In red are areas where temperatures were forecast to reach 37 to 43 C.
Officials in Chiapas issued a red alert yesterday for six different regions as a heat wave brings extreme temperatures in the state.
The alert continued today for the Soconusco, Istmo-costa, Frailesca, De los llanos, Metropolitana and Valle Zoque regions, with forecast temperatures up to 43 C in some areas as well as a humidity level below 25%, triggering a wildfire warning as well.
Civil Protection called on residents to refrain from regular controlled fires, which could quickly get out of hand under the current conditions. Another six regions were on orange alert for temperatures expected to reach 36 C and two more were on yellow alert for temperatures climbing to 29 C.
According to official estimates, in the first months of 2019 Chiapas has seen 596 wildfires in 15 different municipalities, affecting more than 4,000 hectares. Those most most affected have been Emiliano Zapata and Arriaga.
Although a senior official in the Finance Secretariat said otherwise this morning, construction of the Dos Bocas oil refinery in Tabasco will not be postponed.
Undersecretary Arturo Herrera told the British newspaper the Financial Times that US $2.5 billion allocated to the project would instead be directed into Pemex as a fresh capital injection to boost production.
But a few hours later President López Obrador said the project will go ahead as planned.
He said the refinery represents an important part of the government’s agenda.
“There are no setbacks in the construction. Everything is going ahead smoothly and the refinery will be built. It will be finished in three years’ time as promised, and it will cost between $6 billion and $8 billion.”
The president reiterated that on March 18 the federal government will announce a tender for the project. The date is symbolic: it is the anniversary of the 1938 nationalization of the oil industry.
Energy Secretary Rocío Nahle confirmed later that refinery costs are included in the 2019 budget.
“This is a project that we need in this country, and not just as of now. Talks with Pemex, Conagua [the National Water Commission] and other organizations have been going on for a long time.”
Nahle said undersecretary Herrera’s earlier statements reflected adjustments that are being made to the budget “so that there’s enough money for everything, but the project is already under way and we are going ahead with it.”
She also said she expects Herrera will retract his comments.
Herrera also said this morning that the government is committed to its target of delivering a budget surplus equal to 1% of gross domestic product.
“If anything has to be adjusted,” he told the Times, “it won’t be the fiscal target.”
The mixed messages generated some uncertainty among analysts, many of whom already see the refinery project as a poor use of money.
Mexico City energy analyst Alejandra León at IHS Markit told Bloomberg “it sounds contradictory” and “there is no clarity on what the president has in mind.”
Energy trader Rajan Vig said “ultimately, no one communicates with one another” within the government team.
The mobile library that is currently traveling through Guerrero.
A couple of retired teachers from Guerrero have spent the last six months traveling through their state, but rather than hit the popular tourist destinations they are stopping at all the poorest communities.
Their goal: to deliver books.
María del Carmen García Estrada and José Hernández Salazar began their project six months ago by purchasing a Volkswagen Combi and converting it into a mobile library.
The next phase was collecting books. They bought 100 volumes, christened their bus Bibliocombi and hit the road, visiting preschools in the most marginalized communities in the state to promote reading habits among students.
The Bibliocombi collection grew to 165 titles after Ligia Tavera Fenollosa, a social studies researcher in Mexico City, learned about the couple’s project on Facebook and decided to donate 65 books.
Inside the traveling library.
García and Hernández say they have now had a positive impact on the lives of some 1,000 children. Their traveling library not only delivers books to those who need them the most, but gives storytelling sessions and offers activities that encourage readership, lending books and learning chess.
“We realized that the main problem for children, youths and young professionals is that they don’t have a reading habit,” Hernández said. “It is the main problem in the state and the country . . . that is what is behind this project.”
The couple’s goal is to visit all the municipalities in Guerrero and the rest of the country that are considered below the poverty line.
The Bibliocombi is funded solely by García and Hernández with no other support.
Central Americans are not the only migrants entering Mexico at the southern border: more than 500 Africans, Asians and Haitians have also arrived recently in Chiapas.
Migrants from the Congo, Cameroon, Angola, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Haiti crossed into Mexico from Guatemala in the final days of February and the first week of March, according to a report in the newspaper El Universal.
The migrants voluntarily reported their entry to immigration authorities and requested transit visas that will allow them to legally continue their journey to the United States’ southern border, where they plan to seek asylum.
As they wait for their visas to be processed, most migrants are staying at a National Immigration Institute (INM) facility in Tapachula, where some of them claim they have been discriminated against because of the color of their skin.
“[There’s] a lot of discrimination in Mexico, a lot of discrimination . . . The whites eat first and once a day we get the little that’s left over,” a group of migrants told El Universal.
They also said they have to sleep on the floor or in the bathroom area of the shelter and that they are involuntarily hosed down each morning with cold water.
In addition, the migrants claim that Central Americans staying at the same facility smoke cigarettes and marijuana inside the facilities.
However, some of the migrants – including pregnant women and children – say that they haven’t been allowed into the immigration facility and have instead been forced to sleep outside on a concrete floor.
Around 200 migrants from African countries and Haiti claim that they have also been prevented from requesting 20-day transit visas that will allow them to continue their journey north.
Without money to pay for alternative accommodation, the migrants are forced to wait in front of the facility in temperatures that can rise to as high as 40 C.
African migrants said they flew from their countries of origin to South America before continuing to Mexico’s southern border via Central America.
Many said they were attacked by criminals and police during their journeys and spent all their money on people smugglers, transportation, accommodation and food.
Malfunctions by two escalators in the Mexico City subway system injured at least 10 people over the last month, prompting the city government to shut down over 70 so they can be inspected.
The injuries occurred after mechanical problems caused them to stop suddenly.
Yesterday, the transit operator said 90 escalators in 12 stations are being checked, and that while 16 of those are now fully operational the remainder will be shut down until they are deemed safe to operate, a process that could take until next week.
Line 7 is the most affected, with escalators in 10 of its 14 stations not operating. Two more stations are affected on Lines 3 and 8.
Metro officials said the mechanical malfunctions were due to the age of the escalators and a lack of maintenance.
The Mexico City Metro has about 468 escalators, which the manufacturer says should last for about 25 years. One of the escalators that malfunctioned was installed 33 years ago.
A war between rival drug and fuel theft cartels is believed to be responsible for the deaths of seven people in Puebla Sunday night, including a gang leader.
Authorities found the bodies of two men and one woman inside black plastic bags in a neighborhood in the north of Puebla city at around 9:30pm after receiving a tip-off from residents. Later that night, the bodies of four men were found in a neighborhood in the east of the city.
Among the latter was the body of Ángel Villegas, the leader of the Villegas criminal gang from the town of San Martín Texmelucan. Also known as “El Pelón” (Baldy), Villegas was arrested last year but later released.
Preliminary investigations indicate that all seven deaths are linked to a dispute between Los Villegas and another gang that also operates in San Martín, located around 40 kilometers northwest of Puebla city.
An eighth body was also found in the state capital Sunday night but the man’s death is believed to be the result of an incident that is unrelated to the cartel war.
The news website Periódico Central said that that a gang, which it didn’t name, began an offensive against Los Villegas last week.
Last Wednesday, a family of six – including three children – were wounded in an attack at a used-car lot in Santa Rita Tlahuapan, a municipality that borders San Martín.
Armed men subsequently set the car lot on fire and left a narco-banner threatening “El Pelón” Villegas.
According to Periódico Central, the Villegas gang has ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and was protected by the previous municipal government in San Martín Texmelucan, known as Mexico’s capitalhuachicolera, or fuel-theft capital.
The gang is believed to be behind the violence that has plagued San Martín for the past two years.
Slim, left, and Salinas both offered a positive assessment of the first 100 days.
The private sector expressed confidence in the federal government yesterday after President López Obrador outlined the achievements of his first 100 days in office in a self-congratulatory report.
“It was a very good report. We’re very surprised about everything that has been achieved in 100 days, it’s incredible,” said Ricardo Salinas Pliego, founder and chairman of the conglomerate Grupo Salinas.
Salinas described López Obrador as a “natural-born leader” and said the outlook for this year is positive.
Carlos Salazar Lomelín, the new president of the influential Business Coordinating Council (CCE), said that despite signs and warnings of a slowing economy, there is confidence within the private sector that the government will stimulate growth through initiatives outlined by López Obrador yesterday, such as actions against corruption and the construction of infrastructure projects.
“There is faith that with these actions, the [growth] numbers can recover and we can have a much better performance, even starting from this year,” he said.
Salazar qualified his statement, however, by saying that “it is too early to judge” the performance of the government in a comprehensive way and to predict how successful its policy initiatives will be.
“We have to have a little bit of patience, see what happens . . . [There are] huge expectations, which is reflected in the country’s [consumer] confidence index and I believe that is a good start. What interests the business community the most is that the climate of confidence continues in order to have greater . . . investment and for that to bring about . . . the growth we all want,” he said.
Antonio del Valle Perochena, president of the Mexican Business Council (CMN) – an elite group made up of 60 of the largest businesses in the country – described López Obrador’s report as conciliatory and positive for the country.
“He announced a lot of investment, which is very positive. We have to concentrate on the new infrastructure projects which I believe are very positive,” he said.
Francisco Cervantes Díaz, president of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), said that the private sector has confidence in López Obrador, while José Manuel López Campos of the Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco) described the president’s report as “balanced” while acknowledging that 100 days is a very limited time within which to implement the changes the country needs.
Mexico’s richest man, Grupo Carso chairman Carlos Slim, also recognized that only so much can be achieved in such a short period but gave a positive overall assessment of the government’s performance to date.
The audience applauds yesterday during the president’s 100-day report.
Interviewed at the National Palace after López Obrador delivered his report, Slim said that he wasn’t at all concerned about the direction the López Obrador administration is taking or the prevailing economic conditions in the country despite a warning from credit rating Standard & Poor’s that Mexico’s sovereign rating could be downgraded during the coming year.
“I wouldn’t worry about anything. Inflation is coming down, there is greater austerity, sobriety . . . The important thing is that there is a reasonable budget that is being met . . . There is budgetary discipline and the maintenance of macroeconomic balances is working, we’re doing very well, there is no concern,” he said.
The businessman contended that cuts to growth forecasts were not unusual at the start of a new government, and expressed confidence that reaching the 4% economic growth targeted by López Obrador is possible.
“Growth from 1933 to 1982 was 6.2% so of course we can get to 4%. All that’s needed is investment, economic activity, job creation and an improvement to people’s incomes,” Slim said.
He also expressed support for the government’s crackdown on corruption and fuel theft and its plans to combat insecurity, which includes the creation of a national guard.
Sinaloa Governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel said there are high expectations for the new security force, whose creation has been ratified by a majority of state legislatures.
“I believe that it [the national guard] is necessary. The objective of everyone is to reduce insecurity rates . . .” he said.
However, Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles expressed skepticism that the national guard will achieve the quick results the federal government is seeking, adding that state and municipal police officers should also be included in the security force in order to bolster its numbers.
He said that combatting insecurity and growing the economy are the two biggest challenges faced by the federal government but praised its efforts to date on reducing fuel theft, an achievement López Obrador highlighted in his report.
Adán Augusto López Hernández, governor of the president’s home state of Tabasco, gave a positive appraisal of López Obrador’s first 100 days in office, emphasizing that there are high expectations for the Maya Train and new oil refinery projects.
One of six of the new planes in the Aeroméxico fleet.
After the deadly crash that killed all 157 people aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight just minutes after takeoff Sunday from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Aeroméxico is the latest airline to ground its Boeing 737 MAX planes.
The aircraft was the second new Boeing 737 MAX to crash in five months. The first was Lion Air Flight 610, which also crashed just minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people aboard.
Aeroméxico announced that it will temporarily take all six of its Boeing 737 MAX planes out of service pending more information about what caused Sunday’s crash.
The airline said in a statement that it has used the aircraft to fly to destinations including Lima, Bogotá and Monterrey during the past year. But for the time being all flights previously serviced by the new model will be covered using other planes in Aeroméxico’s fleet.
The company said it will remain in contact with the manufacturer and corresponding authorities until the investigation into the latest crash is concluded.
Boeing has delivered 330 of the new planes and has orders for more than 5,000 more.
Aviation authorities in at least 10 countries, including China and Britain, have grounded the planes.
IMSS bought supplies from a company linked to the health agency's board.
The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) purchased medications worth more than half a billion pesos between 2015 and 2018 from a company owned by the son of one of its board members, according to an anti-graft group.
Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) said it obtained documents that show that the pharmaceutical company Marzam received contracts in that period for more than 526 million pesos (US $27.1 million at today’s exchange rate).
Luis Doporto Alejandre, son of Héctor Doporto Ramírez, purchased Marzam in 2015.
For the next three years, the company’s sales to IMSS, which operates public hospitals and health care clinics, were more than five times greater than its sales to the same government organization in the much longer period between 2002 and 2014.
Héctor Doporto has sat on the IMSS board since 2010.
MCCI said in its investigation report that as the value of Marzam’s contracts with IMSS multiplied, the company was under investigation by federal authorities for financial crimes.
Luis Doporto Alejandre told MCCI that although his father sat on the IMMS board, he was a substitute rather than a permanent member and never involved in purchasing processes, “least of all for medications and dressing materials.”
The president presents a 100-day report in the National Palace. el universal
President López Obrador today highlighted the approval of constitutional changes to combat corruption and create the national guard as among his most significant achievements in a report to mark his first 100 days in office.
But he conceded that crime-fighting efforts have only succeeded in containing crime rather than reducing it.
Speaking at the National Palace in Mexico City, López Obrador said three constitutional reforms have so far been approved by Congress including one that allows for the prompt seizure of assets acquired through corruption and violence, and another that reclassifies corruption as a serious crime.
The latter reform also removes bail rights for people accused of corruption, fuel theft and electoral fraud, among other offenses.
“. . . It wasn’t accidental that for a long time, corruption wasn’t considered a serious crime,” López Obrador said.
“Do you know when the criminal code was reformed to remove the seriousness [classification] from all acts of corruption? January 10, 1994, in the middle of the neoliberal boom . . .” he added.
The third constitutional reform – to create the national guard – has been approved by Congress and a majority of state legislatures, López Obrador said, adding that its main goal is to “guarantee public security for all Mexicans.”
He didn’t mention that his original proposal for the security force to have a military rather than civilian command had to be modified.
López Obrador explained that legislative processes are under way in Congress to remove the president’s constitutional right to immunity, to guarantee citizens’ right to have their say on government decisions through public consultations and to subject the president’s rule to a vote three years after taking office.
The Congress has also been asked to approve laws on austerity and the right to access health care, and to cancel the educational reform implemented by the past government, he said.
The president pledged that by the middle of this year, the government will have “the essential legal framework” it needs to carry out what he has dubbed the fourth transformation of public life in Mexico.
New poll results compared with others in August and November 2018. In blue, those who fully or somewhat approved, in gray those who neither approved nor disapproved and in orange those who totally or somewhat disapproved.
“We maintain the firm conviction to not allow the state to be used to fabricate crimes against opponents or anyone, or to spy, persecute, torture or massacre the people,” López Obrador said.
The president also pointed to the implementation of social programs, the appreciation of the peso, lower inflation, higher consumer confidence, higher old-age pensions, the creation of a northern border free zone, the introduction of a youth apprenticeship scheme, the creation of a guaranteed price scheme for farmers and the increase to the minimum wage as other government achievements.
The political veteran, who won last year’s election in a landslide, asserted that his administration isn’t at the behest of anyone except the Mexican people.
“The government is for all Mexicans and its principal role is to enforce justice and seek the well-being and happiness of the people,” he said.
With regard to international relations, the president said that a policy of non-intervention has been adopted, stressing that “we want to maintain a relationship of friendship with all the people and governments of the world.”
The president said the relationship with the United States has been “cordial,” adding that neither party has resorted to the use of “accusatory or coarse language.”
López Obrador added that his government is not in favor of using force to contain migration but is seeking instead to address the causes of the phenomenon at its origin – Central American countries, in other words.
To that end, “we’re working with the government of the United States on an agreement of cooperation for development,” he said.
Mexico is “applying a formula to put an end to corruption and impunity in order to release funds that can be allocated to the development and well-being of the people,” López Obrador added.
He said that the government’s crackdown on fuel theft will generate savings of 50 billion pesos (US $2.6 billion) this year and that further funds will be freed up via the elimination of government luxuries such as high salaries for officials.
López Obrador also reiterated his commitment to achieve annual economic growth of 4% during his six-year term, a figure that is double that or more than most public and private financial institutions are predicting for this year and next.
“I’m absolutely sure that combatting corruption . . . will allow productive investment to be applied promptly and efficiently,” he said.
The president also highlighted the benefits that his government’s planned infrastructure projects will bring.
Construction of the Maya Train project will create around 300,000 jobs and after four years will have the capacity to transport 3 million passengers a year, López Obrador said, while pointing out the tourism benefits it will bring.
The president also said that the plan to convert the Santa Lucía Air Force Base for commercial aviation in lieu of continuing with the new Mexico City airport project will not only save more than 100 million pesos but also solve the saturation problem at the current airport more quickly.
Towards the end of his speech, López Obrador ran through statistics for some crimes, including homicides, since he took office, which showed some modest improvements.
However, he conceded, “we have only been able to contain criminality . . . not significantly reduce it as we had wished.”
The president concluded by saying that although it is only “the beginning of the path towards progress with justice,” the government has begun writing “the prologue to a great work of national transformation.”
“. . . I’m grateful for the confidence of the people of Mexico . . . I’m especially grateful for the confidence of the business community. I reiterate, confirm and reaffirm the commitment to not fail. I will never give up. I will die before I betray.”
The people’s confidence to which the president referred has been reflected in two recent polls.
Eight of 10 Mexicans approve of López Obrador’s performance as president, according to today’s El Universal survey, while another published by El Financiero last week showed an almost identical result.
