‘We’re doing very well,’ AMLO says in response to new poll results

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March 5, 2019

amlo poll — The president continues to enjoy strong support. el financiero

President López Obrador declared that his government is “doing very well” and pledged to put his rule to a vote midway through his six-year term after a new poll showed that he has an approval rating of 78%.

“A poll appeared in the newspaper El Financiero [which shows] we have the support, the backing of the people. That’s very important because we want there to be democracy and that means a government of the people, for the people and with the people . . .” the president said yesterday.

The poll, published a week before the federal government completes its first 100 days in office, also shows that 82% of respondents would support the continuation of López Obrador’s presidency if given the opportunity to revoke his rule.

AMLO, as the president is widely known, said yesterday that a proposal to that end has already been submitted to Congress for consideration.

“Yes, I’m going to subject myself to a revocation of mandate [vote]. If the law isn’t approved, we’ll see how we can do it respectfully and without impinging on the legal framework . . . the consultation is going ahead,” López Obrador said.

The political veteran, who won last year’s presidential election convincingly on his third attempt, explained that his intention is to hold the referendum on his presidency the same day as midterm elections in 2021 in order to avoid costs associated with holding it separately.

“Let there be a ballot asking no more than: ‘Do you want the president to continue or to resign’ . . . because it [should be] the people who install [the president] and the people who remove [the president],” López Obrador said.

He added that a vote on his presidency will ensure that the government doesn’t stop working or think that it is “untouchable.”

López Obrador’s 78% approval rating among 1,000 people surveyed by El Financiero in all 32 federal entities is higher than that achieved by any of his five predecessors at the start of their term.

Vicente Fox, in office between 2000 and 2006, is the only other president in the last 30 years whose approval rating didn’t languish in the 50s in the first months after being sworn in.

However, with 70% support, he was still some way off reaching the level of popularity currently enjoyed by AMLO.

The only president in the last 30 years who reached a higher approval rating than López Obrador’s current 78% was Carlos Salinas, whose popularity hit 80% in the middle of his 1988-1994 term.

Of those who approve of the president’s performance to date, 52% of respondents said their assessment was based on what López Obrador has already done while 47% said that their evaluation was made in consideration of what they expected him to do.

Respect for freedom of speech and transparency and accountability were the most favorably viewed aspects of the government’s performance, with 66% and 59% respectively saying that the López Obrador administration fared very well or well in the areas.

The approach to fighting crime and insecurity along with the initiative to combat corruption were the next most popular aspects, both garnering 58% support, followed by management of the economy, with 53% support.

Programs to reduce poverty were viewed positively by 51% of respondents and 45% approved of the government’s foreign policies.

Asked separately about “government actions,” 79% of respondents said that they supported the move to reduce the salaries of government officials, 73% approved of López Obrador’s daily press conferences and 64% backed the creation of the national guard.

However, just 27% said that they supported the government decision to cut the funding of daycare centers.

The government’s crackdown on fuel theft was seen as the government’s most successful initiative, with 80% of respondents saying that it was very or somewhat effective.

Just under 60% of respondents said the government has had a lot or some success in its endeavor to sell the presidential plane, while 55% and 50% respectively said that its efforts to reveal the personal assets of public officials and its plan to build the Maya Train project have been successful.

Only 43% and 29% of respondents respectively considered that the government has had success in its plan to convert the Santa Lucía Air Force Base for commercial aviation use and in its investigation into the helicopter crash that killed the governor of Puebla and her husband on Christmas Eve.

Poll respondents were also asked to rate the president’s performance using baseball terminology in recognition of the fact that the sport is López Obrador’s favorite.

Just over a third of those polled – 35% – said that the leftist leader’s performance during the month of January was equivalent to a home run while 33% more said that he had scored a hit.

One in 10 respondents said that López Obrador had struck out and 9% likened his performance to hitting a foul.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Local police were called to provide backup, but none did

By

Madison Koen

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March 5, 2019

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Villagrán municipal police on patrol. They were notably absent yesterday, according to the attorney general.

Local police in the municipality of Villagrán, Guanajuato, are under investigation after failing to assist state and federal forces in an operation Monday against the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

At a press conference later in the day, state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre told reporters that the entire Villagrán police force ignored calls for backup to remove blockades preventing state and federal security forces from entering the community.

“We have opened several investigations to find out why local police were absent during certain calls for backup. More specifically, they did not respond to calls from state and federal forces in the early hours of this morning and . . . they will of course be expected to explain [their absence].”

Zamarripa said the operation, an attempt to capture cartel leader José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortiz, cleared the highway blockades, rescued six people, including a woman, a local police officer and a former officer, who were being held captive near a property owned by the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel leader.

Several people were detained during the operation, and arms, drugs and a dozen vehicles that had been reported stolen were seized.

The attorney general said federal and state authorities will remain in Santa Rosa de Lima indefinitely until the operation’s objectives have been achieved.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Grupo Modelo opens world’s second-largest brewery in terms of volume

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César Hernández

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March 5, 2019

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The brewer of Corona beer is set to begin operating its eighth brewery in Mexico.

Grupo Modelo, owned by Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, has invested 14 billion pesos (US $726 million) in the new plant, located in Apan, Hidalgo.

The plant’s initial production will be as much as 1.2 billion liters of beer but it has the capacity to produce twice that amount, which would make it the second largest brewery in the world in terms of production volume.

AB InBev executive Carlos Lisboa said during an inauguration ceremony on Monday that “the magic begins in the farmland and in our breweries. Starting today, not only will the best barley be harvested in Hidalgo, but the best beer will be produced here.”

Several of the company’s brands will be produced in Apan, including Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob. “I have no doubt that Hidalgo will become the land of beer,” said Lisboa.

Mexican beer production over the last 10 years. el economista/inegi

Sixty per cent of the barley the firm purchases in the Altiplano region — the large plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico — is produced in Hidalgo.

The company also has breweries in Coahuila, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Yucatán.

AB InBev’s investment comes at a time when beer production in Mexico has been steadily growing since 2014. The sector grew by 9.1% in 2018.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Finance officials to reveal health-sector corruption in Peña Nieto government

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César Hernández

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March 5, 2019

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Nieto speaks at President López Obrador's daily press conference.

Federal financial authorities plan to reveal at least 50 cases of health-sector corruption allegedly perpetrated during the administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), part of the federal Secretariat of Finance, said the cases are all related to the questionable management of medications and that officials from the previous government were directly involved.

UIF chief Santiago Nieto said the government’s mandate is to file whatever formal complaints are required, regardless of who is involved.

Details will be announced on Monday after President López Obrador presents a report on his first 100 days in office.

Nieto will also announce the federal government’s strategy against tax fraud and how corruption in the health sector is to be handled.

López Obrador has promised that free medications will be guaranteed to all citizens, requiring an overhaul of purchasing and distribution systems.

Nieto said his office has filed 30 formal complaints before the federal Attorney General’s office for money laundering cases linked to fuel theft, political corruption and organized crime” since the government took office December 1.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Ratings agency makes more cuts; AMLO calls it punishment for ‘neoliberal policies’

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MND Staff

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March 5, 2019

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Coca-Cola Femsa was among the firms whose credit outlooks were cut.

President López Obrador today called Standard & Poor’s downgrading of the credit rating outlook for Mexico, Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) punishment for “neoliberal polices” implemented by previous governments.

The ratings agency yesterday lowered the outlook to negative from stable for the state oil company, the CFE and a range of Mexican companies and financial institutions. On Friday, S&P did the same for Mexico’s sovereign credit rating.

“What I believe is that they [S&P] are punishing the country for the neoliberal policies that were applied in the last 36 years, which were a categorical failure, especially in recent years and to be more precise last year when we had nothing to do with the government,” the president said at his morning press conference.

“In the case of Mexico, neoliberalism is a synonym for corruption, for theft,” López Obrador added, charging that Pemex and the CFE were “the most looted companies not just in Mexico but in the whole world during the neoliberal period” and that his administration has been left “to pay for the broken plates.”

The president accused S&P and other ratings agencies of remaining silent the whole time when “corruption reigned.”

“The only thing I can reproach, respectfully, is that all this time while Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission were overrun by corruption, the rating agencies said nothing,” López Obrador said.

The president’s attack on the agencies comes just over a month after he unleashed a similar barrage of criticism in the wake of Fitch Ratings’ downgrading of Pemex’s credit rating to just above junk status.

S&P said yesterday that the government’s US $5.5-billion rescue package for Pemex falls short of the funding it requires while on Friday it said that there is a one-in-three chance of a downgrade in Mexico’s credit rating during the coming year.

Among the companies that saw the outlook for their credit rating revised to negative from stable were Coca-Cola Femsa – the world’s largest Coke bottler, telecommunications giant América Movil, retailer Liverpool, two highway infrastructure companies and seven insurance companies.

The revised outlook for Coca-Cola Femsa and América Movil reflects their exposure to the government’s financial vulnerabilities, S&P said.

Telecommunications and beverage firms are “moderately sensitive to country risk,” the agency explained, adding that if it were to lower Mexico’s sovereign rating, it would also consider a one-notch downgrade for Coca-Cola Femsa and América Movil.

With regard to Liverpool, S&P said the company is “highly sensitive to an economic crisis” because most of its income is generated in Mexico.

Therefore, a downgrading of Mexico’s credit rating would automatically result in the same for the retailer.

Among the financial institutions whose outlook was lowered were the state-owned development banks Bancomext and National Financiera, Citibanamex, Bancomer, HSBC and Banco Inbursa, which is controlled by Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim.

“The rating action on the 77 Mexican financial institutions reflect the potential deterioration of the sovereign’s credit quality and the possible contagion to the local banking industry,” S&P said.

The Mexican subsidiaries of AIG, Allianz and AXA were among the seven insurance companies included in the rating agency’s downgraded outlook.

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

Indigenous woman wins Nayarit beauty pageant for the first time

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Madison Koen

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March 4, 2019

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González is the first indigenous woman to be the Nayarit fair queen.

An indigenous woman has won the contest to be the queen of the Nayarit State Fair for the first time.

Yukaima González, 18, from a Wixárika community in the mountainous municipality of Guadalupe Ocotán, is a second-year in college student majoring in sports and physical culture.

In an interview with the newspaper El Universal, the young beauty pageant winner said she hoped her participation in the contest would inspire her community.

“In my community we are losing our [indigenous] language, and residents are ashamed of wearing their traditional clothing. I’m here so that they’ll feel proud of our roots and who we are.”

González impressed contest judges during a “traditional dress” round with her outfit, which sported intricate bead work and traditional Wixárika god’s eyes. She also made an impression with her proposed social project, which would provide support to Nayarit’s isolated mountain communities to open artisanal bakeries to support self-employment and community well-being.

The contest winner in traditional dress.

She was one of 15 contestants from each of Nayarit’s districts, and one of two indigenous women who, for the first time ever, competed in this year’s contest. The second participant was Adriana Díaz López, a Cora indigenous woman from the municipality of Nayer.

In a message on Twitter, state congresswoman Julieta Mejía attributed the young women’s participation to Oaxaca actress Yalitza Aparicio’s lead role in Roma, stating that “Alfonso Cuarón transformed something and there’s no going back.”

Many others shared the congresswoman’s opinion on social media, and during her interview with El Universal, González expressed her admiration for the actress, saying she was proud to have the opportunity as well to represent her community and its culture.

She said that along with the excitement her triumph has generated, she has also received negative comments and messages, but has not let them get in the way of her goals.

“We are all entitled to our opinions, there are positive and negative messages, but I choose to focus on the positive ones because those are the ones that allow me to grow.”

González will preside as queen of the fair from March 7-31 on the grounds of the old Tepic airport.

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

López Obrador says no to ‘offensive’ contrast of grand hotels and poverty

By

MND Staff

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March 4, 2019

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Putting an end to the “offensive” contrast between luxurious hotels and poor neighborhoods in Mexico’s most popular resort cities is the aim of a new government program launched yesterday by President López Obrador.

The central objective of the Mi México Late (My Mexico Beats) program is to build much-needed infrastructure in the working-class neighborhoods of Mexico’s leading tourism destinations.

“We no longer want there to be the offensive contrast between large hotels and marginalized, impoverished neighborhoods without water services, without drainage, without anything,” López Obrador said yesterday in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur.

Among the cities that will benefit from the 8-billion-peso (US $413.7-million) urban improvement program are Los Cabos, Cancún, Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta.

Urban Development Secretary Román Meyer Falcón said that 10 northern border cities will also receive funding for infrastructure projects through the same program.

López Obrador said the government chose to launch the program in Los Cabos because of its importance to tourism in the country.

Almost 600 million pesos (US $31 million) will be allocated to infrastructure projects in the city’s neighborhoods, he said, explaining that residents will also be able to access financial support in order to obtain deeds for their properties.

The president also said that a 1-billion-peso (US $51.7-million) water desalination plant has been authorized for the area.

López Obrador pledged to return to Los Cabos in a few months to assess the progress of the Mi México Late program and other government initiatives.

“Mexico has a lot of natural resources, a lot of wealth, good people, hard-working people. What was needed, we now have: a good government,” he said.

Meanwhile, López Obrador announced today that his government is planning to launch a tidy towns contest to encourage people to take more pride in the places where they live.

“We have to take care of the cleanliness of our towns . . . no to garbage, no to dirtiness . . . [societal] transformation also implies cleanliness,” he said.

After waxing lyrical about the beauty of the bougainvillea plant, the president explained that the cleanest, best-decorated towns in Mexico will be officially recognized at an awards ceremony at the National Palace.

A public infrastructure project that each winning town needs will also probably be part of the prize package, López Obrador said.

“There are very poor towns with humble people but they’re very clean. For example, I know all the municipalities of Oaxaca and they’re very clean, they’re careful not to contaminate the water, there are signs . . . so that people don’t throw detergent and fertilizer into the streams, there are trash cans, that is also very important.”

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

More backlash against Guanajuato security operation to find oil thieves

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MND Staff

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March 4, 2019

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An anti-fuel theft operation in Guanajuato has once again been met by a hostile response from residents who set up fiery blockades to repel security forces.

A navy helicopter flew over Santa Rosa de Lima, a town in the municipality of Villagrán, early this morning as marines, soldiers and state police carried out an operation on the ground to combat the activities of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel – a gang of fuel thieves – and search for its leader.

The approach of the security forces prompted residents of Villagrán and the neighboring municipality of Juventino Rosas to set about 20 vehicles alight on several roads and highways in the area.

Among the highways affected were the Salamanca-Querétaro, the Celaya-Comonfort and the Celaya-Salvatierra. A state police car was among the vehicles set on fire, the newspaper Reforma reported.

Guanajuato security official Sophia Huett López said that as with other operations, forces were attempting to locate gang leader José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortiz.

Guanajuato bought drones but they remain unused because police don't know how to operate them. — Guanajuato bought drones but they remain unused because police don’t know how to operate them.

Residents in Villagrán, a stronghold of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, have clashed at least twice with security forces this year.

On February 23, a group of between 50 and 100 people – mainly women – shouted insults at soldiers and Federal Police in Santa Rosa de Lima, forcing the security forces to retreat.

In late January, residents also burned vehicles to create blockades on highways after an operation that seized thousands of liters of stolen fuel.

Two days later, a narco-banner, signed by “El Marro,” appeared in Salamanca warning President López Obrador to remove security forces from Guanajuato or innocent people would die.

Guanajuato was Mexico’s most violent state in 2018, recording 3,290 homicides.

Complicating the state’s security situation is that there is a shortage of municipal police officers, while drones and lapel cameras purchased by authorities in the capital for policing purposes haven’t been used, according to a security official.

“On the subject of drones, we don’t have trained personnel to fly this kind of equipment that was left by the past administration. It’s not only [a lack of] people who are trained, protocols are needed so that this technology is used effectively for security issues,” said Carlos Chávez, president of the municipal security commission.

The National Action Party (PAN) councilor added that the number of lapel cameras that were purchased only covers 5% of the municipal police force. He said all officers should wear one because they can help to ensure that human rights are respected and allow “irrefutable evidence” to be recorded during all police operations.

However, Chávez said that the priorities for municipal authorities were the purchase of more police vehicles and the training of new officers to bolster the force’s ranks.

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

ATMs send bank notes flying in three states; system shut down

By

César Hernández

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March 4, 2019

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These were being freely dispensed by Bancomer ATMs on Sunday.

Bancomer ATMs in at least three states malfunctioned yesterday, sending bank notes flying and prompting the bank to shut down the service.

In one case, a man went to withdraw cash from a bank machine in Tijuana when it began dispensing 500-peso notes. But the time it had finished, it had issued 75,000 pesos’ worth, about US $3,900.

The man found a police officer and the money was turned over to the state prosecutor’s office to be returned to the bank.

In Guanajuato, an ATM located in a Bancomer branch in the historic centre of Guanajuato city also spat out 500-peso notes.

Then the same thing happened to an ATM Centro Max mall in the city of León. As a customer was withdrawing cash from one machine, another began throwing out 500-peso bills.

Private security guards later told authorities that the customer slipped some of the notes into a backpack but municipal police apprehended the man shortly after in the mall’s parking lot.

Another Bancomer machine went berserk in Xalisco, Nayarit. A customer was making a withdrawal when the machine he was using started giving away more cash than he had requested.

He reported the incident to authorities, indicating that two more people were using ATMs at the same time and seized the moment by taking some of the free money before municipal police arrived.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the bank was hacked.

Meanwhile, by 5:00pm yesterday dissatisfied customers were complaining to Bancomer because none of its ATMs were operating. The newspaper El Universal confirmed that machines throughout León were not operating, a situation that continued at least until midnight.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Sol de Nayarit (sp), NBC (en)

Sargassum strategy discussed as weed returns to Quintana Roo beaches

By

Madison Koen

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March 4, 2019

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All levels of government in Quintana Roo are discussing measures to deal with sargassum after the weed began returning to some of the state’s beaches in the past week.

The brown, smelly seaweed has become a serious problem for the state, a threat to tourism and the ecology. And it’s probably not getting any better.

A researcher predicted in January that this could be another bad year.

A recent meeting headed by federal Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco approved a plan with short and long-term measures to face the invasion. Officials say that dealing with the problem is vitally important not only because of the state economy’s dependence on tourism, but to protect coastal ecosystems from the acidic weed.

In meetings that have included politicians, business owners and scientists, a variety of strategies have been put forward to deal with the seaweed.

The mayor of the municipality in which Playa del Carmen is located said 13 projects presented in January to counteract the seaweed have been analyzed.

But Cancún hotelier José Chapur stressed that more than one company will be required to deal with a problem that extends from Punta Cancún to Tulum.

Not only that, but it will be necessary to determine which are prepared to guarantee results, because some of the previous efforts have not been successful, he said.

State authorities plan to use special boats and machinery to collect the seaweed while it is in the water, erect containment barriers and prepare to transport the the algae that has been collected.

State officials estimate that eliminating sargassum from the state’s beaches will cost at least US $41 million this year. Governor Carlos Joaquín González said the money was simply not in the state’s budget and that he was considering drawing on the natural disaster fund.

Some have suggested that the weed could be processed and used as industrial material for projects such as President López Obrador’s Maya Train.

As more of the floating algae returns to Quintana Roo’s shores, Tourism Secretary Torruco said “the management of sargassum is an issue that concerns us all. It is important to establish better control strategies every day for this environmental phenomenon.”

If conditions are right, the plant can double its mass in a 20-day period. The quantity of seaweed arriving exploded in 2014 and has doubled since 2015.

Source: Milenio (sp), Riviera Maya News (en), Televisa (sp)