Private sector laments lack of consultation on elimination of economic zones

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April 26, 2019

A new state-owned company will develop the Isthmus of Tehuantepec corridor.

Business groups have rejected the federal government’s decision to eliminate the country’s seven Special Economic Zones (SEZs), expressing disappointment that they were not consulted.

President López Obrador confirmed yesterday that the zones will disappear, declaring that they were of “no benefit” to the economy.

Francisco Cervantes, president of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), said the private sector will analyze the impact of the decision on investment and the economy as a whole.

Businesses have already committed an estimated US $8.2 billion to projects in the seven SEZs, investments which are now in doubt, although Cervantes said Concamin had been informed that the government “will seek to respect” agreements already made.

But companies that decide to continue with their plans will not enjoy the zero corporate tax rate for 10 years as promised by the previous federal government, which created the SEZs in late 2017 and early 2018.

The seven zones are located in Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas; Salina Cruz, Oaxaca; Lázaro Cárdenas-La Union, Michoacán and Guerrero; Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz; Seybaplaya, Campeche; Dos Bocas, Tabasco; and Progreso, Yucatán.

Cervantes said that Concamin and the Business Coordinating Council (CCE) were disappointed that the government didn’t advise them of its intention to eliminate the SEZs before yesterday’s announcement was made.

“. . . It’s a new government, a new vision, and this shouldn’t surprise us. What surprises us is that we weren’t consulted, we would have liked to have been informed [by the government] first, not by the press. That’s the sentiment of Concamin and the CCE,” Cervantes said.

Cervantes and CCE president Carlos Salazar Lomelín both said they are waiting to see what projects the government proposes to stimulate economic development in the regions of the country that will no longer have SEZs.

The Maya Train and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor are two major projects that the López Obrador administration has already announced and according to a report today in the newspaper El Sol de México, they will replace the SEZs.

The government argues that the two projects will bring significant economic and social benefits to the south and southeast of the country.

To manage the isthmus project, which includes modernization of a rail line between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, a new state-owned company in which the private sector will also invest is on the verge of being created, El Sol de México said.

While both public and private investment are slated to fund the Maya Train and isthmus projects, the president of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation (Canacintra) contended that López Obrador decision to cancel the SEZs is evidence that he has a clear preference for the former.

“I believe that he’s sending a bad signal, that he doesn’t want private investment but rather [he wants] everything to be public, but private [investment in Mexico] is seven times greater than what the government contributes,” Enoch Castellano Férez told the newspaper El Financiero.

José Manuel López Campos, president of the Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco), was also critical of the president’s decision to eliminate the SEZs because they were designed to attract investment and create employment in underprivileged parts of the country.

Agustín Arriaga Diez, president of the Michoacán branch of the CCE, said that “with the cancelation of the [special] economic zones in the country, the confidence of investors will be lost and [Mexico’s] international competitiveness will be reduced.”

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

3rd terminal coming at Mexico City airport, a 4th one under study

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MND Staff

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April 25, 2019

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Benito Juárez airport in Mexico City, where a third terminal is in the works.

Plans are being drawn up for a third passenger terminal at Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and the possibility of a fourth one is being analyzed, according to the capital’s airport chief.

Gerardo Ferrando, CEO of the Mexico City Airport Group (GACM), said in an interview that the master plan for the third terminal is being drawn up and predicted that it will open next year.

The terminal will be built near the maintenance base of the company Mexicana MRO Services and will be used solely for arriving passengers. The project will ease crowding at the existing terminals but it will not increase the airport’s operational capacity.

Ferrando said that a fourth terminal that will allow Mexico’s busiest airport to better cope with increasing passenger numbers could be built at a later date.

“There are certain discomforts at T1 and T2, that’s why T3 is coming and eventually T4. Everything that will be done is for greater comfort,” he said.

The GACM has a 3-billion-peso (US $157.7-million) budget this year to fund the projects and to carry out other improvements.

Ferrando also said that infrastructure operator Aleática is prepared to sell its 49% share in the Toluca International Airport to the GACM, which already owns 25% of the facility. The México state government holds the remaining 26%.

The Toluca airport is part of the federal government’s three-pronged plan to meet rising demand for airline services in the Valley of Mexico.

It will be upgraded to a meet the demands of eight million passengers annually, while it is expected that around 18 million passengers will use the new Santa Lucía airport during its first year of operations.

President López Obrador announced yesterday that construction of the 78-billion-peso (US $4.1-billion) airport will begin Monday and it is expected to open in 2021.

The government intends to increase the combined capacity of the AICM, the Toluca airport and the Santa Lucía facility to 120 million passengers annually.

López Obrador announced that he was canceling the previous government’s US $13-billion airport project at Texcoco, México state, a month before he took office last year.

The decision followed a public consultation that found just under 70% support to cancel the partially-built project.

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

Thousands of manta rays surprise tourists in Oaxaca

By

Madison Koen

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April 25, 2019

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Manta rays gather in the waters off the Oaxaca coast. ALEX KROTKOV

People in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, were treated to a surprise show when thousands of manta rays gathered in the shallow waters of a beach on Sunday evening, occasionally leaping out of the water.

Beachgoers took pictures and video of the aquatic reunion, and local resident Alex Krotkov was even able to capture the rare moment from above with the help of a drone.

Hugo Ibáñez López, representative of the environmental protection group Vivemar, told journalists that what was unusual about Sunday evening’s sighting was not the presence of the myliobatiformes, which is not unusual off the coast of Oaxaca, but rather their huge numbers.

Ibáñez’s group is dedicated to the protection of marine life on local beaches, especially the sea turtles that swim ashore to lay their eggs on the beach.

The environmentalist said that ongoing monitoring by Vivemar revealed that the manta rays’ arrival was preceded by a dramatic drop in ocean temperature.

Drone camera zooms in on manta rays. ALEX KROTKOV

He and several colleagues observed them from a small boat.

“. . . the manta rays were all between 40 and 80 centimeters long. There were thousands of them — a tonne — and they were very playful. They leapt out of the water when they caught sardines to eat. It was a show put on by nature.”

The group remained in the waters off Puerto Escondido from Sunday evening until midday on Monday.

Source: Excelsior (sp), El Heraldo (sp)

Slain muralist believed the world needed more love and color

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MND Staff

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April 25, 2019

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A muralist and environmental activist who was murdered at his home in San Luis Potosí had a simple belief: that the world needed more color and love.

Héctor Domínguez was shot dead last Friday night after two armed men broke into his family’s Ciudad Valles home. His father and brother were also killed in the attack.

The 35-year-old became interested in visual arts as a child and almost a decade ago founded the Fénix Art collective, which painted murals in urban spaces in and around Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí’s second largest city.

Domínguez painted countless brightly-colored murals featuring wild animals, calaveras (skulls) and super heroes such as Darth Vader and Superman, among other subject matter.

He posted more than a thousand photographs of his art to his Instagram account accompanied by captions including “freedom,” “you are what you decide to be” and “the world needs more color and love.”

View this post on Instagram

#freedom !

A post shared by Héctor Domínguez (@hectordominguezr) on Feb 18, 2019 at 7:16pm PST

The day after he was slain marked the ninth anniversary of the creation of the Fénix Art collective. Apart from painting, Domínguez had also recently participated in efforts to clean up the local river.

The motive for the artist’s murder is unclear but it was not the first time he was targeted.

Armed men shot at and wounded Domínguez last September as he was leaving a Ciudad Valles school where he gave art classes. Weeks before that attack, Domínguez’s largest mural was defaced with black paint, apparently as a warning that his days were numbered.

The artist subsequently stopped painting in Ciudad Valles and focused his work on towns in the Huasteca Potosina region.

The artist’s aunt said that Domínguez also sought protection from authorities but in seven months, only one police car was seen watching over his house.

“If they had done their work, this wouldn’t have happened to my nephew. The result was a triple homicide, my brother and my two nephews,” Luz Domínguez said.

View this post on Instagram

Freedom 🦋 #fenixart #coloralascalles

A post shared by Héctor Domínguez (@hectordominguezr) on Dec 18, 2018 at 6:13pm PST

State authorities are currently investigating the crime and Attorney General Federico Garza said that they had determined that only one gun was used in the attack.

He added that the few security cameras located in the area where Domínguez lived are out of order.

The San Luis Potosí Congress today held a minute of silence in memory of the murdered muralist but the peace was broken by several lawmakers who pleaded with the government to ensure that justice is served in the case.

People mourning Domínguez’s death have left scores of candles at the site of his most recent work, a 40-meter-long mural at a local primary school.

Source: Milenio (sp), La Orquesta (sp), Imagen Radio (sp) Quadratin (sp)

AMLO cancels Special Economic Zones; ‘they were of no benefit’

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MND Staff

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April 25, 2019

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The Special Economic Zones whose cancellation was announced today. — The Special Economic Zones whose elimination was announced today.

President López Obrador confirmed today that his government will eliminate the country’s seven Special Economic Zones (SEZs), declaring that they were of “no benefit” to the economy.

The president responded bluntly to a reporter who asked at his morning press conference whether the SEZs are going to disappear.

“Yes, completely,” López Obrador said.

“They were supposed to help but they never did anything to help. They [the former government] did business, they bought land, they squandered resources [but] there was no benefit at all.”

The Enrique Peña Nieto-led administration created SEZs in Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas; Salina Cruz, Oaxaca; Lázaro Cárdenas-La Union, Michoacán and Guerrero; Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz; Seybaplaya, Campeche; Dos Bocas, Tabasco; and Progreso, Yucatán.

Each zone offered generous financial incentives to attract investment including a zero corporate tax rate for 10 years.

Gerardo Gutiérrez Candiani, former head of the federal agency responsible for the SEZs, had predicted they would attract investment of US $42 billion over the next 15 to 20 years.

But last month his successor, Rafael Marín Mollinedo, said the government was analyzing the viability of the zones and that the Secretariat of Finance (SHCP) had taken the view that it would be more beneficial to concentrate government resources on the establishment of a trade corridor on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Sources inside the president’s office confirmed that the government will pursue “development projects” instead of the SEZs.

The zones were created in late 2017 and early 2018. One year ago, the federal government announced a 50-billion-peso stimulus package to encourage investment in them.

In addition to canceling the SEZs, López Obrador said that his administration has eliminated other government programs and agencies that generated little or no benefit for the country.

“The Tourism Promotion Council was canceled yesterday,” he said, referring to a vote in the lower house of Congress that approved the agency’s disbandment.

“It was a bottomless pit, it didn’t promote tourism, it used money to buy loyalty . . . to pay for advertising in newspapers . . . Do you remember [international trade and investment agency] ProMéxico? It doesn’t exist anymore either.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Mexican named world’s best female chef for ‘dynamic, inventive’ cooking

By

César Hernández

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April 25, 2019

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Soto at her New York City restaurant Cosme.

A 28-year-old Mexican chef who owns two restaurants in New York City has been named the world’s best female chef.

Daniela Soto Innes was awarded the title by organizers of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

The organization commended Soto, the youngest winner ever, for her “dynamic and inventive” cooking at the contemporary Mexican restaurants Comse and Atla.

Born in Mexico City and raised in Houston, Texas, she returned to her home turf to spend her formative years training under chef Enrique Olvera at the award-winning Pujol restaurant in Mexico City.

By 2014, Soto had settled in New York, where she and Olvera opened Cosme, promptly gaining the attention of local gastronomy fans.

Two years later she was given the Rising Star Award by the James Beard Foundation and this year she has been shortlisted for best chef.

At Cosme, the menu is anchored with Mexican flavors and traditions and includes dishes such as duck carnitas, barbacoa with shishito peppers, quelites, avocado and salsa, and corn husk meringue desserts.

Her second restaurant, Atla, is an all-day casual eatery that serves Mexican classics like huevos rancheros and quesadillas.

Soto and Olvera are now working on opening two new restaurants in Los Angeles later this year, a Japanese-influenced Mexican restaurant and a taquería.

“Both older talent and young talent deserve all the respect at all times, and we should be able to hear what has to be said,” she told World’s 50 Best in reference to her own youth.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been cooking 40 years or one year. There are cooks who weren’t even cooks when they joined me a year ago, and they’ve taught me a lot more than what I knew when I was 14.”

Soto said she hopes to inspire and support people of all ages, races and nationalities in becoming cooks.

“I grew up with a line of really strong women that love to cook. When I was born, my mother was a lawyer . . . but she wanted to be a chef because my grandma had a bakery and my great grandma went to cooking school. Everything was about who made the best cake, who made the best ceviche, who made the best mole. I just knew that it was the thing that made me the happiest,” she said.

Soto wrote on Instagram that the award was “for the Cosme team, for my family, for Mexico. For the kick-ass women and men that give us their support!”

She will accept her award at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants presentation on June 25 in Singapore.

Source: Yahoo News (en), Sin Embargo (sp)

Playa del Carmen homicides up six times over last year

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MND Staff

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April 25, 2019

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The number of homicides in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, in the first quarter of 2019 was six times higher than the same period last year, statistics show.

There were 55 homicides in Solidaridad, the municipality where the resort city is located, between January and March compared to nine in the first three months of last year.

The figure accounts for one-third of all murders in the state in the first quarter of this year and is equivalent to one-half of the total number of homicides in Solidaridad last year.

Only Benito Juárez, the municipality where Cancún is located, recorded a higher number of homicides between January and March, with 96.

The high murder rate in Playa del Carmen continues a trend that began in July last year.

There were 28 intentional homicides between January and June 2018 but 82 in the six-month period to December, an increase of almost 200%. The surging murder rate came a year after Cancún saw a similarly steep rise in homicides.

In the first week of this year, seven people were killed in a bar shooting in Playa del Carmen, after which Mayor Laura Beristain said that municipal authorities would work “hand-in-hand with the state government in a head-on fight against crime” and that “we cannot and must not allow the image of Solidaridad as a tourist destination to continue to be stained.”

The following month, she appealed to President López Obrador to call on the media in Quintana Roo to stop “bashing” Playa del Carmen by publishing front page stories about violence.

During the presentation of the government’s national tourism strategy in Chetumal, Beristain claimed that newspapers were publishing sensationalist headlines such as “Solidaridad, 100 days of blood” and “Solidaridad, violence and crime grow” to retaliate against a loss of government advertising revenue.

“It’s not true, that [kind of violence] is not happening in Playa del Carmen, Solidaridad . . .” she said.

However, the most recent homicide statistics paint a different picture.

According to the president of the Citizens’ Observatory of Quintana Roo, a civil society organization, the growing levels of violence in Solidaridad are the result of a turf war between criminal groups.

“The municipal seat, Playa del Carmen, is one of the main markets [in the state] for drug dealing, and it’s an important plaza that several organized crime groups are competing for,” Gerardo Bonilla said.

“The problem is that Quintana Roo doesn’t have the institutional strength to deal with a phenomenon of this nature,” he added.

Bonilla charged that Governor Carlos Joaquín, who presented a new anti-crime strategy in February, has lost control of the security situation and expressed skepticism that the deployment of the National Guard will make a difference.

He also stressed that violence is a statewide problem, pointing out that Quintana Roo was considered the ninth most peaceful state in Mexico in 2017 but has now dropped to 29th.

“. . . To have lost 20 places in a couple of years and to now be one of the three most insecure states is not a minor matter,” he said.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Of hospital’s 13 ambulances, only two have gasoline

By

Madison Koen

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April 25, 2019

0

ambulances out of gas — Only two are operable.

Nearly all the ambulances at a Mexico City hospital for government employees are unusable — they’re out of gas.

Only two of the 13 ambulances parked outside Darío Fernández General Hospital have gasoline, according to a driver who requested anonymity.

Furthermore, the source revealed that driver’s license renewals are frequently delayed and travel allowances never reimbursed.

“Before, there was a mileage chart and that’s how we knew what we were owed per trip, but they changed it and now in theory they give us a travel allowance for every trip. But for the last six months we have paid money out of our own pockets for gasoline and food, and they haven’t reimbursed us for any of it.”

But the driver said the lack of gasoline is not the only reason for the vehicles being parked.

“Some drivers do not have their papers up-to-date: their licenses are expired, and [the ISSSTE] is supposed to pay for it. We cannot risk going on an emergency call without our papers in order. If there’s an accident, nobody is going to back us up.”

The finance director of the health agency revealed before the Senate Health Commission this week that it is essentially bankrupt and will run out of cash by July.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Customs agents seize 45 tonnes of pirated goods at Mexico City airport

By

MND Staff

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April 25, 2019

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Customs agents inspect goods seized at Mexico City airport.

Customs agents have seized more than 45 tonnes of pirated goods from a storage facility within the Mexico City International Airport (AICM).

The confiscation is the largest ever of its kind at the airport, where shipments of drugs and cash are often seized.

Among the counterfeit goods were large quantities of clothes, shoes, watches, jewelry, bags and mobile phone accessories.

The pirated brands included Lacoste, Nike, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Rolex, Calvin Klein, Bulgari and Casio.

Ricardo Peralta, head of the General Customs Administration (AGA) at the Federal Tax Administration (SAT), praised the work of the airport customs team including its chief, who has only been in the job since Tuesday.

New customs administrator Baglietto, center.

“The presence of the new administrator, Damaris Baglietto, and the team made up of experts on organized crime and investigation is beginning to yield great results,” he said.

Baglietto, 44, is an expert in money laundering, drug trafficking and organized crime with experience in investigation and prosecution.

The AGA described the seizure as a severe economic blow for traffickers of pirated goods, estimating that the value of the counterfeit items on the black market would be 200 million pesos (US $10.5 million).

Most Mexico City confiscations of pirated goods, known colloquially in Mexico as fayuca, come as the result of operations carried out in the Tepito neighborhood – home to the capital’s most notorious black market – or at street stalls in other parts of the city.

Most counterfeit items smuggled into Mexico come from China or other Asian countries.

Following yesterday’s seizure, customs officials contacted legal representatives from the companies whose goods had been pirated to provide information that will allow them to file copyright infringement complaints with the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR).

Peralta said the new airport customs chief will oversee increased efforts to detect customs personnel who are involved in smuggling illegal goods into the country.

He explained that drug seizures at the airport are up, adding that 68 people have been charged with smuggling offenses in the last four months, 18 of whom were customs employees.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Veracruz mayor gunned down and killed in Zongolica region

By

César Hernández

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April 25, 2019

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The mayor of Mixtla de Altamirano, Veracruz, was murdered last night along with her husband and another man when they were traveling on the Zongolica-Orizaba highway in the Zongolica sierra region of the state.

Individuals in another vehicle opened fire on the mayor and her companions in the municipality of Los Reyes at about 10:00pm, killing Maricela Vallejo Orea, her husband Efrén Zopiyactle and their chauffeur.

Governor Cuitláhuac García Jiménez condemned the “cowardly” attack and promised that justice would be served.

He also said he and Vallejo had made great progress together, building a new health center and promoting Mixtla’s indigenous culture.

Vallejo’s term in office got off to a rocky start when threats were made against her if she did not resign her post. She was offered 300,000 pesos (US $15,700) to do so in December 2017, but declined.

She denounced the threats at the same time her uncle was shot and killed in the central Veracruz town of Tlilapan.

Earlier this year, Vallejo was one of the principal speakers at a forum on violence against women and girls and proposed the creation of an agency in every municipality to address violence against women.

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