Attorney General’s Office warns parents to be prepared, take DNA samples

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May 14, 2019

parents of missing children — Parents urged to take DNA samples of their children—before they disappear.

The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has been criticized after advising parents to take DNA samples of their children so authorities would be able to identify them if they were abducted and killed.

In a Twitter post Sunday, the FGR said “in the event of any mishap, always have the [personal] details of your daughters and sons at hand. Additionally, take a DNA sample from each of them.”

The post included an animated video with instructions about how to collect a DNA sample.

“To collect DNA from your children you must have two cotton swabs, a paper envelope and a base to dry the cotton swabs,” the video said.

The sample is obtained by rubbing the cotton swabs on the inside of a child’s cheeks.

After drying the swabs overnight they should be stored in an envelope on which the name of the child has been written.

Via its Amber Alert program – a child abduction emergency alert system – the FGR also advises parents to place personal details about their children, including their age, distinguishing features, CURP identity number and fingerprints, in the same envelope.

Twitter users were quick to criticize the FGR for its DNA collection advice.

Maria Luisa López suggested that the federal department would be better off acting to combat organized crime than making a recommendation that she described as “terrifying.”

Another Twitter user offered a similar appraisal, writing that authorities should provide better public security so “corpses don’t have to be identified.”

One person said the FGR’s advice was akin to the federal government “admitting its failure” to combat high levels of violent crime.

There were 7,242 homicide cases reported between January and March, making the first quarter of 2019 the most violent in recent history.

A report by the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico (Redim) said that 285 minors were murdered in the period.

Another report issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) last week said that more than 10,000 minors were murdered in Mexico between 2010 and 2017 and that around 20% of missing persons at the conclusion of the latter year were children.

Since President López Obrador took office on December 1, 337 bodies have been exhumed from 222 newly-discovered hidden graves, the federal government revealed today, including at least 35 that were retrieved from sites in the Guadalajara metropolitan area last week.

There are more than 40,000 missing persons in Mexico, 26,000 unidentified bodies in morgues and an estimated 1,100 clandestine graves, according to official statistics.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Extraordinary Environmental Contingency activated in Mexico City

By

Madison Koen

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May 14, 2019

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Air pollution in Mexico City worsened overnight, triggering an emergency alert.

The Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (Came) issued an Extraordinary Environmental Contingency for the Mexico City metropolitan area after measuring extremely high levels of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter — at different points around the city in the early hours of the morning.

The commission warned the public to avoid outdoor activities.

The city’s Imeca index, which measures air quality, reached 158 at 5:00am at the Nezahualcóyotl Metro station, up from 144 yesterday evening. An environmental contingency is declared when the index reaches 151.

The municipality of Nezahualcóyotl often suffers from the poorest air quality in the region because of its location at the lowest point of the Valley of Mexico’s dried lake beds.

At least 23 fires were reported in Mexico City yesterday, affecting nearly all of the capital’s 16 boroughs and contributing to poor air quality.

To avoid possible respiratory ailments, the commission recommended that residents remain indoors with windows and doors shut, and avoid intense exercise or other outdoor recreational activities.

The environmental commission also warned against smoking and cooking over an open fire and urged that drivers restrict vehicle use.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Only 9 days of clean air in CDMX since Jan. 1 and now fires making it worse

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MND Staff

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May 13, 2019

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Fires have worsened air quality situation in Mexico City.

Recent fires in and around Mexico City continue to cause severe air contamination in the capital and the broader Valley of Mexico, leading authorities to warn residents to take precautions to avoid respiratory illnesses.

The Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (Came) said in a statement yesterday that more than 20 fires had been reported in Mexico City including 13 brush fires, four blazes on vacant lots, two house fires, a forest fire and an inferno at an industrial warehouse.

The boroughs of Tlalpan, Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero, Milpa Alta, Álvaro Obregón, Magdalena Contreras, Cuauhtémoc and Xochimilco were all affected.

Authorities in México state have reported 30 fires in 27 municipalities, the commission said. One blaze occurred at a plastic and cardboard factory in Huixquilucan, a municipality just outside Mexico City’s official limits.

There was also an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the municipality of Tultepec that left one person dead and four others injured

In addition, fires in Guerrero and Oaxaca are also contributing to “the transport of contaminants towards the Valley of Mexico,” Came said.

The commission explained that a high-pressure system and a lack of wind are “creating a favorable atmosphere for the accumulation of contaminants.” Hot and dry conditions in the capital are also exacerbating the situation.

Came reported high levels of solid particles, such as ash, in the Valley of Mexico atmosphere and advised people to keep the doors and windows of their homes closed and to remain indoors.

For people who live near the fire locations, the commission recommended covering window and door cracks with moist cloths and the use of face masks, among a range of other measures.

It also urged people to restrict vehicle use, not to cook over an open fire and generally avoid generating contaminating emissions.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said today that the commission’s environmental alert would remain in place until the contamination dissipates.

mexico city pollution — Best stay indoors.

In a Twitter post, she said that “even though we haven’t reached an environmental contingency, the Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis will be issuing three alerts a day.”

The mayor told a press conference that the levels of contamination are currently not high enough to activate additional restrictions on vehicles but explained that the situation would be reassessed tomorrow and if necessary, “measures will be taken.”

At 6:00pm today, the worst air quality in the Valley of Mexico was reported at Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, México state.

Mexico City’s Atmospheric Monitoring System detected pollution levels of 144 points in the municipality on its index known as Imeca, which means that the air quality is considered “bad.” An environmental contingency is declared if the index reaches 151 points.

A majority of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs are also currently suffering from “bad” quality air.

Since January 1, 2019 to today – a total of 133 days – the air in the metropolitan area of Mexico City has only been considered clean on nine days, according to Imeca.

Yesterday, fires burning in and around the capital as well as in southern states caused Mexico to rank third worst in the world for air quality behind Turkey and China, according to the World Air Quality Index (WAQI), which monitors contamination levels in real time.

Breathing air in parts of Mexico where high levels of contaminants were recorded yesterday was considered “dangerous,” WAQI said.

Source: Milenio (sp), Sin Embargo (sp), Debate (sp), El Universal (sp)

Four Condesa restaurants that should be on your eat list

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Lydia Carey

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May 13, 2019

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The culinary landscape of Mexico City is ever-shifting. You find a favorite haunt and by the time you visit again it’s been replaced by something new. It’s hard to keep track of all the places to go.

As a favorite neighborhood for tourists, Colonia Condesa has a slew of restaurants to choose from that can seem overwhelming as your stomach grumbles and you try to decide “Where tonight?”

Here are four places that might not have been around the last time you checked but should be on your radar for the next visit to Condesa.

Pasillo de Humo

With a couple years under its belt, Pasillo de Humo is making quite a name for itself as one of the best places for Oaxacan food in the city. It’s not an empty promise.

This restaurant, in addition to its breezy casual (yet upscale) ambiance, has an excellent variety of classic Oaxacan dishes thoughtfully prepared and presented.

The fried octopus in red mole is heavenly, as well as the confit duck in mole negro, but the menu goes far beyond moles to include tlayudas, memelas, salpicón and other Oaxacan fundamentals. Breakfast here is a favorite among locals.

On the top floor of the gourmet food court Parian de Condesa, Pasillo is a must-stop while you’re visiting.

Chemema

Two years old and a growing local haunt, Chemema keeps a low profile on the edge of Condesa where the neighborhood meets bustling Insurgentes avenue.

The menu (breakfast and lunch, they close at 6:00pm) is a long list of Mexican antojitos (snacks), things like chilaquiles, enfrijoladas, empipipanadas, sopes, eggs a la Mexicana and dozens of juices and smoothies.

The handmade tortillas – the size of the palm of your hand and in four different colors – are made from corn fresh from Tlaxcala farmers and nixtamalizada right on the premises. Everything has been thought out and it shows.

Temporal

Often the pseudo-chic places try to ply you with ambiance but have mediocre fare coming out of the kitchen. Temporal won’t lead you on and let you down. Part of their plus is the fact that the owner is also the chef, a combination that puts food center stage.

They have been around for four years but have a new administration and still aren’t widely well known outside the neighborhood. Try the fall-off-the-bone chamorro (pork shank) in achiote sauce or the salty tuna tostada with a crust of Oaxaca crickets and worm salt or the trout with cilantro cucumbers.

For foodies who like to dress up sometimes, this place makes for an excellent lunch or dinner no matter what your pleasure — meat, poultry, fish or even vegetarian.

Fat Boy Moves

Tiny and unassuming, you will pass right by the concrete-slab interior of Fat Boy Moves unless you know you are looking for it.

Tucked among the motley crew of Asian and Asian-fusion restaurants in Condesa (Asian Bay, one of the hood’s most famous, is just steps away), Fat Boy Moves creates simple, delicious, casual Asian fare like Vietnamese bahn mi sandwiches and Korean bibimbap or bulgogi.

Fat Boy Moves, Korean food in La Condesa. — Fat Boy Moves, Asian food in La Condesa.

Ingredients are fresh and flavors sidle up against each other nicely (an additional treat are the spicy fried cauliflower appetizers). I was encouraged to try their tony donuts or honey-butter chips with ice cream, but both desserts were totally underwhelming.

(If you are a dessert buff head to nearby Glace Bistro for some of the best ice cream in the city, or Blend Station for a coffee.)

Regardless, main plates (and local craft beer) are good enough to make a return visit to Fat Boy inevitable.

Lydia Carey is a freelance writer based in Mexico City.

Peanuts comes to Mexico City in the form of a sculpture

By

Madison Koen

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May 13, 2019

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The Peanuts art installation in Mexico City.

Peanuts has come to Mexico City in the form of a sculpture that was unveiled Friday at the Reforma 222 shopping center.

The Peanuts-inspired art is in the capital as part of a worldwide initiative by the Peanuts Global Artist Collective.

The program launched Friday with the unveiling of a 10-foot by 12-foot sculpture by Assume Vivid Astro Focus (AVAF) featuring recognizable scenes from the comic book series, such as a typewriter atop a doghouse.

The sculpture will remain on view at Reforma 222 until May 31, at which time it will then be divided into several sections and displayed at four other shopping malls around the city, including Parque Lindavista from June 7-13, Parque Tezontle from June 15-20, Parque Las Antenas from June 22-27 and Parque Toreo from June 29-July 5.

The Peanuts art program will also include themed “wearable art” and a special collection of Jaime Ibiza Handbags, apparel and accessories at Liverpool department stores.

Brazilian-born artist and AVAF founder Eli Sudbrack said that creating art installations from Charles Schulz’s characters has been a “huge honor and pleasure.”

“This installation for Mexico City allowed me to work on a large scale that could truly let my Peanuts passion fly. I hope it brings the joy to others that it has brought to me.”

The Peanuts Global Artist Collective is a group of seven curated artists who put their own signatures and styles into original Peanuts-themed art installations in cities around the world with the aim of using depictions of Snoopy, Charlie Brown.

Mexico News Daily

21 Nobel Peace Prize laureates confirmed for Mérida summit

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Madison Koen

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May 13, 2019

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Guests in Mérida will include peace laureates Menchú, Walesa, Santos, Ramos Horta and de Klerk. — Guests in Mérida will include peace laureates Menchu, Walesa, Santos, Ramos Horta and de Klerk.

Nobel Peace Prize winners will be gathering in Mérida, Yucatán, in September.

The Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and the Yucatán state government have announced that 21 Peace Prize laureates have confirmed their attendance at the 17th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in the Yucatán capital September 19-22.

The guest list will include former presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Lech Walesa of Poland, Frederik de Klerk of South Africa and José Ramos-Horta of East Timor.

Also confirmed are former first minister of Northern Ireland, Lord David Trimble; Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi; Shirin Ebadi, the first woman jurist in Iran; Women Journalists Without Chains founder Tawakkol Karman; American political activist Jody Williams; Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist who helped to end a civil war; Northern Ireland peace movement pioneer Betty Williams; and Guatemalan indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu Tum.

The theme for this year’s summit is “Leave your mark for Peace.” Programs will focus on Mexico’s legacy and involvement in global peace-building. The summit will also include a youth program entitled “Leading by Example” to provide opportunities for expression and collaboration between university students and young professionals to build cultures of peace on campuses and in communities around the globe.

Summit president Ekaterina Zagladina highlighted the Nobel summit’s 20 years of activities in some of the world’s most important cities. She also thanked the Yucatán state government for cooperation in providing a dynamic platform in the “nest of the ancient Mayan civilization” for pursuing a global agenda of peace.

Yucatán officials said they hoped the international spotlight on the state would reveal Yucatán to outsiders as a model for peace. It was Mexico’s most peaceful state last year, recording the fewest homicides in the country.

Mexico News Daily

Business robbery soars 54% to 8,338 cases in 4 months in CDMX

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MND Staff

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May 13, 2019

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Business robberies average 70 per day in Mexico City.

Robberies of businesses in Mexico City increased 54% to an average of 70 cases per day during the first four months of the government of Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, statistics show.

There were 8,338 robberies between December and March, according to the National Public Security System (SNSP), compared to 5,430 in the same four-month period a year earlier.

In comparison with the same period four years ago, business robberies increased 72%. The capital currently leads the country for the crime while Guadalajara, Jalisco, comes in second.

An even more alarming statistic is that the number of violent robberies of businesses in Mexico City – those in which gun threats are made, physical violence is involved or shots are fired – soared 191% during the Morena party’s administration of the capital between December and March.

A total of 2,393 business robberies were classified as violent in the four-month period compared to 820 a year earlier.

As the number of business robberies rises, it is becoming increasingly common for business owners to post video footage of the heists to social media.

Among the businesses that have uploaded security camera videos to the internet is the Míctlan barber shop and tattoo parlor in the southeastern borough of Tláhuac.

A week after a video was posted to Facebook in February showing two armed men stealing customers’ possessions, the thieves returned to the business and burned it down.

“With this fire, not just our business went up in flames but our dream and our livelihoods as well,” the owners wrote on Facebook.

“This time, crime and the negligent actions of authorities win.”

In March, a gang led by a 16-year-old girl robbed a beauty parlor and a restaurant, the newspaper El Financiero reported.

Last month, men armed with AK-47 rifles held up a taco restaurant in the affluent Pedregal district, stealing money, jewelry, phones and other items from both diners and employees.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Tax administration cracks down on customs corruption at two offices

By

Simon Schatzberg

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May 13, 2019

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The port of Manzanillo, where a corruption clean-up is under way.

The Federal Tax Administration (SAT) has fired the administrators of two customs offices for alleged corruption, one in the port of Manzanillo, Colima, and the other in the Pantaco office in Mexico City.

SAT head Margarita Ríos-Farjat announced the firings on Twitter, noting that the decision came directly from President López Obrador.

The president had previously made allegations of corruption in the Manzanillo office. During a press conference on April 11, López Obrador said that corruption had “reached an extreme” in the Manzanillo customs office, which he promised to “completely clean up.”

Anonymous government sources told El Diario de Colima that Manzanillo customs administrator Margarito Martín Saldaña was among those fired and that he has been arrested, along with six other Manzanillo customs officials.

Deputy administrator Lizbeth Benítez Sánchez has taken Saldaña’s place in the interim, and the office is operating with support from Navy marines.

The Manzanillo customs office is one of the largest in Mexico, serving the country’s busiest port.

Last week’s firings are part of a wider crackdown on corruption in the General Customs Administration (AGA), which oversees more than $900 billion in international trade.

AGA head Ricardo Peralta Saucedo told El Economista that the administration is prosecuting 68 people for corruption involving customs, including 18 SAT employees. Most are accused of crimes committed at AGA offices in Tamaulipas, Chihuahua and Sonora. If convicted, they could face up to 12 years in prison.

Peralta Saucedo said that in the past AGA offices have been an “extraordinary breeding ground” for corruption and impunity. He promised to implement a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy that includes introducing better technology into customs offices, such as x-ray machines.

“By introducing new technologies into all of the customs processes, little by little we’ll be able to remove human discretion, and with that, eliminate corruption,” he said. “Because today, all of the processes are subject to decisions made by individual people, and those decisions can be influenced by gifts, favors or other kinds of pressure.”

Peralta Saucedo added that eliminating corruption in customs will allow the government to fight tax evasion, a priority for the López Obrador administration.

According to Finance Secretary Carlos Arzúa Macías, tax evasion will cost the government 1 trillion pesos in 2019.

Source: El Economista (sp), El Diario de Colima (sp), Eje Central (sp)

Owner of school in which 19 kids died in 2017 earthquake arrested in CDMX

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MND Staff

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May 13, 2019

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Rescue workers look for survivors at the Rébsamen school in Mexico City.

The owner of a Mexico City school that collapsed in a powerful September 2017 earthquake, killing 19 children and seven adults, has been arrested on manslaughter charges and remanded in preventative custody.

Mónica García Villegas, owner and principal of the Enrique Rébsamen school in the borough of Tlalpan, was arrested in a restaurant in the capital Saturday after an anonymous tip, Mexico City Attorney General Ernestina Godoy told a press conference.

“We arrested her,” Godoy said, explaining that “the crime is manslaughter.”

Shortly after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that shook central Mexico on September 19, 2017, authorities in Tlalpan filed a criminal complaint over irregularities detected in the construction of an apartment on top of a wing of the school that collapsed.

A warrant for García’s arrest and an Interpol red notice were issued but the school owner remained a fugitive for 17 months.

Former school principal Miss Mónica. — Former school principal Mónica García.

Godoy noted that police searched dozens of houses in attempts to locate García and a reward of 5 million pesos (US $260,000) was offered for information leading to her arrest.

At an initial hearing yesterday, judge Esperanza Medrano Ortiz ordered that García be held in preventative custody on culpable homicide charges while she awaits another court appearance Thursday, which will determine whether she is to stand trial.

Her eyes filled with tears, the school principal known as Miss Mónica told the judge that the tragedy was an “accident” caused by the powerful earthquake.

“I’m innocent, I didn’t kill those children,” she declared. “I would never allow such a situation [to occur] for my students.”

During an emotional 18-minute personal defense, García recounted that she had assisted in efforts to free the people trapped under rubble at the school.

She said she was approached by some parents who thanked her for risking her own life to try to save those of her students.

However, parents’ feelings about the longtime educator changed after she disappeared. And it was alleged that the construction of an additional floor on the wing of the school that collapsed had put too much weight on the structure.

The wing housed García’s personal quarters.

Parents and family members of the deceased children protested outside the court during yesterday’s hearing, shouting “Mónica murderer” and holding signs with messages such as: “How do you feel having taken away so many lives.”

Francisco Riquelme, a lawyer for the victims’ families, said he was pleased with the charges that the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (PGJ) has brought against García.

One of the parents said the arrest was only one part of the process that must follow. Alejandro Jurado, whose daughter died in the collapse of the school, said the civil servants who were negligent in allowing the illegal construction to take place must now be detained as well.

García, he charged, initiated the corruption but public servants allowed it to happen.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Financiero (sp), Reuters (en)

5 wins for Roma at Ibero-America’s Platino film awards

By

César Hernández

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May 13, 2019

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The Roma crew at last night's Platino Awards in Playa del Carmen.

Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece Roma swept last night’s Platino Awards, which celebrate the Ibero-American film industry.

The Gran Tlachco Theater at the Xcaret theme park in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, hosted the star-studded event in which Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical film won awards for direction, cinematography, screenplay, sound and best film.

Roma was nominated for nine Platino awards and although Cuarón was unable to attend, lead actresses Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira and several other members of the team were on hand to accept the awards.

Receiving the best screenplay award, co-producer Nicolás Celis recalled that Cuarón kept the “beautiful” screenplay close to his chest, even at the start of the filming process. ” . . . When we read it through we realized its magnitude and relevance.”

Co-producer Gabriela Rodríguez said, “This was a movie that cost us the world to make. We made it with a lot of love. And we want to thank our creator in all senses, Alfonso.”

Roma is set in early 1970s Mexico City and is based on the hardships of Cuarón’s indigenous childhood nanny. Earlier this year, Roma won three Oscars, including best director and cinematography for the filmmaker, as well as Mexico’s first-ever victory in the foreign-language category.

After last night’s victory, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that “not only is Roma Cuarón’s most personal film to date, but it has also opened up an important conversation about Mexico’s social class divide as it sheds light on the struggles of indigenous and working-class people.”

Source: Milenio (sp), The Hollywood Reporter (en)