Indigenous opponent of Morelos power plant murdered

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February 20, 2019

Flores, center, in a recent interview with reporters. — Flores in a recent interview with reporters.

An indigenous activist fighting against the opening of a thermal power plant and construction of a gas pipeline in Morelos was killed this morning, three days before a public consultation on the energy generation project is scheduled to take place.

Nahuatl man Samir Flores Soberanes was shot in the head in front of his home in Amilcingo, a town in Morelos about 20 kilometers southeast of the Huexca plant. He died from his injuries in a hospital in Cuautla.

The activist group of which Flores was a member – the People’s Front for the Defense of Land and Water – said in a statement that two vehicles parked in front of his home at around 5:00am. Their occupants called for Flores to come out and fired at him when he did.

President López Obrador condemned the murder at his morning press conference, describing it as “vile” and “cowardly” and promising an investigation.

But he said that the public vote on the power plant, part of the US $1.3-billion Integral Morelos Project, will go ahead.

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“I’m very sorry about the murder [but] we have to continue the consultation because it is a process that was already agreed to at an assembly,” López Obrador said.

“We don’t know with what intent this horrendous crime was committed. Maybe among the possibilities was to affect the carrying out of the consultation . . .” he added.

The Morelos attorney general said there was no evidence that the killing was related to the power plant. Uriel Carmona said there were indications instead that organized crime was involved.

Local communities have been fighting against the Integral Morelos Project for years, which in addition to two power stations at Huexca also includes a 160-kilometer pipeline to supply natural gas to the plant from Tlaxcala and an aqueduct.

Mainly indigenous communities near Huexca – including Amilcingo – some of which are also in the vicinity of the Popocatépetl volcano have concerns about the impact of the plant’s operations on health, safety and water supply.

The People’s Front activist group said that Flores attended a public forum about the project yesterday and challenged statements made by government representatives. It also said that he had been threatened several times since 2012.

In addition, the group said that it had warned López Obrador that going ahead with the public consultation could cause violence in the area and blamed the federal government for Flores’ death.

The president announced on February 8 that the government would hold a vote February 23 and 24 in Morelos and municipalities in Puebla and Tlaxcala through which the gas pipeline runs.

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

López Obrador sought to entice citizens to vote in favor of the project by pledging that cheaper electricity prices will be on offer.

He said the government won’t act without the support of residents but stressed that if the plant isn’t put into operation, an investment of more than 20 billion pesos (US $1 billion) will be lost and electricity will have to be bought from private companies.

An umbrella group of several different organizations rejected the consultation shortly after it was announced, saying it would remain opposed to the project regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Source: Associated Press (sp), El Financiero (sp)

Sharp spike in kidnapping in January; most were in state of Veracruz

By

Madison Koen

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February 20, 2019

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Anti-kidnapping activist Miranda de Wallace.

A new statistic shows that kidnappings spiked dramatically in January compared to December and that more than half the cases were in the state of Veracruz.

Isabel Miranda de Wallace, president of the civil organization Alto al Secuestro (Stop Kidnapping), revealed yesterday that kidnappings were up 49% nationwide for a total of 190 incidents with 229 victims.

She said 52 of the cases were in Veracruz and urged the governor to take immediate action.

“This is a national emergency, people are desperate. For that reason, we resolutely call upon Governor Cuitláhuac García to fulfill his promise to restore security to Veracruz.”

Other troubled states included México with 26 cases reported in January and Mexico City with 23.Veracruz, Morelos and Tamaulipas led in per-capita terms.

Six states were kidnapping-free during the month.

Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Coahuila, Nayarit and Sinaloa were the only states that did not report any kidnappings, though it is not clear how many go unreported.

“The increase in the number of reported kidnapping cases is alarming. Even if the number has been inflated, it is still an alarming number,” said Miranda.

On the positive side, she noted that another statistic that increased in January was the number of suspects detained for kidnapping — 172, up from 135 in December.

Miranda said Mexico’s national action plan against kidnapping expired on December 31, and urged the federal government to prioritize the creation of a new strategy.

The National Security System is expected to publish its official statistics in the coming days.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Taxi drivers mount protest against ride-sharing, claim 50% drop in earnings

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César Hernández

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February 20, 2019

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Taxis in Mexico City's zócalo this morning.

Over 200 taxi drivers from Mexico City and México state protested today against the “disproportionate growth” of companies like Uber and Cabify, which offer a taxi-like service through mobile apps.

The protest started early this morning, when drivers from several unions and companies gathered outside the Chabacano subway station and later drove their cabs north to the zócalo, bringing traffic in adjoining streets to a gridlock that continued into the morning.

The protesters organized a rally across from the city government’s headquarters.

” . . . We must demand that the law is enforced,” said Juan Carlos Rovira, a member of the taxi organization Grupo G-10 , adding that the law was clear and that “the illegal transportation of passengers is punishable with jail time, there’s no way around it.”

“The whole country is devastated, we demand that [Uber and Cabify] leave Mexico immediately,” he told the newspaper El Universal.

The protesters want the city to ban the use of private vehicles as taxis through mobile applications.

The drivers said that over the last five years their earnings have dropped by as much as 50% due to the presence of the ride-sharing services.

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

Up 47% in six years, the Bajío powers growth in manufacturing industry

By

MND Staff

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February 20, 2019

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Car and pickup truck production is the leading sub-sector of Mexico's manufacturing industry.

The Bajío region was Mexico’s manufacturing dynamo between 2013 and 2018, achieving growth of 47.2%.

Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) shows that Mexico’s overall manufacturing growth between 2013 and 2018 was 17.9% – 1.4% higher than that achieved in the previous six years. The increase in the value of nationwide production was largely driven by the Bajío, a region made up of Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Aguascalientes.

Western Mexico – Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit and Colima – achieved the second highest growth in the period, with the value of its production up 25.3%.

The northern border region – taking in all six states that abut the United States – was next with 21.5% growth, followed by the central-north region with 15.3% growth and central Mexico, which saw a 9.8% increase.

Among individual states, Baja California Sur was a clear-cut winner.

The state saw whopping growth of 269% between 2013 and 2018.

San Luis Potosí was in second place with the value of its output increasing by 73.7%, while Aguascalientes recorded 70.4% growth to finish third.

Mexico’s south and southeast was the only region that saw a decline — a 17.3% decrease. Manufacturing shrunk by 42% in Oaxaca, 16% in Veracruz, 11.8% in Guerrero and 0.8% in Tabasco.

Output in Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, Mexico City, Sonora and Durango also declined in the six-year period.

The total value of manufacturing in Mexico last year was just over 7.3 trillion pesos (US $380.1 billion), with 32% of that figure coming from the northern border region. Factories in central Mexico generated 28.2% of the wealth and the Bajío region contributed 21.5%.

In 2013, the same three regions, in the same order, were also the leading contributors to the value of Mexico’s overall manufacturing output.

But 2018 figures show that only the Bajío increased its participation in percentage terms, contributing 4.3% more than it did in the first full year of Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidency.

The newspaper El Economista said that policies introduced by governments in Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Aguascalientes have been the driving force behind the Bajío region’s strong performance in manufacturing, pointing out that the states entered into commercial alliances that helped them to attract domestic and foreign investment in sectors such as automotive and electronics.

In November, the governors of the four states also agreed to work together to create a new manufacturing region to be known as the Central Bajío Corridor.

Long-term cooperation between the states will also extend to security, tourism, transport and social development, among other areas.

The Bajío region state that generates the most manufacturing wealth is Guanajuato.

Since 2010, it has ranked fourth every year for the value of its economic output behind México state, Nuevo León and Coahuila, which have maintained their spots, in that order, as Mexico’s top three manufacturing powerhouses for almost a decade.

San Luis Potosí and Querétaro are now also in the top 10 manufacturing states, taking the places of Sonora and Tamaulipas, which featured in the 2013 list.

The 7.3 trillion pesos generated by manufacturing last year accounted for 16.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), making the sector the most important of Mexico’s economy.

Production of cars and pickup trucks was the most profitable sub-sector of the manufacturing industry last year, generating 16.2% of all wealth followed by oil refining, which contributed 4.1%.

The production of buses and trucks was the third most profitable sub-sector, making a 4% contribution to the industry’s value.

Between 2013 and 2018, the value of parts manufactured for vehicle transmission systems increased by 101.7%, making it the best performing sub-sector in terms of growth, followed by beer production, which surged 73.5% and car and pickup truck production which grew by 68.1%.

Petroleum refining and the production of pharmaceuticals and tortillas were among the manufacturing sub-sectors whose contribution to total manufacturing value fell while Peña Nieto was in power.

Source: El Economista (sp)

New migrants’ caravan crosses border, enters Mexico illegally

By

César Hernández

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February 20, 2019

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A caravan of about 1,000 undocumented migrants from Central America crossed into Mexico yesterday.

The migrants arrived at the Guatemala side of the Rodolfo Robles international bridge in Tecún Umán on Monday, when they requested assistance from Mexican authorities in Hidalgo, Chiapas.

But when they were advised that the humanitarian permit program had concluded, they crossed the border.

Overwhelmed by the size of the caravan, Mexican authorities decided to open the gates and let the migrants cross.

One suffered a seizure and died on the bridge but the incident did not interrupt the caravan’s progress into Mexico.

Federal Police and the National Immigration Institute (INM) agents attempted to stop the migrants before they reached the municipality of Frontera Hidalgo, but they were repelled with stones.

Several official vehicles were damaged and at least 20 people were arrested.

The caravan’s progress was not interrupted by this incident, and the authorities allowed it to continue on its way north.

On Sunday, a smaller group of about 200 Central American migrants also crossed illegally, but they were contained by the Federal Police and INM officials.

Source: Reforma (sp)

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

By

MND Staff

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February 20, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Reforma (sp)

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

By

MND Staff

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February 20, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gangs battle over drug trade in southeast Mexico City

By

MND Staff

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February 19, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: El Universal (sp)

6 dead after overloaded bus crashes in Campeche

By

Madison Koen

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February 19, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Water recedes on Pacific coast beaches due to anticyclone system

By

César Hernández

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February 19, 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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