World-class music school in Zihuatanejo remains a dream

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February 26, 2019

Guitar students at Zihuatanejo's school of music.

A music school that caters to the poorest of the poor in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, is facing eviction barring a miracle.

Elvis “Aikeke” Rose is the director of the school of music and art, best known as EMAZ, a school that operates on a shoestring budget and on borrowed or donated instruments, which are still in short supply.

Although the government has set aside land to fulfill the dream of a world-class school, the reality is that for now the school is set in a courtyard adjacent to a cabana-like structure where Aikeke lives.

No one with talent is turned away. Somehow Aikeke makes it work and has turned out fine students over the years who have gone on to sing in opera houses in Mexico and play with groups or as solo artists locally and beyond.

The few students who can pay barely cover the rent, so the school is facing eviction this month if a miracle doesn’t happen soon.

Christopher on the piano, watched by his sister and teacher Aikeke.

An accomplished musician who began playing professionally at 11, Aikeke is proud of his military musical training at the United States Navy School of Music in Virginia. He describes it as the best training anyone could possibly have, with emphasis on theory and technical proficiency.

Following service in the U.S. Army, the native of St Vincent in the Caribbean honed his craft by working as a studio musician for some of the greatest in Jazz — Rubén Blades, Roland Prince and Elsworth (Shake) Keane to name a few.

Aikeke played drums for a touring band known as The Equitables, playing throughout the U.S. and Canada, but it was when he came to Mexico around 1995 that he first discovered Zihuatanejo and decided he could make a difference here.

He asked me to visit the school to meet one of his most promising students, Christopher, age 24. Christopher started to play the piano a short year ago and is now playing full compositions in many genres. Among his favorites is John Lennon’s Imagine, which he played for me, but he is proficient with many more.

Aikeke used the word genius to describe him. He is also Aikeke’s first autistic student who is blind.

The pair first met at a local school that specializes in helping children and young adults who are challenged either physically or mentally or sometimes both.

An architectural rendition of the proposed new music school.

Although Aikeke has taught other blind students, it has taken an inordinate amount of patience to be successful with an autistic student like Christopher, but the effort has been well worth it.

In addition to his playing ability, Christopher can sing in perfect pitch and loves to perform for anyone who will listen. For Aikeke, music has been the perfect way to help students like Christopher reach their potential.

As I listened to Christopher play, I could feel the passion this young man had for the music, and I wiped away a tear when Christopher finished the number.

For Christopher’s parents, music is a way for their son to grow, to learn and best of all, find normalcy in his life.

For Aikeke, music has been the perfect way to help students like Christopher reach their potential. “I don’t just teach kids who can afford to play,” Rose stated. “I teach kids with talent. And Christopher has talent.”

Unfortunately, judging by the school’s dire financial straits, “payment in apples, oranges and sometimes coconuts doesn’t pay the bills.”

• To find out how you can help, either by sponsoring a student or supplying instruments or just donating, visit the school’s website. EMAZ is a fully recognized Mexican charity.

Christopher

Watch this video on YouTube

EMAZ student Christopher at the keyboard.

Party leader claims crash that killed Puebla governor was no accident

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MND Staff

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February 26, 2019

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The Christmas Eve helicopter crash that killed the governor of Puebla and her ex-governor husband was no accident, claims the national president of the political party to which they belonged.

Martha Erika Alonso, who was sworn in as governor on December 14, Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, two pilots and a political aide all died after the Italian-made Agusta helicopter in which they were traveling plunged to the ground just outside the city of Puebla in the municipality of Coronango.

National Action Party (PAN) president Marko Cortés told the newspaper El Universal that there has been a “suspicious silence” from the federal government about the crash, leading him to believe that it was caused deliberately.

“There’s a black hand in this [crash] that was presented as an accident, and today – with scant evidence and without an official and scientific verdict 60 days later – we see that it wasn’t an accident but rather a provoked incident . . . Being a day with good weather, the equipment [the helicopter] in good order and expert pilots, it makes you think that it [the accident] was provoked,” he said.

“Furthermore, the helicopter fell head first . . .” Cortés added, referencing the helicopter’s unusual almost vertical descent.

The PAN president also said the investigations into the crash are “at a standstill,” a situation he argued is generating uncertainty in the lead-up to a new election for governor that will be held on June 2.

“The investigations undertaken by the federal government are conspicuous by their absence,” Cortés declared while demanding that the López Obrador-led administration provide clarity about the causes of the crash.

Two days after the incident, the president rejected accusations that his government was responsible, declaring that such claims were only made by a “mean” and “neo-fascist” minority.

“As a matter of principle, we would never act against anybody,” López Obrador said, adding that the government was fully committed to finding out what caused the crash.

Yesterday, presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said that a report on the progress of the investigations would be made public soon.

“There has to be a report because it’s an open case of national interest, a report about the state of the investigations will be given in the coming days,” he said, adding that experts’ reports completed outside Mexico will be included.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Business travel sector cancels 2 billion pesos in spending

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Madison Koen

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February 26, 2019

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Uncertainty in the Mexican economy has led foreign investors to cancel 2 billion pesos (US $105 million) of spending on business travel, an industry spokesman says.

Jaime Salazar, president of the Business Travel Industry Council (Comir), told the newspaper El Financiero that eight foreign companies that had planned to hold large corporate events in Mexico over the next three years have cancelled their plans due to “uncertainty in the financial sector and a lack of clarity from the federal government.”

He added that all events associated with federal agencies will likely be cancelled or significantly reduced.

“As a result, we are expecting a 30% drop in events nationwide in the business tourism sector.”

Salazar said there is a lack of confidence in the Mexican market due to the disbanding of the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM), and the decision to move the responsibility for tourism marketing toMexico’s embassies around the world.

Comir has attempted to fill the void left by the CPTM’s dissolution and has since been present at several large tourism conventions to try to attract businesses to Mexico for conferences and meetings.

“We have decided to organize pavilions for several of the industry’s most important events, like AMEX Las Vegas, and we won’t stop until the country’s embassies are truly truly qualified to take over promotion.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Agents charge immigrants ‘fees;’ government plans a clean-up

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MND Staff

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February 26, 2019

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Sánchez has promised a clean-up at immigration agency.

The federal interior secretary has pledged to carry out a “general clean-up” of the National Immigration Institute (INM), explaining that the government has become aware of immigration agents who engage in “illegal conduct.”

Olga Sánchez Cordero told a press conference yesterday that the government has heard from people who have been extorted by immigration agents when they arrived in Mexico.

She added that there is evidence that INM officials even charge different “fees” if the person entering the country “is Venezuelan, Indian or Chinese – in a nutshell, it depends on the nationality.”

The interior secretary’s comments came in response to a question about a 2017 audit recently released by the Federal Auditor’s Office (ASF), which identified legal and ethical shortcomings at the INM and recommended a “profound reengineering” of the institute.

“We’re going to do a general clean-up. These ethical and legal voids it had, of course we’re reviewing them,” Sánchez said.

In response to the ASF audit, the INM itself also said that it would conduct an in-depth review of its processes as well as its staff and the treatment they provide to migrants.

The review will be carried out “from a perspective of unconditional respect for human rights,” the organization said.

The INM also said it will progressively change its personnel in the short term, while over a longer period it will modify its processes and develop new practices with a specific focus on the modernization of technology.

“In doing so, the intent is for the institute to be recognized as an agency that is world class in immigration processes. The modernization of the INM implies an open and transparent institute that maintains civil society as an ally,” it said.

Elba Coria, director of the Alaíde Foppa Legal Clinic for Refugees, an organization at the Iberoamerican University, said the ASF’s damning assessment of the INM was a result of the latter implementing a strategy to control Mexico’s borders and national territory with countless roadblocks and inspections, placing migrants in a situation of vulnerability.

Leticia Calderón Chelius, a researcher at Instituto Mora, a Mexico City university, highlighted that Mexico deports more Central Americans than the United States and contended that immigration authorities have acted unlawfully after arresting migrants.

“They detained everyone, and for longer than the legally allowed time. That was the strategy . . .” she said.

Both Coria and Calderón said that political will is needed to implement the changes that are needed to reform the INM.

The National Immigration Institute was also criticized in a 2017 report by the independent INM Citizens’ Council after an investigation found that agents threaten, punish and abuse migrants at detention centers, coerce them to accept voluntary deportation and discourage them from seeking asylum in Mexico.

Both President López Obrador and new INM chief Tonatiuh Guillén have promised that migrants will be treated with more respect and humanity under the new government than was the case during the previous one.

Migration to Mexico has surged in recent months as several large caravans of Central Americans have entered the country at the southern border en route to the United States.

The INM last month issued more than 12,000 humanitarian visas to such migrants but the program has since been discontinued.

Thousands of Central Americans are currently stranded in northern border cities as they await the opportunity to request asylum with United States authorities, a situation that has rankled some residents and authorities in cities such as Tijuana.

Migration continues to be a contentious issue in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States, one that deteriorated after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

Secretary Sánchez and INM chief Guillén will travel to Washington D.C. later this week to meet with United States Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to discuss the two countries’ views on migration and strategies to deal with the issue.

“. . . It’s a common issue that affects the United States, us and also Canada,” Sánchez said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Reaction to actress’ success is pure racism, says UNAM researcher

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MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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Negative reaction to the success of indigenous Oscar-nominated actress Yalitza Aparicio is pure racism, a sociology researcher contends.

Natividad Gutiérrez Chong, a researcher at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), said in an interview that scornful comments about the 25-year-old Mixtec star of Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma are the product of the average Mexican’s psyche inherited from the Spanish in colonial times.

“When the Spanish arrived, they subjugated native women and their worth was reduced to domesticity,” she said.

Hundreds of years later, the antiquated belief that an indigenous woman’s place is in the home – often carrying out the domestic chores of the wealthy – persists and manifests itself in comments such as that made by telenovela (soap opera) actor Sergio Goyri, Gutiérrez said.

Earlier this month, Goyri called Aparicio “a damn Indian” and declared it was unthinkable that an indigenous woman “who only says sí señora, no señora [yes ma’am, no ma’am]” could be nominated for a best-actress Oscar.

“Yalitza’s talents have been trivialized,” Gutiérrez said.

“People think that she doesn’t act and that’s she’s just being herself in the movie but that’s a big mistake because she’s a preschool teacher . . . so she is acting and responding to the instructions of the director,” she added.

The academic said that discrimination towards Mexico’s native population has always existed but the success of some female members of different indigenous communities, such as Aparicio, is making them more visible and that riles a lot of people, some of whom take to social media to vent.

“This happens because the racist fears that another person – in this case an indigenous woman – is taking something that he or she thinks belongs to him or her [just] for being white,” Gutiérrez said.

“. . . Racism is a brake on social mobility for those below, it’s a brake on the success of those below . . .” she added.

A similar phenomenon occurred with María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, an indigenous woman who unsuccessfully attempted to run in last year’s presidential election.

However, the backlash against the Nahua woman affectionately known as Marichuy was less because no one truly believed that she would achieve the success she sought, Gutiérrez said.

President López Obrador also weighed in on the issue this morning while congratulating Roma director Cuarón for taking home three Oscars last night.

The leftist said that he hasn’t seen the film but agreed with Cuarón’s remarks that racism continues to plague Mexico.

“I completely agree with him. Unfortunately, Mexico still has a lot of racism. I send him a hug from here and I congratulate him,” López Obrador said.

Source: El Economista (sp), El Financiero (sp)

Residents go up against soldiers in Guanajuato: ‘We don’t want you here’

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MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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A blockade designed to repel federal forces in Santa Rosa de Lima.

Residents of a cartel-controlled community in Guanajuato confronted soldiers and Federal Police officers Saturday, forcing the security forces to retreat.

A group of between 50 and 100 people – mainly women – shouted insults at the federal forces in Santa Rosa de Lima, a town in the municipality of Villagrán that is a stronghold of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, a gang of fuel thieves.

“. . . We don’t want you here . . .” the residents yelled along with expletive-laden abuse, the newspaper Milenio reported.

To avoid an escalation of hostilities, the soldiers and police decided to leave Santa Rosa after which residents set tires at the town’s entrance to prevent their return.

The security forces had been carrying out patrols supported by two navy helicopters.

Saturday’s confrontation was not the first time that Santa Rosa de Lima residents have stood up against security forces.

On January 29, an anti-fuel theft operation in Villagrán that resulted in the seizure of at least 24 tanker trucks filled with gasoline, seven trailers and 5,000 liters of stolen fuel triggered a hostile response from residents who attempted to repel security forces with fiery blockades.

Two days later, a narco-banner appeared in Salamanca warning President López Obrador to remove security forces from the Guanajuato or innocent people will die.

The banner, signed by “El Señor Marro,” also said that “a little gift” had been left at the Salamanca oil refinery.

The gift, the government later confirmed, consisted of explosive devices left inside a vehicle parked in front of one of the refinery’s entrances. The explosives were removed before they detonated and were destroyed by authorities.

The gang is believed headed by José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortiz, who has evaded capture even though federal authorities have a lot of information about him, including ranches he frequents, his closest criminal associates and the locations his gang targets to extract fuel from Pemex pipelines.

His criminal organization is believed to be behind much of the violence that made Guanajuato Mexico’s deadliest state last year.

According to federal intelligence officials, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel is now expanding into Querétaro and Hidalgo to steal fuel from petroleum pipelines in those states.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

Auction sells most of the vehicles but falls short of 100-million-peso goal

By

MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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This armored Suburban, once ex-president Peña Nieto's ride, received a lot of attention at the weekend auction.

Almost 90% of government vehicles put up for auction on the weekend were sold but the total funds raised fell well short of President López Obrador’s 100-million-peso (US $5.2-million) target.

Of 218 cars, SUVs, motorcycles and other vehicles up for grabs at a military base in México state, 196 were sold for a combined total of around 60 million pesos (US $3.1 million).

A Nuevo León businessman made the two priciest purchases, picking up two armored vehicles previously used by former president Enrique Peña Nieto.

Enrique Herrera, owner of a security company in the northern border state, paid 1.9 million pesos (US $99,300) for a 2012 Audi A8 known as la bestia mexicana (the Mexican beast) and 1.6 million pesos (US $83,600) for an armored 2014 Chevrolet Suburban SUV.

Herrera said that both vehicles as well as an additional five he bought for another 1 million pesos will be available for rent or loan to the president and visiting dignitaries.

Herrera and his armored Audi, for which he paid nearly 2 million pesos.

The Audi will be rented for 40,000 pesos (US $2,100) a day, he explained, although if López Obrador wants to make use of it, he won’t pay anything.

Another vehicle that garnered a lot of attention from the bidders was an armored 2013 BMW X5 SUV that sold for 810,000 pesos (US $42,300).

The director of SAE, the government agency responsible for selling off the vehicles, described the auction as a “historic” event, explaining that a total of 329 people made bids.

“I understand that it was the greatest auction in the history of the SAE in terms of participants,” Ricardo Rodríguez said.

The 22 vehicles that weren’t sold will be available for purchase at another auction scheduled for April at which government planes and helicopters will be on the block.

López Obrador has said that the funds raised will be used to help fund the creation of the national guard – the new security force that the Senate approved unanimously last week.

The auction of the vehicles is part of a wider austerity push by López Obrador, who has converted the official presidential residence into a cultural center, disbanded the president’s personal security contingent and also hopes to sell the luxurious presidential plane.

Source: ADN Político (sp), Milenio (sp)

Mexico’s GDP grew 2% last year, the lowest since 2013

By

MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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The financial services firm has cut its growth forecast for Mexico.

Mexico’s economy expanded by just 2% last year, according to official statistics, the lowest GDP growth since 2013.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) shows that growth has now declined for four consecutive years.

In 2018, the tertiary sector – including retail, tourism and services – was the economy’s savior, contributing 63% of the total GDP of 74.12 trillion pesos (US $3.87 trillion). The sector grew by 2.8% to reach just under 46.9 trillion pesos (US $2.45 trillion).

Manufacturing and other secondary activities including mining and oil production contributed to 29% of GDP but the sector only managed growth of 0.1% compared to 2017 numbers.

According to Inegi’s revised and seasonally adjusted figures, secondary sector production totaled just over 21.6 trillion pesos (US $1.1 trillion).

The primary sector – including agriculture and fishing – performed better in growth terms, expanding by 2.3% to total production of 2.36 trillion pesos (US $123.3 billion).

That figure contributed to 3% of the Mexican economy with the remainder of GDP coming from the collection of taxes.

Overall 2018 growth of 2% was on or about par with forecasts from a range of financial analysts and institutions.

For this year, the International Monetary Fund cut its growth projection by 0.4% last month to 2.1%, citing lower private investment while the Bank of America halved its prediction to just 1%.

Goldman Sachs has now followed suit, cutting its growth outlook for Mexico by 0.2% to 1.5%.

The investment bank’s New York-based Latin American economists said in a note that sluggish global growth, trade tensions between the United States and China and a shift by central banks towards a more dovish policy stance were among the factors that meant 2019 growth in Mexico and other countries in the region will be weaker.

“The late 2018 and early 2019 growth momentum has been weaker than expected across a number of the large economies — Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico,” the note said.

The bank also said that strikes and gasoline shortages in Mexico during the first quarter of 2019 had contributed to slower growth than in the last three months of 2018. Month-long rail blockades in Michoacán cost the economy billions of pesos.

Goldman Sachs economists also pointed to declining petroleum and gas production and a slowdown in the construction sector as other factors that have hampered growth.

In the context of a slowing economy, the economists said that they expected the Bank of México to cut interest rates by 0.75% to 7.5% in the second half of the year.

“We do not rule out the first easing move taking place at the August, or even June meeting, particularly if the growth slump is deeper than expected,” they said.

Source: El Economista (sp), Reuters (sp)

Hugs at the border: officials show the love at Nuevo Laredo crossing

By

Madison Koen

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February 25, 2019

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Governor García and Speaker Pelosi hug at the border. — Governor García and Speaker Pelosi embrace at border crossing.

There were hugs at the border Saturday when Tamaulipas Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca and United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met on an international bridge linking Nuevo Laredo and Laredo.

The two were among several officials and dignitaries from both countries who took part in the hugging ceremony on the Juárez-Lincoln bridge to commemorate the birthday of George Washington.

Mexican and U.S. officials met in the middle of the bridge to exchange embraces and speak about the importance of the bilateral relationship between the two nations.

During the ceremony, Governor García said the U.S. and Mexico should find ways to better use their longstanding relationship to encourage economic growth and improve living conditions for families on both sides of the border.

Texas Secretary of State David Whitley said the ceremony was a symbol of the strong friendship between two countries that share not just a long history together, but a shared destiny.

García and Pelosi celebrate the bilateral relationship.

“I am proud to say that in the last three years, commerce between Texas and Mexico has increased and our future looks brighter than ever.”

Speaker Pelosi thanked Laredo Representative Henry Cuellar for inviting her to the bridge ceremony, saying she would remember it for years.

Source: El Universal (sp), The Hill (en)

Security chief predicts improvement in crime stats within six months

By

MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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Security Secretary Durazo speaking on the program La Silla Roja.

Crime rates will begin to fall within the first six months of the term of the new federal government, the security secretary predicts.

In an interview transmitted online by the newspaper El Financiero, Alfonso Durazo said that within that timeframe – which will end May 31 – “there will be a turning point in the upward trend of crime rates in the country.”

Within three years, he said, the deployment of the national guard will enable the government to significantly improve Mexico’s security situation.

“We’re not saying that in six months we’re going to solve the incidence [of crime] and violence, of course not. Violence wasn’t generated from one day to the next and it’s not going to be resolved from one day to the next but we can guarantee that in the course of three years we will be able to restore the peace and tranquility lost in our country many years ago,” Durazo said.

The security secretary highlighted that the creation of the national guard was approved unanimously by the Senate although he acknowledged that the government had to modify its original proposal that the security force have a military command.

Durazo said that under the approved proposal, the head of the national guard could be someone from the Federal Police, a retired military leader, a current one who leaves his or her post to take on the new role or a civilian from outside Mexico’s official security apparatus.

The force will commence operations with 35,000 military police, around 17,000 Federal Police officers and approximately 8,000 marines, he explained. Ongoing training for national guard members will be a hallmark of the force, Durazo added.

He also stressed that members of the military will only assist in public security tasks for a maximum of five years after the national guard is created.

Asked to explain the realm of responsibility that the force will have, the secretary explained: “All elements that enter the national guard will have the role of guaranteeing security, life, freedom and people’s assets, in other words, public security – that’s going to be their fundamental responsibility. The national guard won’t have a national security role, that will continue to be a constitutional task that the army and the navy are in charge of.”

Durazo explained that the government plans to deploy national guard units to 266 different regions that have already been drawn up.

He called on lawmakers in the lower house of Congress to do the same as their counterparts in the Senate and give unanimous approval to the constitutional changes required. Recruitment for the force could begin in March, given approval by at least 17 state congresses, the final step in the process.

Newly-published crime statistics underscore the massive security challenge faced by the López Obrador-led government, which in two weeks will complete its first 100 days in office.

The National Public Security System (SNSP) reported last month that there were more than 33,000 homicides last year, making 2018 the most violent year on record, while the first month of this year was the deadliest January ever.

Source: El Financiero (sp)