State takes over policing in high-crime Nuevo León municipalities

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July 26, 2019

State police roll into Cadereyta Thursday evening.

The Nuevo León government has temporarily taken over policing duties in two municipalities plagued by violent crime.

Decrees published yesterday announced that state police would immediately assume control of Cadereyta Jiménez and Juárez for a period of 30 days, although the takeover could be extended if conditions don’t improve.

The government said that the mayors of the bordering municipalities, located on the eastern outskirts of the state capital Monterrey, requested the intervention.

There were 30 homicides in Cadereyta in the first six months of the year, an 87.5% increase over the 16 murders in the same period last year.

It was even worse in Juárez. Homicide figures surged 377% in the first half of 2019, when there were 62 homicides compared to 13 in the same period of 2018.

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Residents of both municipalities welcomed news of the state police takeover.

“It will do us good,” Armando de Léon, a member of the Cadereyta Citizens’ Council, told the newspaper El Norte.

“. . . The authorities we have here cannot combat crime, they simply don’t have enough units . . .”

Salomé Álvarez said state police should have a permanent presence in Cadereyta due to the high levels of crime.

“There is insecurity every day, bank robberies and gun violence towards people in their businesses,” she said. “It’s not a simple war between organized crime groups, citizens are being assaulted.”

Cadereyta Mayor Ernesto Quintanilla said in an interview that the municipality is short 80 police officers but added that a recruitment drive is underway.

Rubén Cantú, a hardware store owner in Juárez, agreed that support from state police is needed.

“. . . we have to go out to work, [but] you always walk with fear,” he said.

Restaurateur Alonso Cuevas said Juárez municipal police were not doing their job well and hadn’t developed a close relationship with citizens.

He expressed confidence that the security situation “can be corrected” with the arrival of state police.

Meanwhile, security authorities from Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Coahuila are meeting today to discuss security issues in the northeast of the country.

The three states signed an agreement late last month to cooperate on security matters and according to Coahuila Interior Secretary José María Fraustro Siller, the pact is already yielding good results.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Norte (sp), El Sol de la Laguna (sp)

Oaxaca land disputes complicate delivery of government programs

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Simon Schatzberg

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July 26, 2019

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No peace in the valley: community representatives sign an accord that didn't last long.

A government program to pave rural roads in the state of Oaxaca that has been promoted by President López Obrador is facing obstacles as a result of ongoing territorial conflicts.

One of the disputes has been going on for decades between the indigenous Mixe communities of Quetzaltepec and San Juan Bosco Chuxnaban in the northern sierra. It left four people dead in 2018.

However, the federal government chose Quetzaltepec to be one of the first 50 communities in Oaxaca to have its municipal seat connected by a paved road.

In order to receive the federal support, Quetzaltepec and Chuxnaban started a peace process organized by the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI).

But according to residents of the latter, the community of Quetzaltepec is not respecting the agreement, and continues to occupy the disputed area.

“It was all a show to get the paved road to the municipal seat,” one resident of Chuxnaban told the newspaper El Universal.

INPI indigenous rights coordinator Hugo Aguilar told El Universal that in addition to the Quetzaltepec case, the paved roads program has been delayed by a post-electoral conflict in San Juan Ozolotepec and a territorial dispute between Santa María Ecatepec and San Lucas Ixcontepec, both in the southern sierra.

The latter led to the murder of 13 Ecatepec residents in July 2018.

Aguilar said the goal of the paved roads program is not to heighten the conflicts but to help resolve them.

“The instructions we have are that the program shouldn’t generate more conflicts,” he said. “When we detect a conflict area, we prefer to suspend the program and start a peace process.”

This year, at least three peace agreements mediated by state and federal governments have been broken in Oaxaca.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Internet down after farmers burn off fields, damage fiber optic cables

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Madison Koen

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July 26, 2019

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Internet service was interrupted in many parts of Mexico yesterday after fiber optic cables were damaged by fire.

Telmex informed users late yesterday afternoon that the company had restored full internet connectivity after interruptions began to occur about 3:00pm CDT.

The company explained that the connectivity problems occurred when farmers were burning off fields in San Luis Potosí and Sinaloa, causing damage to fiber optic cables.

Mexico’s largest cities were among those most affected, including Guadalajara, Mérida, Puebla, Querétaro, Monterrey, Tijuana, Aguascalientes, Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Mexico City. Telcel customers in some regions also had problems connecting to the internet on their cellphones.

Telmex said it would take legal action against the offenders.

“Telmex will begin the appropriate legal proceedings against those responsible for disrupting the communications network and we reiterate our promise to offer the very best service to our customers.”

The practice of burning off fields was blamed for two major electricity outages on the Yucatán peninsula in March and April.

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

Environment department gives green light to Santa Lucía airport project

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MND Staff

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July 26, 2019

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Artist's conception of the Santa Lucía airport.

The Secretariat of the Environment (Semarnat) has granted conditional approval for the Santa Lucía airport but a group opposed to the project argues that construction cannot yet begin because other studies remain outstanding and injunctions it obtained are still in force.

Semarnat announced yesterday that it had approved the environmental impact statement for the US $4.1-billion project, which will be built by the Secretariat of Defense (Sedena) at the Santa Lucía Air Force Base in México state.

The department determined that the project will not compromise ecosystems in the area nor will it generate impacts that upset the ecological balance as long as environmental protection measures are put in place.

The authorization is valid for a period of 33 years during which four stages of the project are planned. Completion of the first stage, which will allow the airport to open, is scheduled for 2022.

Before construction can begin, Semarnat said that Sedena must prepare a range of preventative measures that will avoid negative impacts on the environment or reduce those impacts to a minimum.

They include programs to rescue and relocate flora and fauna, observe the project’s effects on birdlife, mitigate contamination of the nearby Zumpango lagoon, manage waste and monitor air quality.

To alleviate concerns that the construction and operation of the airport will threaten the local water supply, Sedena says that it will truck water in from Hidalgo during the first stage while during the latter, supply will be via an aqueduct from the Mezquital valley in the same state.

Semarnat said the defense department must also establish an environmental monitoring committee whose members will include academic institutions and state and municipal governments.

But after Semarnat’s announcement, the #NoMásDerroches (No More Waste) Collective, made up of civil society organization, law firms and more than 100 citizens, warned that environmental authorization “is only one of numerous requirements” established by the federal judiciary that must be met before construction of the airport can begin.

The group explained that 11 suspension orders against the project remain valid.

“Construction can’t be started until the safety, aeronautic viability, economic analysis, cultural [and] archaeological studies have been complied with . . .” said Gerardo Carrasco, director of litigation strategy at Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, one of the collective’s members.

The lawyer said it was unclear how long it might take for those studies to be completed.

“. . . What’s relevant at the moment is that suspensions by several courts are in force and construction of the airport can’t start even though the environmental issue has been approved. Semarnat can’t hand down rulings in other matters . . .” Carrasco said.

“We maintain that from an economic and technical point of view it’s not viable to build an airport at Santa Lucía. The most appropriate thing to protect the Mexican economy is to resume the work at Texcoco . . .” he added.

The #NoMásDerroches Collective filed a total of 147 injunction requests that could hold up or threaten construction of the new airport.

In addition to winning injunctions against the Santa Lucía project, the collective last month obtained an order that instructs federal authorities not to make any changes to the site of the partially built abandoned airport in Texcoco, also in México state.

Carrasco said at the time that “we believe that it’s legally possible to raise Texcoco again.”

Following a legally questionable public consultation last October, President López Obrador canceled the previous government’s signature infrastructure project on the grounds that it was corrupt, too expensive, not needed and being built on land that was sinking.

He says the Santa Lucía project will solve congestion problems at the current Mexico City airport more quickly and will cost much less than the previous government’s plan.

The president said today that the government will respect the legal process to have the injunctions against the project lifted but nevertheless called on the judiciary to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

“. . . Justice should be prompt . . . because we’re being held up . . . and we want to start,” López Obrador said.

“. . . Maybe what our opponents want is for us not to carry out [the project] in a timely manner but we’re going to achieve it . . [while] respecting the whole legal process.”

Source: El Economista (sp), Contra Réplica (sp)

Students protest in Mexico City against university entrance exams

By

Simon Schatzberg

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July 26, 2019

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Protesting students with sign that reads 'Mexico lacks universities.'

At least 200 students protested Thursday night in Mexico City to demand that President López Obrador fulfill a campaign promise to abolish university entrance exams.

The protesters were members of at least three different groups of students who have been rejected by schools of higher education.

They demanded in a statement that the federal government find a solution for more than 250,000 young people who have been turned away.

“Since before his election campaign, the current president promised that his government would improve education, and that it would even eliminate university entrance exams,” read the statement. “However, today, we are facing indifference from functionaries who are refusing to negotiate with the students.”

The statement also said that government initiatives like the Benito Juárez García schools, the Rosario Castellanos Higher Education Institute and the Zero Rejects program, which will open up 51,000 spots for students in technological and private universities in Mexico City, México state, Hidalgo and Morelos, are insufficient to address the problem.

“Those schools might be a good option for some people, but they don’t cover the huge demand of more than 250,000 young people who want to get a higher education,” the statement reads. “Also, using the phrase Zero Rejects is just a media affirmation, a copy of what former administrations did, by offering scholarships for private and technical schools.”

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

Battle over cockfights heats up in Oaxaca as lawmakers consider ban

By

Madison Koen

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July 25, 2019

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The cockfight debate has moved to Oaxaca.

The debate over cockfighting and other blood sports has moved into Oaxaca, where lawmakers are considering an animal protection bill that would ban cockfights and bullfights and restrict the sale of some animals.

The measure, which is being encouraged by animal rights activists, would punish offenders with sizeable fines and even jail time.

But opponents of the bill, who gathered yesterday at the state Congress building, argue that its approval will criminalize their only means of making a living. Many also complain that the bill constitutes aggression against community traditions.

Josué Ramírez Luis, a member of a rooster breeders’ association, warned that the law would criminalize several of the principal activities of livestock breeders and farmers in Oaxaca and could have serious repercussions for the state’s economy.

“We are making our presence felt [in Congress] to prevent this law from affecting our traditions and way of life.”

The head of the congressional committee considering the bill, César Morales, reassured the protesters that the committee would conduct a thorough consultation before taking action on the bill.

“This won’t be presented to legislators until all the involved parties have been taken into account; this won’t be forced [on anyone].”

In response to the reception given to cockfighting supporters, animal rights activists threatened a counter protest. The Animal Protection Society demanded that lawmakers create a legal framework with harsh penalties for torture and mistreatment of animals, control the population of owner-less dogs and implement measures to create a culture of respect toward animals and wildlife.

The activists also urged legislators to revoke licenses for spectacles that exploit animals, including zoos, circuses, rodeos and fairs and to retract trophy hunting permits.

They said that several municipalities in central Oaxaca use especially cruel practices to kill street dogs, including electrocution and poisoning, while the same authorities permit the overpopulation and exploitation of farm animals.

If the Oaxaca Congress approves the bill, the state would become the fifth in Mexico to ban bullfighting after Sonora, Guerrero and Coahuila and Quintana Roo, and the third to outlaw cockfighting after Veracruz and Quintana Roo.

Meanwhile, bullfighting in Aguascalientes, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Querétaro, Tlaxcala and Zacatecas and cockfighting in Puebla, Tlaxcala and México state have the status of “intangible cultural heritage.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Budget cuts are a serious threat to future of Mexican research: scientists

By

MND Staff

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July 25, 2019

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López Obrador and Conacyt chief Álvarez-Buylla.

Scientists have described the government’s cuts to federally funded laboratories and scientific institutes as a serious threat to the future of Mexican research.

As part of wider austerity measures, the López Obrador administration reduced scientific organizations’ budgets for fuel and office supplies by 30% and cut the funds available for international travel and the hiring of contract workers by 50%.

The National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) saw its funding cut by 12% in the 2019 budget, although the total amount of resources allocated to science, technology and innovation across all federal agencies increased slightly.

Still, scientists are concerned about the direction in which the government is heading.

José Luis Morán López, a physicist at the Institute for Scientific and Technological Research of San Luis Potosí (IPICYT) and president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, told Science Magazine that “a general atmosphere of pessimism” has pervaded the scientific community.

Biophysicist Marcia Hiriart Urdanivia of the National Autonomous University said that “science has never been very well supported in Mexico” but the current situation “could be fatal.”

Many scientists are supportive of President López Obrador’s crackdown on corruption and want to help him achieve his so-called fourth transformation.

But Fabián Rosales Ortega, an astronomer at the National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE), charged that “to do that, we need resources.”

He explained that INAOE had to fire 20 experienced support staff and cut expenses related to travel, including to its own telescopes and observatories.

Other public researchers told Science that cuts to laboratories were made without considering their unique needs.

For example, Morán López said that electricity restrictions make it difficult for IPICYT to operate its supercomputer.

Many scientists say that declining government funding will make researchers more dependent on foreign grants and greater numbers will likely seek opportunities abroad.

In the face of the criticism, Conacyt director Elena Álvarez-Buylla defended the austerity measures, stating that their aim is not to hamper the work of scientists but rather address inefficiencies in the country’s scientific system.

But scientists are not convinced and have pointed to the president’s rhetoric as evidence that their profession is under attack.

In February, López Obrador said that there are “mafias” within the scientific community, while last month he warned researchers and scientists that the days of “academic tourism” are over, charging that a lot of international scientific work and collaboration can now be completed via the internet.

But Álvarez-Buylla clarified that “in no way is travel necessary to perform substantial research work prohibited” and said that the “mafias” comment referred to high-ranking officials that worked at Conacyt in past administrations.

The government said in February that billions of pesos have been embezzled by Conacyt through its scholarship and grant programs.

But under her administration, Álvarez-Buylla claims that the agency is back on track.

She pointed out that Conacyt, Mexico’s principal research granting agency, has allocated resources to nearly 500 projects that applied for funding during the previous government but were unsuccessful.

Researchers say that it is unusual that Conacyt has not yet offered basic science grants this year but according to Álvarez-Buylla, an application period for such grants will open “in the coming weeks” and a total of 500 million pesos (US $26.3 million) will be up for grabs.

On last week’s 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing it was recalled that the Conacyt chief described the event as “useless” during a conference in 2015.

Source: Science (en)

Misbehavior implies independence, says publisher in reply to AMLO

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MND Staff

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July 25, 2019

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Two days after President López Obrador accused the news magazine Proceso of not behaving well with his government, its publisher responded that if misbehavior implied being independent, the claim was true.

“If that’s the parameter, then Proceso has behaved badly since its foundation in 1976,” Rafael Rodríguez Castañeda told the television program La Nota Dura.

“If that implies being independent of political power, the power that any party of any ideology exercises, then Proceso has misbehaved . . .” he said.

López Obrador told a press conference Monday that Proceso, a left-wing magazine, “hasn’t behaved well with us” but added that his assertion was “not a criticism.”

When a Proceso reporter pointed out that it was not the role of the media to behave well with anyone, the president replied:

“No, but we’re seeking a transformation and all the good journalists in history have always bet on transformations . . . The best journalists . . . in Mexico’s history, those of the restored republic [a period in the second half of the 19th century after the fall of the Second Mexican Empire], all of them took sides.

“It’s very comfortable to say, ‘I’m independent or journalism doesn’t have to take sides and bet on the transformation.’ In that case, [journalism] is nothing more than analyzing reality, criticizing reality, but not transforming it.”

Responding to López Obrador’s remarks, Rodríguez said that his view is that the role of journalism is “to inform, reveal, uncloak circumstance [and] establish what is closest to the truth.”

However, he added that its most important task is to “bring to light the deficiencies of the social and governmental structure.”

That, the publisher acknowledged, “implies offending” those who are responsible for the deficiencies.

“Andrés Manuel López Obrador is wrong, his knowledge about journalism is not strong enough, not solid enough” Rodríguez said, adding that speaking about the conduct of journalists in the distant past isn’t valid “because the country and society are completely different.”

The publisher said that Proceso rejects the president’s claim that news outlets should support the government as it undertakes its so-called fourth transformation.

“. . . We don’t have to accompany anyone during any transformation,” Rodríguez said.

López Obrador’s attack on Proceso is not the first time that he has taken aim at a media organization that has been critical of his government.

He has launched several broadsides at Reforma and frequently accuses the Mexico City newspaper of being prensa fifi (elitist press).

Source: El Financiero (sp), Nación 321 (sp)

Nissan pickup replaces the Tsuru as Mexico’s most-stolen vehicle

By

Madison Koen

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July 25, 2019

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Nissan's NP300 is the favorite among car-jackers.

After a 10-year run of having the distinction of being Mexico’s most-stolen vehicle, the Nissan Tsuru has had to take a back seat to the brand’s NP300 pickup, according to the Association of Mexican Insurance Companies (AMIS).

Thieves stole 5,554 NP300s and 5,260 Tsurus in the 12-month period ending June 30.

Hot on the Tsuru’s bumper was the Nissan Versa, of which 3,864 were stolen, followed by the General Motors Aveo — 2,859, and Kenworth trucks — 1,765.

Association general manager Recaredo Arias highlighted that of the 10 most stolen vehicles, four are produced by Nissan. The brand represents 18% of all vehicles reported stolen in the 12-month period, a total of 16,605 units.

“Nissan takes gold, silver and bronze . . . The Tsuru was finally displaced, after 10 years, by another Nissan . . . As you know, they don’t make [the Tsuru] anymore, but it continues to be stolen for parts.”

Arias also highlighted the theft of tractor-trailers, fifth-place Kenworth and 13th-place Freightliner, “which is pretty alarming.”

There were 91,000 vehicles stolen during the year, down slightly from the previous period.

México state motorists were most at risk of having their wheels stolen, although the nearly 25,000 thefts were down 7%.

Tabasco saw a 19% decline and Veracruz 11%.

On the other hand, thefts were up 16% in Puebla and 6% in Jalisco.

Mexico City remained consistent with 10,498 vehicles reported stolen, one fewer than the previous period.

According to AMIS, the total economic cost of vehicle theft was as much as 16 billion pesos (US $840 million).

The association’s figures apply only to vehicles carrying insurance, which is about three in 10 vehicles on the road in Mexico.

Source: Milenio (sp), Forbes México (sp)

Huachicoleros in La Paz tap water lines, not pipelines

By

Simon Schatzberg

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July 25, 2019

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There are huachicoleros at work in La Paz, Baja California Sur, but they’re not stealing oil — they are taking water with illegal taps into the municipality’s water lines.

Officials have detected 516 such taps, most of which are in a few developments on the city’s south side.

Mario Ramón Gálvez Gámez, director of water services, likened the theft of water to fuel theft from petroleum pipelines, a practice known as huachicoleo, a term derived from huachicol, slang for adulterated gasoline.

“We looked over everything and we found 516 clandestine taps, and now we’re looking in to how we want to go forward with the issue, because we need to understand the situation,” he said. “We’ve been talking to developers to make sure they understand the issue.”

Most of the taps illegally direct water from the city’s grid to newly-built houses, a practice Gálvez called “a constant with developments.” After the houses are sold, the new residents receive water without having a contract or regularized service from the city.

Gálvez warned people who live in such houses to get contracts and pay for their water service.

“. . . the buyer has the obligation to regularize the contract shortly after the purchase, and to put their name down and pay regularly. If they don’t, but they still have water, we consider that a clandestine tap.”

Gálvez added that the freeloaders are hurting other residents of the city who do pay for their water.

Source: BCS Noticias (sp)