NASA approves nanosatellite developed at Puebla university

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November 22, 2018

The nanosatellite that will be launched late next year.

NASA has approved the design of a nanosatellite developed by students and professors at the Popular Autonomous University of Puebla (UPAEP).

Andrés Martínez, an advanced exploration systems executive at the United States space agency, told a press conference this week that the quality of the design of the AztechSat 1 satellite, which measures just 10 cubic centimeters, is on par with those of NASA engineers.

Approval of the design followed an exhaustive inspection process.

“Revision is important in our projects because we have to be certain that the design is going to comply with the requirements of the mission. An extra revision was required because in July, of the 12 areas [assessed], nine passed [inspection] and three required a little additional work,” Martínez said.

The NASA executive explained that a panel made up of the astronaut José Hernández and three NASA engineers, among other specialists, unanimously agreed that the UPAEP team had sufficiently improved the satellite’s design in the areas required and consequently met the space agency’s stringent specifications.

AztechSat 1 is now set to be launched into space in October 2019 for a mission of just over 100 days during which it will be fully traceable as it sends data back to earth.

Carlos Duarte, a representative of the Mexican Space Agency (AEM), congratulated and praised the students and professors who worked on the satellite project.

“The satellite will be a complete success when it’s launched next year and it’s the start of many more projects. The UPAEP is providing an example at the national level about how to develop space projects,” he said.

“The explosion of space development in Mexico is thanks to the interest . . . of the federal government which has promoted these projects, such as the AztechSat 1, which was partially funded by the AEM-Conacyt [the National Council for Science and Technology] fund,” Duarte added.

Fernando Rodríguez Contreras, an electronics student who participated in the project, said it was a great honor to represent Mexico and to be a pioneer in the field of satellite development in the country.

“We take our work very seriously and put a lot of passion into it so that Mexico as a country moves ahead . . .” he said.

Source: Notimex (sp)

Mayor laments bus tourists who leave little economic benefit

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César Hernández

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November 22, 2018

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The mayor of Guanajuato has spoken out on a subject of concern in many tourist destinations: visitors traveling on economic bus tours bring few economic benefits.

Mayor Alejandro Navarro Saldaña said that last weekend, a puente or long-weekend holiday, brought 400 buses carrying some 20,000 people from nearby states.

As is customary with bus tourists, they arrived with their own food and with little money to spend, and stayed for a single day, the mayor said. They spent little, created traffic chaos and and left their trash behind.

Navarro said that everyone is welcome to the capital of Guanajuato, but he would prefer visitors that could spend more on services and products.

“We want a visitor profile that produces greater economic spillover, people who go to a museum, buy a handicraft, eat at a restaurant and not bring their own food . . . .”

The mayor explained that the visitor profile will be achieved by improving the quality of services provided.

Despite the large number of bus tourists, hotel occupancy reached 98% on the long weekend, and estimated visitor revenues were 107 million pesos (US $5.3 million).

Despite the large number of visitors, ideal or otherwise, many stayed away from the Museum of Mummies. Only 17,706 people visited the famous mummy showcase, down 20% from last year.

Navarro dismissed the notion that visitors stayed away from the museum due to the 40% increase in ticket prices, which last year cost 60 pesos but are now 85 pesos each.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Mexican authorities stop caravan No. 5; US plans asylum policy change

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MND Staff

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November 22, 2018

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Immigration agents invite migrants to legalize their status.

A fifth caravan of Central American migrants was stopped in its tracks yesterday by immigration agents and Federal Police after illegally crossing Mexico’s southern border.

A group of more than 300 people, mostly from El Salvador, arrived in the Guatemala border town of Tecún Umán earlier this week and yesterday morning waded across the Suchiate river to begin the long journey through Mexico to the United States border.

But the migrants only made it as far as Metapa, a town 18 kilometers north of the border, before they were intercepted by National Immigration Institute (INM) agents and anti-riot police.

Senior INM official Samuel Guerrero Mares explained to the Central Americans that they couldn’t continue their journey without first applying for refugee status in Mexico.

One of the migrants responded: “all we ask is that you let us pass, we come in peace, we are the most organized caravan.”

After officials refused that request, scuffles broke out and the migrants refused to board vehicles to be taken to immigration offices.

However, an hour later they relented and agreed to accompany the officials to an INM facility in Tapachula.

A pregnant Salvadoran woman, who had walked for five hours from the border to Metapa with her husband and two-year-old son, fainted during the commotion and was taken for treatment at the Tapachula General Hospital.

Immigration officials estimated Tuesday that there are about 13,800 Central American migrants in Mexico whose destination is the United States.

Several thousand have already reached Tijuana, where they await the opportunity to lodge asylum requests with United States authorities.

According to a report today in the newspaper El Universal, preparations are being made in Honduras for the departure of a “mega-caravan” from San Pedro Sula on January 15, 2019.

Meanwhile, according to a report published late last night by The Washington Post, the Trump administration is preparing sweeping new measures that would force Central Americans who arrive at the border to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are processed.

United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos obtained by The Post indicate that asylum seekers who cannot establish a “reasonable fear” of persecution in Mexico will not be allowed to enter the U.S.

The plan called “Remain in Mexico” would represent a major departure from current screening procedures, which usually allow asylum seekers who establish a fear of returning to their country of origin to stay in the United States until they have the opportunity to plead their case before an immigration judge.

President Trump refers to the current system as “catch and release” and has pledged to terminate it.

Under the new plan, which two DHS officials told The Post could be implemented as soon as tomorrow, the bar to gain immediate admission to the United States would be set higher because asylum seekers would have to satisfy authorities that they specifically fear persecution in Mexico.

While Mexico’s border cities – including Tijuana – are among the most dangerous in the country, proving a reasonable fear of persecution to U.S. authorities could still be a difficult proposition.

According to the DHS memos, border authorities will tell asylum seekers that “if you are determined to have a reasonable fear of remaining in Mexico, you will be permitted to remain in the United States while you await your hearing before an immigration judge.”

However, if the migrants fail to demonstrate that reasonable fear, officials will tell them that they will remain in Mexico.

Despite the officials’ assertion that the “Remain in Mexico” plan could be adopted tomorrow, DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman issued a statement late yesterday saying there are no immediate plans to implement the new measures.

“The president has made clear — every single legal option is on the table to secure our nation and to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants at our borders,” the statement said.

“DHS is not implementing such a new enforcement program this week. Reporting on policies that do not exist creates uncertainty and confusion along our borders and has a negative real world impact. We will ensure — as always — that any new program or policy will comply with humanitarian obligations, uphold our national security and sovereignty, and is implemented with notice to the public and well coordinated with partners.”

A Mexican official, who spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity, said that under Mexican immigration law, migrants seeking asylum in another country are not permitted to remain in Mexico.

However, with around 6,000 migrants currently in the Tijuana area facing long waits just to have the opportunity to lodge an asylum claim, Mexico appears set to host the caravan members for several months, a situation that has provoked an outbreak of anti-migrant sentiment in the border city.

Source: El Universal (sp), The Washington Post (en)

Increased activity at El Popo volcano; ash reported in Puebla

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César Hernández

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November 22, 2018

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Authorities in Morelos are on high alert due to heightened activity at the Popocatépetl volcano.

Aerial inspections of the volcano’s crater have found that a lava dome has formed inside it, a condition that poses an elevated risk for the towns nearby.

Over the last 48 hours,Civil Protection officials have kept the volcano under close observation as it expelled ash and water vapor.

Two explosions this morning sent ash into 10 municipalities in Puebla.

Civil Protection Chief Enrique Clement Gallardo said that if volcanic activity continues to increase, towns located near the volcano will be evacuated

Previous volcanic explosions have released incandescent matter and present a deadly risk.

Popocatépetl straddles the borders of the states of Morelos, Puebla and México and lies just 72 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Second homicide charge laid in case of Sinaloa journalist

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César Hernández

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November 22, 2018

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Journalist Javier Valdez, murdered in 2017.

One of the main suspects in the murder of Sinaloa journalist Javier Valdez has been charged with homicide, the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) said.

Heriberto Picos Barraza, also known as “El Koala,” was arrested in April in connection with Valdez’s murder in May last year and for ties with a drug trafficking organization that operates in Sinaloa and Baja California.

The attorney general is seeking a 50-year prison term, the maximum under the Sinaloa criminal code.

Two other men have been implicated in Valdez’s murder. One has already been charged.

Valdez, 50, was a co-founder of the Sinaloa newspaper Río Doce, where he chronicled drug-trafficking. He was ambushed outside his office in Culiacán and shot 12 times.

Shortly before his death he interviewed Dámaso “El Licenciado” López, a senior official in the Sinaloa Cartel and a member of one of two factions vying for control of the drug gang. The other faction was — and possibly still is — headed by “Los Chapitos,” sons of former cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

According to Valdez’s colleagues at Río Doce, Guzmán’s sons had pressured the journalist not to publish his interview with López. That was in February 2017. He was killed three months later, after he published the story.

Valdez won the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2011.

In his acceptance speech he described the challenge of working in Mexico.

“To work in journalism is to walk an invisible line drawn by the bad guys — who are in drug trafficking and in the government — in a field strewn with explosives.”

Source: El Sol de Mexico (sp)

Congress puts border region tax cuts on hold: conditions not right

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MND Staff

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November 22, 2018

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Tax breaks in the north are on hold. — Tax breaks in the north have been delayed,

The incoming government’s plan to cut tax rates in the northern border region has been put on ice by federal lawmakers.

At a meeting in Mexico City yesterday, the chairs of the budget and finance committees in both houses of Congress warned that conditions are not right to reduce the value-added tax (IVA) and income tax (ISR) rates near the Mexico-United States border.

President-elect López Obrador said during the election campaign that his government would establish a free zone extending 30 kilometers south of the border in which the IVA would be cut by half from 16% to 8% and the maximum ISR rate will be reduced from 30% to 20%.

But at least in the short term, it appears that he will not have the legislative support required to make the changes.

Alejandro Armenta, a senator with López Obrador’s Morena party and chair of the upper house finance committee, said there is a consensus in the Senate that “a lot of care” must be taken with regard to the design of the next budget and Federal Revenue Act.

“It’s going to be a transitional budget and in the Senate, for the good of the country, we’ll responsibly adopt the prudence [necessary] in the approval of the Revenue Act,” he said.

Patricia Terrazas, a National Action Party (PAN) lawmaker who heads up the lower house finance committee, spoke more bluntly about the López Obrador free zone proposal, intended to provide a boost to the economy in the north of the country and slow down migration to the United States.

“Adjusting taxes at the moment is not an option. Nobody is bound to the impossible,” she said.

Terrazas added that while the plan is currently under review, the possibility of it becoming a reality “appears very complicated” because of the impact the tax reductions would have on government revenue streams.

The PAN, a conservative party which was in office between 2000 and 2012, had previously supported the idea.

Even if reductions in the IVA and ISR tax rates for the northern border zone were approved, Terrazas said, “they couldn’t take effect in January” because changes required to electronic invoicing systems would not have been implemented.

The preparation necessary to adopt the free zone plan could, however, take place during the first half of next year, she added.

Her colleague in the lower house, Morena party Deputy and budget committee chair Alfonso Ramírez Cuéllar also said that cutting tax rates was “difficult” but stressed that the proposal was still being analyzed.

Even before taking office, the president-elect has been held partially responsible for the deterioration in Mexico’s economic outlook for 2019, with his decision to cancel the Mexico City International Airport project a main target of criticism.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Blockades erected on Jalisco highway; one killed in gunfire

By

Tony Richards

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November 22, 2018

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A bus burns on highway 200 in Tomatlán today.

Marines and armed civilians clashed in Tomatlán, Jalisco, this morning, leaving one person dead.

Federal authorities said the victim appeared to be one of the aggressors, thought to be members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

[wpgmza id=”111″]

Gangsters blocked federal highway 200 near the village of La Cumbre with three vehicles which they set on fire in an attempt to stop the movement of security forces.

One of the vehicles was a bus that the serves the Manzanillo-Tomatlán route. It was parked across a bridge and set on fire.

The aggressors exchanged gunfire with navy marines, in which one person was killed. An operation to capture the rest of the gang was unsuccessful.

Source: Informador (sp)

Nearly 500 displaced indigenous people on the march in Chiapas

By

MND Staff

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November 22, 2018

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Displaced citizens of Chiapas on their march to the capital.

Almost 500 indigenous people who have been displaced from their communities in Chiapas due to violence are marching to the state capital to seek a solution from authorities.

The 444 Tzotzil Maya people are from the municipalities of Chenalhó, Ocosingo and Zinacantán but were forced to leave their homes amid violent territorial and political conflicts.

Some have been displaced for more than two years.

The contingent left San Cristóbal de las Casas on Monday and yesterday reached a point 15 kilometers short of the town of Chiapa de Corzo after walking through fog and drizzle in cold temperatures.

The director of the Ku’untick Human Rights Center, Diego Cadenas, who is accompanying the Tzotzils on their “pies cansados” (tired feet) march, said the Chiapas government has made no commitment to restore security in highland communities so that the displaced people can return home.

Javier Hernández, a spokesman for the Chenalhó contingent, said that “as displaced people from the Puebla ejido [community land], we’ve decided to express our disagreement,” adding “until now, our problem hasn’t been solved and we haven’t been able to return [home].”

After setting up camp last night on the side of the San Cristóbal-Chiapa de Corzo highway, where humanitarian aid including food and clothes was distributed, the march towards Tuxtla Gutiérrez resumed today.

State and Federal Police have been escorting the indigenous caravan, which still has around 30 kilometers left to travel, meaning that it will likely arrive in the capital Friday or Saturday.

One of the displaced persons is 30-year-old pregnant woman who is traveling with her husband and two children.

Rosa Gutiérrez García, a Oaxaca native, had only been living in Chenalhó two weeks when on May 26, 2016, armed men attacked residents of the Puebla ejido, forcing Gutiérrez and her family to flee.

A 14-year-old girl was killed in the attack, which was triggered by political differences.

Thousands of indigenous people have fled their homes in the highlands of Chiapas during recent years due to violence stemming from political and territorial disputes.

Deaths due to cold and hunger have occurred in makeshift camps set up by displaced people and a year ago, a human rights organization and the Catholic church described the situation in parts of Chiapas as a humanitarian crisis.

Source: El Universal (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp)

Is there an Oscar in the future for Oaxaca actress with no experience?

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MND Staff

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November 21, 2018

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Her performance in Roma, a new black-and-white film based on writer and director Alfonso Cuarón’s memories of growing up in Mexico City, has already been declared the best of 2018 by Time magazine.

But can Yalitza Aparicio, an actor from Oaxaca with no previous experience, win the most prestigious of all film industry awards – an Oscar?

As a nominee in the best actress category at the Gotham Independent Film Awards to be held next week in New York and with acclaim of her performance continuing to grow, Aparicio is increasingly being mentioned as a potential winner at the film industry’s night of nights.

That possibility is no more surprising than to the actor herself, who plays the role of a domestic worker in Cuarón’s movie.

When she first received a call about casting for it, Aparicio thought that it had something to do with human trafficking.

“Castings don’t exist in Oaxaca and I didn’t study acting either,” she told the newspaper Milenio via telephone from Los Angeles.

But undeterred, Aparicio went to meet with Cuarón, taking her mother with her for moral support.

She didn’t know it immediately, but that first meeting with the Oscar-winning filmmaker was to change her life.

Aparicio admitted that emulating Cuarón as an Academy Award winner was a daunting prospect.

“The truth is I’m really scared about [winning an Oscar], I didn’t expect anything like that. I feel like it’s something very big and a lot of responsibility,” she said.

“. . . A lot of people are excited because of the simple fact that I’m here [in the United States]. They tell me that they identify with me and feel inspired to move ahead and achieve their dreams, that’s what motivates me to be here.”

Cuarón has already won the the top award at the Venice Film Festival for Roma and the film is considered a front-runner for the next Academy Awards.

Set in Mexico City in the 1970s, the Spanish-language film explores Cuarón’s childhood memories and is centered around two indigenous domestic workers who take care of a small family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma.

Aparicio said she took some inspiration for her role from her own experience as a domestic worker as well as that of her mother.

Roma is distributed by streaming service Netflix and will premiere on the website in Mexico on December 14 after a limited theatrical release.

Source: Milenio (sp)

National Guard will be 83,000-strong to begin; military will eventually be retired

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MND Staff

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November 21, 2018

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The Federal Police will contribute nearly half the strength of the National Guard. — The Federal Police will contribute nearly half the strength of the new force.

Mexico’s new national guard, the centerpiece of the incoming government’s national security plan, will initially be made up of 83,000 officers, according to the proposed constitutional reform that would create it.

The Federal Police will contribute 37,000 officers to the new security force, while 36,000 soldiers and 10,000 marines will also join its ranks. It will be under the control of the army.

The Morena party’s leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Mario Delgado, said the new government intends to add 50,000 more members to the national guard over the next three years.

He stressed that the Federal Police would not disappear – immediately, at least, explaining that its duties would be transferred gradually to the new force.

All officers admitted to the guard will be required to pass examinations, Delgado said, meaning that there will be no free passes into the force.

“The Federal Police won’t disappear [just] because there is movement of some officers to the national guard. It’s going to continue. According to this initiative, those who make up the national guard will have to comply with certain requirements . . . The officers who pass [the exams] will gradually go into the national guard,” the lawmaker explained.

At some point in the future, the new security force will also recruit ordinary citizens to bolster its ranks, according to details in the proposed constitutional reform presented in Congress yesterday.

Before joining the national guard, civilians would undertake physical and academic training at military bases following a curriculum that will be developed jointly by the secretariats of Defense, the Navy, the Interior and Public Security.

The federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) will also be invited to offer input.

The fifth provision of the proposed constitutional reform states that the guard will remain active while high levels of violence and insecurity continue to afflict the country.

However, the force will be subject to review three years after its creation.

Although members of the military will initially join it, the proposed reform says that the aim is for soldiers and marines to cease carrying out public security duties and return, in the short term, to their role as defenders of the nation.

Non-governmental organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have rejected the plan to create a national guard, arguing that it perpetuates a failed militarized crime-fighting strategy.

But the text of the initiative presented yesterday differed vastly in its assessment.

“. . . A disciplined and specially-trained force will be formed and deployed . . . to safeguard people’s rights and property and to preserve order and public peace. Our proposal makes progress in the sense of demilitarizing the streets of Mexico,” it said.

Delgado also rejected the claims that the incoming government’s security plan represents a continuation of the militarized strategy implemented by former president Felipe Calderón in 2006 and continued by the current federal government.

However, like the new Tabasco oil refinery and the Maya train, the whole plan is still subject to one small detail — the will of the people.

President-elect López Obrador said today that he will put the question of creating the national guard to yet another public consultation.

In an interview with journalist Carmen Aristegui, López Obrador, who has previously advocated for demilitarization, said he had not fully realized how corrupt Mexico’s civilian security forces were.

He also defended the nation’s military, stating that the human rights violations it has committed were “on orders received from civilian authorities.”

Source: El Universal (sp), Associated Press (en)