Like the federal scientific agency Conacyt, a development bank owned by the Mexican government is enjoying expensive gourmet meals, as well as overpaying for some products, despite the government’s austerity measures.
According to the copy of a contract obtained by El Universal, Nacional Financiera, or Nafin, paid 2.79 million pesos (US $143,000) for catering services for its employees.
Five companies bid on the contract, which was awarded to Pigudi Gastronómico. It also provides catering to Conacyt.
The products Nafin acquired through Pigudi include smoked salmon at 1,496 pesos (US $76) per kilogram and serrano ham at 590 pesos US $30) per kilo. Pigudi also supplied the development bank with 350 six packs of domestic beer, all sold at a considerable markup over consumer prices.
Other delicacies included 14 kinds of cheese, “top-quality” low-gluten quinoa, prawns, chistora sausage and fresh Chilean salmon, washed down with Perrier mineral water (or beer).
The most expensive were six packs of Sol, for which Nafin paid 140.63 pesos each, 38% more than the beer costs in grocery stores.
So far in 2019, Pigudi has been awarded contracts to provide catering for three other government agencies in addition to Nafin and Conacyt: the National Free Textbook Commission, the Doctor Manuel Gea González General Hospital and the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs.
According to the Conacyt contract, obtained by El Universal last month, it pays 15.7 million pesos a month to Pigudi for a catering service that includes a chef and nutritionist.
The government of Guatemala has refuted a report published last week by the The Washington Post that said United States Homeland Security personnel would help Guatemalan border agents control the movement of migrants.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said his country would not accept troops from the U.S. or any other country.
“There have been proposals” regarding military cooperation on migration issues, he said, adding that “there has been some civilian and military cooperation [with the United States] but that is different from deploying troops.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Sandra Jovel said “there was confusion” and the only agreements reached with the United States were with regard to collaboration in fighting drug and human trafficking.
However, there are U.S. troops in Huehuetenango, working on infrastructure, health and education projects.
The Post report stated that the deployment of U.S. troops would focus on that region, which borders the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Huehuetenango has some of the highest emigration levels in Guatemala.
The Cuyutlán toll plaza: no more charge for passenger vehicles.
Tolls have been suspended for passenger vehicles on the Colima-Manzanillo highway by order of President López Obrador.
During a stop yesterday in Colima to kick-start several social programs aimed at students, the elderly, the disabled and unemployed youth, the president said he heard complaints about the tolls while he was campaigning for last year’ s election.
Commuters traveling from Almería to their jobs in Manzanillo have had to pay 130 pesos every day at the Cuyutlán toll plaza to travel just five kilometers.
” . . . I have news for you,” López Obrador said. “I asked the communications and transportation secretary . . . to talk to the concession holder . . . who agreed to stop charging vehicles traveling through that plaza.”
The president said the operator has a 60-year concession to operate the toll plaza, but there were “problems with complaints.”
López Obrador said he planned to talk with the concessionaire that same day and that starting Wednesday passenger vehicles would not pay tolls at Cuyutlán.
A federal judge has granted an injunction to former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya Austin, definitively suspending an arrest warrant issued for him.
Judge Luz María Ortega Tlapa ruled Wednesday that the crimes of which Lozoya is accused do not merit preventative incarceration, and that the former CEO may remain free until his trial ends.
Ortega also granted injunctions to members of Lozoya’s family, protecting them against any arrest warrants that may be issued relating to the case.
The warrant for Lozoya had been issued by another judge on May 26 in connection with Pemex’s 2014 purchase of a fertilizer plant from steelmaker Altos Hornos de México.
Ortega’s ruling does not protect Lozoya from arrest for other possible crimes.
Alonso Alcira, owner and president of Altos Hornos, was arrested on May 28 in Mallorca, Spain, and faces extradition to Mexico for charges relating to the fertilizer plant.
Pemex paid Altos Hornos US $475 million for the plant in 2014 as part of a strategy to promote domestic fertilizer production and reduce dependence on imports. But according to an investigation by the current government, the plant was worth no more than $50 million.
Bank accounts belonging to Lozoya and his family remain frozen, and Lozoya has been barred from holding public office for 10 years for failing to fully disclose information about his assets.
The new caravan of migrants that arrived today in Mexico.
The federal government has tightened security at Mexico’s southern border after pressure from United States President Donald Trump to do more to stop migration flows into the U.S., but authorities failed to stop a new migrant caravan entering the country on Wednesday.
As many as 1,000 Central Americans crossed the Rodolfo Robles international bridge between Tecún Umán, Guatemala, and Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, this morning, overwhelming immigration agents.
Other migrants who had already crossed the Suchiate river on rafts joined the caravan members and together they began the 30-kilometer journey to Tapachula.
But an operation by immigration agents and federal forces was set in motion late this morning just as Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard prepares to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an effort to persuade the U.S. to withdraw its plan to impose a 5% tariff on Mexican exports.
Forces have been deployed to Metapa, about 15 kilometers from Tapachula, where they intend to stop the caravan.
The newspaper Reforma reported that the caravan attracted members via an announcement on social media and left Honduras on June 1.
In recent days, the government has bolstered security at the border with Guatemala and set up additional highway checkpoints to stop migrants.
In Chiapas, the National Immigration Institute (INM) has installed at least 10 new checkpoints on the 140-kilometer stretch of highway between Tapachula and Pijijiapan, Reforma said.
Migrants who have entered Mexico illegally run the risk of detention and deportation if arrested.
Statistics show that both arrests and deportations have increased significantly in recent months and this month the INM has already reported the repatriation of 68 Cubans and 100 Hondurans, who were flown to San Pedro Sula in a Federal Police plane.
Following Trump’s announcement last week that he intends to place a 5% tariff on all Mexican exports to the United States to pressure Mexico to “take effective actions” to alleviate the “illegal migration crisis,” the military and police have also increased raids on cheap hotels and guesthouses in Tapachula as part of the strategy to arrest undocumented migrants.
The raids have generated fear and uncertainty among Central American, Cuban and African migrants currently staying in the city.
“So scary,” a Cuban migrant told the New York Times after a hotel raid last week. “The fear never goes away.”
US border arrests since 2000. CPB/the washington post
Military police are also guarding the Siglo XXI migrant detention center in Tapachula, where there have been several riots and mass escapes in recent months.
In Veracruz, Federal Police have been deployed to stop migrants from boarding northbound freight trains known collectively and colloquially as “La Bestia” (The Beast).
While the government has stressed that migrants’ human rights will be respected, advocacy groups warn that those rights are threatened by the increasingly militarized approach to combating people’s transit through Mexico.
“Raids and migration control operations have intensified along the entire [Chiapas] coast,” said an umbrella organization of human rights and migrant advocacy groups after they participated in an observation mission to southern Mexico.
“Immigration detention conditions have worsened [to a point that they] amount to forms of physical and psychological torture and other cruel treatments. We demand that the Mexican state comply with . . . its commitment to implement an immigration policy of respect for human rights and not repression.”
U.S. authorities today released statistics indicating that more than 144,000 undocumented migrants were arrested in May, up 32% compared to April. It was the highest monthly figure in 13 years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.
May was the third consecutive month in which arrests were near or over 100,000.
CBP officials said holding cells are “bursting at the seams” and the agency’s acting commissioner said they are in “a full-blown emergency . . . the system is broken.”
John Sanders said the CBP has detained more than 680,000 illegal migrants in the past eight months.
UPDATE, June 5, 5:04pm CDT:Security forces rounded up 600 of the migrants in Metapa at about noon today and transported them to an immigration office to review their legal situation. The rest of the caravan escaped capture.
A decree published on Tuesday by the federal government banned marriage for children under 18 in 31 out of 32 states.
The decree annulled certain laws that allowed local authorities and families to provide exceptions or consent for child marriages.
Exceptions to the ban can still be granted in Baja California.
The National System for Protection of Children and Adolescents (Sipinna) celebrated the decree, saying it will help protect the rights of children.
“This will help promote a cultural change to eradicate forced marriages,” read a statement by the organization.
Since its creation in 2015, Sipinna has been advocating for a ban on child marriage, making alliances with international and national civil society organizations.
As of 2016, marriage was legal for boys as young as 16 and girls as young as 14 in 24 states. In some of the 18 states where child marriage was banned, the law contained provisions for families or local authorities to grant exceptions.
Almost 1.3 million child marriages take place in Mexico every year, making it one of the 10 countries with the highest number of cases. According to Save the Children, one in every five Mexican women get married before their 18th birthday, 73% of whom do not finish school. Child marriages also put women and girls at higher risks of physical and sexual violence.
But pressure has been mounting to ban child marriage in recent years. In March, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on on the practice in Aguascalientes from a challenge to its constitutionality. On May 1, the Chamber of Deputies approved a measure to ban child marriage at the federal level with near unanimity.
Three weeks after issuing an emergency alert in Mexico City due to extremely high levels of air pollution, the Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis yesterday presented 14 proposals aimed at reducing contamination.
Commission chief Víctor Hugo Páramo said the proposed measures will help to reduce fine airborne particulate matter by between 12% and 14% and volatile organic compounds by 46% beginning in 2020.
He explained that during a one-month period members of the public can email their opinions about the measures or their own proposals.
Citizens’ responses will be taken into account during the development of the plan to improve air quality in the Valley of México metropolitan area, Páramo said.
The 14 proposals are:
1. Emissions reduction in the distribution and use of LP gas.
The mandatory use of low-emission valves in the distribution and storage of gas is proposed for 2020. A social awareness campaign will educate the public about how to check for gas leaks and make informed purchases of gas tanks.
2. Reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in household products.
Official emergency regulations will inform the public about the quantity of VOCs in different household cleaning products, personal hygiene products, paints and enamels. Rules will be established to ensure that the government only purchases products with low levels of VOCs.
3. Emissions controls at gas stations.
Inspections of gas stations will aim to detect and control evaporative gasoline emissions from fuel pumps. Gas stations will be supported to increase the efficiency of their control systems and a mechanism will be established to allow citizens to report stations where they have detected excessive gasoline odors.
4. Cleaner gasoline.
Authorities will modify existing regulations to ensure greater availability of low volatility gasoline between March and June, a period during which air quality in the capital and surrounding area tends to deteriorate.
5. Fire prevention.
As more than 60% of forest fires are the result of negligence, authorities will restrict controlled burns, including those for agricultural purposes, in the peak fire season of April and May.
6. Low emissions industry.
The use of natural gas and solar energy in local factories will be promoted and supported by authorities in the metropolitan area.
7. Environmentally-friendly public works.
Environmental and infrastructure authorities will collaborate to establish sustainable guidelines for the execution of public works. Machinery used in government infrastructure projects must be fitted with particle filters.
8. Crackdown on vehicle pollution.
Efforts to detect vehicles that are visibly polluting the air and to fine their drivers will be increased. Stricter circulation restrictions will be imposed on heavy vehicles and citizens will be encouraged to report sightings of vehicles that are in clear violation of emissions laws.
9. Stricter emissions limits for new cars.
New regulations will stipulate stricter emissions limits for new cars and provide incentives for the use of electric and hybrid vehicles.
10. Restrictions on the sale of motorcycles.
By the year 2021, it is proposed that all new motorcycles sold in Mexico City must meet European emissions standards.
11. Introduction of a new emissions verification scheme for vehicles.
Hybrid and electric vehicles will be issued with “ecological” license plates and all other vehicles will have to pass stricter emissions tests in order to be able to circulate without restrictions, or in the case of older cars, remain on the road.
12. Sustainable transportation.
Authorities will reduce the use of government vehicles on Fridays this year and car-pooling programs for public employees will be introduced next year. Incentives will be on offer for those who participate in car-pooling schemes.
13. Public transit expansion.
New bus lines are proposed for Mexico City and México state and a high percentage of public buses will undergo modification to make them more environmentally friendly. Extension of Line 12 of the Metro system is under consideration and more cycle paths and bike parking stations will be built.
14. Development of technology that helps to reduce emissions.
Authorities will call for the submission of proposals that utilize new technologies to help reduce contamination.
AMLO: scientists have been traveling all over the world.
President López Obrador warned researchers and scientists earlier this week that his government’s austerity measures mean that the days of “academic tourism” are over, but it turns out he was misinformed.
The president told reporters at his morning press conference on Monday that he has received more than 300 requests from public university academics asking for approval to travel overseas on the public purse.
In a May 3 memorandum, López Obrador said all overseas trips by government officials must be authorized by him and that allowances for approved travel had been cut by 50%.
On Monday, he said that scientists and researchers must be able to justify their proposed trips, charging that in the past academics traveled abroad largely for pleasure and that many of them flew in “classes above economy.”
The president added that a lot of international scientific work and collaboration can now be completed via the internet.
He called on the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) to draw up new protocols that stipulate in which cases overseas travel will be approved, adding that he will cede responsibility for authorization to the agency’s director.
“. . . Only those who really need to will travel, and they’ll do it for the benefit of science,” López Obrador said.
However, Conacyt said in a statement yesterday that researchers can indeed travel without presidential authorization as long as they do not hold management positions. The latter must seek approval from the head of the science agency.
The statement was released following a meeting between Conacyt director María Elena Álvarez-Buylla and Public Administration Secretary Irma Eréndira Sandoval Ballesteros to clarify the legal requirements for obtaining travel approval.
The issue has generated concern within the scientific community.
The former president of the Mexican Academy of Sciences said neither the president nor the federal cabinet was qualified to determine whether a researcher should travel.
“It seems the president has a lot of other things to attend to rather than review travel plans to decide if they are pertinent . . .” said José Franco, who said it was a shame that López Obrador was receiving distorted information.
A researcher at the National Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Investigation and Advanced Study posted a letter to social media in which she challenged López Obrador’s crackdown on travel for academic purposes.
“Mr. President, I understand that in this government the poor come first and that we must help millions of people who, because of the place . . . where they were born, didn’t have the same opportunities as other . . . people. We have to create study and work opportunities for those who didn’t or don’t have them. However, can you explain to me, why the malice towards those who did have them?” Eugenia Roldan wrote.
She said that when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was president of Brazil between 2003 and 2010, his government not only brought millions of people out of poverty but also significantly increased investment in higher education and research.
“Thousands of Brazilian researchers traveled to international conferences [and] created networks and research projects,” Roldan said before questioning why Mexicans can’t be afforded the same opportunities.
“Why in your government do those who had the opportunity to study have to be cut down, discredited and punished?”
President López Obrador today denied that the head of Mexico’s energy regulator — of whom the president was critical earlier this year — was pressured to quit.
Guillermo García Alcocer, president of the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), announced his resignation yesterday, writing in a letter to the Senate that “the maximum decision-making authority of the commission, the governing body, today has a new composition with a majority vision different to mine.”
He will officially step down on June 15.
López Obrador told reporters at his morning press conference that his government didn’t make any attempt to pressure García to quit.
However, he added that any officials who don’t share his administration’s vision for the country should – in an “act of honesty” – seek alternative employment.
“What’s not right is not to agree with the new project for the nation but to stay [in the government] just for the [perks of the] position,” López Obrador said.
Days later, Public Administration Secretary Irma Sandoval elaborated on the allegation, stating that a contract had been found for the transportation of natural gas that was awarded to a company at which a family member of García works. The CRE president has denied any wrongdoing.
Prior to López Obrador’s accusation, García had been critical of the candidates proposed by the president to fill four positions on the governing body of the CRE, stating that they lacked expertise in the electricity sector.
In his resignation letter, García said that “with my departure, I want to allow the [energy] sector to continue developing with the adjustments that are required . . . so that the common goal is reached: a dynamic energy sector with public and private participants, which sets the base for national development.”
López Obrador said he will present a short list of candidates to replace García this week and that he will also propose appointments to Pemex and Federal Electricity Commission councils.
The president said that his nominees will be “honest, nationalist . . . truly independent and close to the people.”
Critics of the government, including his former party, have accused López Obrador of attempting to concentrate his power by handpicking candidates to fill roles on independent government institutions.
The president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has identified violations by the new government in health and public security and charged that human rights don’t appear to be a priority for President López Obrador and his administration.
Luis Raúl González said the government’s austerity measures and its fight against corruption must not be allowed to hinder people’s ability to access public health care.
“It’s clear that the health sector presented serious challenges and deficiencies in 2018. However, the outlook with which 2019 has begun doesn’t allow us to infer that this situation could turn around in the current year,” González said yesterday while presenting the commission’s 2017-18 report.
The CNDH chief described evidence of the “worsening of the crisis” in the health sector as “worrying.”
Medical care must not be put at risk in efforts to control spending, combat corruption: commission chief.
“Nobody can be opposed to the public budget being allocated and exercised better, nor to acts of corruption being investigated and punished” but medical care must not be put at risk as a result.
He also that the government’s response to high levels of violent crime is inadequate, charging that a comprehensive and preventative public security strategy – rather than a reactive one – is needed.
Prevailing rates of violence against women, frequent attacks on journalists and human rights defenders, the escalating number of lynching cases, the continued occurrence of abductions and a worsening of violence towards prison staff, police and members of the armed forces serve as evidence of “the need to tackle the insecurity and violence crisis” with a “real strategy that prioritizes [crime] prevention and is not limited to . . an eminently reactive force as is the National Guard,” González said.
The human rights ombudsman charged that in the six months since the new government took office, “incidents, acts and oversights are beginning to accumulate that, seen as a whole, make us assume that” the respect of human rights is not a “premise” on which the government is based.
He claimed that the López Obrador administration is “not adopting pertinent measures” to confront the problems Mexico faces in a range of different areas including those within the realm of human rights.
“Hopefully respect for human dignity really finds a space and place within the policies, plans, programs and actions of the government . . .” González said.
“Criticism of civic groups and groups of journalists, and the need to avoid comments that divide or polarize people, are things that should be examined to ensure better protection for human rights,” he asserted.
López Obrador acknowledged today that he has polarized Mexico, stating that he had done so because not everyone agrees with his anti-corruption and anti-poverty measures.
He also said that the comments made by the CNDH president are valid and that his government would accept all the commission’s recommendations.
However, the president insisted that the defense of human rights is a fundamental premise of his government and pledged that any shortcomings will be rectified.
“. . .If there are things to do to comply with human rights recommendations, [to address] human rights violations, we’ll get up to speed, they’ll be dealt with . . .”
