, clavicle and knee and underwent surgery yesterday, but not before tweeting from his hospital bed that he blamed the CJNG for the attack. “This morning we were cowardly attacked by the CJNG, two colleagues and friends of mine lost my life, I have three bullet wounds and several shrapnel injuries. Our nation must continue to confront cowardly organized crime. We will continue working.”

That evening he updated his status. “I came out of surgery, I’m fine. I appreciate the displays of solidarity and affection. We will continue working for security and maintaining peace in our great Mexico City. Thank you very, very much for everything!”

Prosecutors say that the 12 men who were initially arrested in the attack stated that they were hired three weeks earlier. Footage of the attack was captured on surveillance video, leading to the additional arrests of two suspects in Atlacomulco and five in Tláhuac.

Among those in custody is Armando Briseño de los Santos who authorities are naming as the intellectual author of the attack.

Briseño is reported to be a cartel hitman who authorities suspect was responsible for the murder of two Israeli men in Mexico City in July 2019.

García, who was named Mexico City’s chief of police in 2019, has been battling organized crime for years.

In his previous role as head of the investigation division of the Federal Police, García was responsible for the release of 186 kidnapping victims, the capture of 606 kidnappers and the dismantling of 56 criminal gangs, according to El Heraldo de México.

Source: Milenio (sp)

18 states painted orange on virus risk map; 3 move back into the red

By

Susy Buchanan

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June 27, 2020

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Although confirmed coronavirus cases have topped 208,000, the federal government’s latest color-coded “stoplight” risk map indicates that 18 states have moved from maximum risk to high risk and are able to ease coronavirus restrictions.

Colima, Hidalgo and Nuevo León, however, will move out of orange and back to the red, maximum risk level, as coronavirus conditions worsened. And Baja California, Guerrero, the state of México, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco and Tlaxcala remain at maximum risk.

In the 18 orange states, gyms, spas sporting clubs, churches and swimming pools are permitted to operate at 50% of their capacity, as are hotels, restaurants and cafés. Theaters, museums and cultural attractions may reopen at 25% capacity.

Markets and supermarkets can operate at 70% capacity, but may only allow one person per family inside the store. Barbershops and beauty salons may reopen but by appointment only.

Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Coahuila, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán and Zacatecas have all been designated orange states.

The government considers four factors when determining the risk level and corresponding stoplight color for each state: case number trends (whether new infections are increasing, decreasing or stable), hospital admission trends for coronavirus patients, hospital occupancy levels and positivity rates (the percentage of people tested who are confirmed to have Covid-19).

Health officials say that hospital occupancy carries a weight of 50%, case numbers and hospital admission trends 20% each and the number of new cases 10% in their decision-making on how the coronavirus is progressing in each state.

The Ministry of Health reported Friday evening that another 5,441 cases had been added to the tally, which now totals 208,392. An additional 719 deaths were reported, bringing that total to 25,779.

The number of active cases was 25,786.

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

CORRECTION: The map that appeared with the previous version of this story was incorrect. We regret the error.

Experts see coronavirus worsening, urge change in strategy

By

Susy Buchanan

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June 27, 2020

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Coronavirus restrictions will be eased in Mexico City beginning Monday. Some experts say it's too soon.

With record levels of infection and between 4,000 and 6,000 new cases of the coronavirus being reported each day, some experts warn that if Mexico doesn’t change its strategy, infection rates will continue to spike.

They cite premature easing of coronavirus restrictions, low testing rates and people refusing to follow health protocols as reasons for the upward trend and are asking authorities to go on the offensive against the pandemic.

Given that Mexico City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak with 3,842 active cases, will advance from a “red light” maximum risk level to an “orange light” high-risk level next week, experts don’t see the coronavirus curve flattening anytime soon.

“Mexico City is moving to an orange light and these are not the right conditions. The transmission has been more intense in recent weeks and if people go out in the street there will be more infections,” said Malaquías López Cervantes, a public health professor at the National Autonomous University (UNAM) and spokesperson for the university’s Covid-19 committee.

“People are exhausted by confinement and social distancing and staying home is no longer on their minds. By relaxing mitigation measures it is normal that infections continue and if we keep on like this there will be no way to flatten the curve,” López said.

Researcher and epidemiologist Alejandro Macías concurs.

Mexico has already exceeded 208,000 confirmed cases and 25,000 deaths, and Macías argues that people should not accept these numbers as part of the “new normal,” as there is nothing normal about such a high rate of contagion when it could be prevented.

In a video Macías published to social media, the doctor, who in 2009 was Mexico’s special commissioner for influenza care, advocated for increased testing and the use of face masks.

“In Mexico, cases of the new coronavirus continue to increase and deaths accumulate in large numbers every day. We are already getting used to that normality; we should not get used to it. It is not normal. This virus should not take so many people,” Macías said.

“We need to do go on the offensive, we need to do more testing, we have to do more testing. We also need to normalize the use of masks for everyone, right on up to the president of the republic. That will help us reduce the risk,” said López.

As of next Monday, 18 states in Mexico will have dropped to an orange, or high-risk level, whereas three states, Colima, Nuevo León and Hidalgo, will re-implement restrictions as they move back to red.

Source: El Universal (sp), La Jornada (sp), LJA (sp)

Mexico City will go to orange risk level as hospital occupancy trends downward

By

MND Staff

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June 26, 2020

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Hospital occupancy levels are at 59% and trending downwards in Mexico City.

The coronavirus risk level in Mexico City will be downgraded from “red light” maximum to “orange light” high next week, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday.

The switch will allow some restrictions to be eased in the capital according to a staggered schedule.

Sheinbaum said that the switch to orange was possible because hospital occupancy levels are at 59% and trending downwards.

She said 2,973 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized, an 8% decline compared to a week ago and a 15% drop compared to the peak on May 22.

The mayor stressed that if hospital occupancy levels go above 65% again, red light restrictions will be reinstated. She urged residents to continue to take precautions to reduce the risk of infection. People should continue to stay at home as much as possible and the use of face masks in public places remains mandatory, Sheinbaum said.

“Next week … we’re going to open [the economy] gradually and with strict health measures. The pandemic is ongoing. All citizens have made an effort to stop the pandemic growing [and] we need [their continued] support,” she said.

Small neighborhood stores will be permitted to reopen on Monday and domestic workers can return to work. People who employ workers such as maids in their homes must provide them with a face mask, protective shield and gloves, according to guidelines published by the government.

Sports centers will also be permitted to reopen at 30% of their regular capacity starting on Monday.

On Tuesday, shops and public spaces in Mexico City’s historic center will be permitted to reopen, while restaurants and hotels across the capital can welcome back diners and guests from Wednesday on.

Restaurants will be permitted to operate at 30% of their regular capacity if they only have an enclosed dining area and at 40% capacity if they have both indoor and outdoor space. Wait staff must wear a face mask and protective shield at all times and restaurants must not play music or issue reusable menus to diners.

Hotels and their in-house restaurants will also be permitted to operate at 30% capacity but common spaces such as events rooms and gymnasiums must remain closed.

Mayor Sheinbaum announces the new virus alert level Friday in Mexico City.

Street markets known as tianguis will be permitted as of Thursday next week, while beauty and hair salons can reopen next Friday but must operate on an appointment-only basis and not exceed 30% of regular capacity. Their workers and customers must wear face masks and appointments are restricted to a maximum of one hour.

The following Monday, July 6, department stores and shopping centers will be allowed to reopen at 30% capacity. Their opening hours will be restricted from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

All businesses that employ 30 or more people must test at least 5% of their workforce for Covid-19 on a weekly basis, according to government rules.

During Mexico City’s “orange light” phase, a range of businesses must remain closed including cinemas, theaters, bars, night clubs, museums, casinos and gyms.

Educational institutions will also remain closed while the coronavirus risk level remains high and events that gather large numbers of people, including religious services, are prohibited.

Given that the governments of México state, Morelos, Puebla and Hidalgo agreed to share the same coronavirus risk rating as the capital because of their interconnectedness in terms of the movement of people and goods, those states are also expected to switch from red to orange on the Health Ministry’s updated “stoplight” map to be presented by the Health Ministry on Friday night.

The downgrading of the risk level in Mexico City has occurred even though the capital still has the largest active coronavirus outbreak in the country, with 3,842 cases as of Thursday, according to official data.

One of Mexico’s first two confirmed Covid-19 cases was detected in the capital in late February and the city has maintained the unwelcome title of the country’s coronavirus epicenter ever since.

As of Thursday, Mexico City has recorded more than 45,000 confirmed cases and 6,116 Covid-19 deaths.

However, the case tally likely only represents a small fraction of the real total due to limited testing while an analysis of death certificates and several media reports indicate that coronavirus-related fatalities are being drastically underreported in the capital.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Covid-19 cases on the increase in Baja California Sur

By

Susy Buchanan

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June 26, 2020

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The Pescadero Food Bank prepares food packages for needy families.

A return to lockdown may be in the future for Baja California Sur (BCS) if the coronavirus cannot be controlled.

Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said that so far in June there has been a 181% increase in virus cases in the state and an 86% increase in deaths due to the pandemic.

The number of hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients and the use of ventilators has also doubled.

The governor warned that if the virus rate continues to increase, the state could go back into lockdown, which was partially lifted on June 15.

The state health laboratory says it is currently processing between 80 and 100 coronavirus tests each day.

Tests are only authorized for symptomatic people meeting specific criteria, and when a patient tests positive, contact tracing is conducted and the person is continually monitored to ensure they self-isolate and that their symptoms do not worsen.

Health authorities have created a geo-referenced map of coronavirus patients in the state, but that will not be made public due to concerns for the safety of the sick, El Sudcaliforniano reports.

As of June 25, BCS had 1,324 recorded confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 69 deaths.

Good coronavirus news

A group of about 15 people in Pescadero, a mainly agricultural community located on the Pacific side of the peninsula between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz, is giving back to their community through the Pescadero Food Bank, which was started in 2017 by a small group of expats.

The original group started providing bags of basic staples (flour, pasta, sugar, oil, rice, beans) to families in need. Over time, they eliminated flour and sugar from their bags in order to focus on healthier, higher protein staples such as eggs, tuna, lentils, milk, fresh produce and oatmeal.

Bags of supplies ready to go to families in Pescadero.

One of the families they are helping is a single-parent household consisting of mother Angélica and her five children, who range in age from 5 to 16. They live in an unfinished home with no water or electricity.

This living situation is typical of those served by the food bank, which also helps those with disabilities and chronic illnesses and the elderly.

Since the coronavirus began, most who receive donations have lost all or part of their income and outreach has increased from 50 families to 400 families per month at a cost of US $3,000. The Pescadero Food Bank relies solely on donations, which can be made through their website, and receives no government support or help from other organizations.

And in San José del Cabo, taking a cue from other cities around the globe, one restaurant is providing respite for the entertainment starved by offering a drive-in concert in its parking lot.

Flora Farms, a farm-to-table restaurant located in Las Animas, will serve burgers, fried chicken, pizzas and milkshakes to cars full of guests who will be treated to a concert by local musicians the Shamans this Saturday evening. It will also be live-streamed beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The restaurant, like many in the area, otherwise remains closed for all but takeout as the Los Cabos economy struggles to recover from revenue lost during the shutdown and lack of tourism.

Political pandemonium in La Paz

Supporters of eight state legislators undergoing a political trial for various charges of mismanagement and corruption blocked access to the congressional meeting room and broke a window, which forced deputies to cancel the meeting and flee the building, fearing for their safety.

The hearing, which was set to take place Thursday morning, accuses eight legislators of various political parties of administrative mismanagement, breaching their legislative obligations and jeopardizing the stability of the legislature, among other charges.

Three legislative workers were trapped inside the session room when the pandemonium outside broke out. Two escaped through a window while the third remained inside due to an injured foot, La Jornada reports.

Scallop smuggler’s blues

The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission (Conapesca) arrested two people on Sunday at a military checkpoint on the northern outskirts of La Paz after they discovered 100 kilos of scallops in the trunk of a white sedan.

Neither the scallops nor the men escorting them had the proper papers in order to prove that the shellfish were legally harvested, reports BCS Noticias.

The arrest came a day after authorities found a similar sized stash of scallops, also illegal, in a white refrigerated truck containing 100 individual one-kilo bags they suspect were packaged for distribution.

The UFO that wasn’t

A strange object appeared in the skies over La Paz Monday evening, causing hundreds of people to wonder whether the city was being visited by aliens. Photos and videos of the round, shiny orb were circulated on social media and in news reports.

Much speculation about the craft’s origin arose as the news of the sighting went viral, with some commenting that if aliens were considering invading La Paz, they had better respect coronavirus protocol and wear masks.

However, further investigation revealed that the unidentified flying object was a high-altitude balloon, part of Google’s Project Loon which seeks to provide internet access by flying the globes through the stratosphere to help rural areas with their internet connections, BCS Noticias reports.