In violence-torn Guerrero cities, 30% of surveillance cameras don’t work

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February 20, 2019

A security camera in Guerrero. It may not be functional.

In violence-stricken Guerrero, 30% of surveillance cameras in the state’s four largest cities are not functioning.

The state government has installed 723 cameras in Acapulco, Chilpancingo, Iguala and Zihuatanejo but 212 are currently on the blink, according to a report in the newspaper Reforma.

Just over three-quarters of the out-of-action cameras are in Acapulco, a faded resort city that has been described as Mexico’s murder capital.

The administration of former governor Ángel Aguirre spent 330 million pesos (US $17.2 million at today’s exchange rate) in 2012 to buy 600 security cameras for Acapulco but today only 438 of them work.

In Zihuatanejo, another beach destination that has been plagued by violence, 10.5 million pesos were spent to buy 20 cameras but now none of them are functional, according to a government report.

Of 78 cameras installed in the state capital Chilpancingo – which just over a year ago saw a spate of enforced disappearances – 12 have stopped working, while in Iguala, scene of the 2014 disappearance of 43 teaching students, only seven of 25 cameras are in working order.

A confidential report seen by Reforma says that cameras in Guerrero have stopped working for long periods because the state Secretariat of Finance and Administration has not been punctual in paying the companies responsible for maintaining them.

Alejandro Martínez Sidney, president of a business association in Acapulco, said the high number of inoperative cameras in the port city is “more proof that authorities are not interested in the security of citizens.”

Martínez said that state and municipal police have told him that a lot of the cameras don’t work because they have been vandalized by criminal gangs.

He called on municipal, state and federal authorities to repair the devices and ensure that maintenance is carried out regularly so they remain operational.

Chilpancingo government official Víctor Manuel Ortega said that more cameras will be installed in the capital soon, explaining that they will be placed in parts of the city with high rates of crime.

The municipal government has announced an investment of 15 million pesos to purchase new cameras and drones but Ortega explained there are not enough funds to install cameras in all 500 of Chilpancingo’s neighborhoods.

One part of the city that is already well equipped with cameras is the street on which Guerrero Governor Héctor Astudillo lives. Eight video cameras keep a watchful eye over every square inch of his Chilpancingo home.

Guerrero was the third most violent state in Mexico last year in terms of homicide numbers, recording a total of 2,472 murders.

Source: Reforma (sp)

AMLO rejects his party’s plan to give Pemex boss more power

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MND Staff

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February 20, 2019

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Ruling party lawmakers have postponed a plan to approve a legislative change that would increase the powers of the CEO of Pemex after President López Obrador made it clear that he didn’t support it.

Manuel Rodríguez González, a Morena party deputy and president of the energy committee of the lower house of Congress, announced yesterday afternoon that the reform to the Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Law would not be approved in committee as had been scheduled.

Under the proposed change backed by Morena party members, the Pemex board could not meet without CEO Octavio Romero in attendance and only he would be authorized to make or sign off on important decisions about the operation and direction of the company, including adjustments to fuel prices and the appointment and dismissal of executives.

Critics of the initiative have charged that López Obrador would have complete control of the state-run company with the Pemex chief serving as his proxy.

“Everything is reprogrammed,” Rodríguez said, referring to the scheduled appearance of Romero in Congress today and the session planned to approve the proposed reform.

“. . . We’re going to establish working groups. The process of analysis, discussion and in due course approval [of the reform] could now take several weeks,” he explained.

At his daily press conference yesterday morning, López Obrador rejected the proposal outright and any suggestion that it had come from him.

“There’s no proposal on our part. We didn’t approve it. In the executive, we don’t want any modification . . . because we don’t want to give them excuses, excuses to those who have looted Pemex,” he said.

“If we suggested something like that now, what would they say? They’d shout like town criers that we’re acting arbitrarily and that there won’t be counterbalances in Pemex. No, no, no, no, we won’t touch [the issue] not even with a rose petal, in other words, no modification, no modification,” the president declared.

Asked whether any change was needed to the company’s corporate governance model, López Obrador responded: “It’s not necessary . . . and it would give them an excuse to say this authoritarian government doesn’t take experts and civil society into account.”

Pemex has debt of more than US $100 billion and a credit rating by both Fitch and Moody’s that is just one level above junk status.

López Obrador presented a 107-billion-peso (US $5.5-billion) rescue plan for the company last week but financial institutions and Fitch expressed skepticism that it would be enough to prevent another credit rating downgrade.

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

Gangs battle over drug trade in southeast Mexico City

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MND Staff

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February 19, 2019

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The death of a Mexico City criminal leader at the hands of marines in 2017 was the catalyst for a turf war in the capital’s southeast that is believed to be behind a recent surge in violence including a multi-homicide last weekend.

Two years ago, the drug trade in an area of Mexico City known as Los Culhuacanes was controlled by the Tláhuac Cartel, a gang led by Felipe de Jesús Pérez Luna, or “El Ojos” (The Eyes), until he was shot dead in July 2017 during a violent confrontation with marines.

Narco-blockades made an unprecedented appearance in Mexico City during the clash, which also claimed the lives of seven of Pérez’s sicarios, or hitmen.

After El Ojos was killed, smaller criminal groups that had been at his service began to fight for control of Los Culhuacanes, a zone which is made of up several neighborhoods on the fringes of the boroughs of Iztapalapa, Coyoacán, Xochimilco, Tláhuac and Tlalpan.

There were 35 intentional homicides in the area last year believed to be related to the settling of scores between rival gangs, the newspaper El Universal reported today.

According to intelligence gathered by the Mexico City Attorney General’s office (PGJ), members of two families who work for two criminal gangs known as Los Pitufos (The Smurfs) and Los Rodolfos are engaged in a bitter dispute in Los Culhuacanes.

Based on declarations given by family members of victims of violence, the PGJ has determined that the enforcers of the former group are seven brothers with the surname Molina, aka Los Molina.

Three of the brothers – Noé, Luis and Juan Carlos – are suspected of carrying out an attack in the neighborhood of Los Reyes Culhuacán, Iztapalapa, early Sunday morning that left seven people dead and two more seriously wounded.

According to the PGR, the other group, Los Rodolfos, has entered into a “commercial relationship” with a gang known as Los Panchos, whose members are involved in the on-the-ground conflict with the Molina brothers.

Members of both gangs have allegedly murdered each other at nightclubs, bars, restaurants and tourist areas in Mexico City’s southeastern boroughs.

Clashes between Los Molina and Los Panchos are also believed to be responsible for the deaths of three people at a Christmas party last year and the wounding of four others, and the slaying of five more people in November at a suspected drug dealing location.

The principal line of investigation for authorities carrying out inquiries into Sunday’s deadly attack is that it was a settling of scores between the two gangs.

The main target was a retail drug dealer known as El Mane, the official investigation has established, while the other six people killed, all of whom had criminal records, were apparently “collateral damage.”

Witnesses and family members of the victims have told authorities that El Mane sold drugs for Los Molina until August last year but racked up a debt of 100,000 pesos (US $5,200) with the brothers that he never paid back.

Source: El Universal (sp)

6 dead after overloaded bus crashes in Campeche

By

Madison Koen

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February 19, 2019

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Six people died after this bus rolled over on a highway in Campeche.

Six people are dead and at least 38 injured after a grisly bus accident in Campeche.

The El Sur bus left Iturbide at full capacity at 7:00am en route to Campeche city, but took on more passengers in the community of Dzibalchén, overloading the vehicle.

Soon after, the driver lost control of the bus, which rolled over and slid several meters before coming to a stop. Two passengers died instantly.

Witnesses and passengers assisted those trapped in the wreckage, who were transported to local health centers. Two passengers died in transit and two more while receiving medical attention.

Among the wounded was driver Jorge Adán Bautista Martínez, 26, who was arrested by police upon regaining consciousness and turned over to the state attorney general (FGE).

Family members of the victims told police that the driver had been seen drinking large quantities of alcohol until the early hours of Monday morning with other drivers in Iturbide shortly before taking the wheel.

Another passenger told authorities that the bus was dangerously over capacity, with 42 passengers seated and 20 standing, and the bus’s speed repeatedly triggered the speed limit alarm, which sounds at 95 kilometers per hour.

State Health Secretary Rafael Rodríguez Cabrera confirmed that a child was among those killed. Seven people remained in critical condition as of earlier today.

State authorities opened an investigation into the cause of the crash, which is being treated as homicide.

Source: Tribuna Campeche (sp), Excélsior (sp)

Water recedes on Pacific coast beaches due to anticyclone system

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César Hernández

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February 19, 2019

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People enjoying beachtime in Guerrero and Sonora were startled on the weekend when an unusually low tide saw the water retreat as much as 30 meters in the span of half an hour.

Visitors at the San Carlos and Miramar beaches in Guaymas and at the Empalme and Bahía de Kino beaches in Hermosillo, Sonora, witnessed the exceptionally low tide, posting videos of the phenomenon on social networks.

Local fishermen told the newspaper El Universal that the tides have been very low in recent days, but Saturday’s was unusually so.

A similar event was reported in Acapulco, where workers at restaurants at Las Hamacas beach told the newspaper El Sol de México that while low tides are a common phenomenon at the end of the rainy season, Saturday’s event was one of the lowest in memory.

Fear of a tsunami spread in both states, but authorities said the extraordinarily low tide was caused by an anticyclone system located off the coast of California, and people living near the coast were not at risk.

By early Sunday morning, the sea had recovered its usual level, with no infrastructure damages to report.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Sol de México (sp)

Heat wave continues in 20 states, temperatures over 40 C in seven

By

César Hernández

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February 19, 2019

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The National Meteorological Service (SMN) has forecast that the heat wave sweeping over 20 states is expected to continue at least until Wednesday afternoon.

High temperatures are expected to remain between 35 and 40 C in parts of Sinaloa, Colima, Nuevo León, Durango, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Puebla, Morelos, Veracruz, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.

In parts of San Luis Potosí, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas, temperatures are expected to rise above 40 C.

The seventh winter storm of the season will bring snow and sleet in mountainous regions of Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango through Wednesday.

Temperatures will drop to between -5 and 0 C in the mountains of Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Sonora, Coahuila, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala and México states.

Strong winds with gusts reaching 70 kilometers an hour are expected in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Zacatecas.

Mexico News Daily

Business leaders give AMLO benefit of the doubt but question blockades, strikes

By

MND Staff

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February 19, 2019

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López Obrador, center, with members of the CMN. — López Obrador, center, with members of the business council.

Despite suffering setbacks such as the cancellation of the new Mexico City airport project and the freezing of the 2014 energy reform, Mexico’s business leaders continue to give President López Obrador the benefit of the doubt.

The president met yesterday with members of the Mexican Business Council (CMN) – an elite group made up of 60 of the largest businesses in the country – who made it clear that they remain willing to collaborate with the new government to achieve greater economic growth and prosperity.

While business leaders didn’t reproach López Obrador for his decision to scrap the partially built US $13-billion airport at Texcoco, México state, or bring up the energy reform issue, the meeting wasn’t a total love fest: criticism was leveled at the president for his government’s handling of teachers’ recent rail blockades in Michoacán and strike action in Tamaulipas.

Both the blockades, which lasted for a month, and the strikes in the northern border city of Matamoros caused significant damage to the economy and, according to the CMN members, sent a negative message to investors.

Antonio del Valle Perochena, who was sworn in yesterday as the council’s new president, said the private sector is committed to investing in Mexico and supporting the government, but stressed that respect for the nation’s institutions and strengthening the rule of law are needed to ensure that the confidence of investors is maintained.

Del Valle Perochena, who is also chairman of petrochemical and banking conglomerate Grupo Kaluz, added that “as Mexicans, it’s our duty to contribute” to the achievement of the government’s goals of improving security, combatting corruption, stimulating economic growth and generating well-being.

The businessman said that member companies of the CMN could invest more than US $31 billion in Mexico this year but explained that they are waiting for the government to complete its National Development Plan (PND), which will set the economic course for the next six years, before they finalize their plans.

“We’re working together with the federal government to establish the [plan] . . . At the start of all six-year presidential terms . . . there are a lot of projects to do and the PND is going to define a lot of things . . . Our greatest interest is to invest in the country and to create jobs,” he said.

In his address to the business leaders, López Obrador said: “If there is growth, there are jobs. If there are jobs, there is well-being. If there is well-being, there is peace. That’s the route we must go down . . . You are fundamental to achieving growth and well-being but mainly growth because it’s very important that you invest and create jobs . . .”

However, outgoing CMN president Alejandro Ramírez pointed out that jobs are threatened by strikes in Matamoros and warned that more than 1,200 companies could be affected in Tamaulipas alone if the job action spreads.

The CEO of the cinema chain Cinépolis also questioned why “a small group of protesters” was permitted to maintain rail blockades in Michoacán that “caused losses of more than 24 billion pesos,” contending that a “bad precedent” had been set and that the government’s inaction sent “a negative message about the prevalence of the rule of law.”

López Obrador refused to use force to remove teachers from railway tracks and even sought an opinion from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) about what to do to end the blockades, only to have the commission say the government shouldn’t delegate its responsibilities to protect people’s rights.

Following the meeting, former CMN president and chairman of Kimberley Clark de México, Claudio X. González Laporte, told reporters that behind closed doors, he expressed his concern to López Obrador about the possibility that Mexico’s sovereign credit rating could be downgraded.

There is increasing speculation that debt in excess of US $100 billion owed by Pemex could push Mexico’s credit rating below investment grade in the coming years.

The rescue plan for the state oil company, announced by the president last week, was described as insufficient and disappointing by financial institutions, while Fitch Ratings warned that it doesn’t insulate the state oil company against future cuts to its credit rating, which it currently places just one notch above junk status.

González said López Obrador expressed his commitment to maintaining Mexico’s standing as a safe investment destination, adding that the private sector will do all it can to “retain investment grade [ratings] both for Pemex and the country.”

Yesterday’s meeting between the CMN and López Obrador came after the president announced the creation of a new government investment council at an event in Mexico City.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Guanajuato, Querétaro governors question big cuts to security funding

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MND Staff

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February 19, 2019

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A municipal police officer in León, Guanajuato.

The governors of Guanajuato and Querétaro have expressed concern over the reduction in federal funding for municipal police forces, a move the former described as a “national strategy mistake.”

Last year, 21 municipalities in Guanajuato – the most violent state in 2018 in terms of sheer homicide numbers – received funding for their municipal police forces via the federal government’s Security Enhancement Program (Fortaseg).

But this year, the new administration has only allocated resources to 15 municipalities, all of which will receive less money for their police forces than they got in 2018.

León, which recorded the second highest number of homicides last year among Guanajuato’s 46 municipalities, will receive 38.3 million pesos this year compared to just over 67 million pesos in 2018, a 42% reduction.

All told, the 15 municipalities included in Fortaseg this year will receive 214 million pesos (US $11.1 million) but among those that won’t receive any federal security funding are municipalities located on the border with Jalisco and Michoacán, two states where criminal organizations have a strong presence.

Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo said he has supported the government’s national security strategy, including the proposal to create a national guard and the crackdown on fuel theft, but was critical of the funding cuts for municipal police.

“If we don’t strengthen municipal police forces, [the security situation] won’t change. I think it’s a national strategy mistake,” he said.

“The role of federal and state forces is to look after territory; who should take care of the people are the municipal police because they have the training to attend to the citizens. The navy and the army are not trained to be preventative [forces] or to be close [to citizens],” Rodríguez added.

The governor said he will petition federal Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo to provide more funds to Guanajuato’s municipalities either through Fortaseg or other means.

Rodríguez added that the state government will provide 600 million pesos (US $31.3 million) for municipalities to strengthen their police forces, explaining that “security is the priority” for his administration.

There were 3,290 homicides in Guanajuato last year, many of which are believed to be linked to pipeline petroleum theft carried out by violent gangs such as the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

Municipalities in Querétaro, which borders Guanajuato to the east, have also seen a reduction in their Fortaseg funding while Tequisquiapan, a pueblo mágico (magical town), has been excluded from the program altogether.

Querétaro, El Marqués, Corregidora and San Juan are the only four municipalities in the state that will receive Fortaseg money in 2019 but the 62.8 million pesos (US $3.3 million) they will share is 45% less than the 114.3 million pesos they got last year.

Querétaro Governor Francisco Domínguez told reporters that he will seek to meet either with Security Secretary Durazo or officials from the Secretariat of Finance to ask that the government reconsider the decision to exclude Tequisquiapan from the Security Enhancement Program.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Interest in Roma real estate soared following award-winning film’s release

By

MND Staff

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February 18, 2019

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A building in Mexico City's Roma district.

Interest in renting and buying properties in the Mexico City district of Roma soared following the release of the Alfonso Cuarón film of the same name, statistics show.

According to the website Mercado Libre, searches for properties for sale in Roma increased by 47% between August 2018, when the film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, and January 2019.

The search for Roma rental properties also went up in the same period albeit by a more modest 35%.

Located around four kilometers southwest of Mexico City’s downtown, the Roma district is known for its bars, restaurants and bohemian atmosphere.

The district is actually made up of two distinct neighborhoods – Roma Norte and the slightly less trendy Roma Sur.

The house where Roma was filmed is located in the latter neighborhood on Tepeji Street opposite the home where Cuarón grew up.

The house, and other Roma locations featured in the black-and-white film as well as the restaurant La Casa del Pavo (The House of the Turkey) in the capital’s historic center, have become popular tourist attractions as a result of the success of Roma.

Interest in buying and renting real estate in Roma fell for a brief period after the powerful September 19,2017 earthquake, which caused significant damage in the district.

However, Roma’s location in an area of Mexico City that is more susceptible than most to seismic activity as well as high prices to buy or rent have done little to undermine the popularity of the neighborhood.

The average price to buy a house in Roma Norte is just under 6.7 million pesos (US $350,000) while the average cost of an apartment is 5.1 million pesos (US $265,000), according to real estate website propiedades.com.

Renting a house in the same neighborhood costs on average almost 39,000 pesos (US $2,000) a month while an apartment rents at just over half that amount, or just under 21,500 pesos (US $1,100).

But with Roma nominated for 10 Oscars at this Sunday’s Academy Awards and the strong likelihood that it will win at least some of them, the popularity of Roma as a place to live –and its real estate prices – will likely continue to go up.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Another butterfly colony discovered in México state

By

MND Staff

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February 18, 2019

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Owners of communal land located near the Nevado de Toluca volcano in México state have discovered a monarch butterfly colony long searched for by park rangers and conservationists.

A small group of ejidatarios, or communal landowners, was carrying out a routine patrol of their forested land within the Nevado de Toluca National Park just before Christmas when they found the butterflies hanging in massive clumps from the branches of Oyamel fir trees on a steep mountainside.

Local forester José Luis Hernández Vázquez told the Associated Press that the landowners “didn’t make a big deal” about the find, explaining that he contacted the Natural Protected Areas Commission (Conanp) and other government authorities that confirmed the existence of the colony in mid-January.

However, officials say that the newly-discovered colony won’t be opened to the public as is the case with some other areas where the butterflies overwinter in México state and Michoacán.

Mario Castañeda Rojas, director of the Nevado de Toluca reserve, explained that the reason for maintaining the colony off limits was to “guarantee lively, healthy exemplars” that don’t suffer stress due to the presence of visitors during the four-month hibernation season.

Park rangers and conservationists had long suspected that there was a hidden monarch butterfly colony within the 53,419-hectare national park.

But despite looking for years and narrowing their search to the communal lands located more than 3,000 meters above sea level on the northwestern side of the park, they were never able to find it.

“It was like an urban legend,” said Gloria Tavera Alonso, a regional director for Conanp.

The discovery of the colony helped to make this year’s monarch butterfly migration the largest in 12 years.

The Natural Protected Areas Commission announced late last month that the area occupied by the butterflies was up 144% to 6.05 hectares, the largest area covered since 2006-2007.

The number of butterflies that reach Mexico each year from the United States and Canada can fluctuate wildly depending on a variety of factors including the weather conditions the insects face during their journey.

Source: Associated Press (sp)