Search continues for US citizen missing in Chihuahua

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November 5, 2018

The search continues in the Copper Canyon region of Chihuahua for a United States citizen who disappeared over a week ago in Urique.

The state Attorney General’s office said 100 police and other officials, local indigenous residents, drones and police dogs are involved in the search for Patrick Braxton-Andrew of Davidson, North Carolina.

He was last seen October 28 by staff at the Urique hotel in which he was staying when he left for a walk.

“They’re adding people and using more of the indigenous people who live there to search remote areas because they feel they need to expand the search,” said Nancy Slagle, a friend of Braxton-Andrew’s family.

Urique is a former mining town in Copper Canyon National Park, a region that has seen conflicts over illegal logging by drug cartels.

The missing man, aged 34, is described as fluent in Spanish.

A Facebook page has been created to aid in the search.

Source: WFAE (en), Reforma (sp)

Resumption of water service delayed another 36 to 40 hours

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Tony Richards

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November 5, 2018

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Workers are carrying out maintenance on the Cutzamala water system.

Mexico City and México state residents affected by the shutdown of the water system will have to wait longer than expected for their water to start running again.

The National Water Commission said this morning that turning the water back on has been delayed by 36 to 40 hours after one piece of a new water line shifted during installation.

The reason has not been established but a Mexico City water spokesman said the process was complex.

Water service was suspended October 31 to allow for maintenance work on the Cutzamala water system. Officials expected to complete the work by 8:00am Saturday when the water would be turned back on.

But at that point officials said they were 12 hours behind and anticipated a resumption of service Saturday night.

They were unable to say why one of the lines had shifted but an investigation will take place once the problem has been repaired.

Mexico City water system chief Ramón Aguirre advised the public to continue with measures to conserve water. He said reserves were running short.

Water delivery is being provided to affected areas of the city with 1,290 water trucks and 60 locations where they can fill up.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

New offshore oil platform is biggest built in Mexico in 10 years

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MND Staff

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November 3, 2018

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The new platform yesterday in Altamira, Tamaulipas.

The largest offshore oil platform to be built in Mexico in 10 years left the port of Altamira, Tamaulipas, yesterday bound for Campeche Bay.

The US $454-million shallow-water rig, called PB-ABKATUN-A2, was built entirely in Tamaulipas by United States engineering company McDermott for the state oil company Pemex.

At a ceremony to see off the new platform, Tamaulipas Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca said the state was the biggest beneficiary of the energy reforms introduced by the federal government.

“We have the largest gas and oil deposits, the largest shallow-water, deep-water and ultra-deep-water deposits in the Gulf of Mexico and these kinds of projects will continue to take place in Tamaulipas,” he said.

García explained that 40% of a forecast US $2-billion investment in new energy projects will go to the northern border state.

Tamaulipas’ leadership in the petroleum sector, its proximity to the United States oil market, the availability of already-trained specialized labor and growing infrastructure all make the state an attractive place to invest, he said.

“We are blessed by all the natural wealth we have, especially in fossil fuels but the best thing this great state has is its people, working people like you who have made it possible for this platform to go out to sea today,” García told engineers and laborers who worked on the project.

Oil production in Mexico has been in decline for over a decade but the recent discovery of reserves with up to 180 million barrels of crude oil in shallow waters in the Gulf of Mexico are expected to boost output.

President-elect López Obrador has pledged to “rescue” the energy sector and put an end to reliance on oil imports.

Among his plans for oil industry are to build a new oil refinery on the coast of Tabasco and upgrade the six existing ones.

Source: Notimex (sp)

Mexico City water project at least 12 hours behind schedule

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MND Staff

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November 3, 2018

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One of the sites where water system upgrades are being carried out.

Reopening of Mexico City’s main water system after maintenance work is about 12 hours behind schedule, the National Water Commission (Conagua) said this afternoon.

Water supply has been cut in large parts of the capital and surrounding metropolitan area since October 31.

The water was scheduled to be turned back on at 8:00am today but Conagua said that work to connect lines 1 and 2 of the Cutzamala system had not yet been completed.

Commission director Roberto Ramírez de la Parra said yesterday that there was a possibility that the system’s valves would be opened before the conclusion of the 72-hour period designated for the maintenance work.

But now Conagua says that the work should be completed between 9:00 and 11:00pm tonight.

Around 400 Conagua employees have been working on the maintenance project at three different sites.

Rainy, windy and cold weather have hampered their efforts but last night the project was ahead of schedule.

De la Parra said that rain had heightened the risk of electrocution due to the equipment workers are using but no incidents have been reported.

He added that the work would ensure that the Cutzamala system continues to function for the next 50 years and “it won’t need major maintenance” for the next 10.

Mexico City Mayor José Ramón Amieva said no incidents related to the suspension of the water system had been reported and that the capacity of water tanker trucks to handle the load had not been exceeded as some people had feared.

Around 60% of the 3,000 daily water deliveries the trucks have made during the three-day outage have gone to Iztapalapa, Amieva said.

“We believe that is because of its greater population density and also . . . a lot of homes don’t have water tanks,” the mayor said.

Amieva added that after the supply is turned on it could take up to 72 hours before normal water pressure returns.

With residents returning to work and school after the Day of the Dead holiday, a big test for the Cutzamala system — one of the largest water supply systems in the world — will come in the first hours of Monday.

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

With arrival of 4th caravan, there are now 12,000 migrants in Mexico

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MND Staff

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November 3, 2018

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Another 4,000 migrants crossed the Suchiate river yesterday. — Migrants cross the Suchiate river yesterday.

With the entry of a fourth migrant caravan yesterday, it is estimated there are now more than 12,000 Central American migrants in Mexico.

About 4,000 Salvadoran migrants crossed the Suchiate river that divides Guatemala from Chiapas, the newspaper El Universal reported.

The migrants rejected an offer of accommodation at a shelter if they entered the country legally, choosing instead to wade across the river in a human chain to avoid being swept away by the current.

When they arrived on the Mexican side of the river, some 100 immigration officials and Federal Police tried to convince the migrants to cross back to Guatemala, warning them that they were breaking the law.

“We only want a clear passage, our intention is not to stay in Mexico but to go to the United States,” the migrants responded.

To avoid a confrontation, the police withdrew and the caravan continued towards the city of Tapachula. The migrants will continue their march through the southern state today.

Three of the caravans currently in Mexico are made up of migrants numbering in the thousands. The majority of them entered Mexico without going through official immigration channels.

Another group of about 450 Salvadorans who entered Mexico legally are also in the country.

The secretariats of the Interior and Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement this week that 2,934 migrants have formally requested asylum in Mexico while 927 people have requested assistance from authorities to return to their country of origin.

The first caravan, made up of mainly Hondurans fleeing poverty and violence who began arriving October 19, yesterday entered Veracruz, walking or hitching rides on passing trucks.

With rumors swirling that members of the second caravan are more violent, along with insecurity concerns in the state, the first caravan hopes to cross Veracruz as quickly as possible.

After the migrants arrived in the south of the Gulf coast state, Governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares announced that authorities would not only provide humanitarian aid but also mass transportation to Mexico City.

“It’s very important that they be able to move soon from Veracruz toward another place,” Yunes said in a video message posted to social media.

At a meeting last night, caravan leaders told the migrants that they would be leaving for the capital at around 5:00am. “We are all going!” one coordinator told the group.

But Yunes later released a second video saying that because Mexico City’s water system is undergoing maintenance, leaving much of the city without water, it would not be right to transport the migrants there.

Instead, he offered transportation to another city in Veracruz until the capital’s water supply is restored.

Gina Garibo of the migrant advocacy group Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders) described Yunes’ about-face as infuriating and said that authorities in Mexico had already made preparations to receive the migrants in a part of the city where water hasn’t been cut off.

“They have been working for a long time . . . [to prepare] the space where we’re going to arrive. In [the borough] Magdalena Contreras, water supply is guaranteed,” she said.

The newspaper Milenio reported today that no buses had arrived in the municipality of Sayula, where the caravan rested last night, and this morning the migrants set out on foot for Isla, Veracruz.

Although, the number of Central Americans in the first caravan has dropped from a peak of 7,000 to around 4,000, its size could increase as migrants traveling in smaller groups apart from the caravans attempt to catch up.

Tomás González Castillo, director of a migrant shelter in Tenosique, Tabasco, said about 1,500 Central Americans have stayed in the town over the past 10 days.

Some of them indicated that they wish to join the first caravan, he said.

“There are invisible exoduses where maybe there isn’t the same number of people [as the caravans] . . . There are thousands of others walking clandestinely, getting on to trucks, [and] they’re still using the [freight] train,” González said.

He also warned that Veracruz is one of the most dangerous states in the country for migrants.

“They’re going to enter deadly, lethal territory . . . It’s a territory taken over by criminals and corrupt authorities, it’s a hellish route.”

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

Peso falls some more but Big Mac Index indicates it is undervalued

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MND Staff

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November 3, 2018

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The Big Mac is the cornerstone of 'burgernomics.'

The peso fell this week in response to concern about the cancellation of Mexico City’s new airport and a warning from the credit rating agency Fitch that it could downgrade Mexico’s debt rating.

But there ought to be better news for the currency based on “burgernomics.”

According to the Big Mac Index — an indicator created by The Economist newspaper that compares prices of the McDonald’s hamburger as an informal way to measure the purchasing power parity (PPP) between currencies — the peso is undervalued by 44.48 % against the US dollar.

In other words, one US dollar should buy just over 11 pesos, not 20 as is currently the case.

The price of a Big Mac is 50 pesos (US $2.50) in Mexico, less than half the US $5.51 it costs in the United States.

With the exchange rate at around 20.1 pesos to the dollar, the price of the hamburger should be 111 pesos.

On Monday this week, the peso dropped to its lowest level against the US dollar in four months after president-elect López Obrador confirmed that the 285-billion-peso (US $14 billion) airport project will be canceled.

While, the currency regained some ground, it fell by 2% on Wednesday after Fitch issued its warning due to concern about the incoming government’s policies.

All told, the peso lost more than 8% against the US dollar in October, with the slide starting in the second half of the month.

Charles Seville, Fitch’s primary analyst for Mexico, said the decision to scrap the airport, which followed a public consultation on the future of the project, “came as a shock to the markets.”

Alfonso Esparza, an analyst at online forex broker OANDA, said “the airport announcement came at a really bad moment for the peso because it basically clouded big investments and flows in uncertainty, erasing all the good will of the peaceful election in Mexico and the successful renegotiation of NAFTA.”

Two days after López Obrador’s announcement, Fitch revised its rating outlook for Mexico to negative.

“There is the suggestion that other projects could be put to a popular vote, which would introduce more uncertainty,” Seville said, adding that a referendum to repeal the energy reform introduced by the current government is the most worrying possibility.

The negative outlook on Mexico meant that there was a “50-50” chance of a credit rating downgrade over the next two years, he said.

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

German automotive firm announces 1.6-billion-peso plant in Aguascalientes

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MND Staff

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November 2, 2018

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The German manufacturer Continental will build a new plant in Aguascalientes. — The German manufacturer Continental plans new investment.

German automotive manufacturing company Continental announced yesterday that it will invest more than 1.6 billion pesos (US $80 million) to build a new plant in Aguascalientes, its 24th in Mexico.

The factory is expected to start operations in 2020.

Carlos Huerta, the company director responsible for the project, told a press conference that the investment is Continental’s biggest ever in Mexico.

“We are pleased to announce the construction of this new Continental plant, here in Aguascalientes. It will generate 1,000 jobs in the first five years. Construction will begin next year and the plant will be dedicated to the manufacture of electrical components,” he said.

The plant will supply smart antennas, control panels and other components to General Motors, Ford and Nissan, mainly for vehicles manufactured in Mexico, although some parts will likely be sent to the United States and Canada.

Huerta added that the 8,000-square-meter plant will be built to the highest environmental standards.

Ned Reckamp, Continental’s vice-president of supply chain management, said the new North American trade agreement, which will push up auto sector wages in Mexico, would not affect operations at the new plant.

“In terms of the new trade agreement, we’re going to leave the politicians and governments to resolve it. We won’t be directly impacted by the new free trade treaty decision with this particular project in Aguascalientes,” he said.

State Governor Martín Orozco Sandoval welcomed the announcement of the new plant, stating that it would provide specialized employment opportunities for young people.

Around 65% of jobs at the new factory will be related to production while 35% will be in administration.

Huerta said the company is looking for highly-educated employees who will receive salaries that “give them a better quality of life.”

Paulo Santos, manager of a Continental plant in Guadalajara, said the new plant is a very significant project for the company.

“The automotive industry is crucial for the development of Aguascalientes . . . In the state, there are more than 100 companies in the sector as well as several research and development centers. Continental is coming to join and enrich this important sector . . . ”

Source: Expansión (sp), Milenio (sp)

Federal auditor finds fault with census of earthquake damage

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MND Staff

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November 2, 2018

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Much of the earthquake damage was missed in federal census.

The government’s census to assess damage and identify victims after last year’s two devastating earthquakes was incomplete and hindered the distribution of financial aid, the Federal Auditor’s Office (ASF) has found.

The ASF review of the census, which was conducted by the Secretariat of Agrarian Development and Urban Planning (Sedatu), determined that 2.45 million homes that sustained damage in either the September 7 or September 19 earthquakes were not identified by the federal department.

Sedatu only completed a census in 377 of 720 municipalities where the powerful quakes caused damage and consequently failed to include 8.75 million affected people on its registry.

“The results of the audit showed that in 2017, Sedatu did not collect information from all municipalities listed among those with natural disaster and extraordinary emergency declarations . . . It only carried out the process in 52.4% of affected municipalities and [Mexico City] boroughs,” the ASF said.

However, in municipalities where Sedatu did send personnel to conduct the census, the ASF also identified deficiencies.

Of 4.6 million homes located in the municipalities that were assessed, only around 172,000, or 3.7% of the total, were inspected.

Sedatu also supplied contradictory and duplicate information to the federal auditor and didn’t explain why it failed to carry out the census in all affected municipalities, the ASF said.

Rosario Robles is the secretary responsible for Sedatu, which has been accused of diverting large quantities of money through bogus companies.

More than a year after the twin temblors of September 2017, thousands of people in southern and central Mexico remain without adequate housing.

Reflecting the federal auditor’s finding, some people say that damage at their homes was never assessed and they didn’t receive any government aid to carry out repairs, while others have complained that the amounts they received were insufficient.

Up to 120,000 pesos (US $6,600 at the time) was granted to people who lost their homes completely due to collapse, severe ruptures or foundation displacement while owners of homes with repairable damage such as cracks in the floors or the partial collapse of a wall or roof received 30,000 pesos.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Architects criticize ‘fake, unlawful’ referendum on Mexico City airport

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MND Staff

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November 2, 2018

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The partially finished airport: signature infrastructure project or boondoggle?

Mexico City architects have joined the chorus of criticism against president-elect López Obrador’s decision to scrap the partially-built Mexico City International Airport.

López Obrador confirmed Monday that the 285-billion-peso (US $14 billion) project would be canceled after about 70% of people who participated in a public consultation voted to build two new runways at an air force base and upgrade the existing airport and that in Toluca rather than continue with the new airport.

Only one of 90 voters on the electoral list cast a ballot in the four-day public vote, which concluded Sunday.

“The outcome confirms Mexico is lacking democratic processes,” architect Fernanda Canales told architecture and design magazine Dezeen.

“It’s an example that reveals projects in Mexico are based on short-term, personal and political issues and corruption,” she added.

“It was not a public referendum, it was fake, completely against the law. The Supreme Court should approve it and the National Electoral Institute should be in charge. Instead, it was not a transparent process.”

The new airport, located on an ancient lakebed in the México state municipality of Texcoco, is somewhere between 20% and 35% complete.

It was designed by British architectural firm Foster + Partners in collaboration with Mexican studio Fernando Romero Enterprise.

Romero is the son-in-law of Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest man and a key investor in the airport project.

The private sector also slammed the move to scrap the airport, considered outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto’s signature infrastructure project.

Canales charged that López Obrador’s decision was politically motivated.

“[The public consultation] does not reveal the desires of the population, but rather of the future president and battles among political parties,” she said.

“It only alerts us that decisions will not be based on information, research, long-term views, sustainable development, economy . . . but rather on personal interests.”

Christopher Koehn, who is also an architect in the capital, said “the main reason for López Obrador to take [the airport] down is to justify himself,” adding that placing the fate in the hands of a largely uninformed public was unwise.

“Political or public referendums shouldn’t be part of this decision. Most voters don’t really know about urbanism, city planning or architectural design, or in this case, the real airport necessities.”

Gabriela Carillo, a partner at the firm Taller de Arquitectura, agreed, saying that “a decision at that scale shouldn’t be taken by people without information — and I’m included there.”

Isabel Martínez Abascal of Lanza Atelier said the vote was a “brave and democratic initiative” but added that more should have been done to educate citizens about the relevant issues.

“Recognizing the right of citizens to opine should go hand in hand with providing them with the basic tools to do so,” she said.

“That includes technical information adapted to people who are not necessarily architects or urban planners, with a sociological approach and that considers the benefits and problems in the short, medium and long term.”

During the early part of the election campaign, López Obrador frequently railed against the airport project, charging that it was corrupt, too expensive and being built in an unsuitable place.

However, a project manager at the National Autonomous University (UNAM) Faculty of Architecture said that López Obrador’s criticism was “propaganda.”

“Most of the propaganda that [soon-to-be ruling party] Morena has used to convince its sympathizers has to do with those arguments about the so called ‘lake’, swindling people into believing that those wetlands have ecological significance, and that 0.77 per cent of Mexico’s population decided for the greater good,” Diego Guerra said.

“We are all worried, inside the school and outside, being that this [decision] doesn’t adhere to any of the correct practices we work towards.”

Source: Dezeen (en)

Extortionists targeted 6.6 million last year; Mexico City urges victims to report cases

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MND Staff

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November 2, 2018

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The suspected leader of the Unión de Tepito, a Mexico City gang involved in extortion. — El Pistache, suspected leader of the Unión de Tepito, a Mexico City gang believed to be involved in extortion.

The Mexico City government is urging victims of extortion to report the crime to authorities.

There were 6.6 million victims of extortion or attempted extortion in Mexico last year, according to the National Statistics Institute (Inegi). In Mexico City, criminals collect at least 483 million pesos (US $24.1 million) annually in cobro de piso payments, data from the business organization Canacope shows.

Three of every 10 businesses in Mexico City are targeted by extortionists for regular payments that allow them to continue to operate.

La Unión de Tepito, whose suspected leader was arrested this week, is believed to be one of the criminal groups that engage in the practice.

In an interview with the newspaper Milenio, Mexico City Mayor José Ramón Amieva called on all small businesses that have been targeted by extortionists not to be intimidated into silence but to file complaints with the city’s Attorney General’s office (PGJ).

The vast majority of extortion cases in Mexico — 97.4% according to Inegi — are not reported to authorities.

The mayor said the government, which only has a month left in office, is determined to combat extortion but “for that to be done, it is necessary to ask victims to report [the crime] and trust the authorities.”

Mexico City Attorney General Edmundo Garrido and police chief Raymundo Collins echoed Amieva’s call for businesses to report extortion and extortion attempts.

“The lines are open for shopkeepers and business people so that they can denounce [the crime] . . . We are constantly visiting [affected businesses] with investigative police,” Garrido said, adding that complaints are dealt with immediately.

“We’ve carried out operations in which several people have been arrested. We’ve worked on this matter and in a very prompt manner we have been attending to businesses in the whole city and also the general public.”

Although the incidence of extortion is high, the attorney general said that Mexico’s most notorious drug cartels have not set up shop in the capital to get in on the lucrative racket as they have done in other cities around the country.

For his part, Collins said he understood that people might be afraid to report extortion or lack faith in authorities but nevertheless urged people to come forward.

“If you . . . are threatened, come and tell me that such-and-such a man on the corner threatened you. We have the capacity to go and arrest him. But if . . . you’re not going to make a report, that man is automatically free. The law needs a report,” he said.

Collins also repeated Garrido’s cartel assertion, stating that “there are no cartels here [but] there are criminal groups.”

Source: Milenio (sp)