The Financial Times may be famous but they're not professionals, the president said.
The Financial Times owes the people of Mexico an apology, President López Obrador said a day after the newspaper published an editorial that was critical of his government’s economic direction.
“That newspaper, with all respect, must offer an apology to the people of Mexico because it remained silent while corruption was imposed on Mexico, it never said anything,” López Obrador said.
“On the contrary, it applauded the carrying out of the structural reforms and I’m waiting for them to offer an apology. They might be very famous but they’re not objective, they’re not professionals,” he added.
The editorial board said the sudden resignation on Tuesday of Carlos Urzúa – “the respected finance minister and the strongest voice of fiscal prudence inside the administration” – suggested that investors’ hopes before López Obrador took office that he would “tone down his rhetoric” as president were “misplaced.”
The Times charged that “the finance minister’s departure could hardly have come at a worse time,” citing an investment slowdown and United States President Donald Trump’s threats of a trade war to pressure Mexico to do more to curb migration.
Urzúa was highly critical of the government in his resignation letter, charging that public policy decisions were made “without sufficient foundation” and that officials with “no knowledge of public finances” were appointed to his department by “influential people” in the López Obrador administration “with a clear conflict of interest.”
The president frequently rails against the “neoliberal” economic policies implemented by successive governments during the past 36 years but the Times said that “the free trade direction brought Mexico greater prosperity, the NAFTA free trade deal, OECD membership and a reputation for prudent economic management.”
“Mr. López Obrador is proclaiming an end to this era. It is far from clear he can replace it with something better,” the editorial said.
The Times noted that the decision to cancel the partially-built new airport for Mexico City “on largely political grounds” upset investors, and was critical of the president’s insistence that Pemex build a new US $8-billion refinery “which makes little business sense.”
López Obrador must show that he will listen to the advice of new Finance Secretary Arturo Herrera and “give him room to reestablish credibility with markets,” the Times asserted, adding that the president “should also accept unpalatable news, not continue to rely on his own (different) data.”
The editorial said that “markets will be unforgiving” if the new Pemex business plan and the draft of the 2020 budget “signal further deviations from economic reality,” concluding that “the Mexican president can still turn around investor perceptions but time is running short.”
The helicopter crashed after the pilot was killed.
A state of México police officer has been arrested by federal officials for the murder of a 59-year-old helicopter pilot in Rincón de Cristo, Sultepec, on June 16.
Initial reports stated that the officer shot at the helicopter during a confrontation with gangsters.
But an investigation by the federal Attorney General’s Office, supported by the Defense Secretariat and México state police that included interviews with witnesses and ballistic forensic studies, determined that the officer probably shot at the helicopter in error.
According to court documents, the arrested officer shot at the helicopter as it was carrying three women and a child. The passengers were injured when the aircraft crashed, and the pilot died from a gunshot wound.
Guzmán's mother during a visit last month to the US Embassy in Mexico City.
Reports that United States authorities issued a visa last month to the mother of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán appear to have been incorrect.
Yesterday, a lawyer for Guzmán said Consuelo Loera has sent a letter to United States President Donald Trump requesting a humanitarian visa to enter the United States and to plead for justice for her son.
José Luis Rodríguez Meza told Radio Fórmula that the letter was delivered but a response has not been received, nor has there been any word about the status of Loera’s visa application.
“We haven’t gotten any information from the embassy but, well, we’re confident that Trump will give her the visa, at least, because it would be a humanitarian act,” José Luis Rodríguez Meza said.
In February, Loera wrote President López Obrador, asking for his help to visit her son. He agreed to do so.
El Chapo was convicted by a United States jury in February for a slate of drug trafficking charges and will be sentenced on July 17. Prosecutors are asking for life imprisonment plus 30 years.
Bank of México sees the possibility of a light recession, but the Bank of America believes Mexico has technically entered one.
Economic growth will fall to its lowest level in 10 years in 2019, according to the central bank, which warned that there is also a possibility that the economy will enter into a “light recession.”
Minutes released yesterday from the Bank of México (Banxico) June 27 board meeting state that “economic activity in Mexico is showing greater deceleration than anticipated” and “growth rates now suggest the possibility of a light recession.”
Banxico is forecasting growth of between 0.8% and 1.8% this year, while private sector economic specialists consulted by the bank for its June survey predicted that the economy will expand by 1.13% in 2019 compared to 1.32% in the May survey.
The minutes show that one board member warned that growth will likely be around the lower end of the Banxico range but some improvement is expected in 2020.
Another deputy governor said that the downward revisions to growth outlooks are the result of a “weaker international [economic] environment and internal factors.”
The same board member predicted that economic weakness will persist, investment levels will continue to show signs of sluggishness and consumption will continue to lose dynamism.
A majority of board members agreed that downside risks to the economy had increased since the last time they met.
Among the external risk factors is the possibility that the ratification process for the new North American trade agreement will encounter difficulties in the United States and Canada. Mexico’s Senate approved the pact last month.
The possibility of the United States imposing new tariffs on Mexican exports also looms as a potential threat.
Mexican officials and analysts downplayed the impact of the new duties although President López Obrador said that he wanted to “fix” the situation.
‘I don’t see any threat of a recession,’ the president said Friday morning.
Internal risk factors discussed at the Banxico meeting included the possibility that Pemex could face additional credit rating downgrades and that the Federal Electricity Commission’s ability to repay debt could come under increased scrutiny.
Fitch downgraded the state oil company to junk status last month and if another rating agency did the same there would be a huge sell-off of Pemex bonds. Banxico urged the government to present a clear and credible business plan for the company that focuses on value creation and improving its access to finance.
Board members discussed the risks of Mexico’s sovereign credit suffering a downgrade, while a decline in government revenue and public policy decisions in a range of areas were also cited as potential threats to economic wellbeing.
Interest rates were maintained at 8.25% although one board member voted for a rate cut. Analysts increasingly believe that the central bank is moving towards cutting rates due to soft economic growth and recent drops in inflation levels.
While Banxico believes that a “light recession” is a possibility, the Bank of America (BofA) is predicting that data will show that the economy contracted for a second successive quarter between April and June and thus Mexico has already entered into a technical recession.
“A second quarter of [economic] contraction will place Mexico in a technical recession, which may depreciate the peso and the market will continue to pressure the central bank for. . . [interest] rate cuts,” the bank said.
However, it was the U.S. dollar that lost ground yesterday, falling from 19.16 to 19.07 pesos to the greenback.
Despite the warnings from both Banxico and the BofA, the president said today that he didn’t anticipate a recession, taking aim at the “club of defenders” of “neoliberal economic policy,” which he described as “a failure.”
“I don’t see the threat of a recession. Why don’t they say that the peso is the currency that has strengthened the most in relation to the dollar in this period? Why don’t they say that there is less inflation than before?”
López Obrador acknowledged that growth could slow but stressed that development levels have improved in the country and that there is a greater distribution of wealth.
“During the neoliberal period [the past 36 years, according to the president] we suffered from two things: there was no growth and there was no distribution of wealth. The scant growth of the economy was concentrated in just a few hands. What’s the difference now? That even if there is less growth, there is more development, more distribution of wealth.”
Empty on weekdays, the largest pool at the Jalisco ecopark may be filled with people on Sundays.
A 75-minute drive north of bustling Guadalajara can bring you to a charming oasis bubbling with thermal activity, the closest thing to a geyser park that the state of Jalisco can offer.
My first visit to this extraordinary place on the Patitos (Little Ducks) river many years ago would be difficult for me to forget. I had been lured into the San Cristóbal canyon by botanist Miguel Cházaro who had promised to take me to “a cold river in the middle of which there is an amazing, underwater, singing geyser.”
Naturally, we first went off to other parts of the river to collect plants that Miguel needed. This took up most of the day and the sun was about to set when we finally parked near the hot springs.
Miguel lost no time. Under his pants he was already wearing his swimming trunks. In a flash he had removed the pants, jumped out of the car and right into the river, shouting “¡Aquí está! Here it is! The singing geyser!”
Yes, I could hear it and yes, it was truly singing, although wailing might better describe the sound I heard. But there I was, rummaging in my knapsack for my own swim suit, when our driver announced, “Sorry, amigos, the sun is setting and we only have a few minutes of daylight left to find our way back to the highway. We have to leave right now!”
A new geyser (No. 15?) has appeared on the north bank of the river.
So I never had a chance to enjoy the hot-and-cold river experience nor did I suspect that there were plenty more geysers sputtering away along the shores of the Río Patitos.
Years later, I stumbled upon a video on Facebook showing shaded swimming pools and several geysers alongside a familiar-looking river. The place in the video was called Parque Ecológico los Hervores, but I recognized it right away: it was that same lonely spot that Miguel Cházaro so loved, now landscaped and transformed into a water park (balneario).
It was easy to find a few friends ready to drop everything to check out a natural spa they had never heard of before.
A 50-kilometer drive through the spectacularly beautiful Santiago river canyon at the north end of Guadalajara brought us to the ecological park. Alongside the river we found what almost seemed like a botanical garden, with plenty of shade trees around three warm-to-hot pools, the whole area decorated with curious rock sculptures. Next to one of them stood the sculptor — and owner of the place — Don Roberto Castro.
Don Roberto told us he had been working on his thermal park for six years. “In the past people knew about this place,” he said. “They knew it was special, but it was very difficult to get here and once they arrived, it was all rough and rocky, with no shade of any kind. So I bought this land, brought in dirt, planted trees and then constructed that wall over there to stop the river from washing everything away during the rainy season.
“And while working on the wall I uncovered several new geysers. Actually, I’ve found a total of 14 of them so far! Bueno, I was on Facebook at that time and I saw how people were posting anything there, even a plate of enchiladas, so I started uploading videos of these geysers and that drew a lot of attention to this place . . . people started coming on the weekends.”
This pool, “at perfect bathing temperature,” is heated by several hot springs.
As he spoke, my eye wandered to the curious stone statues all around us. There was a bird here, a crocodile there, a voluptuous goddess of sorts and even a stone motorcycle worthy of Fred Flintstone.
“As for the sculptures,” continued Don Roberto, “I worked as a landscaper in Palm Springs, in the U.S.A. and I learned that little touches could transform a garden into something beautiful.”
We then took a tour of the place, starting with three swimming pools fed by hot springs. “Pick the one with the temperature you prefer,” said Don Roberto. All the pools were coated with green algae, but the water was perfectly clean and constantly circulating.
Alongside the river, geysers seemed to be hissing everywhere. Eventually we came to a natural “hot pot” where guests like to boil eggs. The water temperature was 80 C (176 Fahrenheit).
As for Miguel Cházaro’s singing geyser, I found it had been given a sort of face lift. How Don Roberto had done it, considering the temperatures involved, I don’t know, but somehow he had attached a vertical pipe to the underwater geyser and now it was spraying several meters high into the air as a “proper geyser” should.
I visited Don Roberto’s park several times after that and spent one great night camping there, occasionally running out of my tent to jump into the delightful hot pool and gaze at the stars.
The Patitos river further north: a great place to hunt for rare plants.
After a lapse of two years I headed back to the Río Patitos with some friends. My attempts to call Don Roberto had failed and I wondered whether the place was still open for business.
We drove through the staggeringly beautiful canyon and when we reached the parque, we found the gates wide open, but Don Roberto nowhere to be seen.
We parked and started walking toward what had once been the singing geyser. To our surprise, the spurting pipe was gone but bubbles surfacing in the river indicated that the geyser was right there where it should be — but, sad to say, it was no longer singing!
Just beyond this point, we found a big, beautiful blue footbridge spanning the river, a bridge that had not been there two years ago. Of course we crossed it and found ourselves at the edge of a large swimming hole.
As the water was just the perfect temperature for bathing, we all jumped in and were soon congregated at the far end of the pool, where a sort of rocky knob, covered with colorful minerals, protruded from the water. Squirting out of the top of it was a geyser I had never seen before. Soon our feet discovered other little springs of hot water underfoot.
After an hour or so, the owner of the new swimming hole appeared, Don Cuco Sandoval, who told us he had designed and built the bridge, “which took every centavo I’ve got.” Nevertheless, he charged us only 20 pesos for using the bridge and happily splashing in his delightful pool for hours. It was definitely a bargain.
[soliloquy id="83804"]
Upon returning to our cars, we found Don Roberto waiting for us. He reported that he had not responded to my calls and texts because he had dropped his cell phone into one of his pools! Fortunately, it was not one of the really hot ones and he still had hope that the phone might dry out and come back to life.
[wpgmza id=”215″]
As for the once-singing geyser, Don Roberto reported that local people had objected to his piping it to the surface. They missed its singing which they thought had been bringing them good luck and had requested that he return it to its natural state. He complied, but maybe he should have consulted the geyser, because so far it has yet to warble a single note.
Time, however, heals all and perhaps some future generation will once again hear the age-old voice of the Patitos river wailing to the moon.
If you’d like to drive to this thermal area, just ask Google maps to take you to “Campamento Huixtlán.” That isn’t the right name for the place, but it will bring you directly to Parque Ecológico Los Hervores.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
Much of the Quintana Roo coast is looking at abundant to excessive sargassum levels.
“Sargassum is not a very serious issue,” President López Obrador said late last month but statistics – and some interesting analogies – paint a very different picture.
Almost 650,000 tonnes of the unsightly seaweed invaded the Quintana Roo coastline between the start of the year and June 24, the day the president made his questionable claim.
To help readers visualize such a massive amount of sargassum, the newspaper El Financiero explained that the weight is equal to that of 22,413 carriages of a passenger railway such as the Maya Train, which will one day make stops in Caribbean coast locations plagued by the smelly weed.
Another statistic that defies the logic of López Obrador’s assertion is that around 1,000 tonnes of seaweed are collected from Quintana Roo beaches every day during the sargassum season, which runs for several months.
Need some help imagining that quantity of malodorous macroalgae? Think Volkswagen Beetles – 1,351 of the iconic cars weigh the same amount.
Looking at those statistics, it’s not hard to work out who’s winning the ongoing sargassum battle. Hint: it’s not the authorities or hotel owners of Quintana Roo.
In other words, the navy’s effectiveness in preventing sargassum from reaching the coastline has been minimal at best. It has removed an average of 2.5 to 3 tonnes of seaweed from the ocean per day, a tiny fraction of the amount that has been picked up on shore.
The navy will likely improve its collection rate with specially-designed boats: it is building sargassum-gathering vessels but they won’t be ready for use until after this year’s sargassum invasion is over.
The federal and Quintana Roo governments are both throwing money at the problem: the former has allocated 52 million pesos while the latter will cough up 180 million pesos this year.
But it evidently isn’t enough. Hotel owners have been critical of the government’s response and many have put their hands into their own pockets to deal with the problem, some to the tune of as much as 8 million pesos a month.
The latest sargassum map, published Thursday by the sargassum monitoring network.
But no matter how much money is forked out, the sargassum keeps coming.
Esteban Amaro, chief of the Cancún sargassum monitoring network, acknowledged that the statistics to June 24 are alarming but warned that they will rise significantly because July and August are the worst months of the year for the seasonal phenomenon.
The coast of the southern half of Quintana Roo has been especially hard hit in recent weeks but now more northern parts of the state are also seeing large amounts of sargassum.
Practically all of the Riviera Maya is currently affected by “abundant” levels of seaweed including Puerto Morelos and beaches at the Moon Palace resort, located just south of Cancún, although Playa del Carmen and Playacar were rated as moderate in today’s report by the network.
The east coast of Cozumel is still affected by “excessive” amounts, as are beaches in Tulum, Akumal, Bahía Príncipe and Xpu-Ha.
While the unwanted seaweed continues to wash up on beaches in greater and greater quantities, the arrival of much-needed international tourists is on the wane.
According to statistics supplied by hotels, reservations are down by up to 30%, and a lack of foreign visitors rather than holidaying Mexicans is mainly responsible for the decline.
The impact on the economy of the tourism-dependent state could be devastating.
Half of Cancún’s GDP is generated by tourism-related activities, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, a figure that is higher than that of any other city in the world.
While the presence of sargassum is undoubtedly a deterrent to potential visitors, an analyst at the Monex financial group believes that the disbandment of the Tourism Promotion Council and consequent lack of marketing is the main reason behind the expected downturn in international arrivals.
“While we might see an impact on international passenger traffic because of sargassum, we believe that that the main impact comes from less tourism promotion . . .” Brian Rodríguez Ontiveros said.
Among people who haven’t been deterred from visiting Quintana Roo, the popularity of excursions to cenotes, or sinkholes, and archaeological sites has increased, tour operators say.
Manuel Paredes Mendoza, executive director of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association, recently said that hotels are now offering guests options to partake in 160 different tourist-oriented activities and excursions that are not centered on the state’s famous beaches.
OPIC's Ryan Brennan, left, and Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
The United States government committed yesterday to mobilizing public and private investment of more than US $500 million in southern Mexico to create jobs and stimulate development.
Ryan Brennan, chief operating officer at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) – the United States government’s development finance institution – and Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard signed two letters of intent in which the U.S. pledged to procure the majority of the funding.
In the first letter, OPIC committed to providing US $250 million for the construction of a natural gas liquefaction plant in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.
The United States’ contribution will lead to additional investment of US $150 million for the plant, the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said in a statement.
In the second letter, OPIC pledged to provide a US $240-million loan for the construction of a wind power plant in southern Mexico. That amount will trigger additional investment of US $80 million, the SRE said.
In addition, OPIC said it will work with local banks and microfinance institutions to provide US $52 million in loans for micro, small and medium-sized companies in southern Mexico.
“This money will mobilize an additional investment of US $28 million, which will create jobs and boost prosperity in southern Mexico. This total of $80 million will be invested using a gender approach. Priority will be given to financing projects led by women,” the SRE said.
Brennan said he expected that the funding will be granted soon, adding that “these projects will create new economic opportunities in southern Mexico that empower individuals and lift communities.”
Ebrard said it was clear that the United States government is serious about its commitment to invest in development in the region.
“A lot of people said that this [the regional development plan] wasn’t going to work, that there would be no investment or it would take years . . . This demonstrates that the relationship with the United States, which is very complex, is a good one, and that good agreements make good sense,” he said.
The SRE said that in total, the OPIC commitments would lead to investment of US $800 million in the south of Mexico, “whose development is a government priority.”
The department also said that officials presented “a broad portfolio of investment projects” to OPIC and 12 are being evaluated for financing totaling a combined US $2.5 billion.
As part of the bilateral agreement signed in December, the United States committed to investing US $10.6 billion in development projects in southern Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Central America (Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala) over a five-year period, although more than half of that funding will be allocated from existing aid programs.
When the funding was announced, the Washington Post reported that “it appears the only new figure is the $4.5 billion in potential loans, loan guarantees and related services through OPIC.”
In a post on his personal website under the title “This isn’t an aid package,” Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, wrote that the only new U.S. money “is loans, not aid,” adding “it all has to be paid back.”
He also asserted that “they’re loans to the private sector, which are not going to address root causes of mass migration from Central America. They won’t reform police, fight corruption, fix justice systems, or anything else that makes threatened people safer from gangs.”
Still, the federal government has welcomed the United States’ commitment.
According to a joint statement issued on December 18, Mexico will receive US $4.8 billion from its northern neighbor over the next five years, while in the same period Mexico will invest US $25 billion in southern states.
President López Obrador argues that the best way to combat migration is to invest in development and job creation in regions where poverty and a lack of jobs force people to seek opportunities elsewhere, especially the United States.
The government announced in June that it will provide US $30 million for a reforestation program in El Salvador and this month said that a similar plan will also go ahead in Honduras.
While directing resources to development, the government also committed to step up enforcement against undocumented migrants as part of an agreement reached with the United States on June 7 that ended President Donald Trump’s threat to impose blanket tariffs on Mexican imports.
Statistics show that the measures being implemented by Mexico are effective.
Trump has praised Mexico’s efforts on several occasions since it ramped up immigration enforcement, and tweeted today that the country is “doing great at the border.”
The State Workers’ Social Security Institute (ISSSTE) has declared a state of “virtual bankruptcy” due to the high levels of debt and low liquidity left by the previous government.
The federal health service has debt of 18.91 billion pesos (US $990.7 million) and just 37 centavos available to cover each peso of liabilities, according to its 2019 financial report.
ISSSTE chief Luis Antonio Ramírez Pineda said the report is reflective of poor financial supervision, extravagant expenditure and “inadequate practices in purchases and tenders” during the previous federal government’s administration.
He also said that increasing subrogation liabilities and embargoes on ISSTE bank accounts holding more than 3.5 billion pesos contributed to the institute’s solvency problems.
Ramírez said liabilities increased by 53.5% under the previous administration, rising from 80.66 billion pesos to 123.8 billion.
Expenditure on personal and general services, materials and supplies increased to just over 111.2 billion pesos last year, a 6.1% spike compared to 2017.
Ramírez said that fees and contributions received by ISSTE have historically been insufficient to cover expenditure, forcing the institute to rely on government transfers.
“Even so, the institute still has a deficit,” he said.
ISSSTE ran a deficit of just over 14 billion pesos last year but that was partially offset by an 8.89-billion-peso cash injection from the government.
The institute’s pension fund reported income of 1.47 billion pesos but three-quarters of that amount was eaten up by expenses.
For the fourth year in a row, Travel + Leisure magazine chose San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, as the top city travel destination in Mexico.
In the magazine’s “World’s Best” rankings, which are chosen by surveys of over 17,000 Travel + Leisure readers, San Miguel placed second in the World’s Best Cities section.
The colonial city that is home to a large expat community won World’s Best City in 2017 and 2018, but this year narrowly fell behind Hoi An, Vietnam, which jumped from eighth place in 2018.
The magazine describes San Miguel as “a glamorous and sophisticated city in the heart of Mexico, surrounded by wonderful vineyards and beautiful landscapes to do some adventure tourism without losing its traditional touch . . . . One reader called it ‘a unique art community in the mountains, with a mix of rich history and amazing food.’ Another fan of the city praised its architectural diversity: ‘Gorgeous, sumptuous modern interiors are mixed with 500-year-old façades. You never know what delights you’ll find behind one of the beautifully carved doors.’”
Mexico City jumped from 11th place to fourth place this year, while Oaxaca city came in fifth place. Describing the former, one reader said, “One of the most exciting cities in North America. I go at least once per year, and every time I do it’s a new and exciting experience.”
Oaxaca earned kudos for its food scene and cooking schools.
Mexico was the only country with three cities among the world’s top 15; Italy, Japan, the United States and Thailand each had two.
San Miguel’s Matilda Hotel & Spa came in 18th place in the World’s Best Hotels rankings, the top spot for a Mexican hotel. Matilda was one of eight Mexican hotels in the world’s top 100. Of the top five city hotels in Mexico, three are in San Miguel de Allende, while the other two are in Mexico City.
The World’s Best survey was designed by Travel + Leisure and the research firm M&RR, and asked readers to rate cities, islands and various travel services in an online questionnaire. Before publishing the results, the magazine screens for and eliminates false responses.
A dispute over a parking spot escalated to a duel in the city of Veracruz, which came to a violent end when one driver stabbed his opponent in the eye.
The two men were vying for a parking space outside a supermarket but when Armando “N,” 47, took advantage of a small distraction to pull into the spot, Domingo Muñoz, also 47, got out of his vehicle and confronted the former.
The two began fighting but Armando quickly found himself outmatched. He then took a hunting knife and stabbed Muñoz in the eye.
Police arrived on the scene and broke up the fight, detaining the knife-wielding aggressor. His opponent, the knife buried in one eye, calmly wiped blood from his face, a gruesome scene that was captured in a video.
Unperturbed, Muñoz reproached his attacker for not having fought a clean fight.
WARNING: gross scenes.
Emergency medical responders transferred Muñoz, who remained conscious throughout the ordeal, to Veracruz General Hospital, where doctors removed the knife.
