Pueblos Mágicos: they might be magical but many are poor all the same

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October 29, 2018

Arteaga, Coahuila, saw the biggest increase in poverty levels.

Inclusion in Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos program is supposed to help improve a town’s economy by boosting tourism, attracting investment and generating jobs.

But not all towns designated as magical have seen the benefits that are expected to follow. In fact, some of them have become poorer.

During 2012, the final year of former president Felipe Calderón’s six-year administration, 34 new magical towns were named, more than in any other year.

In the following years, poverty levels declined in 23 of them but poverty increased in 11, statistics from the social development agency Coneval show.

The biggest increase in poverty occurred in Arteaga, Coahuila, where the proportion of the population considered impoverished grew from just over 25% in 2010 to 41% in 2015.

Poverty also increased in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, known as the city of jacarandas, where the percentage of residents living in poverty increased from 46% to 53% in the same five-year period despite the magical designation.

Metepec, México state, saw the third highest increase in poverty between 2010 and 2015, with rates increasing from 25% of the population to 31.6%.

Other towns where poverty increased after receiving the sought-after magical moniker in 2012 are Yuriria, Guanajuato; Batopilas, Chihuahua; Loreto, Baja California Sur; Angangueo and Tacámbaro, both in Michoacán; and Cholula, Chignahuapan and Pahuatlán, all of which are in Puebla.

Francisco Madrid, director of the faculty of tourism at Anáhuac University, told the newspaper El Universal that at the end of Calderón’s administration a lot of towns were included in the Pueblos Mágicos program despite not meeting the inclusion requirements.

They include having a municipal tourism department and the implementation of a tourism development plan. Each town receives 5.2 million pesos (US $260,000) in federal funding on an annual basis.

There are now 121 magical towns in Mexico after the addition earlier this month of 10 new destinations.

Of those that received the designation in 2012, Mapimí, Durango, has seen the biggest improvement in terms of the well-being of citizens, with poverty levels cut from 61% in 2010 to 40% in 2015.

Poverty also decreased significantly in Huichapan, Hidalgo, and Viesca, Coahuila.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Punctuality bonuses for workers cost 40 billion pesos over 5 years

By

MND Staff

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October 29, 2018

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There's a bonus for those who get to work on time.

The federal government paid employees 40.7 billion pesos (US $2 billion) in punctuality bonuses between 2012 and 2017, responses to freedom of information requests show.

The newspaper El Universal determined that officials who work in 40 secretariats, the federal Congress, autonomous government-affiliated organizations and public universities received the extra payments for consistently arriving at work on time.

The annual peso-figure payout for the benefit peaked last year at just under 9 billion pesos (US $449 million).

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the State Workers’ Social Security Institute (ISSTE) have paid out the largest amounts.

IMSS, which pays bonuses to punctual workers twice monthly, is by far the most generous provider of the benefit, rewarding its employees with an additional 30.8 billion pesos (US $1.5 billion) during the five-year period coinciding with the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.

The CFE has paid out 5.5 billion pesos (US $274.5 million) in punctuality bonuses during the same period.

Among the other departments that reward their employees for showing up on time and/or having clean slates in terms of absenteeism are the secretariats of Labor and Social Welfare, Economy, Public Education and the Navy along with the federal consumer protection agency (Profeco).

The Secretariat of the Interior, the Bank of México, the National Human Rights Commission and the Office of the President all told El Universal that they don’t pay the bonuses.

President-elect López Obrador, who takes office on December 1, has said that punctuality bonuses and other benefits currently paid to federal officials will be cut as part of his government’s austerity push.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Behind the scenes at Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade

By

Susannah Rigg

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October 29, 2018

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Participants wait for the start of Sunday's Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. — Participants wait for the start of Sunday's parade in Mexico City. susannah rigg

What began because of the 2015 James Bond film Spectre has now taken on a form of its own in Mexico City.

Sunday’s Day of the Dead parade celebrated its third year, having kicked off as the opening scenes of the film in which a parade of giant skeletons and crowds of people in masks and costumes moved through the historic center.

The filmmakers created the huge parade, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in Mexico City before, and with it they sparked imaginations. The following year the tourism board decided to recreate the event and it has fast become known as a part of the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico’s capital.

This year it attracted some 1.5 million people who lined the streets to watch as the vibrant and colorful spectacle passed by.

While some lament the inauthenticity of the parade, I couldn’t help wondering how those involved felt about being part of it. In the lead-up to the event I headed backstage to talk to the participants and find out what it meant for them.

As I arrived at the tents set back on the outskirts of Polanco at 11:00am, I was greeted by hundreds of people already dressed in their outfits and with full make-up on for a parade that would not start for another five hours. The excitement and nervous energy was palpable and groups sat waiting for their chance to dance through the streets of the city.

The make-up tent was full of artists armed with black, white and gold paint spray guns to cover participants’ faces and bodies in a thin even color and convert them into their characters. Others painted shadows on to the dancers’ faces, creating the illusion of skulls, hollowed-out cheeks and eyes. The make-up tent had an intense atmosphere. Focused professionals painting one face after another after another.

There were tents full of costumes. Lines and lines of skulls in different designs and varying sizes, sombreros, wings and even colorful bicycles. Those in charge of the costumes counted their supplies and waited patiently to hand them out as they neared the start time.

This year four states were invited to join in on the action. Groups from Oaxaca, Aguascalientes, Michoacán and San Luis Potosí made their way to Mexico City to be part of the parade.

I was drawn to the tent of participants from Oaxaca. The women were sitting together in traditional blouses and colorful skirts.

“We are so proud to be here. It’s our roots,” said Marisol and Xóchitl from behind a face painted in a skull-like form. They had traveled from the town of Juquila.

“We want to show that Oaxaca is more beautiful than many people think.”

They described how excited they were to bring their traditions from Oaxaca and show them to a much wider audience in Mexico City. Their enthusiasm showed as they smiled and laughed, perhaps a little nervous to parade along the streets of Mexico’s capital, and to be interviewed, but delighted to be there.

As is traditional in most Oaxacan parades, the brass band was present. The Donají Band, also from Juquila, was warming up, playing traditional songs heard in the calendas, as parades are called in Oaxaca. I heard them playing in beautiful harmony, and shouts of “Viva Oaxaca” rang out from behind the tents.

All the states invited to join the parade have rich traditions of Day of the Dead. San Luis Potosí was a last-minute addition to the program but its rituals at this time of year are fascinating.

“We are tricking death,” one male dancer dressed as a grandmother told me. “The men dress as women and the women dress as men so that death can’t touch us.”

In a tradition that I was told lasts some two months, the dancers start with a ritual on September 29 when they ask for the spirits to be allowed to return to earth. The final offerings to dismiss the souls are made on November 30.

“For us, it is an honor to be here,” a dancer from the Jacarandos group said. “It’s the first time that they have invited us and we are proud to represent La Huasteca Potosina.”

As he posed for photos in the intricately carved mask of an elderly lady while holding on to a walking frame, it was hard to remember that there was a young man behind the costume.

Dancers walked by in traditional folkloric-dance outfits from Jalisco, others in black dresses topped with silver geometric shapes swarmed by in a large group. There was a whole tent of Fridas, each group of about 20 inspired by a different one of Frida Kahlo’s paintings.

“We are the painting with the monkey,” two participants wearing headdresses made of huge leaves and leaf print skirts said. “Later we will dance with the monkeys on our shoulders.”

A young girl from Mexico City, Andrea Pérez, was having her hair done by her mother, who was standing outside the fence that cordoned the area off to the public.

“I am pan de muerto (Day of the Dead bread),” Pérez said. “Later I will put the bread headdress on.”

[soliloquy id="64251"]

It was Perez’s third time in the parade and each year she has had a different outfit. In 2017 she was a corpse bride. It was clear that she loves being part of it and her mom smiled and looked on with pride.

A few people dressed as butterflies fluttered by, the participants from Michoacán.

While there is some criticism of the parade for not being truly traditional, backstage there was nothing but excitement and joy from the participants who were delighted to be part of this celebration of their culture.

Later that afternoon the streets filled with onlookers trying to get the best spot. Many had their faces painted, others came in costume. The crowd oohed and aahed as the boats of skeletons rowed by, dancers with neon wings fluttered past and a large bed featuring an enormous Frida in repose moved through the street. The huge Bond-inspired skeletons made their way along Paseo de la Reforma to the delight of the crowd.

While the tradition might be a new one in Mexico City, the invitation to different states to bring their own deeply-rooted rituals allowed onlookers to experience the important and longstanding traditions of their country in a way that they may never have been able to before. It seems like this new tradition might be here to stay.

Susannah Rigg is a freelance writer and Mexico specialist based in Mexico City. Her work has been published by BBC Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, CNN Travel and The Independent UK among others. Find out more about Susannah on her website.

Mexico wins U-23 baseball title after scoreless nine innings

By

Tony Richards

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October 29, 2018

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Mexico's U-23 baseball champs and their trophy.

Mexico beat Japan 2-1 in a 10-inning final yesterday to win the U-23 Baseball World Cup.

The World Baseball Softball Association said the game could go down in history as “the epitome of the world title game.”

The teams went into the 10^th inning with no score, although Mexico had the best chances to score in the regular nine innings.

Mexico’s starting pitcher held Japan, which went into the tournament with a .357 team batting average, to no hits in the first five.

“If you play a team as good as Japan, you’re not going to accomplish much if you can’t locate your pitches. I was fortunate enough to throw a lot of strikes tonight,” Carlos Morales said.

Mexico scored its two runs in the top of the 10^th. Japan went on to score a run but the last batter flied out with two out and the bases loaded.

Mexico becomes the third champion of the biennial tournament, which was launched in 2014.

Yesterday’s game was played before 6,500 fans in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Mexico News Daily

Migrants’ assault on barrier leaves one dead; hundreds attempt to cross Suchiate river

By

MND Staff

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October 29, 2018

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Migrants cross the river today between Guatemala and Mexico.

A Honduran migrant was killed yesterday after allegedly being shot in the head with a rubber bullet during a clash with Mexican police at the southern border.

The death of 26-year-old Henry Díaz Reyes occurred as a group of migrants launched an assault on a border barrier that prevented them from entering Mexico via a bridge across the Suchiate river between Guatemala and Chiapas.

Migrants threw rocks and used sticks against the police after they toppled the metal barricade. Police responded with the use of tear gas which was effective in dispersing the migrants.

The latter also threw rocks at a Black Hawk helicopter that hovered above the scene.

In a video of the clash, migrants can be heard shouting “they’re shooting, they’re shooting!” after explosions ring out.

Guatemalan firefighters later confirmed that Díaz had been killed by a blow to the head.

Mexican authorities rejected the migrants’ claim that he was shot by Federal Police, who have been deployed to bolster security in the southern border region as Central American migrants fleeing poverty and violence continue to seek entry to Mexico en route to the United States.

Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida told a press conference yesterday that police deployed to the border didn’t have firearms or any weapons that could fire rubber bullets.

The migrants, however, did have weapons, including guns and Molotov cocktails, Navarrete charged.

“The Mexican government rejects the acts of violence on the border with Guatemala, and reiterates that the only way to enter Mexico is to obey immigration laws,” he said.

Today Navarrete said there is information indicating that criminal groups have penetrated the caravan. Further information is expected from Guatemala authorities regarding what firearms they have and what their intentions are. They have evidence of individuals preparing molotov cocktails, leading to speculation that there might be additional violent incursions at the border.

Prior to yesterday’s clash, the caravan broke through a Guatemalan police barricade, responding to the use of tear gas with whatever objects came to hand.

They then asked Mexican officials to give them temporary permission to enter the country and travel north.

But immigration officials insisted that they enter by the rules so as to be processed by agents.

Three hundred migrants were permitted entry but many more remained on the Guatemalan side of the border last night.

This morning, several hundred tried to cross the Suchiate river to enter Mexico but were blocked by Federal Police, the Associated Press reported.

More continued to make the attempt this afternoon. Hundreds of men, women and children were intent on crossing at shortly after noon while Federal Police officers waited on the other side.

[wpgmza id=”103″]

Agency reports indicated that some were carrying molotov cocktails.

Meanwhile, the first caravan of migrants arrived today in Santiago Niltepec, a town in Oaxaca’s Isthmus region located about 58 kilometers from the city of Juchitán.

The mayor of Zanatepec, where the caravan stayed last night, said the community had organized vehicles to help transport the migrants.

“We are helping our brothers from other countries with food, water, and transportation,” Ramiro Nolasco said. “It is going to be very little, compared to what they need.”

The municipality itself provided 20 of its vehicles, from police patrol cars to ambulances.

President Peña Nieto announced a program Friday called “Estás en tu Casa” (You are at Home), offering shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to the Central American migrants on the condition that they formally apply for refugee status with the National Immigration Institute (INM) and remain in either Chiapas or Oaxaca.

Navarrete Prida said yesterday that 1,895 migrants had applied for refugee status and that temporary identity numbers, which allow for residence and employment, had been issued to more than 300 people.

Most migrants, however, remain determined to reach the Mexico-United States border where they intend to apply for asylum despite U.S. President Trump’s threats against the caravan.

“Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border,” Trump wrote on Twitter today.

“Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”

United States officials said today that the military is preparing to send around 5,000 additional troops to secure the country’s southern border. The deployment is expected to start on November 5.

Source: Milenio (sp), Associated Press (en)

5 million houses empty due to their location, insecurity

By

MND Staff

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October 29, 2018

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Around five million houses in Mexico — 14% of Mexico’s total housing stock — are unoccupied due to their location and insecurity, according to a government study.

The social development agency Coneval found that many of the homes are empty because they are located in areas far from where jobs are concentrated.

In 2015, only 14.7% of 139,000 hectares of land designated for new housing across Mexico was near cities, Coneval said, meaning that many new homes have been built in areas that are not only distant from employment opportunities but are also without basic infrastructure such as street lights and paved roads.

The availability of land for development was especially low near the core of Mexico City and Tlaxcala city, with just 27 and 22 hectares respectively designated for new housing.

In addition to long commutes, lack of access to transportation services is another factor that caused people to leave the now-empty houses or not move into them in the first place, Coneval said.

Violence and insecurity are additional factors that cause people to abandon their homes.

According to the study, more than 70% of Mexicans reported feeling unsafe in the streets of the neighborhood where they live and 80% said that they were aware of crimes such as assault, robbery, drug trafficking, shootings and homicides, taking place near their homes.

Coneval said that 62% of Mexicans are not happy with the neighborhood they live in and one in three people don’t trust their neighbors.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Mexico City sends 47-vehicle aid brigade to support first migrant caravan

By

César Hernández

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October 29, 2018

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'Medical brigade to support migrants' leaves Mexico City.

Over 300 government officials from Mexico City left their desks yesterday to offer assistance to the caravan of Central American migrants now traveling through Oaxaca.

Mayor José Ramón Amieva Gálvez and mayor-elect Claudia Sheinbaum saw them off as they hit the road in 47 government vehicles.

The specialists in health, law enforcement and legal services will offer humanitarian aid to the caravan of an estimated 7,500 people who began crossing the border from Guatemala on October 19.

“The country faces an unprecedented emergency with relation to Central American migration. We have never seen a phenomenon of this nature,” said the city’s human rights chief, who was also on hand at the farewell party.

” . . . we must protect the migrants.”

Amieva explained that the humanitarian aid will be directed chiefly to women, children and seniors, and will be enough to look after 1,500 people per day. City personnel will accompany the migrants until they reach Mexico City, an arrival expected in early November.

Mayor-elect Sheinbaum said the humanitarian aid would be provided “permanently,” as Mexico City should be known as an “hospitable city.”

Collection centers have been installed in the capital’s zócalo and in the sixteen borough offices, where denizens of the city can donate food and other supplies to the migrants.

“This is constitutional. We are together in this because it is the conviction of us all,” said Sheinbaum.

The caravan arrived today in Santiago Niltepec, an Isthmus region town located about 58 kilometers from the city of Juchitán.

Source: Reforma (sp)

40,000 don’t want Venezuela’s president to attend AMLO’s swearing-in

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César Hernández

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October 29, 2018

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For some Mexicans, the Venezuelan president is persona non grata.

For 40,000 Mexicans the president of Venezuela would not be missed if he didn’t come to the inauguration ceremony of president-elect López Obrador. In fact, they would rather he did not come.

Within a few hours of the announcement that Nicolás Maduro had been invited to the December 1 swearing-in ceremony, thousands of people voiced their rejection via an online petition.

Created by National Action Party (PAN) member and ex-senator Mariana Gómez del Campo Gurza two days ago, the petition posted on Change.org has gathered 40,000 supporters.

“Inviting the dictator from Venezuela . . . to the swearing-in ceremony represents a shameful act that we must not accept,” she wrote.

“. . . countries committed to democracy have pressured the Venezuelan regime to respect human rights . . . with this invitation Morena is giving a pat on the back to a man who has assassinated students, jailed opponents, repressed demonstrators and impoverished the people of one of the countries that at one time was the wealthiest in South America.”

The petition insists that Maduro should not be welcomed to Mexico, and that his presence is “an affront to Mexicans who for years have fought for democracy, human rights and freedom.”

Political scientist Roberto Duque at the National Autonomous University (UNAM) said inviting President Maduro “might be correct from a diplomatic point of view,” but the decision could well be politically costly to the López Obrador administration.

He called the invitation an error because Venezuela has an anti-democratic government.

López Obrador responded to the criticism by saying Mexicans are friends to all the governments and all the people of the world. “We maintain a policy of friendship” for all.

Future foreign affairs secretary Marcelo Ebrard said leaders were invited from all the countries of the world. No one could be excluded, he said, because Mexico cannot and should not decide which country should come and which country should not.

Maduro has accepted the invitation to attend the ceremony, which takes place December 1.

Source: El Financiero (sp), ADN Político (sp)

Man walks off with bronze statue but doesn’t get far

By

César Hernández

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October 29, 2018

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A thief in Mexico City yesterday discovered that absconding with a life-size bronze statue was not as easy as he thought.

Police arrested the man as he was attempting to make a getaway on foot with his hefty loot.

Police alerted at about 9:30am that a man had pried loose a statue dedicated to politician and army general Ignacio Mejía Fernández de Arteaga, located at the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma avenue and Ricardo Flores Magón street, in the borough of Cuauhtémoc.

When officers arrived at the scene they found the man attempting to carry away the statue — partially concealed by a blanket — on a hand truck.

It is believed that the 45-year-old man intended to sell his booty for its bronze content.

The Paseo de la Reforma avenue could be a tempting target for anyone interested in a foray into the metals black market.

An official census says there are 42 sculptures installed along the thoroughfare, along with 24 vases and 14 cantera stone benches.

But manhole covers are an easier target than sculptures. The city government pays an average of 11,000 pesos (US $550) per cover; thieves sell them on the black market for about 360 pesos.

Other thieves set their sights higher and steal the copper electrical lines, which can then be sold for 90 pesos ($4.50) per kilogram on the black market.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Voters say no to Mexico City’s new airport, yes to using air force base instead

By

MND Staff

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October 29, 2018

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This is how the new airport would have looked.

The people have spoken: Mexico City’s US $15-billion airport project will be canceled in favor of converting an air force base and upgrading the existing airport and that in Toluca, capital of México state following a vote that concluded yesterday.

Of just over one million citizens who voted in the four-day public consultation, 69.9% chose the option to build two new runways at the Santa Lucía military base and recondition the other two airports.

The results were announced at a press conference yesterday by incoming government spokesman Jesús Ramírez and Enrique Calderón Alzati, president of the Arturo Rosenblueth Foundation, which organized the consultation and counted the votes.

Only 311,132 people, or 29.1% of all participants, voted for the current project to continue.

In contrast, almost 750,000 people supported the new proposal.

More than 10,000 people who voted in the 538 municipalities where polling stations were set up spoiled their ballots, Calderón said.

The only state where the Texcoco option won was Nuevo Léon. In Mexico City, which recorded the highest voter turnout, citizens voted almost two-to-one in favor of Santa Lucía.

Ramírez said that none of the deficiencies reported in the consultation process, such as proof that some people voted more than once, had affected the outcome.

“. . . The results are very clear . . . What we want to highlight is the enormous citizen participation, the happiness with which they showed up to vote,” he said, stressing that the results “will be definitive.”

“Mexicans can rest assured that he [López Obrador] will keep his word and that no economic interest will be affected,” he said.

Karen Levy, an academic who contributed to the organization of the consultation, said the problems with the voting process were minimal and in no way did they alter the outcome.

She also said that it was the first time in recent history that a Mexican president would make a decision based on a citizen consultation process.

“With this exercise, it is proven that the nation is demanding space in which to make their voice heard and rejecting the old practice in which only a minority has the power to decide the future of the country,” Levy said.

The peso weakened by about 2% against the US dollar after the results were announced.

Despite the overwhelming support for the Santa Lucía option, the president of the Mexican Employers’ Federation (Coparmex) said yesterday that he hoped that López Obrador would announce today that the current project would continue.

“For the good of the country, we hope that the announcements regarding the airport will be sensible and appropriate, of continuity, and that the Texcoco project will be concluded . . . and that no fires that have to be put out later are lit,” Gustavo de Hoyos said.

However, López Obrador dashed that hope this morning, telling a press conference that “the decision that we have taken from the result of the public consultation . . . is to obey the mandate of the citizens and therefore two runways will be built at the Santa Lucía military airport.”

He added that the Mexico City and Toluca airports would also be reconditioned as proposed.

“In that way, we will solve the saturation of the current airport in Mexico City in a short time. The decision that the citizens made is rational, democratic and effective,” the president-elect declared.

López Obrador said the decision would be taken with “absolute respect to the rule of law,” adding that the interests of companies who are building and investing in the airport won’t be affected.

“. . . There are funds in the current [airport] trust that guarantee the contract and investment commitments and in addition to that . . . there is our moral and political authority to attend to any claim of companies or investors,” he said.

López Obrador also said that the incoming government received information from a “prestigious company” before the consultation started that the current airport and the air force base could operate concurrently.

“Building the new airport at Santa Lucía is viable, if you remember there was controversy, there were rulings in the sense that the current airport and Santa Lucía couldn’t operate [at the same time] due to aerial interference. It has been demonstrated that there is no technical problem, that the two airports can operate.”

López Obrador said that the cancelation of the Texcoco project will save the federal government around 100 billion pesos (US $5 billion) and that the Santa Lucía option would cost 70 billion pesos and be ready to start operations in three years.

“In three years, we will have definitively solved the saturation problem, the two runways needed at the airport will be built. We’re going to have an exclusive [highway] lane from Mexico City to Santa Lucía and the fast train to facilitate arrival from the city to Toluca,” he said.

Construction of the new airport is somewhere between 20% and 30% complete.

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