German automaker BMW today officially opened its billion-dollar plant in San Luis Potosí.
Located in the state capital, the company’s first Mexican factory will employ 2,000 people and has the capacity to build 175,000 vehicles annually. It will initially produce the BMW 3 Series.
The company’s Latin America CEO told the newspaper El Financiero that more than 200 domestic suppliers will provide parts to the plant, explaining that some of them are small and medium-sized business and others are large international ones.
Alexander Wehr said 2019 will be a big year for BMW in Mexico, a country where it first began selling vehicles 25 years ago.
“For us, Mexico is the market leader [in Latin America], not just for its size but also its potential. Last year we sold more than 18,500 units, just BMW, which is growth above 18%,” he said.
The new assembly plant will supply cars to Mexico and other Latin American markets but most of the vehicles it produces in San Luis Potosí will be sold in the United States.
BMW board member Oliver Zipse said at today’s inauguration that the possibility of the United States imposing tariffs on all Mexican goods doesn’t represent a threat to the company’s operations in Mexico.
“We’re going to maintain our plan, at the moment we don’t see any reason to change it,” he said, adding that consumers in the United States, rather than BMW, will pay any new tariffs.
“Almost all countries have tariffs and we continue to sell cars,” Zipse said.
“The San Luis Potosí plant will significantly increase our regional production flexibility in America. From here we will supply the global market with the BMW 3 Series sedan.”
BMW first announced that it would build a new factory in the state five years ago and construction began in June 2016.
Plant manager Hermann Bohrer said that construction of the plant generated a total of 4,400 jobs.
Some people loathe them for allegedly having put many mom-and-pop corner stores out of business, but in Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, the opening of its first Oxxo store was cause for community celebration.
The store was inaugurated this week in an elaborate ceremony led by Mayor Laura Nava Reveles.
In a speech to mark the occasion, Nava said the opening of an Oxxo represents a big step forward.
“This will be a big benefit for our town,” she said. “In addition to offering a variety of products for sale and 24-hour service, it will allow us to make and receive bank deposits and other transactions.”
Chalchihuites is a municipality of around 10,000 people, of which 3,000 live in the municipal seat of the same name. It is located 230 kilometers from Zacatecas city, near the Durango border.
God bless Oxxo.
The ceremony was also attended by a Catholic priest, who blessed the new store, which is located across from the town square.
In messages posted on Facebook, some residents thanked the local government for allowing the store to open, while others expressed concern that it would harm small grocery stores.
Oxxo, owned by the Femsa beverage company, is the largest chain of convenience stores in Latin America, with more than 18,000 locations in Mexico. The company reported opening new stores at a rate of almost four a day in 2018, a rhythm it hopes to maintain this year.
Anyone looking for a job in security might be interested to know the National Guard is hiring.
Mexico’s new security force is looking for men and women between 18 and 29 years old and Mexican by birth. Anyone who has acquired a second nationality need not apply.
Male applicants must be at least 1.63 meters tall, females at least 1.55 meters. Prospective members must be single, in good physical and mental health and have no criminal record. Former member of the armed forces and federal and other police departments may not apply either.
Obesity and overweight are other unwanted attributes: applicants must have a body-mass index lower than 28%.
Nose rings are also taboo: applicants with body piercings won’t make the cut. Having a tattoo is not an impediment as long it is smaller than 10 by 10 centimeters and will be easily covered by the uniform.
Job benefits include uniforms and equipment, comprehensive medical care, savings and housing funds, life insurance and lodging and meals, among others.
Applicants may apply at the National Defense Secretariat’s 12th Infantry Battalion headquarters in Morelia, Michoacán.
Officials and followers of a Mexican-based evangelical church are defending and praying for its leader after he was arrested this week on human trafficking, rape and child pornography charges.
Naasón Joaquín García, leader or “Apostle” of the Guadalajara-based church La Luz del Mundo – Light of the World – was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday.
Three women also affiliated with La Luz del Mundo – Alondra Ocampo, Azalea Rangel Melendez and Susana Medina Oaxaca – also face charges. They had been under investigation since 2018 after California authorities received a tip via an online clergy abuse complaint form.
The accused are alleged to have committed 26 offenses in Los Angeles county between 2015 and 2018.
García, who is being held on US $50 million bail, as well as Ocampo and Medina appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday. Rangel failed to appear.
Followers in Guadalajara of La Luz del Mundo cry while praying for their leader.
In a graphic criminal complaint filed Tuesday, prosecutors allege that García is a sexual predator and that the three women helped procure young girls for the pleasure of the man known by church members as “the Apostle of Jesus Christ.”
In one incident described in the complaint, Ocampo is alleged to have called a girl to García’s home and ordered her to remove her clothes and serve him coffee in his office.
When the girl entered his office, García allegedly kissed her on the lips and touched her in intimate locations. He is accused of sexually abusing three girls and one woman, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors also allege that Ocampo took photographs of three naked girls, telling them that they were for “the servant of God” – García.
Just hours after the 50-year-old leader was detained, La Luz del Mundo bishops urged church members to start praying for their leader, and not stop.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the doors of La Luz del Mundo church in East LA, where García was once a pastor, have been left open overnight so the devout can pray for their leader around the clock.
Church of La Luz del Mundo in Guadalajara.
“We’re united in prayer,” said Jack Freeman, a minister who has been with the church for almost three decades.
“An attack like this, which is meant to stumble us or bring us apart, it actually brings us closer together. . . We’re not giving up. The church is still going to go forward. We believe this is still the church of the Lord.”
At the church’s flagship temple in Guadalajara, scores of congregants have been praying for García, who has led services there during the past four and a half years. A minister leading a service yesterday told the congregation to have faith that their leader will return soon.
Jesus Christ himself and his disciples also faced persecution, he said.
Church members in California told the Times that García is a target of a smear campaign designed to bring him down, as occurred with his deceased father and former church leader, Samuel Joaquin Flores, who was also the subject of child sex abuse allegations but never faced charges.
“He is a man of God,” said David Salazar. “It’s not true . . . It’s just meant to discredit him.”
Another church member, Francisco Lucas, said: “This is a living church, we are a spiritual church. We believe in justice. We are praying for God to do justice.”
Silem García, a spokesman for La Luz del Mundo, told reporters in Mexico City that the church and its congregants consider the accusations to be “defamatory” and false.
“We believe firmly in the innocence of the Apostle of Jesus Christ,” he said.
Ashley García, who is also a La Luz del Mundo spokesman, said in East Los Angeles that the church is confident that the legal system will find García innocent.
“The Apostle of Jesus Christ has always adhered to the law. . .He is the mouthpiece for God,” he said.
Founded in Mexico in 1926 by García’s grandfather, La Luz del Mundo has spread to more than 50 countries and has more than one million members.
The church – which doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter, segregates sexes during services, prohibits alcohol and doesn’t allow women to hold leadership positions – has been the subject of controversy for decades and described by critics as a cult that preys on the poor.
Andrew Chesnut, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the church is “too large to be considered a cult” but has been run as a “cult of personality.”
“García took on godlike roles, saying he couldn’t be judged, that he was like a king.”
Immigration agents and policy confront migrants yesterday in Chiapas.
Greater efforts to round up illegal migrants have nothing to do with the United States’ threat to levy a tariff on all Mexican imports, the president said today.
President López Obrador insisted at his morning press conference that an increase in migrant detentions by Mexican authorities is unrelated to United States President Donald Trump’s threat to levy a 5% tariff if Mexico does not reduce migration flows.
Yesterday, as Mexican and U.S. officials were about to begin talks over the tariff in Washington, Mexican forces intercepted a caravan of as many as 1,000 migrants after they crossed the border from Guatemala. About 600 were detained; the remainder escaped capture.
Responding to a question during his press conference about two migrants who were arrested, López Obrador asserted that his administration does not act at the behest of the U.S. government.
“There is no basis to this. We don’t behave like that; we base our actions on principles and ideals. I don’t know if there was an order of apprehension [in this case], but what I do know is that they were detained and turned over to the Attorney General’s Office.”
The president added that his administration is striving to respect human rights while enforcing its laws to discourage illegal immigration.
“One thing that should be known is that among these migrants are children, thousands of children, and unaccompanied children. This is a profound humanitarian crisis, and we cannot attend to it by just closing borders. It has to be addressed in terms of the origin of the social problem.”
The president said migrants are leaving their home countries to escape hunger, poverty and violence, and those causes must be addressed.
Mexico has stepped up detentions and deportations, setting up new checkpoints and conducting raids on hotels and guesthouses in Tapachula, Chiapas.
Advocacy groups have expressed concern about the increasingly militarized approach employed by the Mexican government to slow the flow of migrants.
U.S. authorities released statistics this week indicating that more than 144,000 undocumented migrants were arrested in May, the highest monthly total in 13 years and the third consecutive month in which detentions neared or exceeded 100,000.
More trees will grow in Mexico City under the mayor's new environmental plan.
Every home in Mexico City will have water service in six years’ time, a goal that is one of several in an ambitious new environmental plan presented yesterday by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.
She presented the CDMX 2019-2024 Environmental Program at an event to mark World Environment Day.
“Environmental issues are getting more and more relevant,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s because of degradation of the environment, which isn’t just happening in our country, but also around the world. A lot of the problems we have here, like air and river pollution, have been overcome in many other cities.”
The program will use an investment of 145 billion pesos (US $7.4 billion) over the next six years to reach a variety of environmental goals by the end of Sheinbaum’s term in 2024. The goals include reducing air pollution by 30% and planting 15 million trees around the city.
As part of working to improve water management issues, Sheinbaum also plans to rescue several of the city’s rivers.
“In the last 50 years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to building pipes around the water that flows through our city,” she said. “But now, we want to rescue the rivers that are still alive.”
She said work will be done on various rivers, including the Magdalena and San Buenaventura and the National Canal. Also, 50 wells in the eastern part of the city will be closed to reduce pressure on the aquifer.
Other goals include:
• Reducing the amount of solid waste by banning single-use plastics and promoting recycling. To help reach the goal of recycling 3,200 tonnes of waste per day, a new waste separation plant will be built in Azcapotzalco.
• Providing water service to every home. Between 20% and 30% of residents do not enjoy daily delivery of potable water.
• Improving public transit with the construction of 100 kilometers of corridors for the exclusive use of transit vehicles, four more Cablebús lines and four more for the Metrobús system.
• Constructing and installing solar water heaters and solar panels.
Sheinbaum said she hopes to leave Mexico City with six rivers, two bodies of water, 12 urban parks and forests when her term ends.
“We want the city we have in early June to be a different city by December of this year,” said Sheinbaum. “It’s a short-term goal, but we’re also thinking in the long term.”
Mexican and US officials at the table yesterday in Washington.
Talks have resumed in Washington today after Mexican officials failed to reach an agreement to stave off tariffs that United States President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on all Mexican goods.
Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard led a delegation that met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan at the White House yesterday afternoon.
Tweeting from Ireland, Trump said that “progress is being made but not nearly enough,” adding that “border arrests for May are at 133,000 because of Mexico and the Democrats in Congress refusing to budge on immigration reform.”
He said that if no agreement is reached, “tariffs at the 5% level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule.”
The U.S. president announced last week that the blanket tariffs will increase monthly by an additional 5% to a maximum of 25% if Mexico doesn’t take “action to dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of illegal aliens crossing its territory into the United States.”
Trump tweeted yesterday that “the higher the tariffs go, the higher the number of companies that will move back to the USA!”
Earlier Wednesday, he told reporters that he believed Mexico wanted to reach an agreement.
“I think they want to make a deal and they sent their top people to try to do it,” Trump said.
After the White House meeting, Ebrard told a press conference that discussions focused on migration rather than the impending tariffs, adding that he didn’t know how long the negotiations will take.
“We are optimistic because we had a good meeting with respectful positions from both parts,” the foreign secretary said. “We had an opportunity to explain our point of view.”
Ebrard said that while the United States is seeking to implement measures “immediately,” Mexico wants to take longer term steps to stem migration.
The White House has been vague about exactly what measures it wants Mexico to take but trade adviser Peter Navarro yesterday outlined three demands.
He told CNN that Mexico “could commit to taking all the asylum seekers and then applying Mexican laws, which are much stronger than ours.”
If migrants know that will be unable to enter the United States and have to remain in Mexico, migration flows will reduce to a “trickle,” Navarro said.
The official added that there needs to be a “strong commitment from the Mexican government” to better protect its border with Guatemala and that corruption at immigration checkpoints that allow migrants to continue their journey towards the United States border must stop.
“It’s the mordida, the bite, the corruption, the government officials who make money off this human trafficking, that has to stop . . .” Navarro said.
In May, more than 144,000 were arrested after illegally crossing the border or at ports of entry, according to statistics released yesterday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
It was the highest monthly figure in 13 years, CBP said, and a 32% increase compared to April.
In a Twitter post Sunday, Trump said that Mexico “could solve the border crisis in one day if they so desired” but there is skepticism on both sides of the border that all immigration into the United States via its southern border can be completely stopped.
“It shows a basic misunderstanding about the patterns of migration,” immigration expert Kevin Appleby told the New York Times.
“The Mexican government could take some steps. But there are going to be ways that migrants get to our border regardless of what the Mexicans do.”
There is also speculation that ratification of the new North American trade deal could be placed at risk.
Despite Ebrard’s optimism that a deal to stop the tariffs can be reached, the Mexican government is preparing a list of U.S. products to hit with retaliatory tariffs, officials told Reuters yesterday.
President López Obrador – who is pushing for investment in development projects in Central America to stem migration – said today that he will announce any retaliatory measures at an event in Tijuana Saturday that will celebrate the positive relationship between Mexico and the United States.
The car in which the driver died after it was swept into a drainage canal in León.
Yesterday was the rainiest day on record in the city of León, Guanajuato, since the city started recording rainfall in 1961.
Wednesday’s rainfall totaled 88.8 millimeters, breaking the record set on June 12, 2018, when 66.6 millimeters of rain fell over a period of 24 hours.
But yesterday’s record-breaking downpour took place over just seven hours between midnight and 7:00am, and represents 14% of the rain that was forecast to fall in all of 2019, according to Everardo Lozano Enríquez, head of hydrology at the municipality’s water and sewer department.
The weather claimed one casualty — a man drowned while trapped in his car after it was swept off the road into a drainage canal.
Lozano said the rain will likely continue, but with less intensity.
Children clear a plugged drain on a León street.
He explained that it was caused by low-pressure system in central Mexico, which could also likely lead to electrical storms in León in the days ahead.
The rains also dumped half a million cubic meters of water into the El Palote dam near León, but Lozano said there is no risk of the dam overflowing because it is only at 64% capacity.
Flooding is often caused by drains plugged with garbage, which was the case in León’s Colonia Santo Domingo. But a “crew” went to work to repair them.
About half a dozen children cleared at least five drain grates using their bare hands and a broom to allow the water to drain from the flooded streets.
Low-pressure systems extending through western and central Mexico are delivering rain in several states. The National Meteorological Service forecasts intense storms in Michoacán, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Chiapas and México state today, with less intense rain in 12 others.
On Tuesday, heavy rains caused a landslide in the municipality of Acultzingo in central Veracruz, injuring six people and damaging at least 60 houses. Rains in Mexico City yesterday knocked over six trees and flooded streets in the boroughs of Venustiano Carranza and Gustavo A. Madero.
A truck is almost completely submerged below an overpass in León.
López Obrador announced plans for a 'unity' event in Tijuana during this morning's press conference.
President López Obrador announced that he will convene an “act of unity” in Tijuana on Saturday “in defense of the dignity of Mexico and to support friendship with the people of the United States.”
He told his morning press conference on Thursday that the event will celebrate the positive relationship between Mexico and the United States in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods.
“We want a relationship of friendship with the people and government of the United States,” he said. “That’s our position, and to make it very clear that we want to maintain this friendship, we are going to have this event.”
López Obrador said he will announce retaliatory measures that his government will take if Trump follows through with his tariff threat.
“We’re going to state our position, which is going to take into account that we want to be a good neighbor to the United States, but at the same time we want to defend Mexico’s dignity,” he said. “We want to act with prudence, but also firmly defend our sovereignty.”
Mexican and U.S. negotiators resumed talks today over the imposition of a 5% tariff on all Mexican exports to the United States. If no deal is reached, the tariff will take effect on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government is preparing a list of U.S. products to hit with retaliatory tariffs, officials told Reuters on Wednesday. The products will be chosen to affect Trump’s electoral base. However, they specified that Mexico is not considering a tariff on corn, one of the main U.S. exports to Mexico.
President López Obrador has invited all the state governors to attend Saturday’s event in Tijuana, as well as state and federal legislators, judges, union leaders, religious leaders and business representatives.
The president also made it clear that although retaliatory measures are being prepared, he expects that negotiations will be successful.
“I hope an agreement is reached,” he said. “I am confident that there will be an agreement and that these unilateral measures won’t be applied next Monday.”
Fitch and Moody's delivered Mexico a double whammy.
Two ratings agencies delivered blows yesterday to Mexico’s financial standing.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Mexico’s sovereign debt rating to one notch above junk status, citing risks posed by the heavily-indebted state oil company and trade tensions, while Moody’s cut its outlook to negative.
The peso fell 1.3% on the news to trade at just above 19.5 to the US dollar at 9:00pm last night.
Fitch cut Mexico’s rating from BBB+ to BBB, stating that Pemex’s deteriorating credit profile posed an increased risk to public finances.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the agency said that it expects the government to continue to support the state company, which has largely external debt of US $106.7 billion.
“. . . As our base case expectation is that ongoing sovereign support will be extended to Pemex over the medium term through a combination of a lower tax burden and/or further capital injections, our assessment of the sovereign’s public finances is weaker . . .” Fitch said.
The ratings agency noted that Pemex’s tax bill exceeds its free cash flow, “preventing it from investing sufficiently to maintain production and reserves.”
Analysts have also warned that construction of the new US $8-billion refinery on the Tabasco coast will divert funds from Pemex’s profitable oil production and exploration business.
In addition to the Pemex concerns, Fitch said there is “ongoing weakness in the macroeconomic outlook, which is exacerbated by external threats from trade tensions, some domestic policy uncertainty and ongoing fiscal constraints.”
The ratings agency said that “growth continues to underperform, and downside risks are magnified by threats by U.S. President Trump to impose tariffs on Mexico from June 10.”
Trump announced last week that blanket tariffs that could rise to as high as 25% will remain in place until Mexico takes effective action to alleviate the “illegal migration crisis.”
Mexican officials, including Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, met with United States Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the White House yesterday but failed to reach a deal to stave off the tariffs. Talks will resume today.
Cutting its outlook for Mexico from stable to negative, Moody’s said “the Mexican government’s increasingly unpredictable policy-making is undermining investor confidence and medium-term growth prospects.”
Along with “changes in the role of Pemex in the context of Mexico’s energy policy, these factors threaten to push up debt in the coming years, thereby eroding the country’s fiscal strength,” it added.
Moody’s assessment of Mexico’s sovereign rating remains at investment grade A3.
The ratings agencies’ latest move on Mexico’s sovereign rating could increase pressure on Pemex’s own rating, Reuters said.
The company is already on the brink of losing investment grade after Fitch cut its credit rating to one notch above junk in January.
President López Obrador has been highly critical of ratings agencies, accusing them of hypocrisy for maintaining a “complicit silence” while previous governments implemented “neoliberal” policies that damaged Pemex and other state-owned companies.
This morning he said the economy is “going very well,” pledging growth and no increase to public debt during his administration.
“With all respect, the mistake by ratings agencies and financial experts is that they have applied the same methodology for three decades, one that was used during the neoliberal period and doesn’t take into account the corruption variable.
“So for that reason their forecasts won’t pan out . . .”
The president also said that the peso has been resilient and “we don’t have inflation problems.”
Gabriela Siller, head of economic analysis at financial group Banco Base, said that without a deal in Washington to stop the imposition of tariffs next week, the peso could fall to 20.1 to the dollar in the short term.
