UNESCO to study effects on water of Morelos thermal plant

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February 23, 2019

Ballots and documents burn at a polling station in Morelos.

UNESCO will study the effects on water of the controversial thermal power plant project in Morelos that is being put to a public vote this weekend.

President López Obrador signed an agreement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to have it analyze the quality of water near the Huexca plant. Should the plant’s operation be approved by the public consultation UNESCO will determine whether its water treatment processes are adequate.

Fréderic Vacheron, an official in the UNESCO Mexico office, said experts will carry out a technical and scientific analysis of the plant’s potential effects on water quantity and quality.

If the water supply is found to be adversely affected, the government is expected to cancel operations at the power plant.

However, under the criteria set by the López Obrador administration, the plant must first be approved by citizens who are voting today at polling stations across Morelos and in municipalities of Puebla and Tlaxcala through which a gas pipeline connected to the plant runs.

Citizens face a single question: Do you agree with the Federal Electricity Commission’s Huexca thermal power plant starting operations?

The president reiterated yesterday that the people’s verdict will be respected and said he was unconcerned about protests against the plant.

“. . . Debate is good, very good. If there’s going to be a demonstration against [the plant], the demonstration is welcome. If there’s going to be a rally, let the rally go ahead . . . We’re going to guarantee the right to dissent,” López Obrador said.

Announcing the consultation earlier this month, López Obrador sought to entice citizens to vote in favor of the project by pledging that cheaper electricity prices will be on offer.

The Huexca power plant, made up of two separate power stations, is part of the US $1.3-billion Integral Morelos Project, which also includes a 160-kilometer pipeline to supply natural gas to the plant from Tlaxcala and an aqueduct.

Local communities have been fighting against the project for years, arguing that the effects on water supply and human health will outweigh any benefits the plant will generate.

An indigenous activist opposed to the plant was killed this week the day after he attended a public forum about the project and challenged statements made by government representatives.

Morelos Attorney General Uriel Carmona said there was no evidence that Samir Flores Soberanes’ death was related to the power plant, adding there were indications instead that organized crime was involved.

But citizens’ organizations in the state reject the claim.

Around 900 people marched through the streets of Mexico City yesterday to demand justice for the activist’s murder.

Today, meanwhile, protesters have disrupted voting in at least two Morelos municipalities, vandalizing polling stations and burning ballots. Three university students were arrested in Cuernavaca for throwing paint at a polling station.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Theft cost electricity commission 30 billion pesos last year

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César Hernández

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February 23, 2019

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Like Pemex, CFE is a target for thieves.

Stolen electricity cost the Federal Electricity Commission 30 billion pesos (US $1.57 billion) last year, and technical issues accounted for a similar loss.

The state utility’s chief financial officer, José Antonio Rojas Nieto, said that 7% of the power the commission generates is stolen, while a similar percentage is lost due to technical failures.

CFE director Manuel Bartlett Díaz said that while electricity theft is a delicate issue, it’s not only small businesses that are responsible.

“There has always been power theft by large businesses, by hotels and large industries . . . It’s not the small ones . . . not even a whole neighborhood can steal as much as a business,” he said.

The theft of electricity by large firms has been happening for years, he continued, asserting that it was known they were not paying for it because murky dealings existed. “This is a situation we must now fight against.”

“We must check that all the large businesses are paying what they owe.”

Source: El Economista (sp)

Cancún sees decline in international tourism for first time in seven years

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MND Staff

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February 23, 2019

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Cancún tourism numbers are seen as a barometer for the rest of Mexico.

Insecurity and a lack of tourism promotion have been blamed for a 2% decline in international arrivals to Cancún in January, the first year-over-year decrease for any month in almost seven years.

Just over 1.51 million passengers arrived at Cancún International Airport last month compared to 1.54 million in January 2018.

The last time Cancún saw a decline in international visitor numbers was in April 2012 when 0.6% fewer passengers flew into the resort city than in the same month the year before.

Hotel occupancy in the first week of the month was also down.

At 74% it was the lowest in six years and was 8% less than last year.

Gerardo Herrera, a tourism specialist at the Iberoamerican University, partially attributes last month’s reduction in visitor numbers to increasing insecurity in Quintana Roo, the state where Cancún is located.

The state’s homicide rate shot up from 21.57 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017 to 44.63 last year, an increase of 106%.

There were 71 homicides in Quintana Roo last month, according to the National Public Security System (SNSP), 31 more than in January 2018 and five times higher than the number of murders in January 2017.

Herrera also said the federal government’s decision to disband the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) and the resultant lack of tourism marketing was also a factor that contributed to the drop-off in arrivals.

“I believe that there is a perception that tourism will just happen and that’s not right. No product sells itself, it needs advertising,” he said.

Herrera added that the recent depreciation of the United States dollar against the peso could also have been a factor behind the decline.

Given that the economy of Mexico’s No. 1 source country for tourists – the United States – is showing signs of slowing, the academic said that more tourism promotion, not less, is needed.

Armando Bojórquez, president of the Latin America Culture and Tourism Association (ACTUAL), agreed with Herrera that insecurity and a lack of promotion were behind the tourism decline in Cancún, adding that it is cause for concern because the city is the best barometer of the overall tourism situation in the country.

Caribbean countries that compete with Cancún and other Mexican tourism destinations are doing a better job at attracting visitors, he said.

“The Dominican Republic and Cuba are growing at a fast pace and they’re beating us in the market because of marketing, we have to ramp up the advertising strategy . . .” Bojórquez said.

Others have also been critical of the federal government’s decision to disband the CPTM and redirect its funding to other projects.

Earlier this month, the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) described the decision to concentrate tourism funding on the Maya Train project as “almost suicidal.”

Coparmex chief Gustavo de Hoyos said the government’s decision to bet “everything” on the ambitious rail project in the country’s southeast was the “wrong bet” and a “high risk.”

But the federal Secretariat of Tourism (Sectur) remains confident that international tourism will continue to grow.

Sectur estimates that more than 43.6 million tourists will come to Mexico this year, 5% higher than the record 41.4 million visitors who arrived in the country in 2018.

Source: El Universal (sp)

5 injunctions trigger court ruling that marijuana ban is unconstitutional

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MND Staff

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February 23, 2019

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The chambers of the Mexican Supreme Court — The Supreme Court published precedents regarding personal use of marijuana.

The Supreme Court (SCJN) yesterday published eight precedents on the recreational use of marijuana which determined that prohibition of the drug is unconstitutional.

Publication of the precedents in the court’s weekly gazette means that as of Monday it will be mandatory for all federal judges to grant amparos or injunctions to people who wish to use marijuana recreationally and seek legal protection to do so.

The eight precedents are based on five amparos already granted to complainants, allowing the possession and personal use of cannabis.

Three of the amparos were issued between 2015 and 2017 while another two were granted in October last year.

Under Mexican law, five similar rulings on a matter establish a standard that applies more broadly.

Judges ruled that the complete prohibition of marijuana – as stipulated by the General Health Law – is not a proportional measure to protect people’s health and public order and that criminalization of the drug violates the right to free development of personality.

“Absolute prohibition of the recreational use of marijuana . . . persecutes constitutionally validated objectives,” the SCJN said.

The court’s resolution does not compel judges to provide legal protection to people who wish to grow and/or sell marijuana.

On February 13, the SCJN notified both houses of Congress that it had approved the precedents, opening up a 90-day window within which lawmakers have the opportunity to legislate to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

After the Supreme Court’s October rulings, Mexico United Against Crime, a group that opposes the prohibition of drugs, urged lawmakers to legalize marijuana.

“The Supreme Court has done its job . . . The responsibility for issuing the corresponding regulation falls on Congress,” the group’s director general, Lisa Sánchez, said in a statement.

Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero, a former Supreme Court judge, said in July that then president-elect López Obrador had given her a “blank check” to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs as well as any other measures that could help restore peace to Mexico.

Source: Milenio (sp)

INAH to reopen exhibition of artifacts found in Oaxaca tomb

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MND Staff

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February 22, 2019

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One of the items on display at an exhibition that is reopening in Oaxaca.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will reopen an exhibition in Oaxaca today that features more than 400 valuable artifacts found in a tomb at the Monte Albán archaeological site in 1932.

The pieces discovered by archaeologist Alfonso Caso in tomb seven of the Zapotec site and dubbed “The Treasure of Monte Albán” include objects made of gold, jade, rock crystal and jaguar bones, among other materials.

The exhibition, made up of a total of more than 600 artifacts, is housed in Room 3 of the Oaxaca Museum of Cultures and will be inaugurated at a ceremony at 7:00pm. The general public can visit starting tomorrow.

Curators have updated the exhibition by including plaques offering new interpretations of the pieces, while the integration of modern technology will also contribute to providing an enhanced experience for visitors.

The name of the exhibition is Tomb Seven: The Place of the Ancestors.

INAH archaeologist and exhibition curator Nelly Robles told the newspaper El Economista that as a result of new research it is now known that “tomb seven was an ossuary and not a tomb for a specific dignitary.”

She said that both Zapotec and Mixtec people used the tomb, the latter leaving human remains, jewels and precious materials that were “the relics of their ancestors.”

Robles added that the Mixtec people also held ceremonies at the tomb at which they asked for favors from their deities.

The presiding gods of the tomb were Mictlantecuhtli, Mesoamerican god of death and the underworld, and Xipe Tótec, a life-death-rebirth deity.

Both are represented in the different objects found by Caso in 1932, Robles said.

The archaeologist explained that the Mixtec people first started carrying out rituals at the tomb around 1350 AD and continued to do so until the early days of the Spanish colonial era.

The reopening of “The Treasure of Monte Albán” to the public is part of celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the creation of INAH in 1939.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Government-certified software will track fuel distribution to combat theft

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MND Staff

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February 22, 2019

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Gas stations will be among those in the supply chain that must install the software. — Gas stations will be among those in the supply chain that must install the tracking software.

All gas stations, fuel distributors, fuel storage facilities and oil refineries are going to be required by law to use government-certified fuel tracking software as part of the strategy to combat fuel theft.

A decree approved in June 2018 stipulates that everyone involved in the fuel supply chain must install the equipment and software programs needed to track the movement of fuel.

Both the equipment and software must be approved by the Federal Tax Administration (SAT) and used at all times.

The decree goes into effect on August 1 but gas stations and other supply chain members will have a period of six months within which to comply, meaning that the certified equipment and software must be installed by February 1.

Isaías Romero, president of the Mexican Association of Service Station Suppliers (Ampes), said that even offshore oil platforms will have to install the tracking equipment and software.

Gerardo Canto, CEO of gas station software company Neo Smart Systems, told the newspaper El Financiero that until now service stations have purchased software for their pumps from any one of 84 companies that are free to sell it without it being subject to any government certification process.

At least one of those companies, Atio Group, allegedly sells an illegal software plug-in known as El Rastrillo (The Razor) that allows gas stations to manipulate the sales figures they report to Pemex and tax authorities, and conceal the sale of stolen fuel.

“Basically, it’s a program that’s added to ControlGas [a software program] to shave off liters and fudge the numbers that are reported to the government,” a former Atio Group employee told the newspaper Milenio last month.

Romero said that the new decree is designed to ensure that fuel tracking software is “intrinsically safe . . . [and] can’t be violated.”

Santiago Nieto, head of the federal government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), said last month that many gas stations located near petroleum pipelines sell stolen fuel.

Nieto said that the UIF had detected 10 billion pesos (US $522 million) that is linked to the commercialization of stolen fuel by gas stations and “laundered in the Mexican financial system.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)

4 kidnapping suspects lynched in Veracruz; 2 were burned alive

By

César Hernández

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February 22, 2019

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One of three burned vehicles after last night's lynching in Veracruz.

Four alleged kidnappers were lynched — at least two of them were burned alive — last night in the Veracruz municipality of Soledad Atzompa.

The state Public Security Secretariat confirmed that the four had attempted to kidnap two local teachers early yesterday evening.

Citizens of Atzompa learned about the attempt and apprehended the alleged kidnappers, who were then transported to municipal police headquarters for their safety.

But that measure was not enough to contain a mob of dozens of people who broke into the police station a few minutes after midnight, grabbed the four men and lynched them on the street outside.

Officials said two were shot in the head, leading the authorities to presume they had been executed before their bodies were burned. The fate of their two companions was different: the mob set them on fire while they were still alive.

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Three vehicles believed to have belonged to the men were set on fire.

It took a special joint operation by military and police to enter Soledad Atzompa later after residents blocked the entry of smaller groups of government officials.

Source: Diario de Xalapa (sp)

Audit slams Pemex for inefficient pipeline monitoring, maintenance and protection

By

MND Staff

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February 22, 2019

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Inefficiency at Pemex allowed thieves to tap pipelines undetected.

Pemex failed to effectively maintain, monitor and protect the system which detects pressure drops in its petroleum pipelines thus creating a situation conducive to fuel theft, according to the federal auditor.

The Federal Auditor’s Office (ASF) also said in a new audit report that the logistics division of the state oil company didn’t install the system in all of the sections of the pipeline network where it was intended to be installed, further facilitating the theft of fuel, a crime that has cost Mexico billions of dollars in recent years.

“It can be concluded that the lack of maintenance, repairs, controls, regulations, physical security and monitoring of the Supervision, Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system as well as the failure to complete the installation [of the system] . . . created a favorable atmosphere for the increase in the number of illegal taps,” the ASF said.

There were 14,894 such taps detected on pipelines last year and 10,923 in 2017 – the year examined in the newly-released audit.

The ASF report, based on its 2017 public accounts audit, also detected shortcomings in the process that Pemex used to select locations for the installation of the SCADA system, stating that priority and strategic sections of the pipeline network were not initially identified.

The oversight resulted in Pemex having to pay out an additional US $79.6 million to have the system installed at more locations.

However, Pemex Logistics failed to install the system at 98 locations for which it was paid, the ASF said, pointing out that Pemex itself did not seek the return of advance payments totaling over US $11.2 million.

Of a total of 379 locations chosen, 170 are not monitored by the SCADA system for a range of reasons.

Another 40 sites where the system was installed at a cost of more than US $18.1 million were sabotaged and the equipment hasn’t been fixed, the ASF said, adding that Pemex Logistics has no plan to carry out the repairs that are needed.

“Consequently, there is no effective monitoring of the fuel transportation network . . . .” the audit report said.

In addition, the ASF said there are no procedures in place to maintain and update the SCADA system in a timely manner and at six locations visited by auditors there were not even minimal security measures in place to protect it.

Finally, when pressure drops are detected in the pipelines, the main control center that monitors the SCADA system doesn’t have formal protocols in place to report them.

Pemex, the world’s most indebted oil company, lost 60 billion pesos (US $3.1 billion) last year due to fuel theft, President López Obrador said in December.

However, he announced yesterday that the quantity of fuel stolen on a daily basis has been slashed since the government’s anti-fuel theft strategy was introduced.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Michoacán clash kills 8; 12 suspected gangsters arrested

By

Madison Koen

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February 22, 2019

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A file photo of members of the Viagra cartel.

Michoacán authorities said a shootout on Thursday in Pinzándaro, Buenavista, between a drug cartel and state police and the army left eight presumed criminals dead.

The state attorney general revealed that the confrontation began after authorities surprised members of the Viagra cartel traveling in a convoy, armed with assault rifles and grenades. The ensuing hour-long gunfight left a police officer and a soldier seriously injured and eight gang members dead.

Authorities detained 12 suspected members of the Viagra and recovered arms and ammunition.

A source in the state government told journalists that the confrontation was probably a successful attempt to cover the escape of Nicolás Sierra Santana and Rodolfo Sierra Santana, the main leaders of the organization.

Last year, violence in the state’s Tierra Caliente region was mainly attributed to territorial disputes between the Viagra gang and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

In 2018, clashes between authorities and cartels were common on the Apatzingán-Buenavista highway. Yesterday’s confrontation marked the fifth successive day of joint operations by federal and state authorities in the Tierra Caliente, a longtime hotbed of violent cartel disputes and birthplace in 2012 of the self-defense groups, which were later infiltrated by cartels like Los Viagra.

Also on Thursday, Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo visited Apatzingán to inaugurate a new security center in the region. In a tweet, the governor announced that he and other authorities had revised the state’s security plan, saying that the situation was different in every region.

“That is why we need to adapt our plan of action. We are following through for a safe Michoacán.”

According to authorities, the operations in the Tierra Caliente form part of a state-wide initiative to combat organized crime through the cooperation of state police and the armed forces in regular patrols and flyovers.

Source: La Voz de Michoacán (sp), Infobae (sp)

US authorities accuse El Chapo’s sons of drug trafficking

By

César Hernández

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February 22, 2019

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With the conviction of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords behind them, United States authorities are now going after his sons.

A week after the conclusion of the three-month trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, two of his sons were indicted yesterday on drug conspiracy charges by the United States Justice Department.

Joaquín Guzmán López, 34, and Ovidio Guzmán López, 28, are accused of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana from Mexico and elsewhere into the United States between 2008 and 2018.

U.S. authorities believe that both siblings are living as fugitives in Mexico. The move against them indicates the U.S. government is continuing its efforts to dismantle the Sinaloa Cartel, which El Chapo Guzmán once led.

Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 after escaping twice from Mexican prisons. He was found guilty in a New York City court of 10 drug trafficking charges on February 12.

Guzmán's mother wants to visit her son in the US. — Guzmán’s mother wants to visit her son in the US.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 25, where he will be facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance for parole.

Meanwhile, his lawyers have alleged juror misconduct.

In a letter sent Friday to Judge Brian Cogan, Guzmán’s defense team took the first step in appealing the unanimous guilty verdict, asking for additional time to prepare as they make a case for a new trial.

They allege “that multiple jurors engaged in misconduct by intentionally violating the court’s direction” to avoid media coverage of the trial and not to communicate with one another about the trial prior to deliberations.

While Guzmán awaits the outcome of his attorneys’ arguments he might get to enjoy some family visits.

President López Obrador told reporters this morning that he had instructed government officials to provide assistance to Guzmán’s mother and two sisters to enable them to travel to the U.S.

He explained that during a visit last week to Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Guzmán’s hometown, he had been given a letter from María Consuelo Loera Pérez, the ex-drug lord’s mother, asking him to help them obtain humanitarian visas from the United States embassy to allow them to visit her son.

She claimed that Guzmán had been extradited illegally, and asked that he be repatriated to Mexico. She wrote that she had not seen him for more than five years.

Loera concluded by sending the president her blessings in his efforts to bring peace and justice to Mexico.

Source: El Financiero (sp), NPR (en), VICE News (en)

UPDATE (Feb. 22, 3:32pm CT): New information was added about the letter sent to the president.