Although federal officials raised the volcano alert for Popocatépetl to yellow Phase 3 yesterday, the Civil Protection agency says the situation cannot be considered an emergency.
However, vigilance is called for because the volcano’s recent activity is described as atypical, said the agency’s chief, David León Romero.
“Between 1986 and 2018, 86 domes have formed” atop the volcano’s crater, he said, explaining that the domes, made of volcanic material, are like plugs. They contain the volcano’s internal pressure until an explosion breaks them up. “Days later, a new dome is formed.”
León said dome No. 82 formed a few weeks ago and has already broken apart, “but we continue to have explosions. Data tells us that the volcano is behaving differently.”
“Differently means that we have not witnessed an episode of this kind. It does not mean greater activity or greater danger.”
León observed that the recent explosions could be caused by the clogging of a lower section of the volcano’s vent, one that cannot be seen by Civil Protection helicopters flying overhead.
He said a new dome is expected to form soon, which will result in the volcano warning to be lowered to its usual yellow Phase 2.
Meanwhile, federal and state authorities are reviewing evacuation routes and shelters.
Residents in the vicinity of the volcano can keep an eye on things by monitoring the website Webcams de México, which has three cameras pointed at El Popo and are streaming images continuously.
The closest is in San Nicolás de Los Ranchos, Puebla, from which the most informative and interesting images of the volcano have been caught.
The other two cameras are located in the México state municipality of Amecameca, one in the city of the same name and the other at Hacienda de Panoaya.
Civil Protection’s social media accounts are another way to stay informed.
The agency posted today at 10:30am on Twitter that in the previous 24 hours, there had been 119 exhalations, one explosion and one volcano tectonic earthquake.
The yellow Phase 3 alert is the highest warning level before the red phase in which people living near the volcano are advised to be ready to evacuate. Around 275,000 people live within a 30-kilometer radius of Popocatépetl.
One of the migrants' caravans that is currently traveling through Mexico.
The government of Honduras has rejected the claim by Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero that “a mother of all caravans” is forming in that country, while a migrant advocacy group contends that the term was used as a ploy to justify the implementation of stricter immigration policies in Mexico.
Honduran deputy foreign secretary Nelly Jeréz said yesterday that “there is no indication of such a caravan” and “this type of information” only encourages people to leave the country.
Jeréz’s remarks came after United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen met with Honduran, Guatemalan and Salvadoran officials in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to discuss the issue of migration.
Her department said in a statement that Nielsen signed a multilateral compact with the three Central American countries that aims to bolster border security, prevent the formation of new migrant caravans and address the root causes of the migration crisis.
A day after her own meeting with Nielsen, Interior Secretary Sánchez said Wednesday that “we are aware that a new caravan is forming in Honduras that they’re calling the mother of all caravans . . . and which could be [made up of] more than 20,000 people.”
She also said that the Mexican government plans to set up federal checkpoints on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to halt the flow of migrants as they travel through the country.
But the non-governmental organization Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders) contended that the containment belt policy was ordered by the United States government and that Sánchez used the “mother of all caravans” term to justify it.
It pointed out that the interior secretary didn’t provide any evidence or details to support the claim that such a large caravan was gathering.
“The only certainty is that after the meeting with Nielsen, the Mexican government planted the idea of the ‘mother of all caravans’ in its discourse to justify the United States contention order, demonstrating a Mexican immigration policy that is servile and submissive to the Trump government,” Pueblos Sin Fronteras said.
The organization contended that the federal government has “sold out to the interests” of the Trump administration.
“By promoting the idea of the ‘mother of all caravans orchestrated by criminal groups,’ the Mexican government is contributing to a migration crisis that justifies the extension and strengthening of the [border] wall – just what Trump has been looking for,” it said.
Nielsen, left, and Sánchez.
“The discourse of fear and crisis spreads criminalizing, racist and xenophobic sentiment against migrants . . . and coincides with the discourse Trump is using for his presidential reelection. It appears that the Mexican government is part of the election strategy of the current United States administration,” the statement continued.
“The creation of an atmosphere of crisis in migration to Mexico and the United States is conducive to [making] law changes that have a security focus and don’t respect human rights.”
Despite those claims, Sánchez’s indication that federal forces will be deployed to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to stem migration failed to appease President Trump.
He wrote on Twitter yesterday that “Mexico is doing nothing to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our country,” adding “they are all talk and no action.”
Today, Trump said that “if Mexico doesn’t immediately stop all illegal immigration coming into the United States through our southern border, I will be closing the border or large sections of the border next week,” reiterating the threat he made both on Twitter and at a rally in Michigan yesterday.
President López Obrador today refused to be drawn in on Trump’s threats, stating “we want to have a good relationship with the United States, we’re not going to argue.”
He added: “this thing about the caravans . . . has a lot to do with politics, electoral matters, that’s why I’m not going to get roped into the issue.”
López Obrador said yesterday that it’s necessary to “review” how migrant caravans are organized, “whether they are spontaneous . . . whether there are political or electoral purposes.”
He also said that “it is legitimate that they [the United States government] are displeased and they voice these concerns.”
Asked whether his government would stop the so-called “mother of all caravans,” the president – who has vowed to treat migrants with respect – was cautious.
“Yes, but everything will be voluntary, nothing by force,” he said, explaining that Central Americans will be offered work on government projects such as the Maya Train.
However, thousands of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in their countries of origin – especially Honduras – have continued to arrive in Mexico’s border cities to attempt to claim asylum in the United States.
Mexico's new National Guard? No, young recruits at the KidZania police academy.
KidZania is the dream child of Mexican entrepreneur Xavier López Ancona. It is based on the observation that children like role play and particularly enjoy playing the parts of professionals such as teachers, firefighters and nurses.
The first KidZania opened in 1999 in Mexico City, and was first named La Ciudad de los Niños. It proved to be immensely popular, so much so that today there are 26 KidZanias in 20 countries with 11 new ones planned for the coming year, including three in the United States.
It is interesting to note that 3% to 5% of KidZania’s visitors worldwide are underprivileged or disabled children who are able to participate without charge.
KidZania raises role play to a whole new level by creating a small city with its own bank, police department, hospital, TV station, shops, etc. and then providing the child with a uniform, professional equipment and training that allows them to try out many different jobs.
Not long ago I spent several hours following six-year-old Paolo Ibarra around KidZania Guadalajara, which opened its doors in December of 2018. First there was the priceless look on his face when he discovered that the entrance to KidZania was a full-size jumbo jet situated inside a shopping mall.
A typical view of KidZania, where the streets are always bustling with activity.
As in any airport, our belongings were run through a scanner. Once we were inside, our pre-purchased tickets were exchanged for wristbands which include a chip that keeps track of everyone who enters the place.
In addition, little Paolo was given a cash stake of the local money, called kidZos, and a credit card. “But you can only activate the card by opening an account at the bank,” he was told.
We stepped out on to the street in KidZania.
Underfoot were artificial cobblestones and overhead a cheerful blue sky with painted clouds, and all around us there was hustle and bustle: a DHL delivery was coming down the street, a fire truck was going the other way, lights flashing and siren hooting; people were pushing their way in and out of an employment agency, window washers were washing windows and through those windows we could see the staff of a TV studio taping a show, would-be pilots operating flight simulators, confectioners making candy, and everywhere, in every direction, lots of bodies on the move — but, in this town, the business people, civil servants and laborers were all kids.
Our map of KidZania in hand, we made our way through the hullabaloo to the bank where a teller activated Paolo’s card. Right next to the bank was the police station.
“Would you like to be a policeman, Paolo?”
‘Just the facts, ma’am,’ insist policemen Paolo Ibarra, left, and partner.
He nodded his head, eyes wide.
Getting a job, however, required getting in line and we noted with surprise Paolo’s willingness — over and over — to quietly wait his turn, for this kid is normally anything but patient.
Once inside the police station, Paolo was issued a uniform and a very official-looking cap and then, as a member of a group of new recruits, he was given instructions by a young adult using audiovisual aids.
A few minutes later, Paolo emerged in the company of an older child who had a clipboard in his hand and a no-nonsense determined look on his face. It was clear the two of them had a mission, with no time to explain any details of it to me.
Off they went, hither and yon, knocking on doors (which instantly opened: they were the police, after all!) and checking things off on their list. Suddenly we heard the siren of a fire truck and — one second later — Paolo and partner were pulling a police-line tape across the street, stopping the flow of pedestrians. Policeman Paolo looked like he had been doing this all his life.
Having been paid for his work, Paolo joined a class at an art studio where he put on a smock and took a painting lesson — which cost him a few kidZos.
Having found an accident victim, the doctor checks his medical bag.
Now he decided he wanted to join the team of paramedics we had seen tooling around the streets in an ambulance. This profession, however, was almost as popular as that of firefighter. “You’ll have to wait in line, Paolo, maybe a long time.”
“I’ll wait!” was the reply.
Eventually — through a window in the hospital — we saw Paolo and five others learning to use a stethoscope and other medical instruments. Soon the squad of paramedics was clambering into the ambulance, off to rescue one of their own members who had volunteered to be the accident victim.
Upon reaching el herido out on the street, it was Paolo who discovered the poor soul was still alive, diligently applying the stethoscope to body parts I’d never expect to exhibit a heartbeat — which had some of us onlookers in stitches. With the help of crutches, the victim made his way to the ambulance and from there to the emergency room.
By now it was time to go, but Paolo stopped off at the department store to spend some of his hard-earned cash (very little, actually) on a bubble-blower.
“Which of your jobs did you like best, Paolo?”
He answered without hesitation: “Doctor!”
[soliloquy id="75025"]
A small screen outside the hospital gives info on what the children might learn as paramedics: “You will learn to listen to patients and to discover their needs while working with a team to deal with emergencies and to apply first aid.”
It also lists the children’s skills which might be improved during this activity: self-knowledge, critical thinking, creativity, communicating, teamwork and motor skills. Among the values it tries to promote are respect, integrity, responsibility and honesty.
The enhanced role play offered by KidZania comes to the children through all five senses. They learn by doing, and in many cases the results will be awarenesses which they will never forget. All this contrasts dramatically with reading a book while seated in a schoolroom.
A video clip on KidZania states that “Kids can do amazing things when they are given the chance.” These words echo those of the great educator Caleb Gattegno, who demonstrated that first-graders can easily do algebra — and have fun doing it — if only placed in the right environment and given the right tools.
KidZania’s pedagogical approach is called experience-based learning, committed to encourage, develop and reinforce children’s expertise, skills and values through the medium of role play, taking as a basis that children “learn by doing.”
Like Gattegno’s teaching approaches, KidZania offers real learning which also entertains. Let’s hope that educators will pick up a few pointers from Xavier López’s creation and help turn the world’s schools into places of learning, just as beneficial and exciting as the KidZania centers popping up all over the planet.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
Mexico was “colonized by the worst of the races,” a lawmaker from Tabasco said yesterday while defending the letter President López Obrador sent to the king of Spain to ask him to apologize for the Spanish conquest.
Speaking in the Congress of the Gulf coast state, Charlie Valentino León Flores Vera, a deputy with López Obrador’s Morena party, said that corruption in Mexico and other Latin American countries is a product of Spanish colonization and that Spaniards should show remorse for the actions of their ancestors.
“. . . Unfortunately, we were colonized by the worst of the races, which is the Spanish . . . I wouldn’t ask them to [just] apologize but rather kneel down before our country because thanks to them we’re living through all this corruption,” he said.
“In Canada, there were French and English colonies. Look at the difference! In the United States, there were English colonies . . . In Belize, there was a colony of black English people and I think that they [the Belizeans] live better than us,” León Flores added.
The lawmaker described the conquering Spanish as a “band of thieves” and charged that they are the reason why “all of Latin America is collapsed.”
León Flores’ outburst earned a rebuke from Ecological Green Party (PVEM) Deputy Carlos Mario Ramos, who called on his colleague not to use discriminatory language in the Congress.
López Obrador published a video Monday in which he advised that he had written both the king of Spain and Pope Francis asking that they apologize for the indignities suffered by the native peoples during the period of the Spanish conquest.
The government of Spain “vigorously” rejected the request, stating that “the arrival 500 years ago of the Spaniards on territory that is now Mexican cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations.”
“President Andrés Manuel López Obrador should be subjected to constant medical evaluation,” Osorio said. “That apology that he requested from the king of Spain and the Vatican about the conquest, that’s out of order.”
Quintana Roo's coral reefs are not only threatened by sargassum but by a new bleaching disease.
Coral reefs off the coast of Quintana Roo are under threat from an aggressive bleaching phenomenon and sargassum, experts warn.
María del Carmen García Rivas, director of the Puerto Morelos National Reef Park, said that 30% of coral colonies in the park have died over the past four months due to bleaching, a phenomenon that occurs when water is too warm.
However, she warned that the expected invasion of sargassum later this year will also pose a threat to the reef’s health, explaining that when the seaweed decomposes it emits sulfuric acid which could have a catastrophic effect on the marine ecosystem.
García said that she hoped that all three levels of government will take strong action to combat the arrival of sargassum and avoid what could be an environmental disaster.
Lorenzo Álvarez Phillips, head researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), said that coral bleaching and sargassum are affecting the entire reef system from Isla Contoy, located off the north coast of Quintana Roo, to Sian Ka’an, a biosphere reserve in the municipality of Tulum.
Reefs located off the coast of Cozumel as well as Mahahual and Xcalac in the south of Quintana Roo have also been affected by the bleaching disease.
Álvarez said the bleaching phenomenon off the coast of Quintana Roo is so aggressive that an entire coral colony which took thousands of years to form can be killed in a single month.
The phenomenon has spread quickly, he added, explaining that reefs in “practically the whole state” have been affected.
The reefs are part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System that stretches over 1,000 kilometers from Isla Contoy to the Bay Islands in Honduras.
Salary costs went higher than budgeted last year. el universal
More than 16,000 Pemex workers could lose their jobs this year as part of cost-cutting measures at the beleaguered state oil company.
Pemex said in a 2019 budget document that it was forecasting adjustments to the size of its workforce to reduce costs.
The state-run company planned to operate this year with 111,855 employees but finished 2018 with 128,021 workers, 16,166 more than the number for which it budgeted.
The Pemex board has set a budget ceiling of 90.83 billion pesos (US $4.7 billion) in 2019 to pay salaries and benefits to current workers and pensions to retired ones – 3 billion pesos less than last year.
Other cost-cutting measures planned by the company include reducing the number of trips taken by employees to attend conferences and meetings, eliminating air travel in first and business classes, installing motion sensor lights at its facilities and suspending the vehicle leasing program for high-ranking officials.
Pemex has debt in excess of US $100 billion and its oil production has been declining for years.
To reduce its financial burden and strengthen its capacity to invest in exploration and production, President López Obrador announced a 107-billion-peso (US $5.5-billion) rescue package for Pemex last month.
The president said the state-run company will receive a cash injection, its tax burden will be reduced and it will be cleansed of corruption.
However, financial institutions rejected the bailout package, describing it as insufficient and disappointing, while Fitch Ratings warned that it doesn’t insulate the state oil company against future cuts to its credit rating.
Now there are reports that three independent board members are planning to resign because they disagree with López Obrador’s strategy for managing the company.
The Wall Street Journal said in a report published today that board members María Teresa Fernández, Carlos Elizondo and Octavio Pastrana plan to leave the company within weeks.
Sources told the newspaper that the three board members “have grown increasingly at odds with the government’s strategy.”
One concern is that the López Obrador administration didn’t provide a technical analysis to the board for the new refinery at Dos Bocas, Tabasco, to support the project’s profitability.
There are already two vacant seats on the 10-person board that approves Pemex’s business plan, meaning that the government would be able to appoint all five new independent board members.
The other five board positions are filled by the energy and finance secretaries and other government officials.
The Journal said that that the three imminent departures could give López Obrador “tighter control over Pemex as he seeks to shore up the state firm’s dominant role in an oil industry that was opened to private and foreign investment in 2013 as part of a broad energy sector overhaul that he opposed.”
Quintana Roo will need 800 million pesos (US $41.3 million) to combat the expected invasion of sargassum on the state’s coastline this year, the governor said yesterday.
Carlos Joaquín González said that 400 million pesos will be required to collect the seaweed after it washes up on Caribbean coast beaches and the same amount will be needed to pick it up at sea, install containment barriers and monitor its approach.
The governor said that officials are lobbying the federal government to obtain additional resources because it has only allocated 62 million pesos to combat sargassum, which has the potential to cost Quintana Roo huge amounts of tourism revenue.
Joaquín explained that a massive quantity of the seaweed is expected to arrive on the coastline this year, adding that the state government has asked the Secretariat of Finance (SHCP) to consider the invasion as a natural disaster so that resources from the federal Natural Disaster Fund (Fonden) can be accessed.
He said that money is usually allocated by Fonden when human lives are threatened but added, “in this case, it’s an issue that goes against economic development.”
Boats are surrounded by sargassum in last year’s invasion.
During last year’s sargassum season, up to 48 tonnes of the seaweed was collected on a daily basis from the state’s 480 kilometers of coastline, the governor said.
While Quintana Roo authorities are aiming to secure funding to combat sargassum this year, the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) is seeking US $50 million to finance a comprehensive anti-sargassum plan into the future.
One aspect of the plan is the establishment of a coastal management center in Quintana Roo from which sargassum studies and monitoring, among other activities to combat the seaweed’s arrival, would take place.
Pablo Careaga, a high-ranking official at Fonatur, said the seaweed represents a threat not just to marine ecosystems but also the health of Quintana Roo’s economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism.
The tourism sector took a hit last year due to the sullying of otherwise pristine Caribbean beaches by large amounts of unsightly and smelly sargassum and Careaga believes that if the same happens this year, already high levels of crime in Quintana Roo could go up even further.
“In the face of a reduction of tourists, the logical increase of unemployment will open up even more space to the scourge of insecurity that since last year has been extremely worrying in all the important tourist destinations in the state,” he said.
The US $50-million sargassum management plan will be formally presented to the federal government on April 4, Careaga explained.
Mexico’s largest hotel and resort conglomerate has announced the launch of a Mexican cruise line.
With its new Vidanta Cruises, Nayarit-based Grupo Vidanta now has travel operations on both land and sea.
The company told a ceremony in Mexico City this week that it has invested 2.7 billion pesos (US $139 million) in the 153-meter Vidanta Elegant.
The ship will carry up to 298 passengers in its 149 cabins and suites and offer a crew-passenger ratio of 1-1 instead of the usual 1-5 in order to ensure a private and exclusive experience for customers.
The Vidanta Elegant has six public decks equipped with a wide range of gourmet restaurant options, 11 bars and lounges, a virtual reality area, a spa and gym, several Jacuzzis and an open-air swimming pool on the top deck.
A luxury suite on the Vidanta Elegant.
Grupo Vidanta vice-president Iván Chávez highlighted the launch as a historic moment for the national travel industry.
“For the first time in history, Mexicans will be able to board a luxury cruise in their own country. It’s outrageous that to take a luxury cruise we [currently] have to get on a plane and fly to another country, only to board a ship that much of the time takes us back to visit our own coastline.”
He said Vidanta will apply its 45 years of experience in the luxury resort business to a sea-going vacation experience.
The company plans to begin offering cruises in the fall.
It will operate out of Vidanta’s resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, and give travelers the option for a cruise and resort vacation.
Grupo Vidanta operates luxury resorts in seven destinations in Mexico.
In Quintana Roo, sargassum seaweed is a curse, but for a Guanajuato inventor it has the potential to become environmentally friendly footwear.
A new line of eco-shoes — made with recycled plastic and sargassum — has been designed by the firm Renovare, which had already spent several years experimenting with PET plastic.
Renovare founder Jorge Castro Ramos told the newspaper El Financiero that it took the company five years of trial and error to reach the stage where it could obtain clothing-grade textile fibers out of recycled plastic bottles.
The resulting polyester, he explained, has been patented as a Mexican product and can also be used to manufacture handbags, backpacks and sportswear.
Last year the company began working with sargassum, and about eight months ago came up with a shoe whose sole was made with 100 grams of sargassum and the rest with five recycled plastic bottles.
Recycled seaweed forms the sole of the eco-shoe.
Along with being an environmentally-friendly product, the shoe is also water-resistant. Renovare estimates that a pair can last up to two years, after which the shoes can be returned to Renovare for recycling.
The manufacturing process has been certified by several research centers, including the Center for Innovation Applied to Competitive Technologies (Ciatec), an agency that operates under the National Science and Technology Council (Conacyt).
While the sargassum and recycled plastic shoe has yet to hit the market, Renovare has been working to build demand. The next step is to hire up to 150 people and turn out 20,000 shoes a month.
In the meantime, the company has to work out the means of collecting and processing the seaweed.
Renovare is not alone in having found something useful to do with the unwanted weed, hundreds of tonnes of which have arrived on Quintana Roo beaches in recent years, threatening tourism and the environment.
The IMSS hospital where a woman was misdiagnosed and died.
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has ordered that the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) pay reparation in the case of a misdiagnosis that led to the death of a 51-year-old patient in June 2015.
The death occurred at the La Quebrada IMSS General Hospital in Cuautitlán Izcalli, México state, after the female patient was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. In reality she was suffering from a heart attack, the CNDH investigation found.
The mistaken diagnosis and inadequate treatment were the consequences of medical staff neglecting to conduct a full protocol of studies, resulting in her death.
“It has been proven that three people — public servants — violated the human right of protection of health, leading to the loss of a life,” the commission ruled.
It also found that the patient’s file was not compiled correctly, as physicians included incomplete medical notes.
