Museum opens at Querétaro’s El Cerrito archaeological site

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February 15, 2019

Opening ceremony at the new museum in Querétaro.

Federal and state authorities dedicated a new museum yesterday at the El Cerrito archaeological site in Corregidora, Querétaro.

The state invested 18.7 million pesos (US $970,000) in erecting the facility that is being managed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), which also contributed with its field investigations.

The municipality also contributed with infrastructure and public works projects around the new museum, including access, the paving of roads leading to the facility and laying underground power lines.

The El Cerrito museum is now part of a network of 160 exhibition sites managed by INAH, and will showcase 125 archaeological artifacts recovered over the last 25 years in the area, testament to the influence of the Toltec, Chichimeca and Otomí cultures in the region.

Governor Francisco Domínguez Servién said it was the government’s responsibility to “increase, promote and watch over this treasure; a mirror in which present and future generations will be able to see themselves and recognize each other.”

Federal Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marqués remarked that Querétaro represented 2% of the nation’s hotel occupancy during 2018.

The state, he continued, has more than 500 hotels — 68% of which are between three and five stars — and an average occupancy rate of 56%. The hotel and service industries together represent just over one-quarter of the state’s gross domestic product.

“All levels of government will work closely to attain the goal of repositioning [the state] in world rankings, attracting foreign currency and achieving more spending per tourist. The best is yet to come,” Torruco said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

More conflict of interest: AMLO levels accusation at head of energy regulator

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MND Staff

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February 15, 2019

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President López Obrador today leveled a conflict of interest accusation against the head of Mexico’s energy sector regulator but without offering any details, saying that more information will be provided Monday.

The president’s claim comes after Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) chief Guillermo García Alcocer criticized the candidates the president proposed to fill four positions on the commission’s governing body.

“As I have a right of reply, now I’m going to announce that the gentleman, the president of the CRE, has conflicts of interest and on Monday we’re going to announce all the information about why he has the conflicts of interest,” López Obrador said at his morning press conference.

He accused the CRE of awarding oil exploration contracts to private companies that didn’t generate any benefits for Pemex.

On Wednesday, García said López Obrador’s candidates don’t represent a sufficient breadth of knowledge and experience in the energy sector.

“I see an imbalance in terms of hydrocarbons and electricity. The profiles [of the candidates] look very skewed towards hydrocarbons. We practically can’t identify expertise in electricity and I believe that is something that is much needed [to understand] the complexities of the market,” he told the newspaper El Financiero.

Seven of 12 candidates put forward by the president and sent to the Senate are chemical engineers and 10 of them were formerly employed at Pemex.

In response to López Obrador’s conflict of interest accusation today, García said that he has “nothing to hide.”

In a radio interview, the CRE chief said that he is waiting to see what evidence López Obrador presents to support his claim but emphasized that he has worked in the public sector his whole life and always declared his interests.

García added that it is not up to him to formally assess the candidates proposed by the president, pointing out that the Senate has the responsibility to do so.

All he did, García said, was to highlight that it appeared that there are a lot of hydrocarbon experts on López Obrador’s list and no electricity specialists.

The president’s broadside against the CRE today was not the first time this week that he took aim at the commission.

On Monday, López Obrador asserted that it played a role in awarding contracts to three private companies to build natural gas pipelines that have cost the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) billions of pesos but which remain incomplete.

The CRE rejected the claim, stating that while it approved the CFE’s tendering processes, it didn’t participate in them in any way.

García told the newspaper El Universal that both López Obrador and CFE chief Manuel Bartlett are misinformed about the role that the CRE plays as well as the contribution that private companies make to Mexico’s energy sector, charging that their presence has allowed the CFE to reduce its costs.

García said that he was willing to meet with the president to “inform him about all this” because “he needs to know us and know what we do,” adding “we’re open to collaboration, we’re part of the government and . . . we’re willing to talk.”

It’s been a big week for conflict of interest accusations by the federal government.

On Monday, Bartlett accused nine former public officials, including ex-president Felipe Calderón, of awarding energy contracts to private companies at which they would later work.

López Obrador promptly proposed a 10-year ban on officials going into the private sector in a field related to their government position, stating that he believed that joining the private sector soon after leaving government was not only illegal but immoral.

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

Armed clashes, roadblocks in Michoacán; students take cover in 45-minute gunfight

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César Hernández

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February 15, 2019

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Students take cover during Michoacán gun battle.

There were armed clashes and roadblocks yesterday in at least four municipalities of Michoacán, one of which occurred just steps away from a school.

Police were on a routine patrol on the Arantepacua-Turícuaro highway in Nahuatzen when armed civilians opened fire.

The ensuing gunfight ended with the death of one of the attackers and the arrest of two men who were carrying three firearms, and 14 packages containing a substance suspected to be crystal methamphetamine.

There were also armed confrontations in the municipalities of Aguililla and Buenavista. In the latter, high school students had to take cover in their classrooms during a battle that ran for some 45 minutes, the school’s director said.

One of the students caught several seconds of footage on a cell phone, showing classmates huddled on the floor as shots were fired outside.

In Apatzingán, armed civilians erected roadblocks that were later removed by police.

Source: Mi Morelia (sp), Milenio (sp)

Michoacán teachers agree to return to classrooms Monday

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Madison Koen

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February 15, 2019

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Teachers' rail blockades came down earlier this week.

A costly month-long strike by members of the CNTE teachers’ union in Michoacán is over.

Union leader Víctor Manuel Zavala told a press conference today that protesting teachers will pack up their tents in front of government headquarters in the state capital, Morelia, where they have camped for the past 31 nights.

Teachers have also occupied municipal offices in various municipalities as well as state agencies’ offices. They too are being withdrawn.

Classes will resume on Monday after consultation with union members, who were informed of the progress made during talks on Wednesday with federal and state government representatives.

The union said the state had agreed to pay bonuses and other monies owed teachers.

But Zavala made it clear that the teachers’ fight would not be over until the previous federal government’s education reform was abolished, a central demand by the union since it was introduced in 2013.

This week’s talks began after the union withdrew more than half a dozen blockades on the state’s railroad network, a stoppage that the Business Coordinating Council estimates cost 30 billion pesos (US $1.55 billion).

It also cost more than 10,000 students four weeks of school.

Source: Milenio (sp)

What does it cost to live in Mexico City’s safest boroughs?

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Madison Koen

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February 15, 2019

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This house in Milpa Alta is going for 2.19 million pesos.

Living in one of Mexico City’s safest areas might come at a premium, but it also means being far from the city center.

According to an analysis of housing statistics on the real estate website Propiedades.com and crime statistics compiled by the city attorney general on the government’s open-data page, there may be a correlation between house and apartment prices in certain parts of the city and the security they offer, but what all of Mexico City’s safest boroughs have in common is their location on the fringes of town.

According to the analysis, Milpa Alta, the farthest south of the city’s boroughs, has the city’s lowest crime rate. Last year a mere 1,779 crimes were reported in the borough, where houses cost an average of 2.59 million pesos (US $134,000) and to rent a house costs 10,000 pesos (US $518) a month.

Cuajimalpa de Morelos came in second place for the lowest crime rate, with only 3,491 cases in 2018. This western-most borough was also the most expensive, with housing prices averaging at 10 million pesos, apartments at 11.97 million pesos, house rentals at 37,609 pesos per month and apartment rents hovering around 28,537 pesos.

Cuajimalpa includes Santa Fe, one of the city’s most important financial districts. The neighborhood also includes several gated communities.

In third place, Magdalena Contreras, another far-west borough, saw 3,647 reported crimes last year. The average purchase price of a house is 6.05 million pesos and an apartment 4.42 million. Renting an apartment has an average price tag of 15,503 pesos and a house 25,029 pesos.

Tlahuac, one of Mexico City’s eastern-most boroughs, was in fourth place on the list with 5,896 crimes last year. Houses cost an average of 2.08 million pesos and apartments 608,301. Renting in the zone is much more affordable, with the monthly cost of an apartment averaging 3,959 pesos and a house 10,906 pesos.

Xochimilco, just north of Milpa Alta, closed the list of the five safest boroughs with 7,589 reported crimes in 2018. Housing and apartment prices were among the lowest on the list, averaging 3.35 million pesos (US $174,000) and 1.42 million pesos respectively. Rents in the home of Mexico City’s famous trajineras average 7,098 pesos for an apartment and 15,840 pesos for a house.

Of the five boroughs, Tlahuac is the only one with direct access via the Metro. Xochimilco is also a slightly more accessible, though distant, destination due to an available transfer to the tren ligero, a light rail line that runs 13 kilometers solely through the boroughs of Tlalpan and Xochimilco.

Leonardo González, an analyst at Propiedades.com, told the newspaper El Financiero that safety is one of the most important factors in evaluating property values in the city.

Rocío Uribe, president of Uribe Quality Real Estate, said that the demand for home security is on the rise and that sales of armored doors, window gratings and combination or fingerprint locks for doors has increased accordingly.

Experts say that in Mexico City it is more important for a real estate agent to talk about a property’s safety than its features and confirm that the most commonly asked questions in showings focus on the building’s entrances and exits and its cameras.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Government presents 107-billion-peso plan to reduce Pemex’s debt burden

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MND Staff

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February 15, 2019

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López Obrador, left, and Urzúa present Pemex rescue plan.

President López Obrador presented today a 107-billion-peso (US $5.5-billion) rescue plan for Pemex aimed at reducing the state oil company’s financial burden and strengthening its capacity to invest in exploration and production.

“We’ve taken the decision to support Pemex with everything,” López Obrador declared at his morning press conference, explaining that making the company profitable and productive was the great challenge of his government.

To that end, López Obrador said that the state-run company will receive a cash injection, its tax burden will be reduced and it will be cleansed of corruption.

The cause of many of Pemex’s problems is corruption, the president charged, especially dwindling oil production.

He described the rescue package, which is divided into four parts, as “an initial plan,” explaining that “if they require more, there will be more support.”

Pemex finance chief Alberto Velázquez explained that there will be a 25-billion-peso (US $1.3-billion) cash injection into the company and pledged that Pemex won’t take on new debt in 2019.

He said the second rescue measure consists of a plan to transfer 35 billion pesos (US $1.8 billion) from the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) as an early payment of a debt the latter has with the former.

The company will be given a tax break of at least 15 billion pesos (US $800,000) this year, Velázquez said, explaining that its tax burden will be further reduced during the government’s six-year term and that the saving could be as much as 30 billion pesos next year.

Finally, an estimated 32 billion pesos (US $1.6 billion) in savings generated by the government’s crackdown on fuel theft will also be directed to Pemex.

Speaking after the rescue plan was presented, Finance Secretary Carlos Urzúa stressed that the government is committed to supporting Pemex, whose debt of more than US $100 billion makes it the most indebted oil company in the world.

“. . . The federal government, through the Secretariat of Finance, will do whatever it can to maintain Pemex’s finances healthy,” he said.

Reuters reported that investors were reassured by the announcement although they had expected stronger measures. “The announcement is positive and could be enough to remedy the company’s additional financial needs for 2019,” said Edgar Cruz, global markets credit research at BBVA in Mexico, while warning that it would not stave off another crunch next year.

The company must make more than $27 billion in debt payments over the next three years.

Fitch downgraded Pemex’s credit rating to just one level above junk last month, a move that was slammed by López Obrador, who accused rating agencies of hypocrisy because “they maintained a complicit silence” during the past government and “endorsed the so-called energy reform” even though “they knew that foreign investment didn’t arrive and investment in Pemex didn’t increase.”

The president said today that with the announcement of the government’s rescue package, including his pledge to stamp out corruption in Pemex, the ratings agencies will now “treat us well.”

He explained: “They have all the information, especially about corruption issues. They know very well what was happening in Pemex and the CFE [the Federal Electricity Commission].”

Source: El Economista (sp), El Financiero (sp), Reuters (en)

High electricity rates in northern Nayarit described as robbery

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MND Staff

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February 15, 2019

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Residents protest CFE tariffs in Acaponeta, Nayarit, in December.

High electricity rates paid by at least 350,000 residents of seven municipalities in Nayarit have been described as “robbery” by a customer representative.

Oscar Luna Ayón, who represents electricity customers in Santiago Ixcuintla, said that residents in that municipality as well as Tuxpan, Acaponeta, Rosamorada, Ruiz, Tecuala and Huajicori – all in the north of the state – have been paying excessive rates to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) since 2002.

From May until October – the hottest months of the year – the CFE charges customers in the municipalities a lower, subsidized rate known as 1D but from November to April, the subsidy is suspended.

Despite protests, the CFE has ignored the customers’ complaints and failed to conduct a review of the excessive charges seen during the latter period, Luna said.

“It’s robbery. Power bills arrive with charges of 2,000 pesos, 4,000 pesos, up to 10,000 pesos [US $520], when homes only have air conditioning, which isn’t a luxury but a necessity for coastal areas,” he said.

State lawmaker Eduardo Lugo said that electricity customers and authorities in Nayarit are calling for the federal government and the CFE to apply the 1D rate year-round in Nayarit’s hottest municipalities.

Before he assumed the position, new CFE director Manuel Bartlett said that he planned to review power rates and that the López Obrador-led federal government would seek to introduce “social rates” that could see people on low incomes obtain government subsidies to offset their electricity costs.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Miners union leader unites labor movement under new umbrella organization

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MND Staff

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February 14, 2019

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A mining union leader and senator with Mexico’s ruling party presented a new labor federation yesterday that unites 150 unions, declaring that it will fight for the rights of a labor movement that was oppressed by past “neoliberal governments.”

Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, a controversial figure who has been accused of embezzling US $55 million from the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers, announced that the umbrella organization is called the International Confederation of Workers (CIT).

Despite his affiliation with the current administration, Gómez declared that the CIT is “not a government agency nor one of the political party Morena,” which is led by President López Obrador.

Speaking at mining union headquarters in Mexico City, he described government-appointed union bosses as “scum” who have lived off workers and called for old practices and vices that “destroyed and held back” the labor movement to be left behind.

“We’re going to move forward together, we’re going to support everything that represents the transformation of the work world towards labor justice [and] towards progress in union democracy. We’re going to support the free and secret vote so that workers exercise their right to choose the organization to which they belong and to choose the leaders that represent them,” Gómez said.

The union leader described the formation of the new confederation as a landmark in the history of Mexican trade unionism because it brings together organizations that are concerned about the country’s labor situation, the lack of representation for workers, abuses committed by employers and the absence of union democracy.

Gómez said that the recent strike action in Matamoros, which resulted in thousands of workers winning 20% pay raises and bigger annual bonuses, could spread and that the CIT would support them.

“As long as the conditions of exploitation continue for these workers, not just on the border but across the country, there is a risk that these conflicts will break out,” he said. “We will always be ready to advise and support them.”

Workers’ wages stagnated for decades in Mexico as pro-government unions cozied up with the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to keep workers in check.

Gómez said that “we cannot continue to allow the labor sector to be left behind from the prosperity and progress in the country.”

He explained that while the objective of the CIT is “the unification of the labor movement,” it doesn’t intend to make trade unions disappear or steal their members.

Gómez said that United States labor groups such as the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in that country, had expressed support for the CIT and declared that “it is time that we unions globalize ourselves” in a way similar to multinational companies.

However, he rejected any suggestion that foreign trade unions would interfere in the decisions and actions that the CIT takes, explaining that it was only “a question of solidarity.”

Gómez returned to Mexico last year to take up his position in the Senate after spending 12 years in exile in Canada, where he continued to run the mining union from Vancouver.

A group of 20,000 miners has accused him of stealing money owed to them in relation to the purchase of a state-owned mine by mining conglomerate Grupo México. The accusations have been described by Gómez as “political persecution.”

The leaders of several unions attended yesterday’s launch and congratulated Gómez for the formation of the new labor federation.

Among those in attendance was the secretary of the Michoacán branch of the STDSSM health care workers union, who said that for President López Obrador to achieve his promise to transform Mexico, a radical change to workers’ conditions is needed.

Guadalupe Pichardo also defended Goméz’s record as an advocate for the labor movement.

“We had never seen a union leader persecuted in such a way but comrade Napoleón was always with his working base. Let those who don’t defend the working class quiver,” she said.

Source: El Universal (sp), Associated Press (en)

United Nations will oversee contracts, tenders to combat corruption

By

Madison Koen

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February 14, 2019

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Mexican and UN officials applaud signing of agreement of support.

The United Nations will provide Mexico with support in the administration of federal contracts and projects through an agreement signed yesterday.

The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) will provide supervision and tracking of federal contracts, projects and tenders as well as assistance with big projects such as the sale of government vehicles and aircraft, economic proposals for the Maya Train and the purchase of medications.

Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s permanent ambassador to the UN, said that the move “will allow us to advance . . . and to once and for all lay to rest the culture of corruption in this country and to welcome a culture of transparency and laws in all of the government’s actions.”

He called corruption in Mexico “endemic” and said the signing of the accord was in response to President López Obrador’s repeated calls to make a philosophy of ethics a central pillar in the functioning of the federal government.

De la Fuente added that the agreement with the UNOPS would reinforce steps taken by Mexico to meet the goals of the United Nations’ 2030 agenda, an ambitious plan to stimulate concrete advances in global poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice.

“We are sure that the UN, working through its specialized offices, will help us to get to the root of many of the problems that afflict us that have been pointed out on numerous occasions by President López Obrador: to get to the bottom of poverty and inequality and to promote actions that have a direct social impact.”

The president thanked the ambassador, whom he described as “first-class,” and said that not only would UN supervision allow public administration to run more smoothly and ethically, it would also give government the opportunity to recover funds previously lost to widespread corruption.

UNOPS executive director Grete Faremo said the new partnership will give the Mexican government access to essential resources to fight corruption and implement better-planned projects and infrastructure.

“We are here because the Mexican government has asked for our help. We are grateful and humbly accept. Working together offers us an incredible opportunity to increase efficiency and to implement more effective projects,” she concluded.

Source: El Universal (sp), Excélsior (sp), Aristegui Noticias (sp)

AMLO announces plans for Badiraguato, El Chapo’s hometown

By

MND Staff

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February 14, 2019

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El Chapo Guzmán's hometown, Badiraguato.

President López Obrador will visit the hometown of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán tomorrow to inaugurate one government project and formally announce two more.

The president told reporters at his daily press conference that he will travel to the former Sinaloa Cartel chief’s native Badiraguato, a mountainous municipality 80 kilometers north of the Sinaloa capital Culiacán, to open a new stretch of highway that runs to Guadalupe y Calvo, a municipality in Chihuahua.

López Obrador said he will also announce the establishment of a new public university in Badiraguato that will specialize in forestry, explaining that the region has a lot of potential in the sector.

“Thirdly, the Sembrando Vida [Sowing Life] program is going to go ahead,” he added, referring to the government’s ambitious tree-planting project.

“We’re going to plant [trees] in the region, 50,000 hectares just next to Badiraguato . . .”

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López Obrador said the program will create 20,000 permanent jobs in the sierra region of Sinaloa and Chihuahua.

Asked about Guzmán’s conviction on drug trafficking charges Tuesday in a New York federal court, López Obrador said yesterday that it was a lesson that a life of crime and easy money doesn’t bring happiness.

Today, he said, Badiraguato shouldn’t be stigmatized just because El Chapo grew up there.

“Towns mustn’t be stigmatized, you can’t stigmatize Atlacomulco because the so-called Atlacomulco group is from there,” López Obrador said, referring to Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) politicians, including former president Enrique Peña Nieto, who hail from the México state municipality.

“Badiraguato is a town with history, a lot of people who deserve respect live there,” he added.

The leftist political veteran, who last month said that the drug war is over and arresting drug lords is no longer a priority, explained that the aim of the new government projects and programs in Badiraguato and the country as a whole is to provide options for citizens – especially young people – to earn an honest living and not be tempted into a life of crime.

“We’re seeking to regenerate public life,” López Obrador said.

Source: Reforma (sp)