Finance officials are accused of withholding resources for health sector.
Federal health authorities have blamed their failure to meet healthcare targets in the first half of the year on a delay in funding from the Secretariat of Finance (SHCP).
The Secretariat of Health said it didn’t achieve its goals in attending to the medical needs of highly marginalized sectors of the population due to a shortfall of resources.
Health authorities lacked funds to detect high-risk pregnancies, carry out pap tests and implement preventative measures against contagious diseases and chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
All told, healthcare targets weren’t met in half a dozen different areas in the first six months of 2019 due to “the delay in the authorization of resources” by the finance department, the Secretariat of Health said in a report sent to Congress.
The department also said that funding delays meant that no medications and medical supplies were purchased in the first half of the year for healthcare facilities in towns with populations lower than 2,500.
In addition, no new personnel were hired to work in mobile medical units that provide healthcare in the country’s most remote areas.
Restaurant patrons take cover in yesterday's shooting.
Two Israeli citizens with connections to organized crime were killed in a shooting at an upscale Mexico City shopping center on Wednesday afternoon.
The shooting took place when the two victims were eating in a restaurant in the Artz Pedregal shopping center in the Álvaro Obregón borough of the city. At 5:22pm, a man and a woman approached the victims and started shooting with pistols at close range.
One of the victims died at the scene, while the other died after being transferred to a hospital. While fleeing, the couple also shot and injured two other people, including a police officer.
The male shooter was able to get into a blue Nissan Versa and escape, while the female shooter, identified as 33-year-old Esperanza “N,” was arrested outside the mall. Police found a blond wig and a change of clothes that she had planned to use to aid her getaway.
After being arrested, Esperanza “N” told police that she had met one of the victims on social media and had started a relationship him. But when he became unfaithful to her, she decided to buy a handgun for 7,000 pesos and kill him.
The suspected who was arrested in the shooting at Artz Pedregal.
However, in a press conference on Thursday, Public Security Secretary Jesús Orta called Esperanza’s narrative “unsustainable.”
“The version of a crime of passion was the first story that the woman told the police,” he said. “However, as more investigation has been done, that narrative is not sustainable because of several pieces of evidence we have found.”
Orta added that police are looking for the male shooter, as well as another person the two shooters were seen talking to before the attack.
The victims were identified as Alon Azulay and Ben Sutji, both Israeli nationals. According to Israeli media, Sutji escaped in 2001 from an Israeli prison where he was serving a term for attempted murder. He is believed to have fled to Latin America to continue his criminal career, and was arrested in Venezuela and Mexico for drug trafficking.
Sutji is also an alleged associate of fellow Israeli Erez Akrishevsky, who Mexico extradited to Israel on Wednesday.
An image from the Canadian documentary about narcos in Playa del Carmen.
Armed forces and state police have arrested six suspected drug traffickers in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, including the alleged plaza chief of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The state Secretariat of Public Security said the arrests were made on June 29 in two separate incidents.
Quintana Roo police detained five men at 5:40am after stopping a vehicle near the Encanto Riviera Hotel in downtown Playa del Carmen.
An inspection of the vehicle uncovered three firearms, ammunition, 103 hits of crack cocaine, 13 packets of a substance believed to be cocaine, 100 packets of marijuana, mobile telephones and five two-way radios.
The alleged criminals, all of whom are believed to be members of the Sinaloa Cartel, were turned over to the federal Attorney General’s Office and will face firearms and drug trafficking charges.
Police arrested a sixth man at 6:00am in the Lol Ka Tun residential estate.
One of the men, Amid “N,” 37, is believed to be the local chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was once headed by convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Noting the police presence at his address, the suspect removed a firearm from his vehicle but officers were able to detain him regardless.
He too was turned over to federal authorities and will face charges that include homicide.
Announcing the arrests on Twitter, Quintana Roo security chief Alberto Capella said the six men are believed to have collaborated with Canadian television network CTV on a documentary called The Narco Riviera. The film was about drug cartels in Quintana Roo and aired in early April.
A man alleged to be Amid “N” gave an interview to the broadcaster at a Playa del Carmen safe house during which he admitted that he had committed murders.
Speaking about his earlier criminal life, he said in English, “I didn’t want to become like a big boss, I just wanted to make money.”
A new law went into effect on Wednesday in Toluca, the capital of México state, that punishes harassment such as catcalls and indecent touching with jail time.
But as with all laws old or new the question is, will it be enforced?
The law punishes such harassment with 24 hours of jail time for first-time offenders, and 36 hours for repeat offenders.
Alma, a young college student, told the newspaper El Universal that the law “sounds good on paper” but she is afraid it will not be enforced, and that the situation for women in Toluca will not improve.
According to a survey by the national statistics institute Inegi, 86% of Toluca residents feel unsafe, but women are more likely to fear for their physical safety.
Another survey found that 60% of Mexican women have been harassed in public spaces. One of them is Alma.
“People have said things to me on the street, but I try not to pay much attention,” she said. “One of my friends was touched on a bus, and that makes me really angry because sometimes us women get paralyzed by fear. This situation of gender violence makes me feel very angry, disgusted and powerless.”
Miriam, a teacher in Toluca, told El Universal that she thinks the law is a good idea.
“I think it’s good they’re going to be punished, because there’s a lot of harassment all around the city,” she said.
Last month, Mexico City lawmakers passed similar legislation making verbal sexual harassment an arrestable offense that can be punished with between 13 and 24 hours in jail or six to 12 hours of community service, as well as a fine of between 11 and 40 days’ wages.
Firearms from the United States are used in seven out of every 10 high-impact crimes committed in Mexico, according to the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE).
The SRE said in a briefing note that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice, has confirmed that most guns seized by Mexican authorities come from north of the border.
“Between fiscal years 2012 and 2017, Mexican authorities seized and sent to the ATF for verification a total of 98,654 weapons, of which 69,140 – in other words, 70% – were traced to an origin (manufacture or legal importation) in the United States,” the note said.
The SRE also said that various estimates show that more than 200,000 guns are smuggled into Mexico every year, and that the percentage of murders committed with firearms has been increasing for the past seven years.
“Victims of firearms trafficked from the United States are counted in their thousands. In 1997, only 15% of intentional homicides were committed with firearms. The percentage of intentional homicides in which firearms were used grew gradually. Since 2012, [the figure] has grown year by year to reach the current level of close to 70%,” the note said.
Considering that firearms sourced from the United States “feed” organized crime and given the magnitude of Mexico’s security problems, combating the illegal gun trade is a priority, the SRE said.
To that end, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard proposed to United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a meeting in Mexico City on Sunday that joint operations be carried out to stop the flow of weapons across the border.
The SRE said that firearms smuggled into Mexico are often bought at gun markets in the United States, where due to legislative loopholes it is not necessary to check whether purchasers have a criminal record.
It added that a second source of smuggled firearms are U.S. gun stores, where I.D. checks are carried out. However, gunrunners use third parties to make purchases, the SRE said.
Weapons stolen from gun stores and private owners also enter Mexico, the federal department said.
The SRE said that illegal arms trafficking has increased since the United States Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004.
The department explained that almost half of all weapons seized in Mexico that originated in the United States are semi-automatic pistols and rifles such as AK-47s and AR-15s, adding that most illegal weapons that cross into the country come from Texas, which shares borders with the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
Gun violence is a scourge in several states and Mexico is on track to record its most violent year in recent history.
There were 14,603 homicide cases in the first six months of 2019 and 17,138 murder victims, according to the National Public Security System.
In 2018, there were 33,341 homicide victims, the highest number since comparable records began being kept in 1997.
A 16th-century Mexico City home that Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés built for La Malinche, his indigenous interpreter, advisor and lover, will be saved from collapse.
Located in the neighborhood of Coyoacán, La Casa de la Malinche was built between 1521 and 1522 on the orders of Cortés, who lived there with his companion while a new city was being built on the ruins of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital.
Almost five centuries later, the adobe home is showing its age. It was also damaged in the powerful September 2017 earthquake that rattled central Mexico, and smaller subsequent quakes.
Current owner Rina Lazo, a renowned painter, opened the doors of her home to the newspaper Milenio to point out the damage sustained.
In a room formerly used as a studio by Lazo’s deceased husband, painter and print maker Arturo García Bustos, an enormous crack extends across one wall from ceiling to floor, Milenio said.
Lazo’s daughter, architect Rina García Lazo, explained that the constant passing of trucks transporting beer and soft drinks has caused the crack to increase in size.
Lazo’s bedroom also sustained quake damage, after which she decided to sleep at the other end of the home because she considers it slightly safer.
But despite the structural problems, all is not lost: the home is one of 279 historically significant buildings that will receive funding for restoration via the National Reconstruction Program.
Just under 3.3 million pesos (US $173,000) will be allocated to La Casa de la Malinche.
“Fortunately, that money will save this house because it’s continuing to sink,” Lazo said.
“Anyone who passes by on the sidewalk on the side of the garden can see the slope . . .” the 95-year-old artist added.
Arturo Balandrano, head of the cultural heritage department in the Secretariat of Culture, which is responsible for the reconstruction program, told Milenio that the home is part of an area where the original Spanish settlement was established in Coyoacán.
He explained that the “building was seriously affected because in that area, the soil has little resistance,” adding that its foundations need to be strengthened.
Balandrano said that the government will pay to fix the foundations but Lazo and her family will cover other repairs.
“. . . We’re all collaborating to maintain this heritage that is not just of the family [but also] of the residents of Coyoacán and all Mexicans,” he said.
Cortés and La Malinche – a Nahua woman who had a child with the conquistador and whose association with the Spanish led to her being labeled a traitor – and the two acclaimed artists are not the only luminaries to have lived in the Coyoacán home.
Lazo said that she and her husband bought the house from José Vasconcelos, a lawyer, philosopher, writer and former secretary of public education who was dubbed the “cultural caudillo” of the Mexican Revolution.
The artist explained that she and her husband were students of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo respectively, who lived in Coyoacán, and wanted to be close to their teachers.
Lazo said that she and García took out a 10-year bank loan and covered the down payment with money they obtained through their artistic work.
Salón Covadonga is an enormous domino-players' heaven.
It’s debatable as to what makes a proper Mexican cantina. Some are salons; some are bars. But in general, we’re talking about classic, large-scale rooms where you can kick back and borrow a set of dominoes from the bartender.
Here are seven of the best drinking halls in Mexico City.
Bar La Ópera
La Ópera first opened as a French bakery in 1876 – where the Torre Latino now stands. Opened in 1906 and operated as a traditional cantina until 1980, it is now more restaurant than traditional drinking hall.
Among the most luxe of Mexico City’s aged cantinas and one of the more historically permissive — it allowed women to join the men from the beginning — La Ópera has always catered to the cultural elite.
Centro Histórico’s home of opulence, La Ópera.
Famous as much for the bullet hole left in the ceiling by a failed attempt to assassinate Pancho Villa as for the always well-prepared Medi-Mexi cuisine, La Ópera’s classic mirrors, glossy eggshell ceilings and gilded molding make for a feeling of cozy decadence.
In the dining room, youngish posh men in suits mingle with older posh diners in hair from grey-blue to grey-purple and eyebrows from wooly push brooms to thinly penciled masterpieces – the wealthy retired or never had to bother retiring. At the bar it’s mostly tourists, national and international, which makes for easy conversation.
The service is attentive and helpful but not obtrusive, and the tomatillo salsa is served in sauciere dishes for a touch of class. The frequent live music leans toward old Europe and is usually quite good – a trio featuring stand-up bass, Spanish guitar and dulcimer on a recent visit sounded like a playful romp through the Pyrenees.
Av. 5 de Mayo 10, Centro Histórico, Mexico City. Monday – Saturday, 1:00pm – midnight; Sunday, 1:00pm-6:00pm
La Faena
The walls surrounding La Faena were built in 1753. So, the room feels ancient, though the bar didn’t open until 1959. Mexico City’s largest cantina is worth a visit for the décor alone. The immense hall with towering ceilings and peeling paintwork exudes a faded charm.
It’s a bullfighting museum of sorts, decorated with massive tattered bullfight-themed canvases that must be five meters across. The memorabilia was donated by the original Spanish owners.
Bullfighter mannequins, identified on plaques, gather dust behind glass. They look both tongue-in-cheek and sincerely homoerotic. The clientele are mostly young world music-leaning hipsters. But all are welcome.
Venustiano Carranza 49, Centro Histórico, Mexico City. Noon – 11:00pm (later on weekends); closed Wednesdays
La Riviera del Sur
One of the city’s many newfangled cantina concepts, La Riviera del Sur has nailed the ambience with a spacious dining room, glamorous — not too bright — lighting and a free-flowing party atmosphere.
The expansive Yucatecan menu is authentically delicious, with the cochinita pibil a favorite. The outdoor seating is romantic on a clear evening, and the staff is always helpful if your party doubles in size, as it inevitably seems to.
The romance is strong in the evening on Riviera del Sur’s sidewalk patio.
Chiapas 174, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. Monday – Sunday, 1;00pm – 2:00am
Cantina Tío Pepe
This real deal old-school cantina is located on the edge of Chinatown. Opened in 1890, it’s the oldest cantina in the city. At Tío Pepe, the urinal trough remains. On the patron side of the bar runs a sloped tile drain so, back in the day, patrons wouldn’t have to bother leaving the bar to answer nature’s call.
An engraved sign behind the bar reads: “The entrance of minors, women, and vendors is prohibited.” This, of course, is not the case anymore. But not much else has changed since the bar became Tío Pepe in 1890.
The original German beer-stein lanterns remain, and the liquor selection skews classic — Havana Club, J&B, Don Julio and Herradura. Ask to read a copy of the strikingly poetic history of the cantina to dive a bit deeper into its story.
Av. Independencia 26, Colonia Centro, Mexico City. Monday – Saturday, noon – 11:00pm
Montejo
Its position right on the edge of Colonia Escandón gives Montejo a strong neighborhood party vibe. It’s a multi-floored, pale-yellow monstrosity that somehow manages to feel close to cosy.
Montejo is a rum and Squirt or brandy and Coke kind of spot, with extensive tequila and mezcal selections. Locals from near and far tend to come for lunch, get to feeling fine, and stay ‘til closing.
Multiple groups of stringed, classic Mexican trios pass through daily, and the entire cantina joins in song. Montejo is the kind of place where you get noticed and make friends.
Av. Benjamín Franklin 261-A, Colonia Condesa, Mexico City. Monday – Saturday, 1:00pm – 2:00am
Cantina El Centenario
El Centenario feels delightfully old-school though it teeters slightly on the edge, which is nice to see in Condesa. Although the clientele is split equally between old-timers and youngsters, it’s the kind of place to live like they did back when it opened in 1948, with a shoeshine and copious tequila in the middle of the afternoon.
The white-shirted and black-vested waiters can get a bit cheeky and are fun to spar with. Tiled walls, a huge bull’s head and light sneaking through the small windows give it a cozy cave-like feel. Supposedly the menu is Spanish, but not very good. The “tortilla” pan omelet is served hot, but the nachos are topped with cold liquid cheese. Stick with the liquid lunch.
Av. Vicente Suárez 42, Colonia Condesa, Mexico City. Monday – Saturday, noon – midnight (later on weekends)
Salón Covadonga
Another classic Spanish/Mexican salon/cantina, Covadonga has been around since 1940. Daytime finds mostly old men playing dominoes with an eye to whatever game is on TV, while nighttime beckons the trendy.
The service can be delightfully bizarre. Many of the waiters have been on staff for decades, so expect some orders to be forgotten. Don’t be ashamed if you must wave them over.
The chicken caesar salad is tossed tableside, with raw egg and mustard. The waiter, having prepared the dressing far too soon, stands at his post, staring into space until the chicken arrives.
The mostly Asturian (Asturias, Spain) menu is quite good for a full meal or simple serrano ham and manchego cheese snack. The room is huge and perfect for large parties and late nights, despite the intense lighting.
Puebla 121, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City. Monday – Saturday, 1:00pm – 2:00am; Sunday 1:00pm – 7:00pm
Andy Hume is a Mexico City-based freelance writer. He writes regularly for Mexico News Daily.
Federal authorities are closing in on former Pemex boss Emilio Lozoya — his mother was arrested yesterday in Germany by Interpol agents.
Officials confirmed the arrest of Gilda Margarita Austin y Solís while on vacation with her grandchildren. She was arrested for money laundering in connection with the purchase of a house in Ixtapa, Guerrero.
The Attorney General’s Office said in a statement the arrest was due to Austin’s “probable responsibility in the commission of crimes involving operations using resources obtained from illicit sources and criminal association in the Odebrecht case.”
But Coello did not appear to be worried over the arrest.
“They just told me that she was arrested with the goal of extraditing her and that she will appear before a judge in Germany. These are not serious charges. She is a serious person; she was on vacation with her grandchildren — she wasn’t fleeing from the law.”
Inflation dropped to its lowest level in 2 1/2 years in the first half of July on the back of a moderate rise to consumer prices since the end of June.
The national statistics institute Inegi said today that the consumer price index (INPC) rose 0.27% in the first half of the month, bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.84% from 3.95% at the end of June.
The rate, the lowest since December 2016, is within the range targeted by the Bank of México, which aims for inflation of 3% give or take a percentage point.
A reduction in prices in a range of agricultural products helped keep the INPC down in the first half of July.
The price of grapes fell 19%, chayotes were 13% cheaper, the cost of tomatoes declined almost 6% and the value of eggs was 1% lower.
Hand creams, toys and board games, women’s t-shirts and blouses and LP gas were also cheaper in the first half of this month compared to the second half of June, although prices for none of those products fell by more than 2%.
Regular gasoline, which influences the prices of many other products, increased 0.47% during the first two weeks of July.
Oaxaca and Tabasco, where consumer prices rose by 0.68% and 0.57% respectively, recorded the biggest INPC increases in the country.
Aguascalientes, Nuevo León and Colima also saw prices rise by around double the national average of 0.27%.
With the annual inflation rate moving towards the central bank’s target and a slowdown of the economy, expectations are growing that the Bank of México will begin lowering interest rates from their current 10-year high of 8.25%.
A majority of banks polled by Citibanamex this week said they expect a cut in the first week of September.
However, even with lower inflation and an interest rate reduction, there is still skepticism that economic growth will improve.
“Price stability should be the consequence of economic growth” not the other way around, Eufemia Basilio Morales of the National Autonomous University’s Economic Research Institute told the newspaper El Economista.
The government shouldn’t think that the stabilization of prices will lead to economic expansion, she said.
Héctor Magaña Rodríguez, head of the Economic and Business Research Center at Tec. de Monterrey, said that an interest rate cut “could still not be enough to cause a significant reduction in the cost of credit,” both for consumers and business.
The stabilization of prices is a good sign but at least in the short term it will be insufficient to influence general economic behavior, he said.
The economist explained there are other internal and external issues that must be addressed in order to remedy the slowing economy.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its 2019 growth forecast for the Mexican economy to 0.9% from 1.6% yesterday, citing weak investment and slowing private consumption as a result of “policy uncertainty, weakening confidence and rising borrowing costs.”
Security Secretary Godoy was one of four victims in today's helicopter crash.
Michoacán’s head of public security was killed in a helicopter crash Wednesday morning in mountainous terrain in Villa Madero.
Martín Godoy Castro was traveling from Morelia to Huetamo with the regional head of the Seguro Popular health service, Germán Ortega. He and two pilots also perished in the accident.
The helicopter left Morelia at 8:00am but lost contact with air traffic controllers at 10:00am as it flew over San Diego Curucupatzeo. After locating the aircraft later near Villa Madero, officials said recovery efforts may be complicated by the crash site’s location high in the mountains.
Milenio Televisión reported that one of the pilots had extensive experience and had worked for the Secretariat of Public Security for at least three years, leading authorities to believe that the accident was likely caused by a mechanical failure.
Alhough officials did not mention the possibility of sabotage and Godoy Castro had not received any recent threats against him, Governor Silvano Aureoles said a full investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the crash.
Godoy’s death comes as Michoacán is experiencing a surge in homicides and other violent crime.
He is the third politician to die in a helicopter crash in the last seven months. The newly-elected governor of Puebla, Martha Érika Alonso, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle were killed in a crash in Puebla on December 24.
