Zihuatanejo’s 80-meter pier to attract cruise ships, boost marine activity

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February 12, 2019

Yesterday's ceremony marking the beginning of construction of a new pier in Zihuatanejo.

A new pier will grace the shore of Zihuatanejo, the popular beach destination in the state of Guerrero.

Governor Héctor Astudillo Flores presided over a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday to begin work on the project, announcing that the state government will support the construction through an investment of 100 million pesos (US $5 million).

Measuring 80 meters long by nine meters wide the new pier will be built on 162 pilings and will include seven docking slips for ships and five for smaller boats and solar-powered lighting.

A provisional pier will be prepared for use until the project is completed.

The governor said all of the state’s tourist destinations were a priority for his administration. He said that the state hopes the new pier would allow Zihuatanejo to become an important stop for cruise ships, as well as provide a boost for marine activity and the tourist economy.

Astudillo also pledged an additional 20 million pesos for the completion of the Paseo del Pescador, a seaside promenade featuring outdoor eateries and stores.

Speaking before an audience that included fishermen, tourism representatives, business people and residents, the governor said he expected that project to be completed by April in time for the 2019 edition of the Tianguis Turístico tourism fair in Acapulco.

Zihuatanejo Mayor Jorge Sánchez Allec thanked the governor for his support and emphasized the importance of the project.

“It is significant that we are starting the year off with the beginning of the pier’s construction, given its importance and the development opportunity that it will represent for those in the tourism and fishing industries . . . . Once completed, I know that we will once again have cruise ships in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.”

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

AMLO wants 10-year ban on officials going into private sector

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César Hernández

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February 12, 2019

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Piggy banks for public servants so they can save: AMLO.

President López Obrador is proposing to extend the limit of a ban on government officials joining the private sector to carry on working in the same field.

The waiting period is currently one year; the president suggests it be an entire decade.

The president’s announcement came after accusations of conflict of interest in the “privatization” of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) against ex-president Felipe Calderón and eight other former public officials.

The president said he believed that joining the private sector soon after leaving government was not only illegal but immoral and said that not even in the United States, where there is more interaction between the private and public sectors, are there cases as blatant as those that happened during “the neoliberal period,” as López Obrador likes to describe previous administrations.

In response to claims by some former public servants that their livelihoods depend on joining private companies, the president was adamant in asserting that there are other options and other opportunities, including high-paying jobs in the public service, which would give them the opportunity to continue saving money.

” . . . Some have master’s or doctor’s degrees, there are ways they can continue working and saving,” said López Obrador, adding that public servants will be given “a piggy bank” so they can start saving “right now.”

“I don’t care if they get angry or disagree, I am not taking a single step backwards in fighting corruption, impunity and pretense,” he said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Mexico City will connect bank cameras to C5 security system

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Madison Koen

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February 12, 2019

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A C5 command center: they'll be watching banks soon.

The Mexico City government will connect surveillance cameras in banks to the C5 security system to combat robberies targeting customers.

Following an investigation by the newspaper Milenio that identified nine neighborhoods in the capital where bank customers are most at risk of being mugged after withdrawing money, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced that the city had already been working on a security plan.

“We’re working on being able to connect bank cameras to the C5. Linking the systems would be historical, and we’re working to make it a reality.”

She added that the administration is working with the Mexican Banking Association to boost the security in place in financial institutions in order to incorporate them into the system little by little. She said the first district to be connected to the C5 will be Azcapotzalco.

According to Milenio, the high-risk neighborhoods are Colonia Del Valle, Roma Norte, Lomas de Chapultepec, Narvarte, Anáhuac, Hipódromo (Condesa), Polanco, the historic center and Lindavista in the Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez and Cuauhtémoc boroughs.

Police chief Jesús Orta Martínez said in an interview that he was investigating possible cases of collusion between bank employees and criminals working together to rob account holders.

“. . . we are giving special focus to investigating the participation of bank employees who are presumably or probably contributing to this type of incident.”

He added that charges had already been brought against several members of bank security staff for extortion and corruption, though he did not specify the number of cases.

The chief said the banking association was sharing information and videos relevant to the attacks outside banks and ATMs, some of which have been violent.

He implored victims to report and denounce criminal acts, saying it was the only way forward to begin to win back citizens’ trust in authorities.

The mayor stated that in addition to the new security measures, the government will further increase police patrols.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Video warns cartel going after criminals in Mexico City borough

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MND Staff

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February 12, 2019

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Mexico City and federal authorities are investigating the origin and veracity of a video in which purported members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) warn criminals in a northern borough of the capital that they are going after them.

Five men dressed in military attire — two of whom are wearing CJNG caps — and brandishing high-caliber weapons appear in the video, which was filmed inside a vehicle and began circulating on social media Sunday.

“This is a message for all of the people in the Gustavo A. Madero borough,” one of the men says before explaining that it is specifically directed at residents of certain neighborhoods.

“In all of these places, people who are caught stealing, kidnapping children, doing pendejadas [stupid shit] . . . This is the first and last time I’m going to tell you, I’m going to kill the whole family of any bastard who’s caught, do you understand?” he continues.

“We’re the people who are working here and this is where we’re going to be. We’re going to take care of the people. This is the first and last time I’m sending this message. Yours sincerely, El Canguro [the Kangaroo], La Vaquita [the Little Cow] and all of the team who is working here . . . Spread the word . . .” the man says.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told a press conference yesterday the Secretariat of Citizens’ Security has been in contact with the federal government since becoming aware of the video, and together are conducting an investigation to determine its origin and veracity.

Security Secretary Jesús Orta Martínez told reporters that Federal Police and the military are patrolling Gustavo A. Madero to guarantee security in the borough and provide peace of mind for residents.

He also said that Mexico City authorities have doubts that the men really belong to the CJNG, considered Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous criminal organization, explaining that only local criminal gangs have been detected in the borough.

“It’s said that the video is of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel but we first need to check if the authorship is legitimate. Secondly, [we need to check] if the people who identify themselves have links to that cartel. The federal government will do that because in our case, we don’t identify them as such. Thirdly, we’re investigating what kind of people this message is aimed at,” Orta said.

Gustavo A. Madero, the northernmost of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs, is home to four of the capital’s 10 most crime-ridden neighborhoods, according to data from the Attorney General’s office (PGJ).

There were 22,668 reported crimes in the borough last year, of which many were acts of robbery, extortion and domestic violence.

The number of intentional homicides and drug trafficking offenses in the neighborhoods mentioned in the video have both spiked since November, the newspaper El Universal reported.

While the previous Mexico City government rejected claims that organized crime groups operate in the capital, the new administration has conceded that they do.

One of the groups identified by authorities, La Unión de Tepito, is allegedly supported by the CJNG.

Source: El Universal (sp)

43 Mexican workers rescued from ‘slavery conditions’ in Canada

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César Hernández

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February 12, 2019

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Some of the Mexicans cleaned at hotels in Barrie, Ontario.

Forty-three Mexican workers, most of them men, were rescued by police in Canada from what was described as “modern-day slavery” conditions.

The workers, aged between 20 and 46, had gone to Canada “under the pretense” of being there for educational purposes or the promise of work visas and eventually permanent residency status.

Instead, they were forced to work at cleaners at hotels in central and eastern Ontario.

The workers were kept in what the Ontario Provincial Police described as “squalid” conditions in Barrie and Wasaga Beach, and were transported by their handlers to and from hotels and vacation properties.

Police alleged that the captors controlled the pay made by the workers, who had initially paid their traffickers large amounts of money to leave Mexico and were then charged fees for transportation and lodging. In some cases the workers were left with less than CAD $50 a month.

Their rescue last Tuesday followed the filing of several reports before police last year regarding the operations of a Barrie-based cleaning company run by two people.

The reports indicated that the company was engaged in human trafficking and defrauding its workers.

Upon their release, one victim told investigators: “Last night, I went to bed a slave. This morning, I woke up a free man.”

In the intervening week, all the workers have been given legal immigration status and all have been offered work and accommodations at a Barrie-area resort.

“Whether it involves forced labor or the sex trade, the trafficking of humans is unacceptable. It has no place in our communities and will not be tolerated,” said Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood.

The investigation into the human trafficking and exploitation ring continues with background checks of the two people who ran the cleaning company. Criminal charges may be announced at a later date and police said they are looking for other suspects.

Source: El Universal (sp), CBC (en)

El Chapo Guzmán found guilty after 3-month trial for drug trafficking

By

Tony Richards

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February 12, 2019

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After six days of deliberations, the jury has found Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, former leader of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, guilty of drug trafficking.

The unanimous verdict was announced today, bringing to an end a three-month trial in which Guzmán’s defense team unsuccessfully attempted to persuade jurors that their client’s role in the cartel was exaggerated by witnesses for the prosecution who were seeking leniency in their own cases.

Held in New York, the trial heard tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, high living and a massive drug-smuggling operation that moved at least 180 tonnes of cocaine into the United States, along with heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.

Fifty-six witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence — including a diamond-encrusted hand gun belonging to Guzmán — were presented by the prosecution to demonstrate that the former drug lord was indeed directly responsible for smuggling drugs, bribing officials, laundering money and murdering those who stood in his way.

The prosecution described the Sinaloa Cartel as “the world’s largest and most prolific drug trafficking organization.”

The defense, whose case lasted only half an hour, argued that Guzmán was made a scapegoat. The jury was asked to dismiss the testimony of the government’s witnesses, describing them as liars out to save themselves by making deals with authorities.

That reliance on cooperating witnesses “laid bare the corruption of the criminal justice system where freedom is traded by the government in exchange for testimony,” charged A. Eduardo Balarezo, one of Guzmán’s lawyers.

A former U.S. attorney found the case demonstrated a remarkable degree of penetration into the cartel’s activities. John Horn also said the conviction carries a deep meaning.

“There does need to be a conviction of somebody like Chapo Guzmán, both for the symbolism and the pure factor of justice being served,” Horn, who is now in private practice, said in an interview before the verdict.

“It does show that . . . for somebody at his level, justice will be done, it will be served. It’s an incredibly powerful victory . . . for law enforcement.”

As the verdict was delivered at 12:30 today, Guzmán appeared horrified, reported the newspaper Reforma.

His wife’s eyes filled with tears on hearing the decision but Emma Coronel, who has been in the courtroom during most of the trial, gave her husband an optimistic thumbs up as he turned to look at her.

Guzmán, 61, was extradited to the U.S. in January 2017 after his capture in Sinaloa nearly a year earlier. His arrest came six months after a spectacular escape through a 1.5-kilometer tunnel under the Altiplano federal prison in México state.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 25.

Source: Reforma (sp), The Washington Post (en), CBS News (en)

Catholic church reveals at least 152 priests suspended for abuse in 9 years

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MND Staff

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February 12, 2019

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Baca, the Juárez priest arrested Saturday on abuse charges.

The Catholic church in Mexico has revealed that 152 priests have been suspended over the past nine years for child sex abuse, triggering demands that the clerics’ names and whereabouts be made public.

Rogelio Cabrera López, president of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), revealed the information Sunday, explaining that some of the priests are serving prison terms while others received non-custodial forms of punishment.

However, he didn’t disclose the number of victims.

Cabrera, who is also the archbishop of Monterrey, lamented that there is no national information system which compiles information related to cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic church and said that it was necessary to establish one.

He also said it was the responsibility of bishops to formally report to authorities all illegal acts detected within the church.

Responding to the church’s revelation, the Mexico director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a non-governmental organization founded in the United States, said he was taken by surprise that such a high number of priests have been suspended for committing sexual abuses against children.

Joaquín Aguilar told the newspaper Milenio that he will meet with Cabrera on Friday to demand more information about the priests including their names and current location as well as details about the church’s treatment of victims.

“It’s information that we’ve sought for years but everything seems to indicate that it was given from the Nunciature because they don’t even have a registry [of priest sex offenders] in Mexico. These processes are orders by the Vatican. It [the information] was incomplete. The number shocks us because we had no idea, but we have to see where the priests are, if there was justice, a judicial process independent of the canonical one, a civil one,” Aguilar said.

“There are several aspects about which we need to be better informed, obviously to help the victims [but] also so as not to abandon the culprits. If they already paid a debt to society, what else are they doing [to repent], in what way can we help them to rehabilitate,” he added.

The disclosure of the number of priests who have been suspended comes in the lead-up to a global bishops’ summit that will be held in Vatican City later this month and whose main focus will be the prevention of abuse of minors.

José Francisco Gómez Hinojosa, vicar general of the archdiocese of Monterrey, said that Cabrera is mindful of his obligations as an archbishop and president of the episcopal conference, explaining that he has met with victims of sexual abuse and will continue to do so in accordance with instructions from Pope Francis.

The most recent case of alleged child sex abuse within the Catholic church in Mexico is that of Aristeo Trinidad Baca, a 76-year-old Ciudad Juárez priest who was arrested by Chihuahua state police on Saturday and placed in preventative custody.

The priest is accused of abusing an altar boy but some residents have leapt to his defense, going as far as making threats against the minor and his family.

Over the weekend, dozens of Baca’s supporters gathered outside the Ciudad Juárez prison where he is being held to pray for his release.

“The Father is a good person . . . We know the person he is, very attentive, full of charity, very kind, devoted to God . . . We don’t know why he is there [in prison] . . . but we ask God with all our heart to deliver justice because he is innocent,” said María de León, a local parishioner.

Hesiquio Trevizo, a spokesman for the Ciudad Juárez diocese, also defended Baca, describing him as “an icon of great service to the community.

The state human rights commission said it will provide support to the minor and his family, whose lawyer said the priority was that the boy be protected.

“. . . The minor and his family are at serious risk . . . I know from first-hand testimony that the family has been intimidated and had to leave their home,” Xóchitl Flores said.

Source: Milenio (sp), SDP Noticias (sp)

The presidential photo no longer hangs in government offices

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MND Staff

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February 11, 2019

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Official portraits of presidents do not include AMLO.

For almost a hundred years, Mexico’s presidents – in the form of photographic portraits – have silently gazed down upon officials working in government offices.

At least since Abelardo Rodríguez’s two-year term as interim president from 1932 to 1934, the framed photos have been a constant.

Salinas, Zedillo, Fox, Calderón and Peña Nieto, Mexico’s five most recent presidents, all appeared in the portraits, dressed in suits and ties and sporting the presidential sash.

But the nearly century-long tradition has been broken by President López Obrador.

The president’s social communication team confirmed that he has decided against having his official presidential portrait hung in government offices.

His spokesman, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, said that while López Obrador is respectful of the power invested in him, he is not interested in promoting his personal image.

Although it breaks a longstanding national tradition, López Obrador’s decision perpetuates a personal one.

While mayor of Mexico City between 2000 and 2005, the leftist also opted not to display his likeness in government offices, choosing instead to hang an image of Benito Juárez along with a quote in which the former president advocates honesty and responsibility for public officials.

As president, however, López Obrador has made one exception to his rule, agreeing to a request from the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) to pose for an official portrait to be hung at Sedena offices.

The image, taken in the National Palace, will be positioned above portraits of other military leaders in recognition of López Obrador’s position as supreme commander of the armed forces.

“It’s a good, professional photo,” said Ramírez, adding that it didn’t cost anything because it was taken by the president’s social communication team.

In contrast, the former federal government spent more than 2 million pesos (US $103,500 at today’s exchange rate) for a photographic session for ex-president Enrique Peña Nieto and to have the images printed and framed.

But López Obrador has made cutting government costs a crusade, implementing a range of austerity measures that have included reducing his salary and that of other officials, traveling on commercial flights and largely eschewing personal security.

He is also putting more than 200 government vehicles up for auction and trying to offload the presidential plane.

“We cannot have a rich government and a poor people,” the president often quips.

Source: Milenio (sp)

9 high-risk zones in CDMX where thieves target bank customers

By

MND Staff

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February 11, 2019

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Areas around banks are high-risk for theft.

High and middle-income areas of Mexico City are the favored hunting grounds for thieves who target people who have just withdrawn money from their bank.

An investigation by the newspaper Milenio using publicly available government data identified nine neighborhoods in the capital where bank customers are most at risk of being mugged after using an ATM or withdrawing money inside a bank.

They are Colonia Del Valle, Roma Norte, Lomas de Chapultepec, Narvarte, Anáhuac, Hipódromo (Condesa), Polanco, the historic center and Lindavista.

Information on the Mexico City government’s open data platform shows that between 2016 and 2018, there were 977 street robberies reported by people who had just withdrawn money in the capital and 15% of them occurred in those neighborhoods.

Most robberies occur on streets within a 100-meter radius of the bank where the victim withdrew money.

Zones where bank customers are at high risk from muggings.

The thieves most commonly approach their victims on motorcycles, either in groups or alone, to quickly snatch bags, purses and wallets. However, the threat and/or use of violence is reported in some cases.

In Colonia Del Valle, a middle-class neighborhood in the south of Mexico City, one person was killed after leaving a bank in April last year.

With a total of 24 reported robberies between 2016 and 2018, Del Valle had the equal highest incidence of the crime along with Roma Norte, a trendy neighborhood full of bars and restaurants located to the west of Mexico City’s downtown.

Lomas de Chapultepec, an affluent neighborhood in the Miguel Hidalgo borough, and Narvarte, a middle-class neighborhood that borders Del Valle, both saw 17 reported cases of robberies of recent bank users over the past three years to tie for third place for the incidence of the crime.

All nine neighborhoods identified by Milenio have several banks which are clustered together in the same area, providing a clear focus for would-be thieves.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Oaxaca teachers announce job action, including ‘massive’ 3-day mobilization

By

Madison Koen

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February 11, 2019

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Section 22 leaders at the head of a protest march.

CNTE-affiliated teachers in Oaxaca are set to march again.

The union’s Oaxaca local, Section 22, announced it would suspend classes in the state’s seven regions today through Wednesday, closing schools in 800 locations.

But more job action will follow in two weeks.

The Oaxaca state assembly of Section 22 said classes will also be canceled February 25, 26 and 27 for a massive three-day mobilization in Mexico City.

Teachers are once again protesting against their old scourge — education reform.

They are demanding the repeal of former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s education reform, charging that President López Obrador’s new education law doesn’t go far enough.

“We aren’t going to stop demanding the repeal of the so-called education reform,” said a union official.

Spokesman Santiago Valdivieso said the president’s proposed constitutional amendment fell far short of his organization’s expectations.

“Everything seems to indicate that this is nothing more than a change so that everything stays the same.”

He said the proposal has the same focus as the previous administration’s education reform on certification, student teaching, professional evaluations and bilingual education, a vision he called “corporate” and “colonialist.”

The president’s initiative would amend the constitution and disband the National Education Evaluation Institute (INEE), which has been widely perceived as a punitive institution. The president has said the new reform would “recognize the function of the teaching profession and . . . establish positive incentives and evaluation.”

The form of the protests, whether marches or encampments, will be outlined in detail at a CNTE organizational planning meeting.

The union has been marching against the reforms since they were introduced in 2013, shutting down the state on several occasions with state-wide highway blockades and other protests.

The same union is currently protesting in Michoacán, claiming billions of pesos in unpaid wages and bonuses. It has shut down all railroad freight for nearly four weeks.

Source: NVI Noticias (sp), El Financiero (sp)