Willa is a category 4 hurricane and ‘dangerous’

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October 22, 2018

Areas of risk due to Hurricane Willa. accuweather

Hurricane Willa strengthened to a “potentially catastrophic category 5 hurricane” this morning but later weakened to a category 4 as it continued its path towards the coast of western Mexico.

However, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Willa was still a “dangerous major hurricane” and was expected to make landfall in the hurricane warning area between San Blas, Nayarit, and Mazatlán, Sinaloa, tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Willa is “expected to produce life-threatening storm surge, wind and rainfall over portions of west-central and southwestern Mexico,” the NHC said.

“Willa is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the coast of Mexico,” the NHC said, adding “preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.”

The National Meteorological Service (SMN) is forecasting waves from three to five meters on the coasts of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa and two to three meters in Guerrero and Oaxaca.

A tropical storm warning is in effect from Playa Perula, Jalisco, to San Blas and Mazatlán to Bahía Tempehuaya, Sinaloa. The tropical storm conditions are expected in the next 12 to 24 hours, the NHC said.

Willa was located 215 kilometers southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, at 9:00am MDT and moving north at 11 kilometers per hour. Winds were 260 kilometers per hour.

The governments of Sinaloa and Nayarit ordered schools in coastal regions to close today and are preparing emergency shelters ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.

Another weather event, Tropical Storm Vicente, was located 590 kilometers southeast of Manzanillo, Colima, this morning.

The NHC said that Vicente was “looking less organized” but is “still expected to produce heavy rainfall and flooding over portions of southern and southwestern Mexico.”

Meanwhile, flooding in Veracruz has claimed the life of one man while two others are missing.

A man died in the municipality of Uxpanapa, after being swept away by floodwaters while trying to cross a road on his motorcycle.

In San Andrés Tuxtla, a man disappeared as he tried to cross a swollen creek on horseback. The drowned horse later appeared but there was no sign of the man.

Another man vanished after falling into the Tecolapan River in the municipality of Catemaco.

The state government has requested that a state of emergency be declared in more than 30 municipalities due to the flooding.

“We first requested emergency declarations in 10 municipalities, then in 13, then in eight,” Veracruz Governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares said.

“Practically all of them have been authorized and aid has started to flow,” he added.

One of the worst affected areas is the municipality of Temapache, where more than 30 neighborhoods are under water in the city of Álamo.

Around 36,000 people have been affected by flooding in the municipality, according to local Civil Protection services, and the army was deployed to help residents evacuate their homes.

The SMN is also forecasting powerful storms today in the states of Veracruz, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tamaulipas and Puebla.

UPDATE: The information regarding Hurricane Willa was updated at 7:17pm CDT.

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

Hurricane watch issued in Nayarit, Sinaloa as Willa now category 3

By

Tony Richards

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October 21, 2018

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A hurricane watch has been declared between San Blas, Nayarit, and Mazatlán, Sinaloa, as Hurricane Willa has rapidly strengthened into a major storm.

The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Willa, now a category 3 hurricane, is expected to approach the coast by late Tuesday after becoming a category 4 hurricane by tonight or Monday.

The storm was located about 400 kilometers south-southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, at 3:00pm MDT and moving north-northwest at nine kilometers per hour. Winds were 185 kilometers per hour.

In addition to the hurricane watch, Mexican authorities have issued a tropical storm warning for Playa Perula, Jalisco, to San Blas and a tropical storm watch from north of Mazatlán to Bahía Tempehuaya, Sinaloa.

Hurricane wind conditions are possible in the watch area by late Tuesday, the NHC said, and a dangerous storm surge accompanied by large waves was possible on portions of the coast. The National Meteorological Service predicted waves from two to four meters high on the coasts of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán, and two to three meters in Guerrero and Oaxaca.

Willa is expected to produce 125 to 250 millimiters of rain, with local amounts up to 375 millimeters, in portions of western Jalisco, western Nayarit and southern Sinaloa.

Additional rain will be seen in some states due to Tropical Storm Vicente, which is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression by Monday night. Rainfall will affect portions of Guerrero, Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco.

Vicente was located 370 kilometers southeast of Acapulco at 3:00pm MDT and is forecast to remain offshore.

Mexico News Daily

Attempts to stop migrants fail; 5,000 enter MX, begin march north

By

Tony Richards

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October 21, 2018

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Police form a barricade today in Chiapas, hoping to stop the migrant caravan. — Police form a barricade today in Chiapas, hoping to stop the migrants caravan.

Attempts to prevent thousands of Central American migrants from entering Mexico proved futile today when an estimated 5,000 crossed the border and began marching to Tapachula, some 40 kilometers away.

About 700 unarmed elements of the Federal Police — the majority of them women — set up a human barricade on the Suchiate-Tapachula highway but when the massive throng came within 200 meters, they withdrew.

Soon after noon, the caravan, most of whose members fled violence and poverty in Honduras last Friday, arrived in Tapachula.

Most are believed to have crossed the border from Guatemala illegally, rafting and swimming across the Suchiate river, despite warnings by Mexican officials that they would be deported if they had no documentation.

The crowd was simply too big for police and immigration officials to stop.

Some officials claimed late yesterday that as many as 2,000 had been persuaded to return to Honduras but that number appears to have been a wild exaggeration and reports now indicate the number is about 500.

More than 600 accepted an offer by Mexican authorities to apply for refugee status and have remained in Ciudad Hidalgo, on the border.

But several attempts today to persuade the caravan to stay in shelters arranged for them fell on deaf ears.

Federal Police commissioner Manelich Castilla told reporters that the objective was not to detain the migrants but provide them with support and review their immigration status, and give the travelers an opportunity to “make the best decisions.”

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The decisions, however, appear to have been made, at least for the short term. David López, a caravan leader, said they intend to spend a few days in Tapachula before deciding whether to continue to Mexico’s northern border, where U.S. President Donald Trump will be waiting.

He said on Twitter today the caravan will be turned away.

López said the migrants number 5,000 but there has been no official estimate.

Source: Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp), Wall Street Journal (en)

Veracruz officials free woman kept naked in a cage for several years

By

César Hernández

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October 20, 2018

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Officials at the Veracruz home in which a woman was kept in a cage. — Officials and the caged woman in Veracruz.

A woman has been rescued by officials from a cage in which she had been kept for several years in Minatitlán, Veracruz.

The case was made public after concerned neighbors reported the situation to local media outlets.

Officials from the DIF family services agency found an abandoned house on the property in the Las Piedritas neighborhood. Behind it they found a 16-square-meter metal cage with a naked woman locked inside.

Officials said the woman, aged about 50, appeared to have a mental disability and had been kept confined day and night in plain view of nearby houses.

Neighbors told authorities that the abandoned house belongs to the woman’s sister, who appeared every few days to feed the captive.

DIF staff and other officials continue to investigate the case.

Source: e-consulta (sp)

Haunting new film tells story of traditional music of Laguna region

By

Lydia Carey

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October 20, 2018

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Fidel Elizalde, one of the protagonists in A Morir a los Desiertos.

A highlight of this year’s Morelia Film Festival, which opens tomorrow in the Michoacán capital, will be Roma, the Alfonso Cuarón film that wowed critics at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, winning its top award — the Golden Lion.

But another film, rather less known than Roma, will also be one to see.

The haunting and sensorial Mexican documentary A Morir a los Desiertos by Marta Ferrer presents a brief look into the lives of Antonio Valles, Fidel Elizalde and Genaro Chavarría, Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz, three elderly singers in a tiny town in northern Mexico.

The men are three of the last remaining canto cardenche singers, a traditional music that hails from the Laguna region, which incorporates parts of Durango, Coahuila, Zacatecas and Chihuahua states.

The name of a cactus spine (cardenche) that hurts more coming out than going in seems appropriate for a music that invades your ears and gets hold of your mind. Suddenly you can’t remember why you are sad, but you feel your heart breaking. Hearing it for the first time is like a cold trickle of water slipping down your spine.

Somewhere between lined-out hymnody singing of Appalachia and early American folk music, canto cardenche is characterized by whining, drawn-out melodies and pregnant pauses sung by a collection of voices (usually three) with zero instrumentation and just a little local moonshine (sotol) to lubricate the throat.

The songs originated with Mexican peasants from the end of the 19^th and beginning of the 20^th century who worked essentially as slaves on large local cotton plantations and mines. The music was a balm to the heavy burden and extreme poverty suffered by the workers and their families.

The songs are replete with love, loss and the suffering of daily life. There is fear that when the last members of the generation of singers dies, the songs and the singing style will be lost forever.

Ferrer’s film follows these singers and tells not only the story of the music but also the individual grief and sorrow of each man and the slow decline of the town where they live. The landscape is desolate, in a community with few families and even fewer opportunities, an ambiance Ferrer describes as “atmospheric and sensorial.”

The film captures the dreamy solitary moments of the small desert town — a teenager on the train tracks at dusk, hot afternoon sun filtering through an open window — punctuated by the reminiscing conversations of longtime residents, and songs, so strong and clear they are like glass breaking.

“I remember the sensation of listening to the Cardencheros for the first time, or the first time that the passing Flor de Jimulco train echoed through my eyes and my heart,” says Ferrer. “I learned so much from them about the cathartic joy of expressing something so profound without overthinking it.”

Yo ya me voy a morir a los desiertos

Watch this video on YouTube

A Morir a Los Desiertos, which has already won awards in Mexico and abroad (including best documentary at the Toulouse Latin America Film Festival and the Los Cabos’ Art Kingdom award), takes its names from one of the canto cardenche songs:

Yo ya me voy a morir a los desiertos,

(I’m off to die in the desert),

Me voy dirigido a esa estrella marinera,

(I’m following this sailor’s star),

Solo en pensar que ando lejos de mi tierra . . . (Just thinking of how far away I am from home . . .)

Nomás que me acuerdo me dan ganas de llorar.

(Just remembering, makes me want to cry).

The heartache in these songs will make the viewer want to cry too.

The importance of a film like this is not only the beauty that it exposes to the world, but also to serve as a living record of something that may disappear within our lifetime. Viewers aren’t left completely hopeless, there is a small light at the end of the tunnel for canto cardenche, but it does give you the sensation of having watched something rare and endangered. After six years of intense work, A Morir a los Desiertos will have its public debut in Morelia.

The festival will run from Sunday, October 21 to Sunday October 28 and feature the best of the best of Mexican filmmaking of 2018. As well as Roma festival-goers will see Museo, the new film by Mexican actor and director Gael García Bernal.

The 15-year-old festival was founded to support Mexican films and filmmakers and has become one of Latin America’s most important. The four awards categories for 2018 are Mexican short film, Mexican documentary, Mexican feature flm, and a special section for filmmakers that live in the festival’s hosting state, Michoacán.

A Morir a los Desiertos will be playing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you are ready to hear and see something achingly beautiful, it should be on your list.

Lydia Carey is a freelance writer based in Mexico City.

Floods trigger emergency in 13 Veracruz municipalities

By

César Hernández

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October 20, 2018

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Veracruz has declared a state of emergency in 13 municipalities after heavy rain flooded homes and roads in the southern part of the state.

The Coatzacoalcos river overflowed its banks in the municipalities of Hidalgotitlán and Jesús Carranza, while the Tecolapan river overflowed in Saltabarranca.

The waters of the Jaltepec river, a tributary of the Coatzacoalcos, continue to rise and could soon overflow, affecting towns in the municipalities of Jesús Carranza, Hidalgotitlán, Texistepec, Jáltipan, Cosoleacaque and Minatitlán.

In the municipalities of San Andrés and Santiago Tuxtla, hundreds of families lost everything when their homes flooded, while owners of restaurants and stores in Catemaco reported severe losses, also due to flooding.

State and local authorities continue to work to repair the damage and offer relief to victims.

State Civil Protection officials warned that if rains continue the emergency declaration could well expand to five more municipalities.

With the official declaration of emergency, the affected municipalities have access to funds from a state disaster relief fund.

Source: Milenio (sp)

University suspends classes in Acapulco after kidnapping attempts

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César Hernández

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October 20, 2018

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Several schools of the Autonomous University of Guerrero (UAGro) have suspended classes after at least six kidnapping attempts targeting female students.

The chancelor of the university said yesterday that armed individuals attempted to kidnap a female student from the school of medicine “but fortunately the car they were traveling in broke down and she was able to get away” but was beaten during the ordeal.

Javier Saldaña Almazán added that a similar attempt was made against another student from the same school, along with two more from the law school, one from nursing and another from a university facility in the La Laja neighborhood.

“For that reason, measures were immediately taken,” he continued.

Some professors charged that assaults by organized crime elements are ongoing around university facilities.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Border standoff: thousands of migrants camped out on Guatemala side

By

MND Staff

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October 20, 2018

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Migrants on the bridge at the Guatemala border yesterday.

Thousands of Central American migrants camped out last night on the Guatemalan side of Mexico’s southern border as a standoff continues following a clash with Federal Police yesterday.

Many slept on the bridge that crosses the Suchiate River, connecting Guatemala to the state of Chiapas.

Young children and babies are among the huge caravan of mainly Honduran migrants who were exhausted and hungry after a long journey through Guatemala. Many on the crowded and rubbish-strewn bridge pleaded with police to allow them to enter.

“Please, it is night. Let us pass,” Alba Luz Girón, a Honduran mother of three fleeing violence in Honduras begged officers.

“We want them to give us permission to go to Mexico,” her five-year-old son Ramón said. “We wouldn’t stay.”

But early today most members of the migrant caravan, which according to some estimates is made up of as many as 4,000 people, were still stuck in Guatemala.

The huge caravan burst through a Guatemalan border fence yesterday and moved onto the bridge before being met by a wall of Mexican police with riot shields.

As they tried to advance, the migrants shouted, “we’re not criminals, we’re international workers!”

Around 50 migrants managed to break through the police defenses before officers deployed pepper spray, forcing the rest to retreat.

The police response has been described as one of the most aggressive actions ever taken by Mexico on its southern border.

“Every time there’s a [migrant] caravan there are police sent to the southern border . . . but we’ve never seen anything as dramatic as we’re seeing today,” said Eunice Rendon, coordinator of migrant advocacy group Agenda Migrante.

“This has everything to do with [U.S. President] Trump,” she added.

At least 20 people were injured in the confrontation, including several migrants, four police officers and members of the media.

With large metal barriers blocking their path, some migrants jumped off the border bridge into the Suchiate River to try to cross on rubber tire rafts. Others threw rocks at the police.

Using a megaphone, Federal Police commissioner Manelich Castilla urged the migrants to be calm and promised they would be able to enter Mexico but must do so in an orderly manner.

Police and immigration officials later began letting small groups of migrants enter through a gate if they wished to apply for refugee status from the National Immigration Institute (INM).

Once those allowed in had filed claims, they were taken to shelters in Tapachula where they must wait for their applications to be reviewed, a process that can take up to 10 days.

Only a very small number of the migrants are believed to have visas to enter Mexico. Honduran and Guatemalan authorities said late yesterday they were mobilizing to return migrants to their country of origin.

Some, such as 45-year-old Honduran construction worker José Ramón Rodríguez who is traveling with family members, have decided to give up their pursuit to reach the United States.

“Tomorrow we go home,” he said, his companions nodding in agreement.

Others, however, are determined to continue their journey despite the uncertainty.

“. . . I’ll fight, I’ll try [to cross] again,” said Hilda Rosa who is traveling with her four teenage children.

Asked by the news agency Reuters why she had left Honduras, the Tegucigalpa native replied: “You know why: no work, violence.”

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Mexico City yesterday, where he met with top government officials including President Peña Nieto and Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray after the clash had occurred.

“We are quickly reaching a point which appears to be a moment of crisis,” Pompeo said in an appearance with Videgaray, referring to the flow of Central American migrants.

He accused the caravan of using women and children as shields in their attempt to enter Mexico.

Pompeo told Mexican officials, “the way that you handle this is your sovereign decision” but he and President Trump have made it clear that they expect Mexico to stop the caravan.

Trump posted a video to his Twitter account Thursday of Federal Police arriving at the airport in Tapachula, writing “Thank you Mexico, we look forward to working with you!”

He also threatened to deploy the military and close the United States’ southern border.

Videgaray said yesterday that the government would enforce Mexico’s immigration laws “in a humanitarian form, thinking first of the interest of the migrant.”

Earlier this week, the government warned migrants traveling to the United States via Mexico that if they enter the country illegally they will be detained and deported.

Earlier this year, Mexican authorities gave transit documents to migrants traveling as part of another caravan and immigration advocates are saying that doing so again would be the reasonable and humane response.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has agreed to a request to help attend to the migrants but it is unclear exactly what role it will play.

In an address to the nation last night, President Peña Nieto said that a large group of migrants had “tried to enter Mexican territory irregularly, attacking and even hurting some elements of the Federal Police.”

“Mexico does not permit and will not permit entry into its territory in an irregular fashion, much less in a violent fashion,” he said.

The migrant caravan originated in the notoriously violent Honduran city of San Pedro Sula last week.

Its numbers increased as it advanced as more Hondurans as well as Salvadorans and Guatemalans joined the group.

Source: Milenio (sp), CBS News (en), Reuters (en), The Washington Post (en)

New mall in Mérida is one of the largest in Mexico

By

MND Staff

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October 20, 2018

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Mérida's new shopping center is one of Mexico's biggest. — Mérida's new shopping center.

A massive new shopping center opens this weekend in Mérida, Yucatán.

The Harbor Mérida, located in the north of the Yucatán capital, is one of the five biggest megamalls in Mexico.

The complex was built over a period of two years by property developers Thor Urbana and Inmobilia with an investment of 1.4 billion pesos (US $72.6 million).

Gran Chapur, a Yucatán-based department store, is the centerpiece of the new mall. The company invested more than 280 million pesos (US $14.5 million) to secure its place in the exclusive development.

The shopping center features elements that are reminiscent of Yucatán’s famous cenotes, or sinkholes, which are popular for swimming. It was designed by Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects.

Among the other stores in The Harbor Mérida are fashion chains Forever 21, Under Armour, Kipling and Sunglass Hut. A range of restaurants and cinema chain Cinépolis provide dining and entertainment options.

The mall will create around 800 direct and 960 indirect jobs.

Developer Thor Urbana, which will operate the center, is also behind a 6-billion-peso shopping and lifestyle complex that will open in Metepec, México state, next month.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Fitch downgrade on Pemex is ‘absurd,’ says new energy secretary

By

MND Staff

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October 20, 2018

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A Fitch Ratings downgrade in its outlook on debt held by the state oil company Pemex has been called “absurd” by Mexico’s next energy secretary.

Fitch said yesterday that “the outlook revision to negative from stable reflects the increased uncertainty about Pemex’s future business strategy coupled with the company’s deteriorating standalone credit profile.”

Later in the day, Rocío Nahle said, “I don’t understand what data Fitch has when it is saying that there is uncertainty in Pemex’s business strategy, it’s absurd.”

Nahle pointed to the future investments in Pemex already announced by president-elect López Obrador as justification for her “absurd” assessment.

López Obrador said in July that his government will build a new US $8 billion oil refinery in Tabasco and revamp the six already in operation as part of its strategy to boost crude oil production.

Nahle, a petrochemical engineer by profession, added that the incoming administration would work to have the outlook revised.

“I respect them [Fitch] but I don’t agree with them, we’re going to get to work. We have to start producing and building,” she said.

Fitch’s downward revision on Pemex debt was cited by analysts as one factor that contributed to the weakening of the peso yesterday to its lowest level in more than a month.

The currency fell by as much as 1% in mid-session trading to 19.34 pesos to the US dollar before recovering slightly to 19.23.

Uncertainty surrounding the future of the new Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) was cited as another factor in the peso’s decline.

Citizens will have the opportunity to vote on whether the current project should continue or whether it should be scrapped in favor of adapting the Santa Lucía Air Force Base for commercial aviation as well as upgrading the existing Mexico City and Toluca airports.

“The issue of the Mexico City airport referendum is starting to receive a little bit more attention, which introduces a little bit of uncertainty. So, that might have driven some underperformance in the peso,” said Kenneth Lam, a strategist at Citigroup.

With regard to Fitch’s Pemex assessment, CI Banco analyst James Salazar said the company’s “finances should continue to be handled with great caution so as not to cause additional imbalances that will increase its debt.”

Rating agency Moody’s warned this week that a plan to stop exporting oil poses a threat to Pemex’s finances because its income would be limited to pesos whereas most of its debt is in US dollars and other hard currencies.

Halting oil exports could cost the new government income of up to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Source: El Financiero (sp), Reuters (en)