AMLO says he will fulfill promises with macroeconomic stability and no deficit

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November 1, 2018

Residents inspect food packages dumped by family services agency. — Residents inspect food packages dumped and buried on private property.

The DIF family services agency in Guerrero buried at least 5,000 packages of food on a property believed to be owned by the family of the organization’s director.

Residents of Rodecia and Tenexpa, located in the municipality of Tecpan de Galeana, said that four DIF trucks filled with food passed through both towns last Saturday and unloaded the supplies into a large hole on an estate allegedly owned by the family of Francisco Solís Solís.

The items buried included rice, beans, tuna, sardines, canned vegetables, milk and powdered milk, none of which had passed their best-before date.

While local residents accused Solís of attempting to steal the food, DIF Guerrero said the items were contaminated by flooding.

“On August 9, 2017, due to heavy rain in the city of Tecpan de Galeana . . . our regional storage facilities were flooded and the number three warehouse was affected by water and mud. In said warehouse, there were 10,395 food packages . . .” the agency said in a statement issued in January.

A relative of Solís also claimed this week that the food was buried because it wasn’t fit for human consumption.

However, residents of both Rodecia and Tenexpa who went to the property presumably owned by Solís to dig up the buried items say there is nothing wrong with the food.

It’s not the first time that DIF Guerrero has been caught up in a scandal.

In January 2017 DIF staff delivered breakfast packages to primary and secondary schools in the state capital Chilpancingo. Students who ate the food contracted food poisoning.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

AMLO’s new immigration chief vows kinder attitude toward migrants

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November 1, 2018

Guillén: kinder, more receptive strategies required.

North of the border the United States government is warning that its armed forces will fire on migrants who throw rocks at them, but in Mexico a kinder and gentler approach is coming.

The future chief of the National Immigration Institute (INM) has vowed that Central American migrants will receive kinder attention during the administration of the incoming federal government.

Tonatiuh Guillén told the newspaper Reforma that he would reform the INM so that it is fully respectful of migrants’ human rights.

The current government’s decision to send the Federal Police to Mexico’s southern border to try to contain the migrant caravans was a “serious mistake,” he said, citing their clash with the second migrant caravan, in which a Honduran man was killed as evidence of his claim.

“. . . [The presence of police] put girls, boys, women and all the people who were on the border bridge at risk, making the situation tenser and more difficult . . .” Guillén said.

“. . . Another strategy should have been used, a much kinder and more receptive one . . . [the situation] would have ended in a better, more humane and more civilized way . . .”

The social sciences academic and former head of the College of the Northern Border, who was announced this week as the new INM chief, said that under a Andrés Manuel López Obrador presidency migrants won’t be stigmatized nor will their personal situations be ignored.

“We have to assume that the flow [of migrants] coming from Central America, and especially Honduras, are people who have been forced to leave their country for reasons such as violence, poverty and exclusion and that this situation is going to continue at least in the medium and short term,” Guillén said.

He added that INM detention centers will be converted into spaces that attend to the needs of migrants as part of a reform intended to address frequent complaints filed with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) against the immigration institute.

“There must be a complete reconceptualization of the centers, we need to carry out a very thorough review of what they are [and] what their purpose is . . .” Guillén said.

“We have to make the [immigration] institute much more protective, caring and humane.”

U.S. President Trump said in a speech this week that migrants throwing rocks will be treated as armed.

“They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. We’ll consider — and I told them — consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like they did at the Mexico military and police, I say consider it a rifle.”

Trump has ordered 5,200 troops to the border to stop the caravans of migrants heading that way, and has suggested he might increase the number to 15,000. He said all migrants arrested at the border will be detained and held in “massive cities of tents.”

Source: Reforma (sp)

Wife of kidnapped mayor takes his place in Guerrero municipality

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November 1, 2018

Lorenzo is sworn in as mayor of one of Guerrero's poorest municipalities.

Her husband received telephone threats warning him not to run for mayor of Cochoapa, Guerrero, but he did and he won.

However, Daniel Esteban González was kidnapped on September 2 and has not been heard from since.

Despite that history, his wife stepped in to take his place this week when she was sworn in as acting mayor of this municipality in the La Montaña region of the state, frequently described in media reports as a place of violence, misery and marginalization.

Edith Lorenzo Rivera was named mayor in spite of the fact that her husband won the election after designating Raúl Chávez Flores as his substitute candidate.

But after mayor-elect Esteban’s kidnapping he withdrew, citing health problems, to let Lorenzo assume the office.

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Then he changed his mind and began protesting Lorenzo’s appointment, which was supported by the leadership of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).

To further confuse matters, the leader of the PRD in the state Congress went as far as calling Chávez the main suspect in the kidnapping of Esteban. In the end, the party stayed with its decision to support Lorenzo as mayor.

The indigenous municipality of Cochoapa is ranked as the second poorest in Guerrero.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Hollywood films have helped boost ‘bread of the dead’ sales

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November 1, 2018

Mexicans are celebrating the Day of the Dead this week but Mexican bakeries are celebrating Hollywood movies.

Sales of pan de muerto, the “bread of the dead” that is traditional fare at this time of year, are experiencing a boost thanks to Hollywood productions related to the annual Day of the Dead celebrations, say bakery industry representatives.

The movies are last year’s Coco, a Disney Pixar production set around the November traditions, and the 2015 James Bond film Spectre.

Bakeries expect a 4% increase in sales after seeing a 25% drop last year.

The president of a national bakery industry organization said it was expecting sales of just over 30 million loaves of pan de muerto between October 30 and November 2, representing revenue of close to 1.6 billion pesos (US $77.5 million).

Lecaroz, a national chain of 200 bakeries, expects its sales in October and November to jump by 10% over last year. It explained that there is greater demand for pan de muerto as well as other products such as mantemuerto, a pan de muerto made in the form of a cupcake.

“The star for bakeries is the rosca de reyes [kings’ cake], representing 30% of their yearly sales, followed by pan de muerto, which can reach 15%. Daily bread sales represent the rest of their income,” said Berenice Pérez Badillo.

The president of an association of small business owners reported that six out of every 10 tienditas, or mom-and-pop stores, usually sell bread provided by established bakeries, including pan de muerto.

National retailer Soriana expects to sell four million loaves of “dead bread” in its markets with the largest demand, which include the states of Nuevo León, Mexico City, México, Jalisco and Baja California.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Supreme Court ruling means courts must allow recreational use of pot

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November 1, 2018

A pro-marijuana marcher at a demonstration in Mexico City.

The Supreme Court issued two rulings yesterday that paved the way for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

One ruling granted an amparo or injunction to a complainant to allow the cultivation of marijuana for personal use while the other decision allowed a second plaintiff to consume the drug.

The two decisions followed three similar ones between 2015 and 2017, establishing a precedent that a total ban on pot is unconstitutional.

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

The constitutional precedent that has now been set effectively leaves it to lawmakers to regulate the consumption of marijuana.

The court ordered that complainants in individual cases be allowed to use marijuana for recreational purposes, declaring that adults have a fundamental right to choose their recreational activities without interference from the state.

“That right is not absolute, and the consumption of certain substances may be regulated, but the effects provoked by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition of its consumption,” the ruling said.

The court ordered the Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risk (Cofepris) to authorize the complainants to use marijuana but not to commercialize it.

While the court’s rulings technically don’t legalize recreational use, “the existence of five precedents in the same vein on the subject” establish that courts must allow it.

However, an individual will still be required to press his or her case in the judicial system if charged with marijuana consumption.

Mexico United Against Crime, a group that opposes the prohibition of drugs, said the Supreme Court’s latest rulings “open the door to the regulation of cannabis” and confirm that “Mexico must move toward the regulation of drugs to improve conditions of justice and peace in the country.”

The group urged Congress to act on the issue.

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

Officials in president-elect López Obrador’s incoming government have indicated that they could legalize marijuana and other drugs as part of a strategy to fight poverty and crime.

Future interior secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero, a former Supreme Court judge, said in July that López Obrador had given her a “blank check” to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs as well as any other measures that could help restore peace.

Source: Associated Press (en), Reuters (en)

Authorities turn up heat on migrants; caravan no. 1 says feds blocked bus travel plan

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November 1, 2018

Immigration agents arrest a Central American migrant in Chiapas.

Immigration officials and Federal Police detained and deported 160 members of the second migrant caravan yesterday because they entered Mexico illegally.

The Central American migrants were arrested while walking or hitching rides from Tapachula to Huixtla in the southern state of Chiapas.

Nine kilometers before the caravan reached the latter town, immigration officials and police blocked the migrants’ path with about 30 vehicles.

Some succeeded in outrunning the authorities while those detained were taken to a National Immigration Institute (INM) facility where they were put on buses and taken to the Tapachula airport.

There, they were placed aboard a Federal Police plane and flown to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The INM told the newspaper Milenio that more migrants traveling as part of the first and second caravans who entered Mexico without going through official immigration channels will be detained in the coming days.

The federal government warned two weeks ago that Central American migrants traveling to the United States via Mexico would be detained and deported if they entered the country illegally, but prior to yesterday’s detention authorities have made few attempts to stop migrants from traveling through the country.

Many members of both the first and second caravans entered Mexico by crossing the Suchiate river, which separates Guatemala from Chiapas, by wading, swimming or riding on rafts.

Members of the second caravan clashed with Federal Police at the border last Sunday.

The migrants threw rocks and used sticks against the police after toppling a metal barricade blocking their entry into Mexico on the border bridge.

A 26-year-old Honduran man died during the confrontation, allegedly after being shot in the head with a rubber bullet. But Mexican authorities denied that police fired at the victim.

United States President Trump seized on the clash at a rally in Florida yesterday, telling supporters that the migrants are “not angels.”

“You saw what happened two days ago with the Mexican military and the Mexican police. You saw what happened there, how tough the opposition is,” he said.

“We’re tougher than anybody. We’re tougher than any force. And we’re probably going to have to be unfortunately.”

Trump also floated the idea yesterday that as many as 15,000 troops could be sent to the United States’ southern border just days after the U.S. Department of Defense said that it would send around 5,200 active-duty troops there.

Meanwhile, migrants in the first caravan are continuing their journey through Oaxaca after failing to secure transportation to Mexico City for its approximately 4,000 members.

Migrant advocacy group Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders), which is supporting and helping to organize the caravan, accused the federal government of blocking the migrants’ travel to the capital by bus.

“The plan to cross Oaxaca in transportation was blocked by the federal government. Today, there was a possibility of more than 70 buses from different sources of support but under pressure from the federal government of Mexico, they withdrew their support,” the organization said in a statement.

That left the migrants with “the sole option of continuing on foot towards Veracruz, a state with an extremely high risk of violence at the hands of organized crime,” it continued.

“The Mexican federal government will be fully responsible for any aggression against the members of the exodus and accompanying persons.”

At a meeting last night, the migrants decided to change their route and head today towards the city of Matías Romero, about 60 kilometers northeast of Juchitán, where they spent the last two nights.

The highway to Oaxaca city is winding and mountainous and has few towns with the infrastructure to receive such a large group of migrants, Pueblos Sin Fronteras said.

“The delicate health condition of [caravan members], especially of children, implies risks due to the lack of access to medical services in the route towards Oaxaca city,” it explained.

Source: Milenio (sp) Reforma (sp)

Rough week for CFE workers: 3 arrested, 3 kidnapped over lack of electricity

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November 1, 2018

What is a mayor to do when the CFE comes by to cut off the power because the bill hasn’t been paid? Arrest the linesmen, of course.

That’s what happened in Huixtla, Chiapas, where Mayor José Luis Laparra Calderón ordered the apprehension of three personnel from the Federal Electricity Commission who turned up to switch off the power at the municipal offices.

The three climbed a utility pole, turned off the electricity and climbed back down again only to land in the arms of municipal police, who placed them under arrest. Municipal employees then climbed up the pole themselves and reconnected the power supply.

The municipality owes the CFE 1 million pesos (US $50,000).

CFE sources told the newspaper Reforma that the utility company had approached the mayor with the intention of collecting at least some of the owed amount, but he refused to cooperate.

Meanwhile, three other CFE workers met a similar fate in the Oaxaca town of El Pescadito in San Miguel Soyaltepec.

After being without electricity for more than 15 days residents kidnapped the three in protest and demanded that the company reconnect the power supply.

The utility explained that its efforts had been impeded by a rise in the level of a river running through the region.

The state government was to send a team of representatives to resolve the situation.

Damage to the electrical grid was caused by storms two weeks ago.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

Authorities search for US man missing in Chihuahua since Sunday

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Tony Richards

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November 1, 2018

A search is under way for a United States citizen who was last seen in the state of Chihuahua on Sunday.

Patrick Braxton-Andrew, 34, left his hotel in Urique, a town in the southwest corner of the state, and went for a walk about 4:00pm.

The hotel owner says he never returned. Someone had seen him walking near a ranch that afternoon about four kilometers from the town.

Family and friends fear that he was hurt while walking or hiking, a family friend told The Charlotte Observer.

The last communication his family had with the missing man was a text message at 3:51pm Sunday.

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Described as fluent in Spanish, Braxton-Andrew was supposed to meet his brother in Mexico City on Tuesday but didn’t appear.

He arrived in Mexico on October 25 and rode the Copper Canyon train to Posada Barrancas Divisadero before arriving in Urique last Friday or Saturday.

The newspaper El Diario reported today that police and other state authorities have been searching for Braxton-Andrew in the area surrounding Urique.

Any information about Braxton-Andrew’s whereabouts can be passed along to family friend Nancy Slagle by email or telephone 704-779-2015.

Mexico News Daily

Supreme Court rules Veracruz cockfight ban is constitutional

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November 1, 2018