Ex-Sonora governor Padrés freed on bail after more than 2 years in jail

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February 4, 2019

A bearded Padres is released from prison on Saturday. — A bearded Padrés is released from prison on Saturday.

A former governor of Sonora has been released from prison on bail more than two years after he was placed in preventative custody on corruption charges.

Guillermo Padrés Elías left Mexico City’s Reclusorio Oriente prison on Saturday night after a federal judge accepted two properties owned by relatives of the ex-governor as security.

Padrés, who governed Sonora from 2009 to 2015, had been in prison since November 2016 after he was arrested on charges of money laundering, tax fraud and organized crime.

Authorities in Sonora are also investigating dozens of other officials who served in Padres’ government who allegedly embezzled more than 30 billion pesos (US $1.6 billion) in public funds.

In a statement, the Sonora Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (FAS) said the ex-governor has not been absolved of the charges against him.

“It should be noted that he hasn’t been declared innocent, his [legal] processes continue and he will have to periodically report . . . to the judges hearing his cases, he must wear an ankle bracelet and must not leave the country without authorization. It is important to mention that Padrés Elías, to the present day, faces two federal criminal proceedings,” it said.

One of the two properties put up as bail is a 7,000-square-meter ranch valued at more than 31 million pesos and owned by Padrés’ father-in-law, while the other is an 8,800-square-meter parcel of land valued at almost 11.8 million pesos and owned by the ex-governor’s brother-in-law.

The two properties, both located in Sonora, together cover the 40-million-peso (US $2.1-million) amount set as bail.

Padrés left the prison sporting a long beard in sharp contrast to the well-trimmed moustache he used to wear.

He didn’t make any comment to the waiting media contingent but later released an audio recording saying that he was with his family and “very happy” to be free.

“I send all of you a big hug, I hope to see all of my friends soon . . . The only word that comes to mind is thank you. I’m free now cabrones [assholes] . . .” he said.

The former National Action Party (PAN) governor’s release from jail follows an impassioned plea for help that Padrés made to President López Obrador late last year via a recorded message submitted to journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva.

“Mr. President, I’m sure that you won’t allow the old practices of the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party]. I raise my voice because I’m sure that you won’t allow those who remain from the old system to continue threatening me. You won’t allow them to continue killing me day by day. I raise my voice to ask you to help me. Mr. President, I ask you to help me and give me my freedom,” he said.

Padrés also maintained that he is innocent of the crimes of which he is accused.

“I denounce that I have been denied the right to a fair trial. I’m a political prisoner. I live in a hell . . . They [the former government] have accused my family and imprisoned my son for more than nine months to pressure me to accept crimes that I didn’t commit, and they did it without any proof. They wanted me to implicate myself in crimes that I didn’t commit,” he said.

López Obrador said this morning that he respected the decision to release the former governor.

“I respect the decision of the judicial authority and what’s clear in this case is that the new government doesn’t act by making orders, it doesn’t force any judge to punish anyone . . . We’re respectful of the independence of the judicial power, there’s no political persecution, the government is not used to go after opponents as was the custom . . .” he said.

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

With so much negative publicity, is Lake Chapala paradise or pair o’ dice?

By

Bill Dahl

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February 4, 2019

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Lake Chapala communities are struggling with a landslide of negative publicity lately.

On social media platforms, current residents as well as prospective tourists and potential expat residents are beginning to wonder whether their perceived paradise has become a pair o’ dice. Let me explain.

According to the Lake Chapala Reporter, an unconfirmed murder of a Canadian expat in Ajijic occurred Friday around noon. The week before, four people were shot in Chapala. Two were killed and two are hospitalized.

Two armed carjackers were arrested in Chapala in the past week. Home burglaries are on the rise. Car burglaries are frequent. The crime statistics for the state of Jalisco reported to national authorities were found to be falsified from 2015 to 2018: only 70% of the actual crimes were reported (discovered via a recent audit of the same).

Three men and one woman were arrested for robbery last week — then let go — as the victims refused to press charges for fear of retaliation.

Vehicle license plates are being stolen in droves — then used by the thieves who accumulate tickets and don’t pay — coming back on the owner of the plates.

On January 29, the municipality of Chapala was ordered by a Mexican court to pay 90 million pesos (US $4.7 million) for default on payments due on a completed public lighting contract. Chapala has two days to respond to the order or the municipal council can be detained for 36 hours. They have no money to pay the sum.

The new mayor changed the charter in October 2018 whereby municipal officials and delegates are no longer elected, but appointed by the mayor. He has yet to make those appointments.

Then there is the recent article and video entitled Robberies on the Rise in Lake Chapala, produced by CGTN News (a collection of international news outlets), that has gone viral on the internet. It involves interviews with an elderly Ajijic couple who had their home invaded.

All this plus the recent gas theft fiasco in Mexico, shutting down and then reopening Mexico’s gas pipelines, and the horrific, fiery tragedy that led to the loss of over 120 lives has captured comprehensive, international news media coverage.

Then there’s this: Jalisco authorities reportedly cremated 1,581 bodies from 2006 to 2018 — then threatened families (some by gunpoint) to accept ashes of missing loved ones, even though they had no evidence that the ashes were actually from their deceased family members.

President AMLO claimed the “drug war is over — we are no longer targeting cartel leaders.” Fitch Ratings cut Pemex’s (Mexico’s national oil company) bond rating to BBB-, a shade above junk status. They also reduced Mexico’s national/sovereign bond debt rating to AA. Fitch has stated “Pemex has been bankrupt since 2009.”

Other bond debt holders declared: “Investors have AMLO’s policy process under a microscope. If the expected capital injection is not forthcoming then the market will build a higher political risk premium into the Mexico sovereign spread.”

Thus, the outlook is for Mexico’s fundamentally essential financial ratings to continue to deteriorate. I won’t go into the other headlines on crime and violence in Mexico that have populated the international air waves over the past two weeks.

AMLO recently disbanded the Mexico’s national tourism agency. Those operations are now supposed to be handled by Mexico’s embassies. The agency left US $3.7 million in debt. Hello Mexico? There is a serious public relations malady that is threatening the country!

Granted, Americans are saddled with a president who suffers from Border Wall Personality Disorder. Most informed U.S. citizens are afflicted with POTUS Trumpatic Stress Disorder (a new form of PTSD), traumatized by daily denigrating tweets and lies from their president coupled with bolts of shame ricocheting through their beings. We all have our burdens to bear.

Life is filled with risk. So are nations. Prospective tourists are hyper-sensitive to perceptions of risk. The recent wave of negative news out of Mexico, particularly Jalisco, informs those tourist perceptions and travel plans. It distinctly affects those who currently reside in Mexico.

Many U.S. and Canadian citizens who have been considering the Lake Chapala area for relocation are now wondering aloud on social media platforms: “Is this paradise or a pair o’ dice?”

The current inertia of the odds in Mexico is being observed internationally by those standing around the table watching the action. As in the casino of life, when the odds look too long, people move away from the table.

Bill Dahl is a United States-based investigative journalist who recently completed four weeks in the Guadalajara/Chapala region of central Mexico examining the current challenges in the area.

Since 2007, ratings agencies have drawn attention to corruption

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MND Staff

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February 4, 2019

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The big three credit ratings agencies have drawn attention to corruption and the lack of rule of law in Mexico for years despite a claim by President López Obrador to the contrary.

Following Fitch’s downgrading of the state oil company’s credit rating to just above junk status last week, López Obrador accused rating agencies of hypocrisy, declaring that they had effectively endorsed corruption committed during the administrations of past governments and not recognized his commitment and actions to combat it.

“They maintained a complicit silence,” he said, referring to what he described as “the looting” of Pemex under successive past governments.

However, a survey of past views proffered by Standard & Poor’s (S & P), Moody’s and Fitch with respect to Mexico showed that they have spoken out about corruption.

The survey, conducted by the newspaper El Economista, revealed that the forthright opinions date back several years and, in one case, to 2007.

Standard & Poor’s touched on the issue of corruption in a December 2007 report entitled Creating the New Rules of the Game in Mexico, the newspaper said.

In 2016, the same agency said in another analysis that political reasons were a bigger barrier to growth in Mexico than economic ones, and in 2017 it said that corruption could affect the sovereign credit ratings of Latin American countries in general.

“For many years, we have pointed out the corruption problem . . . as an intrinsic factor in Mexico’s rating,” said S & P sovereign risk analyst Joydeep Mukherji.

“Since I started analyzing Mexico, when [former president Vicente] Fox was in power, we started talking about the structural and institutional weakness that prevails in the country. We always highlighted corruption and the shortcomings of institutions,” he added.

Mukherji also said that corruption and limited respect for the rule of law have been factors in Mexico’s weaker than expected economic growth in recent years.

Moody’s signaling of corruption in Mexico goes back to 2010, El Economista said.

That year, the company’s associate managing director for the Americas, Mauro Leos, warned that corruption was a factor that holds back the competitiveness of Mexico and Mexican companies and also impacts negatively on economic growth.

In 2014, when Moody’s upgraded Mexico’s long-term credit rating to A3 – four notches above minimum investment grade – following the approval of structural reforms implemented by the past federal government, it explicitly said that the probability of a further upgrade was very low because Mexico’s “institutional strength/framework” hadn’t improved.

The company’s credit rating of Pemex is currently on a par with that of Fitch at just above junk status while its rating for Mexico is BBB+.

Fitch, meanwhile, has constantly warned that prevailing corruption is a factor that hinders Mexico’s economic potential, El Economista said, including that of state-run companies such as Pemex.

“Yes, the agency has made observations about corruption, violence and insecurity as well as Mexico’s institutional weakness; considerations that are reflected in the sovereign rating ceiling [it has hit],” said Shelly Shetty, the company’s head of sovereign ratings for Latin America

Those three factors – corruption, violence and insecurity – “have for years limited the possibility of Mexico’s sovereign rating going above” its current BBB+ rating, she said.

Analysts from all three credit agencies said that while they have denounced corruption and the lack of the rule of law in Mexico, it is not their job to do so.

“. . . We analyze the capacity [of a country or company] to pay debt based on its financial state,” said Moody’s senior analyst Nymia Almeida.

She added that corporate governance is an important consideration for ratings agencies because “the more robust corporate governance is, the less risk there is of fraud and corruption.”

Source: El Economista (sp)

2 long established music festivals coming up in February

By

César Hernández

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February 4, 2019

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Oskar, left, and Rotundo perform in Oaxaca this week.

Musical events are coming up this month in Huatulco, Oaxaca, and San Pancho, Nayarit.

The second and final Blues on the Beach concert of the year will take place on Valentine’s Day in Huatulco, featuring the David Rotundo Band with special guest Lee Oskar.

Rotundo — already well known to Huatulco audiences — and Oskar are both award-winning harmonica players. The former has been nominated in Canada for a Maple Blues Award for 11 consecutive years, while Oskar is considered among the best rock-blues-soul players around, according to festival organizers.

They will perform together on Thursday at the Sea Soul beach club at Chahué beach. Admission is a 400-peso donation, the proceeds of which go to Un Nuevo Amanecer, a local charity that supports disabled children.

The organization receives little government funding and most families of the 100 children who benefit can ill afford to pay for the help they receive.

The three-hour concert starts at 8:00pm. More information can be found on the festival’s Facebook page.

Farther north on the Pacific coast, on the Riviera Nayarit, is the San Pancho Music Festival.

The event started 19 years ago in the back yard of an expat from the United States, and true to its origins it continues to be free to the public through the generosity of the artists, volunteers, donations from the public and friends of the festival.

The festival features many talented regional performers along with artists artists from Mexico, the United States, Canada and Latin America.

It will present continuous music on its two stages from 5:00 to 11:00pm for three nights starting February 22. A schedule of acts performing each night will be published on the festival’s website and its Facebook page.

The festival will take place in the Plaza del Sol, across from San Pancho church. Along with music, food, alcohol and non-alcohol beverage options will be sold on site, as well as handicrafts.

Mexico News Daily

Mexico City initiates strategy to counter Metro kidnapping attempts

By

Madison Koen

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February 3, 2019

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Marchers in Mexico City yesterday protest femicides and kidnappings.

The Mexico City government has announced a plan of action in response to dozens of women’s accounts on social media of kidnapping attempts on the Metro subway system.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that the city government had met with victims and organizations on Thursday.

“As of yesterday, we understand that something is going on outside of many Metro stations,” she said on Friday. “How serious is the problem? How widespread is it? Frankly, we just don’t have all the facts.”

She added that many of the victims had been frustrated in their attempts to file official complaints because from a police perspective, some do not constitute consummated criminal acts.

Zúe Valenzuela was one such victim when she was assaulted outside the Coyoacán station by a man who pretended to know her in order to confuse passersby. She said she told police that her assailant had attempted to force her into a vehicle, but officers ignored that and focused instead on the fact that nothing had been stolen.

The mayor said that as part of the initiative to combat the kidnapping attempts, the Attorney General’s office will install dedicated mobile help centers in Metro stations at Coyoacán, Mixcoac, Martín Carrera, Tacubaya and UAM Iztapalapa.

The Attorney General will also review all related incidents and cases.

Sheinbaum assured the public that a map of 85 different kidnapping attempts in 2018 and 2019, created by victims and activists and circulated on social media, will be used by police in their investigation.

The city will also increase the police presence and the number of security cameras inside the Metro and install better lighting outside stations.

Activists say that kidnapping attempts of this sort have been frequent since at least the beginning of last year. Attackers often pretend to know their target or be her significant other.

In one incident, Estela Tagle, 21, was attacked outside the Chilpancingo station by a man who covered her mouth and nose before cornering her against a wall and biting her lower lip so hard that she later required stitches. Tagle managed to yell for help and escape. She said she lives close to the station and had always felt safe there in the past.

While detailed accounts of failed attacks exist by the dozens on social media and other outlets, it is not clear how many of the kidnapping attempts were successful.

Source: ADNPolítico (sp)

Dog pack kills woman during 11-minute attack in México state

By

Tony Richards

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February 2, 2019

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Video clip shows the dogs just before they attacked.

Surveillance video has revealed that a 34-year-old woman found dead in Tecámac, México state, was killed by a pack of 11 dogs.

The woman was on her way to work a night shift at a toll booth on the Mexico City-Pachuca highway when the dogs attacked her at 10:40pm Monday.

The video indicates the attack lasted 11 minutes. Her body was discovered the following day.

Tecámac Mayor Mariela Gutiérrez Escalante ordered animal control agents to round up the dogs but area residents attempted to prevent them from doing so by hiding them.

However, the mayor said several had been captured.

Source: Milenio (sp), Impacto (sp)

After union negotiates 20% salary increase, job action proves contagious

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MND Staff

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February 2, 2019

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There was a work stoppage on Thursday at Arca Continental.

The prospect of a juicy pay raise and a bigger annual bonus is making strike action contagious in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

At least 30,000 factory workers went on strike in the northern border city on January 25, demanding a 20% salary increase and an annual bonus of 32,000 pesos (US $1,700).

The demands, presented by the Union of Laborers and Industrial Workers of the Maquiladora Industry (SJOIIM), have now been met by 37 companies.

Spurred on by the workers’ victories, employees of three more companies also started job action in the past two days.

Yesterday morning, 150 employees at dairy distributor Liderlac, a subsidiary of milk bottler Vakita, walked off the job as did 170 workers at Blanquita, a water purification company.

The non-unionized employees of the former said their salaries only increased by 1% at the start of this year when the minimum wage was doubled in the northern border region. They too want a 20% increase and a 32,000-peso bonus.

Blanquita workers, who are calling for the same raise and bonus, denounced what they called exploitation by their employer and condemned the indifference of the union to their cause.

They said they expected to receive an annual bonus of 10,000 pesos (US $525) last year but got just 1,300.

The strike action by employees of those two companies followed a work stoppage Thursday by workers at Arca Continental, the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America. The workers are also demanding a 20% pay rise and 32,000-peso bonus.

“The plant and the distribution of products stopped,” said Juan Carlo Hernández, president of the Matamoros branch of the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex), adding that some employees have returned to work.

Arca Continental said in a statement that it was open to dialogue with the workers, who are also represented by the SJOIIM, but stressed that “none of our employees earn the minimum wage and their annual income, including benefits above those required by the law, is higher than the salaries recently negotiated by some factories.”

Company sources said that fewer than 100 workers out of a total of 600 had gone on strike, a figure much lower than that cited in some media reports, which said that as many as 500 employees had walked off the job.

Arca said there were some delays in the delivery of products but the situation had returned to normal by Thursday afternoon.

Abel Morón, president of the Matamoros chapter of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce (Canaco), said that workers’ demands for higher pay and benefits will ultimately lead to a loss of jobs in the city.

Luis Aguirre Lang, president of the National Council of the Maquiladora Industry (Index Nacional), said earlier this week that strike action in Matamoros will result in 15 manufacturers leaving the city.

In a statement, Coparmex Matamoros also said that the work stoppages threatened the local economy.

“The labor conflict that is taking place in Matamoros is a clear expression of the lack of the rule of law . . . Work stoppages threaten to create unemployment and the closure of companies,” it said.

Coparmex also said that factories had incurred heavy losses because they had been unable to meet their production obligations and warned that foreign investment could fall.

The employers’ federation called on federal and state authorities to intervene and solve the outstanding disputes between disgruntled workers and employers.

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

62 buildings damaged in 6.5 earthquake in Chiapas, but no fatalities

By

Madison Koen

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February 2, 2019

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The epicenter of yesterday's earthquake in Chiapas.

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake yesterday damaged at least 62 buildings in Chiapas, according to Civil Protection officials, but no fatalities have been reported.

The damaged structures included 39 homes, eight schools, two churches, 10 government buildings, two businesses and a historic building. The coastal municipality of Acapetahua was hit especially hard, with 32 damaged homes.

Most damages were minor: cracked walls, ceilings and sheetrock, though a child in Suchiate was hospitalized for injuries.

The quake struck at 10:14am 37 kilometers southwest of Ciudad Hidalgo.

Chiapas’ dam system survived the quake unscathed, and the tsunami warning center reported no risk for communities along the Pacific coast in the aftermath of the tremor.

In Guatemala, the earthquake left three people injured and damaged buildings in seven states.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Remittances hit a new record high of $33 billion in 2018

By

MND Staff

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February 2, 2019

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The fear of deportation fed by United States President Donald Trump’s hardline rhetoric on immigration and a strong U.S. labor market and economy drove remittances from Mexicans outside the country to an all-time high in 2018.

Mexicans working abroad, mainly in the United States, sent US $33.48 billion to Mexico last year, an increase of 10.5% over the 2017 figure, according to the Bank of México (Banxico).

The remittances were sent in 103.9 million separate transactions, a 6% increase on the 2017 figure, and each one was on average $322 compared to $309 the year before, Banxico data shows.

Almost 98% of remittances were sent by electronic means and just over 94% came from the United States.

The total dollar amount sent to Mexico made remittances the country’s second largest foreign currency earner after auto exports, which totaled around $142 billion.

Just seven states received half of all remittances sent.

Michoacán took in just under $3.4 billion followed by Jalisco, with almost $3.3 billion; Guanajuato, with just over $3 billion; México state, with $1.9 billion; Oaxaca, with $1.7 billion; Puebla, with $1.7 billion; and Guerrero, with $1.6 billion.

Financial analysts say that Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration has encouraged Mexicans in the United States to send more money home.

The Mexican government estimates that around 12 million Mexicans live in the United States and about half that number are there illegally.

Analysts at the Mexican bank Banorte say they expect the flow of remittances from the United States to remain strong in 2019 because the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong.

However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is predicting growth in that country will slow to 2.5% this year compared to 2.9% in 2018, which could slow the growth of remittances to below the double-digit spike seen in 2018.

But anti-immigration rhetoric is likely to continue to encourage remittances, Banorte said, provided that no measures are taken to limit them.

While a candidate for president, Trump threatened to cut off remittances to Mexico, proclaiming that such a move would pressure the Mexican government to cough up “a one-time payment of $5-$10 billion” for his border wall.

However, the United States government has never tried to put the plan into place and, according to a migration expert, it would likely backfire on the U.S. president.

“My first reaction was, ‘That sounds counterproductive,’” Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, told The Washington Post last month.

“Mexican migration [to the United States] is dropping in part because Mexican migrants are sending money home so more Mexicans can have a dignified life,” he said.

Cutting off remittances would potentially disrupt lives in Mexico and result in more migration to the United States, Selee added.

Source: Milenio (sp)

AMLO presents massive, 500,000-hectare tree-planting program

By

MND Staff

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February 1, 2019

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The president presented the tree-planting program at his morning press conference. — The president presented the program at his morning press conference.

President López Obrador has presented the government’s ambitious program to plant trees on one million hectares of land over the next three years, declaring that it will give a “boost” to rural Mexico.

Speaking at his morning press conference, López Obrador said that 24 million pesos (US $1.2 million) will be invested this year in the plan known as “Sembrando Vida” (Sowing Life).

In an initial stage, timber-yielding and fruit trees will be planted on 570,000 hectares of land in eight states in Mexico’s south and southeast as well as 14 municipalities in Durango. López Obrador said the aim is to create 200,000 jobs this year.

“The countryside is the most important factory of Mexico, it’s just that it was abandoned, shut down. Now we’re going to give it a boost,” he said.

The president added that one of the main objectives of the program is to provide people with opportunities to make a living close to home and thus curtail migration.

“There are around 100 million hectares of social property that were abandoned during the neoliberal period, that’s why migration grew so much. The countryside, which has a great economic potential for the country, was abandoned . . .” López Obrador said.

Farmers, ejidatarios, or communal landowners, and others who participate in the tree-planting program will receive a monthly salary of 5,000 pesos (US $260) for working six days a week.

Labor Secretary María Luisa Alcalde explained that 4,500 pesos will be paid in cash and 500 pesos will go into a savings fund.

In 2020, an additional 10 states will be incorporated into the program to take the total number to 19. An additional 200,000 jobs are expected to be created.

The army will be responsible for supplying the saplings, which will be grown in 11 nurseries, of which eight are already operational. A new military-run nursery will be built in Cárdenas, Tabasco, this year.

Mahogany, cedar, cacao, rubber, cinnamon and soursop will be among the trees planted.

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