Dog lover’s project installs feeding stations in Oaxaca city

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April 21, 2019

The collective and one of their Oaxaca dog feeders.

A love for dogs inspired a young man to pursue a project in Oaxaca city to ensure that animals living on the street have something to eat and drink.

Jonathan Tonatiuh Hernández Eslava, a 24-year-old México state native, paints and installs PVC tubing which functions as feeding stations for street dogs and other domestic animals that don’t have a home.

Two other people contribute to the project which Hernández called Tetheo, a variation of a Náhuatl word that means universe.

The activist told the newspaper El Universal that the idea for his project came after seeing dogs eating garbage and drinking from puddles in the street.

“You grow up in a social paradigm in which it’s normal, that it should be that way, not just for animals but also for people who live on the street,” he said.

“We need to learn the value of life . . . We want to create awareness . . . and a culture of helping animals.”

Hernández and the two other members of his team initially asked municipal authorities for permission to go ahead with their project but even though they got a negative response, they proceeded all the same.

Their first feeder, which was made out of a large water bottle and another plastic container, was placed outside a Oaxaca church last September.

However, it didn’t last long: a parish priest threw it away and was captured on video in the act, drawing the ire of animal rights activists who saw the footage on social media.

After that, Hernández decided to take a different approach by using PVC pipes to make the feeding stations and affixing them to posts.

There are now four brightly colored feeders adorning the streets of Oaxaca city and, according to Hernández, they have been largely accepted by residents because they help to beautify the city.

Each hand-painted pipe features the Náhuatl word for food or water depending on what its feeder section contains as well as a poem in the indigenous language.

Hernández said that promoting indigenous identity and culture is another important aspect of his project.

To ensure there is enough money to buy food and keep the feeders filled, the Tetheo collective carries out fundraising initiatives such as raffles. Locals have also donated money and dog food to the cause.

In the future, Hernández hopes that his project will grow with the assistance of other people who want to improve the lives of street dogs.

“The collective’s intention is for the project to expand to all of Oaxaca . . . The idea is that little by little people will get to know the project and join the initiative by helping us to fill the containers or installing one in their neighborhood.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

Spanish hotelier to invest US $250 million in Riviera Maya project

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César Hernández

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April 21, 2019

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The Barceló complex on the Riviera Maya where the new hotel and convention center will be built.

The Spanish hotelier Barceló Group will invest over US $250 million in a new resort and convention center in the Riviera Maya of Quintana Roo.

To be called Barceló Maya Riviera, the new all-inclusive and adults-only resort will have 850 rooms, all of which will have hot tubs on their balconies.

Five hundred of the rooms will have a sea view and 110 will be swim-up or junior suites. Five restaurants, five bars and four pools will also be part of the facility.

The project includes a 21,000-square-meter area dedicated to business tourism and a convention center that will accommodate up to 8,000 people. It will be set at the Barceló Maya Grand Resort,

With 22 hotels and 8,156 rooms in its portfolio, Barceló Group is the third largest hotel chain in Mexico.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Temporary migrant employment program begins in Chiapas

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Madison Koen

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April 21, 2019

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Migrants wait to see immigration agents in Mapastepec.

The National Immigration Institute (INM) said registration began Friday for a temporary employment program for migrants, an initiative of the federal department of Social Wellbeing.

Federal authorities said there are currently 5,365 migrants in Chiapas in refugee camps, waiting for special permission from the Mexican government to stay in the country or continue their journey north to the United States.

The INM said it is overseeing the distribution of medical care, food, water, basic products for children and infants.

Immigration authorities said 1,100 migrants are camped in Ciudad Hidalgo, where the agency serves 3,300 food rations every day. In Tapachula, 1,527 migrants awaiting deportation are given 4,500 food rations, while in Mapastepec, federal authorities continue to provide humanitarian aid to the 650 asylum seekers who remain at the refugee camp.

On Friday afternoon, the INM detained more than 200 Central American migrants in Mapastepec as they stopped to rest and wait for a larger caravan of migrants. Those that managed to evade capture continued towards Pijijian, where they hoped to find temporary shelter and rest.

As the numbers of migrants entering Mexico’s southern border spiked dramatically in recent months, so have deportations by the INM, though Mexican immigration authorities denied that the increase in migrant detentions has been due to pressure by the United States.

As the migrant numbers have increased, the welcome they have received has been cooler.

One Mapastepec resident who said she helped provide food for migrant caravans last year told Reuters that migrants “are pouring on to the land” and regularly ask residents for money, rejecting offers of food.

A recent poll of close to 500 adults by the Center of Public Opinion at the University of the Valley of Mexico (UVM) found that 83% believed that migrants could cause problems for Mexico, and 62% said that they believed Mexico should be tougher on them.

Source: Milenio (sp), Reuters (en)

Pipeline taps up 10% in February; Hidalgo leads with 994 of them

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MND Staff

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April 21, 2019

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Illegal taps on petroleum pipelines increased in both January and February compared to the same months last year despite the federal government’s crackdown on fuel theft.

The state oil company reported that 1,342 new pipeline perforations were detected in February, an increase of 9.6% over the same month in 2018.

In January, a month when the federal government was implementing an anti-fuel theft strategy that caused widespread gasoline shortages, there were 1,519 new pipeline taps detected, a 45% increase compared to a year earlier.

Hidalgo, where more than 100 people were killed in January by an explosion at a tapped pipeline, recorded the highest incidence of the crime in both months.

There were 994 illegal taps in the state in the two-month period, or just under 35% of the total number that was detected across the country.

México state recorded the second highest number of perforations, with 340, followed by Guanajuato with 287.

Three weeks after he took office on December 1, President López Obrador began implementing a strategy aimed at combating high levels of fuel theft, a crime that costs Pemex billions of pesos a year.

The strategy included the closure of several major pipelines and the deployment of the military and Federal Police to protect fuel infrastructure.

With pipelines closed, Pemex was forced to make greater use of tanker trucks to transport fuel, a situation that was blamed for causing prolonged gasoline shortages that affected more than 10 states.

López Obrador proclaimed the strategy a success, stating on February 21 that fuel theft had been slashed by more than 90% since November.

In a report to mark his first 100 days in office, the president said on March 11 that his government’s crackdown on the crime would generate savings of 50 billion pesos (US $2.6 billion) this year.

Earlier this month, López Obrador said that fuel theft had been reduced to an average of 5,000 barrels per day compared to an average of 56,000 barrels a day in 2018.

“The average in January of this year was 18,000 [barrels stolen]. In February: 9,000. In March: 8,000. So far in April, the daily average is 5,000 barrels a day,” the president told reporters on April 10.

The government’s claims that fuel theft has been significantly reduced appear incongruent with the new Pemex statistics on illegal taps in January and February, although a higher number of perforations doesn’t necessarily mean that greater quantities of gasoline were stolen.

The López Obrador administration is currently facing increased scrutiny of the data it presents to tout its successes since taking office almost five months ago.

The accuracy of the government’s daily homicide statistics has been questioned, and the president’s claim this week that job growth figures for the first quarter of 2019 were the best in 10 years was exposed as false.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Fuel theft cartel issues second threat against AMLO

By

Madison Koen

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April 21, 2019

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El Marro, left, has issued another threat against AMLO. — El Marro, left, has issued a new threat against the president.

For the second time this year, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has issued a threat to President López Obrador to halt the fight against fuel theft and crime in Guanajuato.

But this time, the message was more personal.

The narco banner appeared Friday hanging from a pedestrian overpass in Celaya, Guanajuato. In the signed message, cartel boss José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez included a personal threat against the president’s life.

“If you continue to sentence innocent police officers, next time I will deliver the gift I sent to the refinery directly to Cuitláhuac #90 in the Toriello Guerra neighborhood on Tlalpan avenue,” listing the address where the president lives with his wife and youngest son.

The “gift” mentioned in the threat refers to a van stuffed with explosives that was parked in front of the oil refinery in Salamanca on January 31, together with a signed message that warned the president to withdraw federal forces from the state or innocent people would die.

The most recent narcomanta also made reference to a confrontation between police and gangsters on Thursday after the gang attempted to free suspected plaza boss Armando Soto González from a Celaya police station. Soto, another prisoner and a judge were killed.

The banner said “for every one of my people you take down, two of yours are going to pay.” It was signed, “Yours sincerely, Señor Marro.”

Yépez’s fuel theft gang is believed to be behind much of the violence that made Guanajuato Mexico’s most violent state in 2018, especially in areas where it is engaged in a turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

Source: Infobae (sp)

Veracruz massacre: 13 dead after gang opens fire during family party

By

MND Staff

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April 20, 2019

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Friends and family in shock after last night's shooting.

Thirteen people including an infant boy were killed last night when a gang of armed men opened fire at a bar during a family celebration in Minatitlán, Veracruz.

The Secretariat of Public Security said that unidentified gunmen arrived at La Potra bar in the Obrera neighborhood to look for the owner, a man known as “El Becky.”

The motive for the attack is unknown, authorities said.

Four other people were wounded and are being treated in the Pemex regional hospital in Minatitlán, a city in the south of Veracruz that is home to one of Mexico’s six state-owned oil refineries.

Public Security Secretary Hugo Gutiérrez Maldonado said on Twitter that state and federal security forces launched an operation to search for the perpetrators of the crime but no arrests have been reported.

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Survivors of the attack said the gunmen forced their victims to look at them before they shot them.

“They told them to turn around to see them, to see them while they were killing them,” one woman said. “I felt the gun at my head . . . the guy pointed it at me but didn’t shoot.”

Another woman whose brother was killed said: “There were about six of them. Even if you had a baby in your arms, they still shot you.”

Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García wrote on Twitter after midnight that he had attended an emergency meeting to “attend to the appalling and reprehensible incident in the south” of the state. He pledged that the crime would not go unpunished.

Veracruz is one of the most violent states in Mexico, and in the first months of this year it has recorded the highest number of kidnappings and femicides.

There has also been an increase in cartel violence in the state since García was sworn in as governor on December 1.

President López Obrador, who has vowed to reduce the high levels of violence in Mexico, is scheduled to visit Veracruz tomorrow to attend a ceremony at a military school.

On Monday, he will chair a meeting to discuss and coordinate security strategies in the state, according to a government schedule published before yesterday’s attack.

Source: El Financiero (sp), e-consulta (sp), AFP (en)

UPDATE: The number of people murdered was originally stated to be 14.

Couple have put beaches of eastern Yucatán on international tourism map

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MND Staff

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April 19, 2019

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The far eastern coast of the state of Yucatán is far from an international tourism hot spot but things are slowly starting to change thanks to an English woman and her Mexican husband.

Cathy Sissens and Óscar Flores fell in love with El Cuyo, a coastal village in the municipality of Tizimín, during a weekend camping trip.

Soon after, the couple decided to pack up their lives in Playa del Carmen and start afresh in the quiet town on the Gulf of Mexico, where according to Sissens, the turquoise sea is like a “mirror.”

She told the newspaper El Financiero that after she and her husband had made up their minds to move they started to think about how they could make a living in El Cuyo, where tourists were few and far between.

Sissens started off teaching English in a local school but after battling with 90 kids who had varying levels of motivation to learn the language, she and Flores – a chef and graphic designer – came up with the idea of opening a restaurant.

It was then that Sissens also put her mind to attracting more tourists to the little slice of paradise just west of the border with Quintana Roo.

She realized that there was little information available – especially in English – about how to get to that part of the coast as well as where to stay and what to do while there.

With that in mind, Sissens opened an Instagram account to show off the local attractions and created a website aimed at international travelers, which has detailed information about El Cuyo.

Why visit, how to get there, what to do, where to stay and where to eat are all covered on elcuyo.net, which also features enticing photos of the blue sea, local wildlife such as flamingos, pink lagoons and people both lazing in hammocks and getting an adrenalin rush while kitesurfing on the Gulf of Mexico waters.

The website quickly generated an upsurge in interest about the remote eastern coast of Yucatán.

“I spend a large part of the day responding to messages from people who ask how to get here or where to stay,” Sissens said.

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A lot more foreign faces are now seen around town, she added, and interest among locals to learn English and attend to the needs of international visitors has grown.

Apart from running their restaurant – El Chile Gordo – Sissens and Flores have also opened a workshop where the town’s youth can learn how to make surfboards, kitesurfing boards and skateboards – another project that has helped put El Cuyo on the map.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Oaxaca street vendor replaces Styrofoam with corn husks—and sales are up

By

MND Staff

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April 19, 2019

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Anyone with a hankering for a tasty snack served by an environmentally aware vendor should look out for “El Chuy” in downtown Oaxaca city.

Jesús Alvarado Carrera, better known by his nickname, sells elotes (corn on the cob) and esquites (corn kernels cooked in butter and topped with mayonnaise, chile and lime juice) in the zócalo, or central square, of the southern state’s capital.

Unlike most vendors, Alvarado doesn’t serve his esquites in Styrofoam cups anymore but rather on corn husks.

A native of Huautla de Jiménez, El Chuy told the newspaper El Universal that he started using corn husks last May, explaining that he was motivated to do so because he had heard a lot about the damage that pollution causes “to the seas, marine animals and ecosystems.”

Alvarado said his environmentally-conscious decision creates more work for himself because he has to get up early in the morning to cut and clean the corn husks.

But it’s been worth it: in addition to helping the environment, the Styrofoam substitute has proved popular among El Chuy’s customers.

“People say that [the esquites] taste better than with Styrofoam. [Corn husks] are very clean and they release a very sweet flavor,” Alvarado said.

His sales have also improved and despite the extra work he puts in, El Chuy continues to sell a serving of esquites at the same old price of 20 pesos (US $1).

Few if any other vendors in Oaxaca sell esquites on corn husks but they may soon be forced to follow Alvarado’s lead.

In September last year, the municipal government prohibited businesses that sell food from using Styrofoam and plastic but most street vendors ignored the ban and, according to El Chuy, authorities have done little to enforce it.

However, that could change because two weeks ago the Oaxaca state Congress passed a law that prohibits the sale, distribution and use of all disposable products made out of Styrofoam and plastic.

Municipal authorities have a period of six months within which they must ensure that the law is obeyed and establish penalties for non-compliance.

There will be no complaints from El Chuy, who has been selling his snacks in downtown Oaxaca for the past 15 years.

“. . . We have to create awareness [about the environment] among ourselves . . . the planet can’t wait any longer.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

Juárez swamped with migrants; over 1,000 arrived in just 4 days this week

By

MND Staff

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April 19, 2019

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International migrants and Mexicans who have been deported from the United States are flooding into Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, placing a heavy strain on local resources.

More than 1,000 migrants arrived in the northern border city this week, 95% of whom are Cubans who were previously stranded in Chiapas as they waited to be issued with transit visas.

Enrique Valenzuela, director of the State Population Commission (Coespo), said that an average of 62 migrants arrived daily in Juárez during January and February but the number spiked to 110 in March.

This week, 260 migrants arrived on Monday, 252 on Tuesday, 350 on Wednesday and 177 yesterday, adding up to a total of 1,039.

Since October, more than 12,000 migrants have arrived in Ciudad Juárez, and at least 3,200 remain in the city.

Most faced – or continue to face – long waits to request asylum due to the introduction of a “metering” system that limits the number of cases United States immigration authorities will hear on a daily basis.

While the number of would-be asylum seekers arriving in Juárez is on the rise, so too is the number of people sent to the border city by United States authorities.

According to Coespo, there were 1,300 repatriations to Ciudad Juárez in each of January and February but in March the figure increased to 1,800.

In light of the situation, municipal authorities are asking state governments to cover the costs of returning Mexican deportees to their places of origin.

“[Mayor Héctor Armando Cabada] is talking to all the states so that they support their fellow citizens; we can’t leave them here,” said municipal human rights director Rogelio Pinal.

He pointed out that many deportees arrive without any money or the legal documents they need to find work in Mexico.

Four states – Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Colima and México – have so far agreed to pay travel costs so that those deported from the United States can return to their home towns in Mexico.

The federal government allocated 10.7 million pesos (US $570,000) to a migrant support fund last year to help states cover accommodation and transportation expenses for deported Mexicans but no additional funding was provided for 2019.

Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral met with Interior Secretariat (Segob) undersecretary Zoé Robledo this week to request that the funding be reinstated.

In addition to would-be asylum seekers and deportees, non-Mexican migrants who are awaiting the outcome of their asylum requests in the United States are also being sent to Ciudad Juárez.

The United States government resumed its so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy this week after halting it for a few days following a federal court ruling.

On April 8, Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco blocked the Trump administration from returning asylum seekers to Mexico on the grounds that its policy “lacks sufficient protections against aliens being returned to places where they face undue risk to their lives or freedom.”

However, an appeals court last Friday overturned the ruling, allowing the U.S. government to resume the policy.

The Mexican government has rejected the “Remain in Mexico scheme,” which is officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols, although it has accepted returning migrants “for humanitarian reasons.”

United States authorities this week returned 75 migrants to Ciudad Juárez under the scheme, the newspaper El Diario reported, and almost 400 migrants, most from Central America, have now been sent to the city to wait for their asylum cases to be heard in the U.S.

Most have been staying in shelters or churches but one group of 38 migrants is currently housed in a fire station, the newspaper Reforma said.

Some have chosen to return to their countries of origin rather than waiting in Juárez with no certainty about when they will be summoned to appear in court.

However, there is some evidence that the wait will not be as long as many migrants expect, although it appears that those traveling with children are being given priority.

Francisco Javier Calvillo, a priest and director of the Casa del Migrante shelter in Ciudad Juárez, said that four families were summoned by United States authorities on Wednesday and that two women and one man – each of whom were staying in the city with a child – were called yesterday.

“They crossed [the border] and they haven’t told us anything but they haven’t returned,” he said.

Source: El Diario (sp), Reforma (sp), CBS News (en)

Indigenous inmates in Chihuahua have their own Passion of Christ celebration

By

César Hernández

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April 19, 2019

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Rarámuri inmates celebrate Easter in Chihuahua prison.

Easter is a major celebration across Mexico, even among indigenous inmates of a prison in Chihuahua.

While the reenactment of the Passion of Christ is the center of the celebrations for many communities, the Rarámuri people have their own blended version called Noriwachi, which is celebrated at the Rarámuri state penitentiary in Guachochi.

The week-long event includes traditional dances starting on Palm Sunday and concludes with a celebration of the start of the harvest season.

Noriwachi is centered on the fight between good and evil and draws from Catholicism and the Rarámuri religion alike, with pleas for good fortune, health, a good harvest and rain made to Onorúame-Eyerúame, the Rarámuri father-mother god.

Celebrations at the Guachochi penitentiary started yesterday with dances accompanied by traditional instruments, part of a program designed by the state justice system to promote the Rarámuri traditions along with freedom of religion.

While the inmate population at Guachochi is exclusively Rarámuri, other penitentiaries in the state have their own Easter celebrations that include Passion reenactments organized by the penitentiary system parish.

Source: Reforma (sp)