Six police investigated in killing of migrant in Coahuila

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August 2, 2019

Migrants' shelter in Saltillo where a migrant was killed Wednesday.

Six Coahuila state police officers are being investigated for the killing of a Honduran migrant in the city of Saltillo on Wednesday.

Coahuila Attorney General Gerardo Márquez Guevara told a press conference that the migrant was killed as the police were chasing down suspected drug dealers.

“A group of police investigators were searching for people who had been identified as drug dealers,” he said. “At least four people had been identified, and last week two people were arrested as a result of the investigations.”

Márquez said the officers attempted to arrest the drug dealers at about 9:30pm but the two suspects fled towards the Casa del Migrante, a nearby migrant shelter, and started shooting at the police, who returned fire.

“The group of people that was present in the area dispersed, probably because of the chase that was going on,” said Márquez. “When the police arrived, they found a person on the ground with a gunshot wound.”

The six officers who were involved in the operation have been removed from field duty while the investigation is carried out. Márquez would not say how many times the migrant had been shot.

The victim was identified as Marco, the father of a young girl.

According to accounts by neighbors and migrants who witnessed the event, the police started shooting first, and the incident took place at 8:00pm and not at 9:30pm.

“They shot at us like we were animals,” one migrant told the newspaper Vanguardia. “I heard four shots, and then they killed Marco.”

Márquez added that state police have interviewed four witnesses who said that Marco and his daughter were planning to hop a train to reunite with their family in the United States.

Marco is the second migrant to be murdered since December.

Source: Vanguardia (sp), E-Consulta (sp)

13 homicide suspects arrested in Cajeme, Sonora

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Madison Koen

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August 2, 2019

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Police attach a closed notice at gang's safe house.

Federal Police detained 13 homicide suspects in Sonora who are believed to be a part of a criminal organization operating in the municipality of Cajeme.

Among other crimes, the suspects are thought to have been responsible for the death of a 3-year-old boy and his father in Ciudad Obregón on June 27.

With information gleaned from the investigation into the murder, police were able to identify the location of a residence the suspects were using as a safe house.

After obtaining a warrant, police stormed the house and arrested the suspects, who were handed over to local authorities for processing. Police also seized a firearm, a motorcycle, a van and seven cellphones.

Information from the July 12 arrests of Edgardo Sánchez and Brayan Valentín, who are thought to have been members of the same gang, also contributed to the capture.

Cajeme is on the list of the 50 most violent municipalities with a murder rate of 62.9 per 100,000 people. There were 147 homicides between January and June, and at least 65 of those occurred in the latter month.

Source: Milenio (sp), La Jornada (sp)

Some 10,000 people enjoy piece of world’s biggest torta

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Madison Koen

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August 2, 2019

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Officials chow down at the opening of Mexico City's Torta Fair.

Close to 10,000 people tucked into a 900-kilogram torta — the world’s largest — at the 16^th edition of the annual Torta Fair in the Mexico City borough of Venustiano Carranza.

Fans of the hearty Mexican sandwich converged on the borough’s central plaza on Wednesday morning, where Mayor Julio César Moreno inaugurated the festival by devouring a portion of torta to the music of cumbia superstars Sonora Dinamita.

The mega-torta was measured at 72.3 meters long before a notary public, who assured that it broke the Guinness world record for the world’s largest.

Others lined up early to seek out their favorite torterías from all over Mexico, including those of Sonora Steak, rare shrimp tortas and pre-Columbian tortas complete with grasshoppers and ant larvae. There were even a few visiting stands from other countries.

One early bird said it was worth missing work, to laughing agreement from her office colleagues between bites.

“I’m currently on the clock. I come every year, and missing [work] and being chastised is worth it for this truly Mexican food. [Also] I believe that you have to accept the risk, with a little guilt that — well, they make you fat,” said Silvia Morales.

Eight-year-old torta enthusiast Marina gave reporters atip on how to choose a good torta:

“If your napkin or paper bag isn’t soaked in grease, it’s not any good.”

The mayor said he expects the five-day festival to draw over 300,000 people, generating over 5 million pesos (US $260,000). It runs till Sunday.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Sargassum-free beaches in six weeks; more than 57,000 tonnes removed

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MND Staff

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August 2, 2019

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Navy Secretary Ojeda reports on sargassum removal at the president's morning press conference.

The sargassum problem will be resolved in six weeks, Navy Secretary José Rafael Ojeda declared yesterday.

Speaking at the presidential press conference, Ojeda said that the joint efforts of the navy – which in early May was given responsibility for combatting the seaweed’s arrival – and the public would ensure that beaches are sargassum-free in a month and a half.

The coastline of the northern municipalities of Isla Mujeres, Benito Juárez (Cancún), Puerto Morelos and Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen) are already free of the seaweed, he said.

Today’s report from the Cancún sargassum monitoring network shows that no beaches between Tulum and the north of Quintana Roo are affected by excessive amounts of seaweed compared to 33 at the start of last week.

The network said conditions at beaches in Cancún and the Riviera Maya are “improving considerably” every day thanks to ocean currents and a radical change in the direction of prevailing winds.

The red zones have disappeared from the sargassum map published Friday morning.

Ojeda said that 57,603 tonnes of sargassum were collected from beaches between May and July and 287 tonnes were removed from the sea. A total of 10,701 people contributed to the clean-up efforts, he added.

Ojeda said the navy is in the process of purchasing three tractors, four sweepers and containment barriers with a combined length of 4,000 meters to assist with the anti-sargassum efforts. The navy is also building four sargassum-gathering vessels.

The navy secretary said that the first vessel will be ready in October and the other three will be completed soon after.

Although at least one scientist has warned that decomposing sargassum is a serious environmental problem, Ojeda discounted the warning, saying that a study has shown it has had no negative effect on the beaches of Quintana Roo.

President López Obrador, who in June said that sargassum wasn’t a very serious problem, told reporters yesterday that his government was always confident that there was a solution to the seasonal arrival of the smelly and unsightly seaweed.

“. . . What we did is establish order. Politics was invented to establish order,” he said.

However, the head of the Cancún sargassum monitoring network said last week that the navy’s strategy is not effective in preventing the arrival of seaweed on Quintana Roo beaches.

“The navy’s efforts are almost being exceeded. I believe that the navy has [just] one [sargassum-gathering] vessel and obviously for 700 kilometers of coast in Quintana Roo, it’s not enough . . .” Esteban Amaro said.

“. . . Most of the sargassum is being collected from the beaches and only a minimal amount is being contained at sea.”

Source: El Economista (sp)

US Senate ratifies Landau as ambassador to Mexico

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Simon Schatzberg

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August 2, 2019

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The United States Senate approved the appointment of Christopher Landau as ambassador to Mexico on Thursday, filling a post that has been vacant for 15 months.

Landau, 55, will now take office at the embassy in Mexico City, which has been without a chief since the resignation of Roberta Jacobson in May 2018. Landau will take the place of John S. Creamer, who has been serving as interim ambassador.

Although he has no diplomatic experience, Landau was born in Spain and spent parts of his childhood in Latin America when his father, George Landau, was an ambassador to Paraguay, Chile and Venezuela. He speaks Spanish and French, and has a certificate in Latin American studies from Harvard.

As a young lawyer, he clerked for Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas before moving to private practice.

Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Landau has been considered for a variety of appointments, including attorney general. He was first floated as a possible successor to Jacobson in November 2018, and in March of this year he was appointed by Trump and approved by the Mexican government.

A former Mexican ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, lauded the confirmation of Landau and expressed his optimism for the bilateral relationship.

“Finally, after 15 months, the U.S. has a new ambassador in Mexico,” Sarukhan wrote. “I wish Chris Landau the best in what will be a trying and challenging posting. Our two countries deserve better than the Mexico policy — and that’s being overly generous and diplomatic — emanating from the Oval Office.”

Source: Milenio (sp), Infobae (sp)

10-year manhunt ends with arrest of Guerrero gang leader

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MND Staff

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August 2, 2019

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The leader of Los Rojos is blamed for much of the violence in Guerrero and Morelos.

A 10-year manhunt came to an end yesterday with the arrest in Guerrero of the suspected leader of the Los Rojos crime gang.

Santiago “El Carrete” Mazari Hernández, identified as one of the principal instigators of violence in both Guerrero and Morelos, was detained in the Sierra region municipality of Leonardo Bravo in a joint operation by Federal Police, the army and the navy.

The federal Security Secretariat (SSPC) said that Mazari was arrested on charges of organized crime, drug trafficking and kidnapping. The 43-year-old is the subject of more than 15 criminal investigations at the state and federal levels.

Security forces also took into custody a suspect identified as Marco “N,” who was with “El Carrete” when he was captured. The SSPC said that he could be Mazari’s principal criminal operator.

Los Rojos have been involved in turf wars in Morelos with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and cells of the Beltrán Leyva organization and the Guerreros Unidos gang, while in Guerrero it has clashed frequently with Los Ardillos.

With the arrest of Mazari, the gang has been “practically dismantled” in the former state, the newspaper El Universal said, explaining that 90% of its criminal structure was taken apart when Alberto Capella Ibarra was Morelos security commissioner.

Mazari was previously arrested on trafficking charges in 2008 but released in early 2009. At least three of his family members have also been arrested.

Gabriela Mazari Hernández, sister of the detained capo and a logistics chief for Los Rojos, was arrested in March last year, while his son, Alexis Oswaldo Mazari, was detained in August.

Alfonso Miranda Gallegos, Mazari’s uncle and a former mayor of the Morelos municipality of Amacuzac, was arrested in May 2018 on charges of organized crime and kidnapping his political rivals.

He also allegedly provided protection to Los Rojos. In 2017, Capella said that there was evidence that 13 Morelos mayors were paying extortion fees to Mazari’s gang.

Morelos Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco yesterday praised the work of security authorities and described the arrest of “El Carrete” as a “strong blow against organized crime.”

The governor’s chief of staff, José Manuel Sanz Rivera, called on residents of Morelos to remain calm, explaining that intelligence reports indicated that there was no imminent risk of revenge attacks.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Interjet to compensate 21,000 passengers affected by cancellations, delays

By

Simon Schatzberg

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August 2, 2019

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interjet aircraft — Interjet has promised full compensation to travelers for cancellations and delays.

Budget airline Interjet said on Thursday that service was getting back to normal after three days of delays and cancellations affecting thousands of passengers.

According to Profeco, the consumer protection agency, 133 flights were cancelled between Monday and Wednesday of this week, affecting 18,247 passengers. Another 22 flights were delayed, affecting 2,998 more.

The airline said it will offer extra flights to the destinations where there were more disruptions, and compensation packages to affected passengers that go beyond the legal requirements.

In a tweet, Interjet CEO William Shaw offered his apologies to inconvenienced passengers.

“On behalf of Interjet, and for myself, I apologize to the customers who have been affected over the last 72 hours,” he wrote. “We are working on a protection plan to compensate everyone.”

He said the airline is working with Profeco and the Communications and Transportation Secretariat to create the compensation packages.

Profeco said in a press release that it had reached an agreement with Interjet to refund passengers the costs of their tickets.

To receive a refund, passengers must write to indemnizaciones@interjet.com.mx or call customer service at 11 02 55 11 from Mexico City or 01 800 322 5050 from other states, and provide the operator with the flight’s reservation number.

The airline also agreed to hire 63 pilots and flight attendants to prevent similar disruptions in the future.

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

Students learn civil disobedience, ‘social struggle’ in union’s plan

By

MND Staff

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August 1, 2019

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CNTE representatives at the National Palace in Mexico City.

The CNTE teachers’ union will present an alternative education plan to President López Obrador that includes instruction on civil disobedience and social resistance and struggle.

Under the plan, students are taught from a “humanist” and “emancipatory” perspective using a curriculum that, according to the CNTE, breaks the model of traditional education.

It will be submitted to the president during a meeting scheduled for September 10.

The plan also says that parents need to form an “important part of the social, political, educational and cultural struggle against the imperatives that the system tries to impose.”

Learning is divided into five broad areas – territory and mother nature, language of the people, society and critical history of Mexico and the world, economy and productive work and popular culture.

Students evaluate their own educational progress and that of their peers.

The CNTE union, which organized countless protests against the former government’s educational reform, has also developed ideologically loaded “alternative” textbooks that have been distributed in Michoacán and Oaxaca.

Juan Melchor, a member of Section 18 of the CNTE, said the union has been working on an alternative education plan since 2015 and hopes that it will be disseminated nationally.

“The education we propose is an alternative to the privatization model of [former president] Enrique Peña Nieto’s educational reform . . .” he said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

President not getting factual advice on science issues: scientist

By

MND Staff

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August 1, 2019

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José Franco defends scientific agency that faces government's axe.

President López Obrador is not getting factual advice on science issues, according to the former chief of an autonomous government scientific agency that is about to be disbanded.

Describing it as “another sticky mess” in the president’s office, López Obrador confirmed yesterday that the Scientific and Technological Advisory Forum (FCCyT) will disappear.

The president said the forum was a waste of money and unnecessary because he receives his advice on science issues from the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt).

In response to the announcement, José Franco, general coordinator of FCCyT between 2014 and 2018 and current head researcher at the National Autonomous University’s Institute of Astronomy, charged that the president is receiving scientific advice based on lies.

In an interview with the newspaper El Economista, the scientist said that López Obrador doesn’t have a clear idea of what the FCCyT is and the work it does.

Álvarez-Buylla of Conacyt and López Obrador.

“By saying that the forum is an irrelevant actor, he’s saying that a large number of institutions are unimportant. The forum isn’t a person but rather 17 institutions that work to build the country; that’s not a minor thing,” Franco said.

He claimed that Conacyt is behind the decision to dissolve the FCCyT, which was established during the Vicente Fox presidency in 2002.

Franco said the forum opposed a proposal presented by Morena party Senator Ana Lilia Rivera for a new federal science and technology law, explaining that its opposition riled Conacyt.

“As they have already cooked up their science and technology law, which is surely going to be an authoritarian thing like the previous one, that annoyed them immensely . . .” he said.

Nevertheless, Franco said the reasons why the president and Conacyt want to get rid of the FCCyT were not entirely clear.

He explained that when he was forum chief, current Conacyt director Elena Álvarez-Buylla visited FCCyT offices and was shown the projects the organization was working on.

“. . . She thought they were marvelous; I told her that they were very much in line with the mission of the new government,” Franco said, explaining that they included social innovation programs for disadvantaged communities.

“After that the curtain came down without us knowing why . . . The forum is accused of wasting money when there is complete evidence of the projects it carries out,” he said.

Citing budget cuts to federally-funded laboratories and scientific institutes, Franco said the move to dissolve the FCCyT fits within the context of a wider effort by the government to dismantle the public scientific sector.

“. . . They’re trying to strangle all the organizations that are representative of the community and the forum is part of all that,” he said.

“Thousands of people are protesting but unfortunately the government isn’t listening . . . and wants to destroy science. The construction of the science system, [which is] still very modest, has taken us more than 50 years and in [just] a few months they want to dismantle it, causing frustration everywhere.”

Source: El Economista (sp)

Fracking prohibition would cost $45 billion over 20 years: energy consultant

By

MND Staff

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August 1, 2019

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An NGO sees fracking as essential for the viability of Pemex.

A ban on hydraulic fracturing would cost the Mexican economy US $45 billion over the next two decades, according to oil and gas consultancy Welligence Energy Analytics.

Senators with the ruling Morena party last month presented a bill to prohibit the controversial gas and oil extraction technique commonly known as fracking.

President López Obrador is also opposed to the practice due to environmental and water supply concerns and in June vetoed fracking operations that Pemex planned to carry out in the Huampa oil field in Tamaulipas.

If the bill becomes law – which would appear likely considering a Morena-led coalition has majorities in both houses of Congress – the fracking prohibition “would cancel investments of US $1.3 billion in 2020 and $45 billion to 2040,” Welligence said in a report.

The company said that potential fracking investments in states such as Veracruz, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Puebla, Coahuila and Nuevo León would be lost.

Welligence estimated that a fracking ban would result in a loss of 140,000 barrels per day of oil and 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

It would cost the government US $7 billion in tax revenue next year and 20,000 direct jobs would be lost.

Outlawing fracking would also be a big blow to the embattled state oil company.

Welligence said Pemex would be unable to exploit 30% of its 3P (proven, probable and possible) reserves and some 8,000 wells would be shut down.

According to the National Hydrocarbon Commission, about one in four natural gas and oil wells drilled in Mexico since 1996 has used fracking to extract the fuels.

In light of Welligence’s forecasts, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) said that it was concerned about the economic impact of a fracking ban.

“Fracking is essential for the viability of Pemex,” the public policy research organization said in a statement.

IMCO also said that fracking is “essential to democratize the petroleum industry,” explaining that a lot of shale gas reserves are not economically viable for large companies such as Pemex but can be profitable for smaller ones that are more flexible.

The organization said that fracking has contributed to economic development in marginalized areas of the United States, citing North Dakota as an example, adding that the U.S. “put an end to its energy dependence on the Middle East thanks to these technologies.”

“. . . Mexico has to find its way in the use of fracking technology, adequately managing the associated risks. All technologies imply some kind of risk. The role of public policy is to evaluate what risks are manageable and able to be mitigated. Other countries have done it successfully. Why not Mexico?”

Source: Forbes México (sp)