US began construction of three new consulates this month

By

-

May 30, 2019

Artist's conception of the new US Consulate in Guadalajara.

The United States is investing more than US $1.5 billion to build a new embassy and several consulates in Mexico including three whose construction started this month.

Diplomatic staff and officials from the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations held groundbreaking ceremonies during May at sites in Guadalajara, Jalisco; Hermosillo, Sonora; and Nogales, Sonora.

Construction of the new $374-million four-story, energy-efficient consulate in Guadalajara began in the middle of the month.

Consul General Robin Matthewman said the facility in the west of the Jalisco capital will have the capacity to attend to 2,000 people per day.

“The new consulate will demonstrate the importance that the United States gives to the strong political, economic and personal ties that have grown between our countries over time,” she said.

The $230-million consulate in Hermosillo and the $211-million facility in Nogales are both expected to be completed in 2022. Their construction will generate 750 jobs for local workers.

All three new consulates will be high-security facilities equipped with cutting-edge technology.

Commencement of the three new projects follows the beginning of construction in February last year of a new embassy in the Mexico City neighborhood of Nuevo Polanco. It is also expected to open in 2022.

In a series of Twitter posts today, the United States Embassy in Mexico also noted that new consulates opened in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, this month, and in Nuevo Laredo in the same state in April 2018.

Construction of another new consulate in Mérida, Yucatán, is expected to begin next year.

“In total, these projects represent investment greater than $1.5 billion in the Mexican economy through contracts with builders, suppliers and workers,” the embassy said.

“These new diplomatic facilities incorporate design concepts that pay tribute to Mexican and American architectural traditions and include art installations that represent our shared border, history and culture and celebrate our long-lasting friendship and association with Mexico.”

Source: El Economista (sp)

OperaMaya’s summer music festival under way in Cancún

By

Madison Koen

-

May 30, 2019

0

The Angelos State University String Quartet will be among the festival's performers.

The ninth edition of OperaMaya’s International Summer Music Festival opened this week in Cancún.

The festival got under way on Monday and is offering a series of eight concerts in Cancún’s Dos Playas Hotel as well as two more in Valladolid, another in Puerto Morelos and one more at the Cobá archaeological site before it closes June 10.

The event, which in previous years has been held in various locations, will feature opera, symphony, chamber and Mexican music performances from more than 50 artists hailing from South Korea, Poland, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, China, Canada and Austria, including the Angelo State University String Quartet, Piotr Wisniewski, Joanna Ruszala, Simón Kyung Lee, Kathleen Maurer, James Jeffery, John Irish and Fragner Magrinelli.

In addition to the concert series, the festival will also feature a reunion for professors from the Quintana Roo Mayan Intercultural University and the festival participants, as well as a sponsored cultural exchange between the festival’s featured musicians and artists.

Festival director and celebrated soprano Mary Grogan explained that the goal of the event is to celebrate and raise awareness of Mayan culture, not just as an element of an ancient society, but as a relevant expression of a modern people.

“Foreigners are very interested in learning their language and we believe that through music we can invite people to participate in their culture and language.”

Grogan added that the name of this year’s festival series, “Dignificada” (meaning “dignified” in Spanish), came from singer-songwriter Lila Downs’ tribute to Digna Ochoa, a Mexican human rights lawyer who was murdered in 2001 in Mexico City for her activism on behalf of peasants in Guerrero.

“We are celebrating, as the name says, the dignity that we all have, especially women. We are honoring their lives and the sacrifices they have made.”

Miguel Cortés, manager of the Dos Playas Hotel, said the festival is a unique opportunity to experience world-class music.

“This is an experience of life and of exchange . . . [the musicians] are coming to give us the gift of their art.”

A full schedule of performances and events can be found on the OperaMaya website.

Source: SIPSE (sp), Luces del Siglo (sp)

Bus collides with truck on Durango-Mazatlán highway, killing 5

By

César Hernández

-

May 30, 2019

0

This morning's accident on the Mazatlán-Durango highway.

The Mazatlán-Durango highway was closed this morning after a bus collided with a truck, killing five people and injuring 21 others.

The Futura line bus, which was traveling from Monterrey, Nuevo León, to Los Mochis, Sinaloa, with 38 passengers aboard, plowed into the back of a stationary truck at the 133-kilometer mark.

The truck, carrying a load of lumber, had stopped due to a mechanical problem and was occupying at least half the lane.

State Civil Protection authorities said three of the victims were transported via air ambulance to Durango city hospitals due to the severity of their injuries.

The accident occurred at 8:00am at the Neverías bridge.

The Federal Highways and Bridges Agency had issued a warning 10 minutes before that there was fog on the highway and urged drivers to turn on their headlight and reduce their speed.

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

High-impact crime soars in Morelos: extortion leads with 705% surge

By

MND Staff

-

May 30, 2019

0

There aren't enough police in Morelos, says security commissioner.

The incidence of high-impact crimes soared in Morelos in the first four months of the year, the worst being extortion, which skyrocketed by 705%.

According to data compiled by the security consulting firm GLAC, kidnappings surged by 158%, intentional homicides rose by 39% and theft of auto parts increased by 24%.

The statistics are bad news for Cuauhtémoc Blanco, a former soccer star and mayor of Cuernavaca who became Morelos governor on October 1, 2018.

In sheer numbers, there were 57 reported cases of extortion between January and April, 26 kidnappings, 313 intentional homicides and 690 auto parts robberies.

In the same period a year ago, when Graco Ramírez was governor, just seven cases of extortion and 10 kidnappings were reported.

Under Blanco’s administration, 86.4% of residents believe that the central Mexican state is unsafe, the GLAC Index indicated. Statistics show that homicides increased in the state capital while Blanco was mayor, between 2016 and 2018.

Referring to the governor’s ascension to the top job earlier this month, activist Javier Sicilia observed that the state had replaced the corrupt with the inept.

“Graco Ramírez was bad and it seems that this one [Blanco] is going to be worse,” he said.

According to the state security commissioner, organized crime groups are responsible for most of the murders and other high-impact crimes in Morelos.

José Antonio Ortiz Guarneros said that five gangs operate in the state: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Los Rojos, La Familia Michoacana, Los Tlahuicas and Los Mayas.

Morelos’ location between Guerrero – a large drug producing state – and Mexico City makes controlling the state an attractive proposition for organized crime.

Interior Secretary Pablo Ojeda Cárdenas said the gangs, most notably the CJNG and Los Rojos, are fighting over the route between the two locations.

Earlier this month he said that Morelos needs more police because it currently has a force of only 600 officers.

However, Ojeda expressed confidence that with a future deployment of the National Guard, recruitment of more police officers and greater coordination, authorities will be able to significantly improve the security situation.

Last week, a suspected leader of Los Rojos was arrested in Zacatepec, Morelos, on charges of organized crime and kidnapping.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

International Performing Arts awards presented to five Mexicans

By

Simon Schatzberg

-

May 30, 2019

0

Dancer Elisa Carrillo has won another major award this week.

The International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) presented awards to five Mexican artists on Wednesday, recognizing their achievements in the performing arts.

The awards were presented during the society’s 2019 congress in Guadalajara.

Jalisco Culture Secretary Giovanna Jasperson presented a Distinguished Artist Award to ballet dancer Elisa Carrillo, the Texcoco-born lead female dancer of the Berlin State Ballet. Jasperson called Carrillo “one of the most emblematic women in our contemporary national culture.”

Earlier this month, Carrillo was awarded the Benois de la Danse, considered one of the highest international honors in classical dance.

Igor Lozada, secretary for cultural promotion at the University of Guadalajara, presented another Distinguished Artist Award to tenor Javier Camarena, who the ISPA considers “the preeminent Mozart and bel canto specialist of his generation.”

“To talk about Javier Camarena is to talk about one of the most important Mexican artistic and cultural symbols in the world,” said Lozada.

The ISPA also granted a Distinguished Artist Award to actor Diego Luna, for his work as a film and stage actor and producer.

Theater director Mario Espinosa received an International Citation of Merit in recognition of his lifetime achievement in performing arts, while Susan Chapman, director of Anglo Arts at the Anglo Mexican Foundation, received an Angel Award for her support of performing arts in Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Around 450 delegates from around the world are in Guadalajara this week for the congress, which began on Monday and will end on Friday. According to ISPA executive director David Baile, the goal of the event is to bring together the delegates who represent the “ecosystem” of the international performing arts community.

At an event before the awards ceremony on Wednesday, Secretary Jasperson said she was proud that Jalisco is the site of such an important international artistic summit.

“The difficult realities of these times demand that the arts and culture communities work together in networks and take advantage of all the knowledge and creative minds we have access to,” she said.

Source: Milenio (sp), La Jornada (sp)

Demolition considered for some 400,000 abandoned housing units

By

César Hernández

-

May 30, 2019

0

infonavit housing — They might be teardowns.

The National Workers’ Housing Fund is considering the demolition of close to 400,000 abandoned houses that were built over the past decade.

Infonavit director Carlos Martínez Velázquez explained that the fund has identified 650,000 abandoned houses, of which 171,000 are to be recovered. Of the remainder, 400,000 are being evaluated to determine whether they should be demolished or can still be recovered.

Martínez is not confident that many will be salvageable. The final decision will come after a detailed, “case by case” assessment of the projects’ subsoil and the accessibility of public utilities.

The director explained that many of the housing projects were not feasible from their inception. But construction permits were granted regardless. “Nine or 10 years later, [the houses] still lack utilities and their recovery today is not possible.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Refinery project to start Sunday but permits still lacking: environmentalists

By

MND Staff

-

May 30, 2019

0

Two environmental organizations have warned that the government cannot legally start construction of the new oil refinery on the Tabasco coast on June 2 because it hasn’t obtained the required permits.

President López Obrador said yesterday that his administration has “prior authorization” to begin work on the Dos Bocas refinery, declaring “I’m going to initiate the works . . . on Sunday.”

He added that if any additional permits are needed, they will be obtained.

The president announced earlier this month that the state oil company and the Secretariat of Energy (Sener) will build the refinery because the bids made by private companies were too high and their estimated time frames to complete the project were too long.

The government says the refinery, which will be Mexico’s seventh, will be built for US $8 billion and be ready to operate in May 2022.

Last week, Energy Secretary Rocío Nahle said that environmental approval for the project was issued after the government presented a 2012 environmental impact statement (EIS) to the Security, Energy and Environmental Agency (ASEA).

The study was prepared for an oil field with 93 wells that had been proposed for the refinery site.

But the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda) and Greenpeace said in a statement that the project doesn’t have the required permits as stipulated by environmental laws.

“We reiterate that to this day, an environmental impact statement that corresponds specifically to the refinery project has not been submitted to [ASEA],” they said.

“Therefore, that department has not started the evaluation of the corresponding environmental impact and consequently there is no favorable environmental impact ruling that allows the project in question to go ahead.”

The environmental groups added that the permits referred to by Energy Secretary Nahle “correspond to wells approved in 2012” and “cannot be used to justify the commencement of another completely different project.”

In that context, Cemda and Greenpeace urged the new environment secretary, Víctor Manuel Toledo Manzur, and the chief of ASEA to advise the president that the refinery project cannot begin this weekend.

They said that if the government starts work on the refinery on June 2 “without having submitted an environmental impact statement to the respective evaluation process and without having requested [permission] to change the land use” it will be guilty of a breach of the law.

At his morning press conference yesterday, López Obrador asked Toledo to offer his opinion about the project’s permits on Friday before reiterating that rescuing the oil and energy sectors is a priority for his government.

“After being self-sufficient [in petroleum], irresponsible technocrats – neoliberals – led us to only produce 200,000 barrels [per day] because they deliberately allowed the refineries to be ruined,” he said.

The president has pledged to reduce Mexico’s reliance on petroleum imports, most of which come from the United States. Building the Dos Bocas refinery and upgrading the existing ones will enable the country to once again become self-sufficient for its fuel needs, he claims.

Construction of the Tabasco refinery is expected to create 23,000 direct jobs and 112,000 indirect ones and, according to the government, it will have the capacity to produce 340,000 barrels of petroleum a day.

Despite Pemex having limited experience in building refineries, López Obrador is confident the project will be a success.

But outside the government, there was widespread criticism of the decision to scrap the bidding process in which four specialized international energy firms participated, and skepticism that the state oil company has the technical capacity to execute the refinery project.

Source: Milenio (sp)

21 confirmed dead after Wednesday’s fiery crash in Veracruz

By

Simon Schatzberg

-

May 30, 2019

0

The Cumbres de Maltrata, mountain highway switchbacks frequently blanketed in fog.

The death toll from yesterday’s crash in Veracruz has risen to 21, according to official reports.

The accident occurred after a bus traveling on the Veracruz-Puebla highway lost its brakes and collided with a semi-trailer, causing both vehicles to burst into flames.

The crash and fire killed 19 people, including two passengers in the semi and 17 in the bus. Two others died later in hospital.

Around 30 other passengers were transported to hospitals in Río Blanco, Maltrata, Córdoba and Orizaba.

The passengers on the bus were pilgrims from the state of Chiapas who were returning home after visiting the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.

[wpgmza id=”199″]

José Éric Moguel, spokesperson for the archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Chiapas, told reporters that the pilgrims were from the cities of Tapachula, San Cristóbal and Tuxtla.

“They were returning from Mexico City to Tuxtla [after] they had visited the Basilica of Guadalupe on Sunday,” he said. “We were hoping that they would be home today, but sadly this accident happened.”

The stretch of the Veracruz-Puebla highway near Cumbres de Maltrata, where the crash took place, is an area where accidents are common because of dangerous curves and foggy conditions that limit visibility.

Last year, three people were struck and killed by a semi on the same stretch of highway as they looted cargo from another truck.

Source: e-consulta (sp), El Universal (sp)

Harvard Business School recognizes Mexican with its highest award

By

MND Staff

-

May 30, 2019

0

Harvard Business School (HBS) has bestowed its highest award on a Mexican MBA graduate for the first time.

Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui was one of five recipients of the 2019 HBS Alumni Achievement Award, which recognizes distinguished graduates who have contributed significantly to their companies and communities.

Rodríguez graduated from the prestigious business school in 1995 and after working at several large companies, co-founded the venture capital fund Ignia in 2007.

“We support entrepreneurs because we want to have a positive impact on Mexico’s economy, and there is a huge business opportunity,” he said.

Rodríguez, who HBS described as “one of Mexico’s most successful social entrepreneurs,” has also helped shape Gentera into the largest microfinance firm in the Americas.

The 52-year-old “frequently offers a refreshing blend of brutal honesty and sincere devotion. He’s not inclined to – or even capable of – sugarcoating the truth,” the Boston-based business school said in a story on its website.

It added that Rodríguez was motivated to move into the world of social entrepreneurship after asking himself the questions: “Who will build the Mexico of tomorrow? Big corporations or emerging entrepreneurs?”

The entrepreneur is also an avid rower and has won medals for Mexico in the sport at international competitions, including the Pan American Games.

In a letter to the award winner, HBS dean Nitin Nohria said “your inspiring entrepreneurial vision, your commitment to leverage the power of entrepreneurship to change lives and your well-known reputation as a leader of great integrity are extraordinary professional achievements.”

Michael Chu, Ignia co-founder and fellow HBS alumnus, said the recognition of Rodríguez is a great achievement for Mexico’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“It’s outstanding that Harvard, one of the biggest academic institutions globally, is turning around to look at Mexico and recognize the work that’s being done to support entrepreneurs, technological innovation and startups, which are the main actions we promote from Ignia,” he said.

Rodríguez acknowledged the support he has received while implementing his entrepreneurial vision.

“I feel very grateful and honored. This prize is really for my family, for their unconditional love and support; for my partners and team for their wisdom and commitment; for the investors who have placed their trust in Ignia’s initiative; and for the entrepreneurs with whom we work – they are the ones who are changing their communities, industries and bringing new benefits to society,” he said.

Among the other recipients of the 2019 award were businessman and former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and social entrepreneur Tracy Palandjian.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Morena senator suffers minor injuries after parcel bomb attack

By

Simon Schatzberg

-

May 30, 2019

0

A parcel bomb disguised as a book exploded in the office of Senator Citlalli Hernández Wednesday evening but the Morena party lawmaker was not seriously injured.

The explosion took place around 7:00pm when Hernández unwrapped a package and opened what she thought was a book, triggering the bomb. Flames from the explosion reached her face, causing superficial burns.

Hernández was transported to hospital for treatment of the burns and smoke inhalation.

Morena Senate leader Ricardo Monreal told Reforma that the bomb appeared to have been homemade.

“It was a box, we think it was sent in the mail, and Citlalli thought it had books inside,” he said. “When she opened it, what appears to have been a homemade device exploded. Everything’s okay, other than some minor injuries.”

The 'book' that exploded in senator's office on Wednesday. — The ‘book’ that exploded in senator’s office on Wednesday.

Monreal added that the return address on the package seems to correspond to a university association.

Monreal also said that security will be ramped up in the Senate as a result, including controls on entering and exiting the building, as well as on the reception of mail. According to El Universal, Senate employees have complained that security has recently been relaxed in the upper house.

The third floor of the Senate building, where Hernández’ office is located, has been cordoned off by Civil Protection.

Hernández, who represents Mexico City in the Senate, is considered one of the strongest defenders of human rights and individual freedoms in Congress. At 29, she is also one of the youngest senators in Mexican history.

A few hours after the attack, Hernández condemned the incident in a tweet.

“I completely condemn the attack against me in my office, but I reaffirm my conviction that the revolution of conscience and change in this country needs to take place, and that it will happen in a peaceful way,” she wrote. “I thank everyone for their concern and support.”

Source: Vanguardia (sp), El Universal (sp), Animal Político (sp)