Cannabis ‘gummies’ coming soon to the Mexican market

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January 3, 2019

CBD gummies are on the way to stores in Mexico.

Marijuana-based products will reach the Mexican market this year, with the first batch of CBD “gummies” arriving on shelves by the end of this month.

CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of at least 113 identified cannabinoids in hemp plants, accounting for up to 40% of the plant’s extract.

The company CBD Life will import the product from the United States and sell a pack for about 250 pesos (US $12.50), a price that is far cheaper than in the U.S., where it sells for $50.

CBD Life COO and founder Janko Ruíz de Chávez told the newspaper El Financiero that the CBD gummies, sold in fruit and berry mixes, will allow the Mexican public to get to know the benefits of CBD in a safe way.

The product “is a pleasant way to know the ingredient, and it is oriented toward minor ailments like anxiety, stress, pain, depression, all those imbalances of the nervous system . . . it’s not like a [tablet of Alprazolam] that can calm your nerves but is way more aggressive,” said Ruíz.

One of 10 Mexican firms approved by the Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risks (Cofepris) to import cannabis-based products, CBD Life also intends to sell Mariguanol, a CBD-based ointment.

The Mexico City-based firm currently has a portfolio of 21 products that it will sell in the San Pablo, Ahorro, Yza and Guadalajara drug stores, Nutrisa and online at Amazon México.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Michoacán hardest hit in critical gas shortage that has affected four states

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MND Staff

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January 3, 2019

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A gas shortage crisis is affecting four states, drawing the ire of motorists and business owners and causing long lines at service stations that haven’t run out.

Michoacán has been hardest hit: 90% of the gas stations in the state capital, Morelia, have been forced to close.

Business owners and residents first reported a fuel shortage in the municipalities of Morelia, Álvaro Obregón, Charo and Tarímbaro on December 31. At least six other municipalities were also affected by petroleum shortages in the last week of 2018.

The state oil company hasn’t explained the cause of the shortage in Michoacán, while President López Obrador said yesterday that authorities are still investigating the source of the problem.

In a Twitter post on New Year’s Eve directed at Pemex and Energy Secretary Rocío Nahle, federal lawmaker Ana Lilia Guillén Quiroz wrote that “many gas stations are closed in the city of Morelia,” adding that “the few stations that have gasoline are swamped by desperate customers.”

The Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) politician, who represents the Michoacán state capital in the lower house of Congress, demanded that the federal government urgently turn its attention to remedying the situation.

A report by the newspaper El Universal yesterday said that tankers have only delivered fuel in in dribs and drabs to some of Michoacán’s 320 gas stations. However, owners of G500 gas stations in the state have reported that Pemex isn’t supplying them with any fuel.

At least eight municipalities in Querétaro, including the state capital, are also facing fuel shortages, which have caused some gas stations to close.

Enrique Arroyo, president of the state’s gas station association, described the situation as the “worst crisis” in the past decade, explaining that it was due to Pemex closing pipelines that run between refineries at Tula, Hidalgo, and Salamanca, Guanajuato, as part of the strategy to combat pipeline theft.

“We’re going through the worst [fuel] shortage crisis we’re had in Querétaro . . . There are now 30 stations that don’t have fuel but the situation is going to get worse tomorrow . . .” he said.

Speaking yesterday, Arroyo added that the number of gas stations forced to close could climb to 50 if fuel wasn’t delivered soon.

Not only Pemex gas stations are affected, he explained, but also those run by BP and Shell, among other companies, because they depend on the state oil company’s infrastructure.

Mobil, which has its own supply networks, has fuel but lacks capacity to make up for the shortfall, Arroyo said.

In México state, an LP gas shortage is affecting residents and businesses in Metepec, a municipality that adjoins the state capital, Toluca.

An employee of the company Vela Gas told the newspaper El Sol de Toluca that Pemex hadn’t supplied it with gas for almost two weeks.

“. . . We continued to work as normal with the reserves we had until the past few days . . . when we had to inform customers that we couldn’t supply them due to the shortage . . .” the unnamed worker said.

A Metepec tortilla shop employee said that he had tried to source LP gas from several companies but they had all run out, adding “if we’re left without gas, we simply can’t work.”

Guanajuato is also facing petroleum and LP gas shortages.

Residents of Uriangato, Moroleón and Yuriria have complained on social media that most gas stations in the municipalities have had no fuel since December 31, forcing them to fill up in other parts of the state.

In León, the state’s largest city, in addition to a lack of gasoline an LP gas shortage has affected residents in recent days, a state gas association chief told the newspaper Milenio.

“It has to be said, yes there is a gas shortage in León and for that reason gas companies are taking a series of measures in order to be able to provide gas in the largest possible area and that means supplying a maximum of [only] 200 or 300 pesos [US $10 to $15 worth of gas] to users,” Merced Ornelas said.

He explained that the shortage was caused mainly by a high demand for LP gas last month, which left companies with scarce quantities with which to supply those who didn’t stock up, but added that since January 1 more tankers have been arriving in the city.

“I imagine that in around 15 days, [normal] service should be restored . . .” Ornelas said.

Source: Reforma (sp), El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), Diario de Querétaro (sp), El Sol de Toluca (sp), Excelsiór (sp)

Engines from helicopter in which governor died will be analyzed in Canada

By

César Hernández

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January 3, 2019

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Moreno and Alonso, the political power couple killed in the Christmas Eve helicopter crash.

The engines from the helicopter that crashed and killed Puebla Governor Martha Érika Alonso will be shipped to Canada for further analysis by experts investigating the cause of the accident.

The newly-elected governor, her ex-governor husband Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, a political assistant and two crew members died when the aircraft went down near Puebla city on December 24.

The Mexican government called on independent investigators from the United States, Canada and Europe to help determine the cause of the crash.

“The Canadians finished yesterday and went back to their country . . . to continue their investigation and analysis of the engines,” said Transportation Secretariat spokesman Carlos Morán Moguel.

They will be shipped to Canada following an inspection by other participants in the probe.

He said all the helicopter’s parts have been retrieved from the crash site.

Morán said two Italian technicians arrived in Mexico this morning to join the investigation.

The helicopter was an Italian-made Agusta A109.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Oaxaca girl dies from stray bullet; Sinaloa cops probed for loaning gun to reveler

By

César Hernández

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January 3, 2019

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Party time in Sinaloa with a cop's rifle.

Despite information campaigns and laws against the practice, New Year’s revelers continue the tradition of firing guns at the stroke of midnight. And if you don’t have a gun, police in Sinaloa will lend you one.

The practice proved fatal for a seven-year-old girl in Oaxaca on Monday night after she was struck by a stray New Year’s bullet. Vivian Michelle of Santa María Coyotepec died this morning in a Oaxaca hospital.

She and her family had traveled from their home outside Oaxaca city to spend the Christmas vacation in Santa María Petapa in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Vivian and her family were seated outdoors and preparing to enjoy a New Year’s Eve dinner when she appeared to faint.

Her father discovered a small wound in the child’s head and she was taken to a hospital in Matías Romero and later airlifted to Mexico City, but doctors were unable to save her.

At about the same time that Vivian was hit, two municipal police officers in Culiacán, Sinaloa, allegedly loaned an automatic rifle to a New Year’s reveler so he could join the fun and fire shots into the air.

The two are under investigation after a video of the incident surfaced.

In an effort to put an end to New Year’s shooting, the state government had launched an ad campaign to inform the public of the dangers of using firearms for celebratory purposes but it appears the two officers did not see it.

After the video appeared they were relieved of their weapons and put under investigation.

Depending on the results, the two could be subject to a formal investigation by the state Attorney General’s office.

Police chief Óscar Guinto Marmolejo said that the two officers have over 10 years’ experience and “should know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

The identity of the civilian who fired the rifle is unknown.

At least three people were injured by stray bullets during the New Year’s celebrations last year.

Source: Infobae (sp), NVI Noticias (sp)

645 Chiapas bodyguards reassigned ‘to serve citizens’ rather than officials

By

MND Staff

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January 3, 2019

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López Obrador and Chiapas Governor Escandón.

The government of Chiapas has reassigned 645 bodyguards and 95 vehicles that were at the service of former and current public officials.

Newly-installed Governor Rutilio Escandón Cadenas said in a statement issued yesterday that the decision to reassign the state-paid security personnel is not only part of the government’s austerity program but also responds to “the social demand to return police to the streets so that they are truly at the service of citizens.”

The move, approved by the state Congress on December 31, will generate savings of 6 million pesos (US $306,000) a month.

The Chiapas legislature repealed two decrees approved by past governments including one passed in July 2017 that stipulated that former governor Manuel Velasco and his attorney general, Raciel López Salazar, were entitled to a personal security detail for 15 years in recognition of “services rendered to the state.”

President López Obrador, who largely eschews personal security, said last month that the arrangement was “an excess that shouldn’t be allowed.”

Escandón, who was sworn in as governor for the president’s leftist Morena party on December 8, has pledged that his administration will implement austerity measures while governing with efficiency, transparency and accountability.

During a meeting with his cabinet secretaries yesterday, the governor insisted on the responsible management of funds allocated in the budget in order to immediately address social inequality in the state and to work towards improving the quality of life of Chiapas residents.

The southern state has a large indigenous population and is the poorest in Mexico, according to a 2017 report by the social development agency Coneval.

Source: El Universal (sp)

All vehicles must now have insurance to travel on federal highways

By

César Hernández

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January 2, 2019

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As of yesterday all vehicle owners using Mexico’s federal highways must have insurance or face fines of 2,000 to 4,000 pesos (US $100 to $210).

January 1 marked the entry of the last phase of the staggered implementation of updates to a federal law approved in 2013.

The law established that drivers must have at a minimum third-party liability insurance.

The first phase, implemented in September 2014, required owners of vehicles manufactured in 2011 or later and with a value of 186,000 pesos to take out insurance. The following year, the requirement expanded to include vehicles manufactured since 2008. In 2016, the date became 2005, and last year it fell back to the year 2000.

Now the requirement applies to all vehicles.

Drivers must be insured for at least 100,000 pesos (US $5,100) for personal injury and at least 50,000 pesos ($2,560) for property damage.

A spokesman for the insurance company Quálitas said premiums for the minimum coverage start at 700 pesos (US $35) a year.

The law is intended to protect the victims of traffic accidents which, according to the Association of Mexican Insurance Companies (AMIS), are the second cause of death among people aged five to 34.

On average, there are 1,000 traffic accidents in Mexico every day, causing 44 deaths and injuring 369 people.

The Mexican insurance industry cites the example of a 28-year-old man who has required medical attention for 11 years after being involved in a traffic accident. His medical bills are 3.1 million pesos a year, meaning that his insurance company has paid out 34.7 million pesos.

Source: Excélsior (sp)

Fireworks add to Mexico City pollution levels; contingency measures triggered

By

César Hernández

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January 2, 2019

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Fireworks and bonfires lit during New Year’s celebrations elevated the concentration of pollutants and triggered environmental contingency measures in the northeastern part of the Valley of México metropolitan area.

The Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (Came) detected a higher than usual concentration of pollutants early yesterday morning. Conditions worsened during the day and by early evening contingency measures were activated.

The affected zone included the Mexico City borough of Gustavo A. Madero and the México state municipalities of Coacalco, Chicoloapan, Chimalhuacán, Ecatepec, Ixtapaluca, La Paz, Nezahualcóyotl and Tecámac.

Authorities recommended citizens abstain from carrying out activities outdoors and remain indoors as much as possible.

Special traffic operations were put in place to speed up traffic as much as possible in the area, and construction activities were restricted.

However, the pollutants dispersed overnight and the contingency was suspended, Came announced at 10:00am today.

Mexico City Environment Secretary Sergio Zirath Hernández Villaseñor explained that an atmospheric inversion and a high pressure system combined with the high pollutant content in the air to cause the environmental contingency.

Similar contingency measures were put into effect in the same area last week after fireworks were used at Christmas.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Zapatistas say they won’t permit AMLO’s ‘destructive projects’

By

Tony Richards

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January 2, 2019

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Zapatistas observe the anniversary of their 1994 uprising. — Zapatistas observe the anniversary of their 1994 uprising at a ceremony Monday in La Realidad, Chiapas.

AMLO won’t fall for provocations by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, or EZLN, he told reporters today.

President López Obrador said the Zapatistas have the right to protest and dissent and he was open to dialogue with them.

Yesterday, EZLN chief Subcomandante Moisés confirmed that his organization would oppose projects planned by the new government, including the Maya Train and the National Guard.

“We are going to fight. We are going to confront [them]; we are not going to allow [López Obrador] to come through here with his destructive projects,” he said just before midnight on New Year’s Eve at a ceremony marking the 25^th anniversary of the EZLN’s 1994 uprising in Chiapas.

“We say to him that we don’t believe him,” Moisés said, calling the president “dishonest” and “cunning.”

López Obrador said he had no dispute with the Zapatista leaders. “I express my respect for their plans, their programs, for their decisions. We live in a free country; there is no repression, there is no censorship. Who keeps score? The citizens.

“We are not going to confront any group. We want peace and reconciliation,” the president told reporters.

“We are open to dialogue and love and peace.”

The president has campaigned on defending the rights of indigenous citizens and his presidency has been welcomed by many, but the Zapatistas remain unconvinced.

At a symbolic indigenous ceremony in December, he asked permission from Mother Earth to build the Maya Train.

The Zapatistas called it “a mockery.”

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

Homeowner wonders if airport cancellation will allow her to keep her house

By

César Hernández

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January 2, 2019

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home on highway route — Proceed with caution, highway ends.

A homeowner in Atenco, México state, is wondering if the cancellation of Mexico City’s new airport will allow her to keep her house.

The house owned by Nieves Rodríguez, 59, for the past 21 years lies on the route of the Ecatepec-Peñón highway, one of many infrastructure projects whose future remains in limbo after President López Obrador announced cancellation of the airport project.

Work on the highway surprised her, she said, because no one had consulted her or warned her that her house would soon be in the middle of the new road.

“I found out when I started to see a lot of movement. I noticed they were raising the road more and more, and I was still here. I thought, ‘I’m not worried, this is my land, it’s my house,'” said Rodríguez.

Then a year and a half ago a representative of the construction firm paid a visit.

“They told me they needed to move my house . . . and that if I was not OK with that they would have to expropriate,” she recalled.

Despite the cancellation of the airport project work on the road continues, Rodríguez said, as do the threats of expropriation.

The woman is not alone. Some farmers from Atenco who have set up a camp in her backyard claim the project destroyed hillsides and resulted in the illegal occupation of land and illegal mining operations.

“I am not the only one opposing the airport; all I want is to live in peace,” said Rodríguez.

Source: Criterio Hidalgo (sp)

US border agents repel migrants with tear gas after attempt to cross illegally

By

Tony Richards

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January 2, 2019

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Another attempt by migrants to cross from Mexico into the United States was repelled by U.S. border patrol agents yesterday who fired tear gas over the border.

About 150 Central American migrants, described by a U.S. official as a “violent mob,” tried to cross illegally shortly after midnight near Tijuana, where several thousand migrants have been camping since arriving in Mexico in October and November.

The U.S. said its security forces fired tear gas after migrants threw rocks, but the Associated Press reported that rocks were not thrown until after the tear gas was fired. A report by Reuters said one migrant was struck by a tear gas canister.

About 10 children, bundled in blankets and heavy jackets, were passed over the razor wire-topped border fence, witnesses said.

But U.S. authorities said of the 25 people detained only two were minors.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Katie Waldman said “a violent mob of migrants” had attempted to enter the U.S. illegally “by attacking our agents with projectiles . . . our personnel used the minimum force necessary to defend themselves, defend our border and restore order.”

She said once agents had thwarted the attempt to cross, “the mob began pushing women and minors to the front, forcing minors to climb dangerous concertina wire, and encouraged conveniently invited media to begin filming their illegal acts.”

Waldman criticized the U.S. Congress for ignoring “the professional advice from the men and women of the Border Patrol who have told them that walls work. Congress needs to fully fund the border wall . . . .”

In November, U.S. agents used tear gas to thwart an attempt by migrants to cross the border illegally and closed the border between Tijuana and San Diego for six hours.

Source: BBC News (en), El Sol de Tijuana (sp), NPR (en)