At this market are Mexico City’s best murals, which almost no one visits

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June 26, 2019

“La industrialización del campo” by Marion Greenwood, 1935, on the stairway at Mercado Abelardo Rodríguez.

One of Mexico City’s best mural collections by students of Diego Rivera can be viewed in mellow market serenity away from the tourist crowds.

In the northeast corner of the historic center of Mexico City sits a far too rarely visited gem of classic 1930s mural work by acolytes and students of famous muralist.

These enormous and astonishingly gorgeous works of Mexican and American masters remain absurdly neglected, especially given that their value is ranked fourth after the murals of the Bellas Artes palace, the Secretariat of Education and the National Palace.

However, wandering inside the spacious, easy-going Abelardo Rodríguez Market affords a chance to view some world-class artworks, set apart from the tourist throngs behind everyday juice counters, through tiny vestibules, spread across ceilings and winding up massive staircases.

The market includes works by lauded artists, many of them students of Rivera at the Academy of San Carlos: Ramón Alva, Pablo O’Higgins, Antonio Pujol, Ángel Bracho, Pedro Rendón, Raúl Gamboa, Miguel Tzab, Isamu Noguchi, and sisters Marion and Grace Greenwood.

“La minería” by Grace Greenwood, 1935, at the market entrance at Calle Rodríguez Puebla and Callejón Girón.

Work on the murals began in earnest in June of 1934, with the market opening its doors on November 29 of the same year. The project ran under the supervision of Rivera, with sketches requiring his approval, and the artist adding 2,000 pesos of his own money as a work guarantee.

Each artist was paid 13.50 pesos per square meter, not including the cost of materials – right down to the rented scaffolding. The paintings were originally intended to cover 2,733 square meters, but this was reduced to 1,500 after disputes with supervisors at the Departmento Central. Under contract, mural work was to be completed by December 1, 1935, but wasn’t finished until May of 1937.

Most of the artworks cover themes common in the days after the Revolution: food production, exploitation of the poor, industrialization, the lives and working conditions of factory workers and miners and the rise of fascism around the world.

Among the most well-known works at Abelardo Rodríguez are at the market entrance on the corner of Calle Rodríguez Puebla and Girón: La minería by Grace Greenwood and La industrialización del campo by her sister, Marion, running up the stairway to the Cuauhtémoc Community Center and on to the second floor.

Marion Greenwood’s vast, striking piece shows workers transitioning from farming to industrial manufacturing, pulled by the strings of capitalism. On the second floor, at the top of another, roped-off staircase, Marion’s The Industrialization of the Countryside and Grace’s Mining join together, where an industrial worker and a farmer each hang one end of the communist flag.

After studying at the Art Students League in Manhattan and the Académie Colarossi in Paris, Marion was the first of the sisters to come to Mexico in 1932, when she hitched a ride to Taxco. There she met up with American artist and assistant to Diego Rivera, Pablo O’Higgins, who taught her the basic fresco technique – simply applying pigment to wet plaster.

“Influencia de las vitaminas” by Ángel Bracho, 1934, is one of the most deteriorated of the market’s murals, though still quite striking.

She quickly talked her way into a commission to paint Mercado en Taxco along the stairway of the Hotel Taxqueño. In a letter to her mother she called herself “the first woman who has ever done a fresco in Mexico.” Her sister Grace joined soon after, and the two Greenwoods would go on to paint a number of large works throughout the country.

Along the stairway Marion’s signature is visible, but there’s not really any onsite information to be found.

An employee of the community center, delighted that someone had ventured up to enjoy the piece, told me that he’s seen the murals cleaned once or twice but didn’t know much about them, other than what was written on a nearby informational poster – mainly concerning the history of the neighborhood and market. He said there used to be a metal placard on the wall, but it had since been stolen.

In this same room along the opposite wall is Historia de México, the first public work by United States artist Isamu Noguchi, a politically charged piece in copper and cement featuring a Nazi swastika, a hammer and sickle, a clenched and extended fist and Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Noguchi had a short-lived affair with Frida Kahlo on his visit to Mexico, and they remained friends until her death. At two meters high and 22 meters long, History as Seen from Mexico makes for an impressive view with the sun blazing in through surrounding windows.

It’s a joy to walk through the friendly market stalls with art popping up around every corner and stairwell, or above the Coca-Cola refrigerator in a tiny restaurant nook. I’m told that certain vendors or organizations within the market may deny access to individual works, but I simply asked politely and everyone seemed happy to accommodate.

The high ceilings and uncrowded passageways of Mercado Abelardo Rodríguez.

There’s plenty of good food to be found, with cold mayonnaise salads of cooked veggies and meats among the specialties. Despite the mural decline, the interior market is bright and appears well-maintained, the huge domed ceiling keeping it cool and airy.

Over coffee at a lunch counter, I chatted with a hospitable woman who’s been at the market for 20 years. I asked if she’d seen anyone come to maintain the murals. “No,” she said. “I don’t think they do anything. They painted the cupola and redid the floors a couple of years ago. But the floors are worse than they were before. And it still rains in the corners in some parts.”

In the market’s southwest corner, up the stairs that formerly led to the Teatro Cívico but now end at the entrance to Cendi Pingui school for children, the ceiling is covered with a massive mural by Mexican artist Ángel Bracho.

Best known for his socially conscious work with Taller de Gráfica Popular (“The People’s Graphic Workshop”), Bracho’s piece at Abelardo L. Rodríguez is one of the most vibrant, despite its unfortunate decline.

Influencia de las vitaminas shows the actual physical effects of vitamins on the human body and encourages their use with the phrase, “No hay vida sin vitamina” (“There’s no life without vitamins”) painted below it.

Unfortunately, much of the mural has fallen victim to years of water damage, with large portions sealed and plastered over. The plaster covers the subjects’ bodies and internal organs in a white cancer, as if they’d disobeyed the artist and suffered damage from vitamin neglect.

• Mercado Abelardo L. Rodríguez runs along República de Venezuela and Callejón Girón between Calle Rodríguez Puebla and Calle del Carmen in Centro Histórico, Mexico City, and is open daily from 7:00am to 6:00pm.

This is the 16th in a series on the bazaars, flea markets and markets of Mexico City:

Roma sweeps Mexico’s Academy Awards with 10 wins, including best film

By

Madison Koen

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June 26, 2019

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A scene from Roma, which has won 10 more awards.

Nearly a year after its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, Roma continues to triumph.

This time, Alfonso Cuarón’s acclaimed film raked in 10 of the 15 awards for which it was nominated at the Ariel Awards, Mexico’s version of the Oscars.

Cuarón was unable to attend for personal reasons, but most of the cast and crew of the multi-Oscar-winning film were present to collect their awards, which included best picture, director, supporting actress for Marina de Tavira’s role in the film, photography, original screenplay, editing, sound, art design, visual effects and special effects.

In a video message, Cuarón apologized for his absence at the ceremony and highlighted Roma’s distribution in Mexico.

“The release of Roma in Mexico was unparalleled. It was my priority to ensure that a large number of independent movie theaters and large open-air events could screen the picture to reach the largest number of people.

“That is why I am very sad that I was not able to be with you tonight. I feel deeply honored and would like to congratulate all the other movies and friends who received nominations. I am deeply grateful to be a part of a community that is known for its fraternity, solidarity and generosity.”

Roma is only the second of Cuarón’s films to win an Ariel Award; the first was his 1992 picture Sólo con tu pareja, which received an award for best original story. However, in 2001 he chose not to submit Y tu mamá también in protest against the academy’s voting practices.

Ilse Salas, who won an Ariel for best actress by edging out Roma’s Yalitza Aparicio, used her acceptance speech to declare “Ya es hora” (time’s up) in solidarity with a crowd of protesters who gathered at the ceremony to demand equal pay, increased representation and measures to address sexual harassment and gender violence in the film industry.

“As women, we have many stories to tell, and we want to tell them now because you, gentlemen, have already had your chance. Time’s up!”

Several actors and directors also took advantage of the event to criticize the federal government’s budget cuts to cultural spending, which included moving this year’s awards ceremony from the Bellas Artes palace in downtown Mexico City to the Cineteca Nacional.

“[Culture] is not an expenditure; it is vital. It is not just an adornment; it is a long-term investment. Those of us who are creators are not the enemy; we are committed to the reality of this country,” said Academy president Ernesto Contreras.

Carlos Morales, who won an Ariel for best short documentary for his picture Sinfonía de un mar triste, said that his project had been made possible by a Fonca scholarship, a program that has been criticized by lawmakers.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Sargassum’s effect on economy ‘serious,’ but worse is effect on environment

By

MND Staff

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June 26, 2019

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Decomposition of sargassum is the bigger problem, marine scientist says.

The effect of sargassum on tourism and the economy is “very serious” but what should be of greater concern is the impact of the decomposition of the seaweed on the environment, according to a marine scientist.

Joel González Chiña, an oceanographer and member of the Quintana Roo sargassum advisory council, told the newspaper El Universal that the massive arrival of seaweed on Caribbean coast beaches affects the entire coastal ecosystem.

“This is a real problem, it’s serious and very big,” he said, rejecting President López Obrador’s claim that the sargassum invasion is not a very serious issue.

However, the scientist added: “we have to understand that sargassum is not the enemy – the problem is that it’s arriving in large quantities and that it accumulates on the beach and exceeds the capacity to collect it.”

“The problem is the decomposition of this macroalgae, that it generates foul odors, that it produces sulfuric acid that kills sea grasses,” González said.

Its decomposition is a serious environmental concern, says marine scientist.

Sea grasses are a food source for turtles and provide a variety of “environmental services” including keeping sand in place, he said.

If it is killed off, “the beach erodes,” González explained, adding that the sulfuric acid generated by decomposing sargassum also has a negative impact on coral reefs that need clean water to survive.

“It’s a chain of impacts,” he said.

The oceanographer was reluctant to endorse the strategy of collecting sargassum before it washes up on beaches, explaining that while it is still in the sea, the seaweed is a living organism that is a food source for fish and other marine creatures.

González explained that the presence of sargassum is a natural response to contamination and excessive nutrients in the ocean – “the seaweed cleans those nutrients, it absorbs them . . .”

Consequently, the strategy of removing sargassum from the sea – Navy Secretary Rafael Ojeda announced this week that a new fleet of sargassum-collecting vessels will be built – “requires more studies and scientific research,” the scientist said.

Susana Enríquez, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology at the National Autonomous University, said there is currently “an abnormal enrichment of nutrients in the sea,” and that “it’s been a party for this seaweed.”

She explained that the large quantities of sargassum in the Caribbean Sea have been feeding on nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous that have flowed into the Atlantic Ocean from rivers such as the Amazon and Orinoco in South America.

Rising sea temperatures as a result of climate change can help sargassum to grow, Enríquez said, but “the blossoming of seaweed only comes from the increase of nutrients in the sea – that’s the ABC of oceanography.”

The researcher blamed “extremely poor environmental management” for the increasing quantity of nutrients in the ocean, explaining that deforestation for the creation of farm land has led to a greater use of agrochemicals.

“Of course, the problem is serious,” Enríquez said. “It’s regional.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

University of California grad dies after lethal mix of alcohol, eye drops

By

Simon Schatzberg

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June 26, 2019

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The law school grad police say might have been poisoned.

A recent graduate of the University of California Law School was found dead last weekend in the Nápoles neighborhood of Mexico City after ingesting a mixture of alcohol and cyclopentolate, a drug commonly used in eye drops, in what police say could have been an attempted robbery.

Mexico City native Pablo González Kúsulas had returned home three weeks ago after finishing a degree in Berkeley with a specialty in energy law. His family says that on Friday night he and a friend went to Palmas Karaoke in Lomas de Chapultepec.

González left the bar in a car around 4:00am Saturday with unknown subjects, who later removed his body from the car and abandoned it around 4:50 in Nápoles.

An autopsy determined that the cause of death was a mixture of alcohol and cyclopentolate.

Mexico City police told the newspaper Milenio that the case has similarities to those involving criminal groups called goteras, which are made up of women who slip eye drops into their victims’ drinks with the intention of knocking them out and robbing them. However, sometimes the mixture can be deadly, as was the case with González.

But his family is not convinced about the cause of death. Rodrigo Gurza, a lawyer for the family, told Imagen Noticias that there is no clear evidence that González was a victim of the goteras.

“It’s not fair that the prosecutors . . . are getting in the way of the investigation by making false statements and affirming things that there is no proof of, because toxicology and pathology tests take longer than three days,” he said.

“They are defaming a dead person, a Mexican citizen who was killed because of the insecurity that exists in this country and the failure of the government of Mexico City to provide security and justice.”

Source: Milenio (sp), Excelsior (sp)

Money and social class: the implications of being among top 5% of earners

By

Sarah DeVries

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June 26, 2019

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When it comes to money and social class, I’m never really sure where I fit in here. I grew up in a somewhat uncommon situation, with well-educated parents who, for the most part, lived paycheck to paycheck for the duration of my childhood.

My grandmother paid for some of the traditional markers of the upper-middle class like braces and ballet classes, but I didn’t learn to drive until I was almost 20: the $100 needed for driver’s ed class was always needed for something more pressing, and I didn’t want to ask my rich uncle (whose trust fund was the reason I was able to go to college).

There was one summer when my mom had lost her job that we ate once or twice a day and relied heavily on the charity of friends and church members before she found something in another city, where we promptly moved.

These aren’t complaints — I had wonderful parents and consider myself to have had a happy and loving childhood. But it’s made for a rather confusing identity when it comes to socio-economic status, especially living now in a country with a quite different system where I’m suddenly in a very different space financially than I’m used to.

Here in Mexico, I’m rich. Not rich rich, but relatively rich compared to most of the population. This doesn’t mean that we never struggle with money problems, but even if it’s somewhat precarious (like many people’s incomes are these days), I live very well compared to how I’d live in the U.S. on the same income. There, I’d be in the bottom 35% of all earners; here, I’m in the top 5%.

Plenty of my paisanos have figured this out too, and the largest “feeder country” of immigrants to Mexico by far is the United States. I feel certain that if more people in the U.S. understood what things were really like down here, that number would be much higher (hey, thanks, fear-mongering news coverage!)

All that said, I can’t help but feel pangs of guilt and whatever the opposite of entitlement is as I see my Mexican friends with similar and greater education, talent and work ethic struggle and hustle to make even half of what I do.

Going to places like San Miguel de Allende, where gringos have been both a boon to the local economy and simultaneously a driver of sky-rocketing housing prices, puts me in an uncomfortable state of mind. Many local economies depend on us, and many hard-working people in those places are priced out of certain luxuries they might otherwise be able to afford as a result of those higher prices.

I found Los Cabos to be a particularly shocking example: opulent wealth of a mostly foreign population on one end, and stagnating poverty on the other, with a very small bilingual merchant middle class between them.

The differences in color were impossible to ignore: for the most part, it was dark brown people serving mostly white people who didn’t speak Spanish. My friend’s husband, who is Mexican and fairly light-skinned (at least in his native Veracruz), was continually being offered tours for “his clients” — my friend and I — as we wondered around an artisans’ market (he’s a highly-respected doctor).

When we spoke Spanish, no one there guessed that we were American, because no one expected Americans to speak Spanish.

I’m not trying to blame my fellow expats; most from the U.S. and Canada that I’ve met down here are lovely, well-meaning people. And of course, the wide gap between the rich and poor is not a new problem, and is certainly not unique to Mexico.

Most foreigners here that I know go out of their way to be fair and kind to those that serve them (dare I say, in a way that’s much more obvious than their similarly-moneyed domestic counterparts).

But the question we need to consistently reflect on is this: what is fair? Is there a way to counteract the latent functions of a booming tourist industry with low-wage workers that provide so many aspects of what for most of us is an extremely privileged life?

When a taxi driver or an artisan purposefully overcharges me, I often wonder if there’s an element of cosmic justice in it. If someone gets 20 extra pesos out of me that make a difference for them but not really for me, is it something I should bother fighting on principle, or let go?

These aren’t questions I have the answers to, and the oceanic force of the globalization of markets is obviously not something we as individuals have much control over. But as drops in the ocean I often wonder: what are our responsibilities as good immigrants to a system that unfairly favors us on a number of fronts?

When people ask me for specific phrases in Spanish, I usually tell them the most polite version possible. I believe it’s important to always risk being too polite rather than too casual, and I think this is a good rule of thumb for immigrants in general.

How can we do this? First, for goodness’ sake, learn Spanish. Don’t “jump the line,” literally or metaphorically, just because you can and people let you. Try to keep most of your complaints about Mexico to yourself, or at least out of earshot of your hosts. Make local friends and join in community events. Support local business that don’t just cater to tourists.

As immigrants all over the world will tell you, we become automatic representatives for everyone from our respective countries. We can’t always alleviate the built-in injustices inherent in our privileged positions, but we can at least be gracious and grateful.

Sarah DeVries writes from her home in Xalapa, Veracruz.

Forces have no orders to detain migrants, AMLO says, after photos create a stir

By

MND Staff

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June 26, 2019

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Soldiers detain migrants at northern border Friday but president says they have no orders to do so.

Federal security forces deployed to the northern border have no orders to detain migrants, President López Obrador said yesterday.

The president’s assertion came in response to questioning over photographs published by the news agency AFP that show heavily armed National Guard troops stopping two migrant women and a girl from crossing the border into the United States from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

Under international law, migrants have the right to cross borders to seek asylum, and Mexico had not typically prevented them from doing so at the border with the United States.

Speaking at his daily press conference, López Obrador denied that the National Guard or the army have been issued with orders to arrest migrants trying to cross the northern border.

“No such order has been issued, and we are going to review that case, so that it doesn’t happen again, because that’s not our job,” he said.

Defense Secretary Sandoval said forces are detaining migrants, but president says they have no orders to do so. — Defense Secretary Sandoval said forces are detaining migrants, contradicting the president.

The president’s statement contradicts remarks made Monday by National Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval, who said that almost 15,000 troops have been deployed to the northern border and that they are detaining migrants.

Members of the National Guard who spoke to AFP in Ciudad Juárez on Monday confirmed that their superiors had given them orders to stop migrants attempting to cross into the United States.

“They tell us we’re not detaining enough, that migration levels are the same,” one guardsman said.

“When they saw the photo [of the migrant detention], they told us we can’t touch the migrants. But at the same time, they order us to detain them and produce results,” he added.

Another National Guard member told AFP that migrants sometimes cry and beg to be released after they have been arrested.

“But I can’t do that. They’ll punish me if I do that. I have to [detain them] to do my job, to finish my deployment here and see my family again soon.”

Mexico has stepped up enforcement against undocumented migrants after reaching an agreement with the United States on June 7 that ended President Donald Trump’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on all Mexican goods.

If 45 days after the deal was signed the United States decides that measures to stem migration are not achieving the desired results, Mexico will take “all necessary steps under domestic law” to implement a safe third country agreement, according to a supplementary agreement between the two countries.

With the aim of achieving the results sought by the United States and thereby avoiding the enactment of the appended pact as well as the possibility of the reinstatement of the suspended tariffs, the government last week completed a deployment of 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border, a strategy that recent polls show has strong support.

However, using the new security force to stem migration, a function that is incongruent with the purpose for which it was created — to fight violent crime – has drawn criticism.

“What’s happening in terms of migration policy is a disgrace – the absence of a plan, the improvisation, the lack of a strategy,” researcher Javier Urbano of the Iberoamerican University told AFP.

The academic charged that using the National Guard to enforce immigration policies will only push migrants to seek “more dangerous, more remote routes,” creating a scenario in which human traffickers will find greater demand for their services.

Source: AFP (en)

Highway shut down to protest shortage of medical services

By

Madison Koen

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June 26, 2019

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Highway blockade protests shortage of doctors, medications.

Close to 100 protesters set up a blockade of the Acapulco-Chilpancingo highway in Guerrero early Tuesday morning to demand the return of normal medical services in their community.

Residents of Xaltianguis and community police gathered at 9:30 am to seal off the major highway’s access through the town, part of the municipality of Acapulco, using mototaxis, taxis, police vans and personal vehicles.

The spokesperson for a community group said that although the town’s medical facilities are adequate, there are not enough doctors to meet the community’s needs. Daniel Adame Pompa also complained that the municipal director of health, Agustín Flores, has not visited the community for several weeks and has not responded to repeated requests for a meeting.

“We don’t have medical attention like we did before; seven years ago there were even two shifts [at the medical clinic] and we had medical attention, but that has all disappeared now, and we want them to tell us why . . . . We’re not asking for anything new; we’re asking them to observe what we once had, but no one wants to give us an answer.”

Another community leader, Primo Chávez Morales, said the community also lacks medications.

“If the people are currently blocking the highway, it is because we need them to stock the hospital with all of the different medicines we need. The town has many inhabitants, which is why the number of medical consultations has increased. We also need specialists so that patients can receive proper treatment.”

He added that Xaltianguis needs at least five doctors to be able to adequately attend the town’s population of 25,000.

Adame said the town previously received additional aid that the municipal government abruptly stopped when residents formed their own citizens’ defense group.

The spokesperson said the blockade would continue until Flores agreed to meet with community leaders. He also demanded the health director’s resignation for his failure to attend to the public’s needs.

Behind him, Adame’s demand was echoed on handwritten signs held by frustrated residents while vehicles continued to arrive at the growing line at the entrance to the town.

Source: Milenio (sp), Quadratín Guerrero (sp), El Sol de Acapulco (sp)

Another stray bullet kills a child while en route to school

By

César Hernández

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June 26, 2019

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The mother of the eight-year-old victim of a stray bullet.

Another child has died in a drive-by shooting, this time in Nezahualcóyotl, México state, part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area.

The incident happened yesterday morning just before 8:00am, when classes start at the Manuel Hinojosa primary school in the Virgencitas neighborhood.

Eight-year-old Lenin was walking to school with his parents when two men opened fire from a motorcycle. Their target was a 27-year-old man who died on the spot.

The boy was rushed to hospital, but died a few hours after the shooting.

Thursday would have been Lenin’s last day in fourth grade and he was looking forward to spending his summer vacation in Aguascalientes, relatives said.

The shooters fled the scene of the crime and remain at large, but Lenin’s family is demanding their arrest.

A six-year-old girl was killed last week in a similar attack in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

Source: El Universal (sp)

2 dead, thousands of homes flooded in Reynosa rain storm

By

Simon Schatzberg

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June 26, 2019

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The toll from a rainstorm that hit the city of Reynosa on Monday night is two deaths and 57 flooded neighborhoods, authorities say.

The intense rains flooded thousands of homes across the Tamaulipas border city, and in some places floodwaters were over a meter and a half deep.

United States authorities had warned that the storm could affect cities in the Río Grande Valley. But Mexico’s National Meteorological Service had only forecast moderate to intense rains.

As the water began to rise, the army responded to rescue people from their homes. A total of 92 people were taken to temporary shelters set up in the municipal auditorium, the stadium and the Rodhe campus of the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas.

The rains also damaged Reynosa’s electrical grid, leaving 100,000 people without power for 12 hours.

Reynosa: Bajo Emergencia

Watch this video on YouTube

Governor Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca said that municipal governments need to take measures to prevent similar flooding from happening again.

“When the hurricane season started, we were working with Civil Defense in the state, and they recommended that every municipal government should work on preventative measures, especially cleaning out drains,” he said. “Because when drains are full of trash, the water level rises, and it leads to flooding.”

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

Some vehicles were almost completely submerged after Monday's storm. — Some vehicles were almost completely submerged after Monday’s storm.

Senior Morena lawmaker slams ‘unacceptable’ migrant policy

By

MND Staff

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June 26, 2019

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A senior lawmaker with the ruling Morena party has slammed the government’s strict enforcement of immigration policy, describing it as “unacceptable” and unconstitutional and declaring that the approach must change.

In an interview with the newspaper Milenio, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, president of the lower house of Congress, said the deployment of federal forces to both the southern and northern borders to contain the flow of migrants – “in obedience” to United States President Donald Trump’s requests – is a flagrant violation of the constitution.

“What’s happening in the country is unacceptable . . . you can’t hand over human flesh because of pressure from the great power [the United States] . . .” he said.

The lawmaker argued that the anti-migration operations of the National Guard and the army violate Article 11 of the constitution of Mexico, which states that “everyone has the right to enter and leave the republic, to travel through its territory and to change his residence without necessity of a letter of security, passport, safe-conduct or any other similar requirement.”

Article 11 continues: “The exercise of this right shall be subordinated to the powers of the judiciary, in cases of civil or criminal liability, and to those of the administrative authorities insofar as concerns the limitations imposed by the laws regarding emigration, immigration and public health of the country, or in regard to undesirable aliens resident in the country.”

Muñoz said that migrants can seek legal protection of their constitutional right by filing requests for injunctions that, if granted, would preclude their arrest by security forces or immigration authorities as they travel through the country.

To that end, he said, migrant advocacy organizations have begun distributing a standardized form that migrants can use to file such requests, copies of which are circulating on social networks.

“Of course, that’s the solution, because the act [of arresting migrants] is unconstitutional. Migrants can be [legally] protected. . .” he said.

Mexico has adopted a tougher approach to dealing with undocumented migrants after reaching an agreement with the United States on June 7 that ended President Trump’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on all Mexican goods.

The government committed to sending 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border, a deployment that Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said was completed on Friday, and migrants have been arrested in several states in recent days including the southern state of Chiapas.

National Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said Monday that almost 15,000 federal security force members have been deployed to the northern border, where he confirmed that migrants trying to cross illegally into the United States are being detained, although President López Obrador said yesterday that troops have no orders to do so.

“This policy has to change,” Muñoz declared. “Something very serious could happen. I read the newspaper this morning and the army has already arrived in the north and the south. How far will we go?”

The Chamber of Deputies president said that in speaking out against the hardline approach to dealing with migrants his intention is not to tell the government what to do but rather to follow his moral instinct.

“I’m not calling on anyone to rectify [the situation] because I’m not anyone’s teacher and because everyone has their responsibility. As a Mexican, I have the obligation to condemn the acts. I’ve worked too many years on immigration matters to keep quiet today,” Muñoz said.

He also charged that his opposition to the strict migration policy enforcement is in defense of the national interest, stating “politician is spelt today with a P as in patriot.”

Over the last six or seven decades, Muñoz said, Mexico has had a humanitarian immigration policy and has been a country where the persecuted have found asylum.

But the government has now abandoned that time-honored approach at the behest of the United States president, the lawmaker charged.

“. . . Trump is showing that he has Mexico in a little cage . . .”

Source: Milenio (sp)