Quintana Roo beaches sargassum-free by year end: authorities

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October 8, 2018

Omar Vázquez and his sargassum-adobe house.

Sargassum amounts are decreasing in Quintana Roo but some of it will remain — as houses.

The quantity of sargassum washing up on the beaches of the state is on the decline but it won’t disappear completely until the end of the year, authorities say.

The smelly brown seaweed has arrived en masse on the state’s Caribbean coastline this year, causing a significant drop in tourism and triggering warnings of a serious environmental disaster.

Quintana Roo Environment Secretary Alfredo Arellano said that 155,000 cubic meters of sargassum were removed from beaches and coastal waters in seven of the state’s municipalities between June and September.

The tourist draws of Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Mahahual have all been affected by the seaweed invasion. In response, more than 9,500 residents contributed to the clean-up efforts.

According to the Environment Secretariat (Sema), the amount of seaweed washing up on the state’s beaches will continue to decline throughout this month and by late December it is expected that authorities will be able to officially declare Quintana Roo a sargassum-free zone.

Containment barriers installed off some parts of the coast have helped to stop the seaweed from piling up in a stinky and unsightly mess on the white sand beaches.

But Víctor Manuel Alcérreca Sánchez, general director of the Quintana Roo Science and Technology Council (Coqcyt), believes that more needs to be done to combat the problem.

“We have to strengthen our scientific, technological and innovation capacities to increase competitiveness [in the pursuit of] combating sargassum . . .” he said.

Alcérreca added that state and federal authorities will open a funding application process in the coming weeks to attract new proposals to deal with the seaweed.

One innovative idea that doesn’t stop sargassum from arriving but does provide a use for it once it has been cleared from beaches has already been put into action by a Quintana Roo businessman.

By mixing the seaweed with adobe, Omar Vázquez Sánchez has built a two-bedroom, earthquake and hurricane-resistant home in just 15 days.

Two more sargassum houses were due to be built this month in Leona Vicario, a community in the municipality of Puerto Morelos. Vázquez said that the homes will be given to low-income residents.

He added that a Cancún resident had approached him to ask about the cost of building a home —70,000 pesos (US $3,700) — with a view to funding 40 more sargassum-based abodes.

“The main objective . . . is that people of scarce resources have a home,” Vázquez said.

“. . . We’ve approached private institutions, the state government and non-government organizations, among others, to ask them to donate a home so that families in marginalized areas can benefit.”

Source: El Financiero (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp), Arch Daily (sp)

An early-morning boat ride through the ancient waterways of Xochimilco

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Susannah Rigg

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October 8, 2018

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Dawn in Xochimilco, Mexico City. susannah rigg

Arriving at a rather off-the-beaten-track pier in Xochimilco on a fresh Sunday morning before sunrise was an adventure in itself.

I had only been to the canals of Xochimilco in southern Mexico City in the daytime to be greeted by the multicolored boats called trajineras bobbing merrily on the water.

This time I arrived at a pier with just one or two motorized boats beached on the shore. The sky had a kind of pre-dawn hazy lightness and the birds were calling out that the day was beginning.

I was soon greeted by the others who were heading out with me on the calm, early-morning waters of this tranquil area of the canals, waterways that were an extension of Tenochtitlan, the ancient city of the Aztec or Mexica people. So important are these waterways to Mexico’s history that they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, along with Mexico City’s historic center, over 30 years ago.

Jumping on a low-key motorboat, I realized that this trip was going to be very different from the other rides I had taken in Xochimilco. There were no micheladas or mariachis on this strip of the canal. Instead, we had a list of birds to identify as we traveled along the water.

Despite being part of one of the biggest urban centers, Xochimilco is a nature lover’s paradise. The area is home to over 15 different types of duck alone.

Our boat created ripples along the otherwise still water, which began to reflect the colors of the sunrise, the trees a silhouette in front of the bright sun making its way into the sky. An elegant wading egret took flight before us, its huge white wings flapping hard before it glided to a stop on a fallen tree trunk. The scene was blissful, magical. A mist rose off the water as the dawn gave way to the day.

Soon café de olla was being passed around to keep the chilly morning air at bay. Its deep cinnamon flavor and sugariness woke up my senses, clearing away my own morning mist and bringing me to life.

I looked out all around me trying to identify the birds on my list. I am no bird specialist and relied on our guide to help me name the many species I was seeing. I was distracted at times, staring at the water with a childlike hope of seeing an axolotl — a type of salamander — in the wild.

It’s a hope I have whenever I am in Xochimilco but these fascinating amphibians, which are native to the area, live in the darkest parts of the waters and are in decline so spotting them is almost impossible.

Traversing the waters, and searching for birdlife, I watched as the surrounding trees gave way to a part of the bank that looked like a pasture. Sure enough, Xochimilco is also home to a cuenca lechera, or dairy farm.

Here, cows roam on the banks next to the water. Later our boat would have to make way for a canal boat full of bulls to pass by. Quite the contrast to making way for a boat full of revelers on the more populated canals.

Not far from the dairy fields, our boat took us down a narrow waterway, passing the infamous Island of the Dolls, and soon enough we were disembarking on to the chinampas. These are manmade fertile raised beds constructed in Mesoamerican times that were used to grow food for the 300,000 inhabitants of Tenochtitlan. I love imagining the canoes gliding along rivers to transport food to the people some 500 years ago.

Nowadays, a big movement is under way to protect and reclaim the chinampas and once again provide food for the people or the now somewhat larger city nearby. Many of the best chefs in Mexico City source the produce for their award-winning restaurants from the chinampas and more and more residents have signed up to receive organic produce boxes from the area.

On the banks, we saw lines of lush and abundant vegetables growing all around, everything from multiple types of tomatoes to different leafy greens. All of the crops are cultivated using a non-chemical fertilizer that they make onsite, using only bioproducts that they can obtain close by.

After exploring the allotments, I would get my wish to see an axolotl. We found a place in the shade and a large water-filled box was opened and we could observe this majestic amphibian with its crown of gills swimming before us.

This axolotl was part of a conservation program. The animals are suffering due to the increased temperatures of the water and a reduction of their habitat due to the intrusion of urban sprawl. However, local organizations are working to regenerate the habitat of the mighty axolotl, which plays an important role in Mexica mythology.

Its habitat is the dark, muddy areas of the water hence the axolotl are associated with Xolotl the god of death and the underworld in Mexica mythology. A natural antibiotic that is found in the skin of the axolotl allows them to stay in the murky depths without being susceptible to illness. They are a truly unique and special creature that could entirely disappear by 2020 if measures aren’t taken to protect them.

Bespoke Mexican tour company Journey Mexico wants to help in these preservation efforts. Their creation of an experience to explore these lesser known banks of Xochimilco, accompanied by scientists and the founder of a local non-profit, will help to raise awareness and funds for axolotl protection and conservation efforts in the area. Part of the fee paid by guests will go straight back to the projects on the ground.

Lillian Aviles, the director of business development for Journey Mexico, learned about the possible extinction of axolotls from her son who was working on a school project, and she wanted to do something.

“Our product team has been working on creating a series of sustainable travel experiences and I proposed this one,” she told Mexico News Daily. Working together with a local NGO and a naturalist guide, they developed a tour that would be informative and fun and have a sustainability focus.

The tour, much like the one I took, will start right before sunrise, allowing visitors to birdwatch and enjoy the tranquility of the waters.

In addition, they will have a chance to sample the fresh ingredients from the ancient chinampas by partaking in a lunch hosted by local chefs from the community. They will not only learn about the rich history of this area but also find out more about conservation efforts while contributing to them in an enjoyable way.

Travel is often criticized as being a contributing factor to environmental issues, but many companies are looking for ways to create sustainable practices.

“We can offer guests unique experiences while protecting the environment, its people and culture,” Aviles said. “It’s all about bringing like-minded people together to support the community and environment while offering a unique and unforgettable experience to our clients.”

And with all this increased focus on the chinampas and the axolotl there is hope that this incredibly important area of Mexico City and this majestic animal will continue to thrive for many more centuries to come.

• To find out more about this and other experiences with Journey Mexico, visit their website.

Susannah Rigg is a freelance writer and Mexico specialist based in Mexico City. Her work has been published by BBC Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, CNN Travel and The Independent UK among others. Find out more about Susannah on her website.

Education conference in Acapulco turns into brawl among teachers

By

MND Staff

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October 8, 2018

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Chairs fly as teachers' tempers flare in Acapulco. — Chairs and water bottles fly as teachers' tempers flare in Acapulco.

An education forum in Acapulco, Guerrero, was canceled yesterday after a brawl broke out among teachers just before it was due to start.

At approximately 10:00am, around 300 teachers belonging to the Guerrero Education Workers’ Union (CETEG) burst into a conference room at the Acapulco convention center and launched into a boisterous protest against educational reforms and the disappearance of 43 students in 2014.

They also threw objects at the forum attendees, many of whom were members of the SNTE teachers’ union.

The latter, the CETEG claims, has not fought to defend public education in Guerrero or recognized the repression the state’s teachers have suffered.

The SNTE teachers retaliated by throwing bottles of water at the CETEG members as they shouted at them to leave.

The confrontation then turned even uglier as teachers from both unions threw chairs at each other.

All told, the ruckus lasted around 10 minutes during which time a lot of the attendees fled the conference room. There were no reports of injuries.

The Guerrero Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into the incident.

The forum was organized by the transition team of president-elect López Obrador and future education secretary Esteban Moctezuma Barragán was to have led it.

Instead, he appeared on stage only to announce that the forum was canceled and that it would be rescheduled for a later date.

The 2013 educational reform, intended to improve teaching standards and subject teachers to compulsory evaluations, was met with strong opposition, especially from the dissident CNTE union, to which the CETEG belongs.

There have been hundreds of protests against the reform over the past five years.

López Obrador, who will be sworn in on December 1, has pledged to revoke the reform.

“The educational reform will be canceled and replaced by another reform that will take the point of view of teachers and parents into consideration,” he said in August.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Pet lion plays rough, sends owner to hospital with serious injuries

By

César Hernández

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October 8, 2018

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Two of the 'pets' in the Ciudad Juárez home.

Don’t drink and mess with your pets when they happen to be lions and tigers.

That would appear to be the moral of a story yesterday in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where Erick Noé Romero Meraz, 41, lives with two lions and a tiger.

When he arrived at his home in the Rincones de San Marcos neighborhood, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, he shouted at one of the lions, triggering an attack by the animal.

Romero was admitted to the Juárez general hospital in serious condition with deep gashes in his arms, legs and neck.

When police arrived at Romero’s house, his family assured them they had all necessary permits to have the three animals in their home.

As of yesterday, police were keeping the house under guard.

Source: Sin Embargo (sp)

Man confesses to killing 20; body parts found in buckets, freezer bags

By

MND Staff

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October 8, 2018

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A man arrested last week in México state has confessed to killing at least 20 women, sexually abusing some of them and selling their belongings and bones.

Juan Carlos N., 34 and his wife Patricia N., 38, were arrested in the municipality of Ecatepec Thursday after leaving a house with a baby carriage containing human remains.

Authorities had placed the couple under surveillance as part of an investigation into the disappearance of three women and a two-month-old baby in April, July and September this year.

The baby girl, who the couple admitted they sold for 15,000 pesos (US $800), has been found safe and sound and is now being cared for by her grandmother.

At an initial hearing yesterday, state prosecutors said the remains of two women were found in the couple’s home.

More remains were also found at a vacant lot near the couple’s home and at two other addresses in the Ecatepec neighborhood of Jardines de Morelos.

Investigators found body parts in eight buckets filled with cement as well as inside plastic bags in a freezer.

The remains will be subjected to forensic testing for identification purposes.

The prosecutors also said that that both Juan Carlos and Patricia have been subjected to psychiatric testing.

The former was found to have both psychotic and personality disorders while the latter has suffered from mental retardation since birth and also presented signs of delirium.

Both, however, know the difference between right and wrong, the testing determined.

Juan Carlos said that he was driven to commit at least 20 murders over the past six years because of his hatred for women.

His misogyny, the suspect told investigators, was cultivated by the treatment he received from his mother, who dressed him in female clothing when he was a boy and forced him to watch her having sex with several men.

Juan Carlos confessed to slitting the throats of his victims after which he engaged in sexual acts with their bodies before cutting them up into small pieces and placing most of the remains in jars filled with formaldehyde.

Some body parts, however, were fed to dogs and body fat and skin were used to fertilize potted plants, he said.

Patricia is alleged to have helped her husband to cut up and dispose of the bodies.

She told investigators that she was responsible for convincing victims to enter their home under the pretext of showing them clothes and other items for sale.

Both Juan Carlos and Patricia have been ordered to remain in preventative custody at Ecatepec’s Chiconautla prison.

According to a report in the newspaper Milenio, the couple first met in a bar in Jardines de Morelos, the same neighborhood where they later lived together.

Residents of Ecatepec — a sprawling, densely populated municipality in greater Mexico City that is notorious for femicides — took to the streets yesterday to protest against violent crime against women both in the municipality and further afield.

The president of the México state Congress, Azucena Cisneros Coss, was one of around 1,500 participants who chanted and held up signs emblazoned with “ni una más” (not one more [femicide victim] as they marched.

She described the situation in Ecatepec as both a “state of emergency” and a crisis of violence against women and urged the state government to dismiss Mayor Indalecio Ríos, who she said has done little to combat crime.

Cisneros, a deputy for the Morena party, also took aim at state Public Security Secretary Maribel Cervantes Guerrero, claiming that she has never set foot in Ecatepec despite 40% of the state’s crime occurring there.

“I’m not exaggerating by saying that we are in a deep security, social and economic crisis,” she said.

There were at least 2,585 murders of women in Mexico in 2017, according to official statistics, and of the total México state recorded the highest number.

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

5 Mexico City police arrested for stealing half a million pesos

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César Hernández

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October 8, 2018

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Police aboard motorcycles and in patrol cars allegedly robbed a man of half a million pesos. — Police aboard motorcycles and in patrol cars allegedly robbed Coyoacán businessman.

Five state police officers have been arrested in Coyoacán, Mexico City, on suspicion of stealing half a million pesos from a local businessman.

The victim was traveling in his vehicle near the municipal administrative offices when five police officers on motorcycles and in patrol cars blocked his way.

They surrounded his vehicle and demanded 500,000 pesos (about US $26,400).

After turning over the money, the man followed the officers, who responded by offering to return half the money if he agreed not to continue following them.

The victim, who caught the whole exchange in photographs and on video with his cellphone, then proceeded to file a formal complaint before the state Public Security Secretariat.

The five police were taken into custody after their victim identified them and the money recovered and returned to its owner.

The five officers face charges of theft and abuse of authority.

Source: Excélsior (sp)

Enel Green Power to invest US $160 million in solar plant

By

César Hernández

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October 8, 2018

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There will be new solar panels in Tlaxcala. — More solar panels are coming to Tlaxcala.

The largest solar power plant in the Americas is scheduled to start operations by mid-2019 in the central Mexico state of Tlaxcala.

Located on a 1,000-hectare expanse of land straddling the Tlaxco and Hueyotlipan region, the Magdalena 2 plant will be built by the Italian multinational Enel Green Power.

Representing an investment of US $160 million, the plant will have 550,000 solar panels and generate 231.8 MW.

Enel’s head of renewable energies for Mexico and Central America, Paolo Romanacci, stated that Tlaxcala was the ideal place for the project due to its competitive advantages, including its connectivity and economic stability.

Enel Green Power is one of the biggest renewable energy investors and operators in the country in terms of installed capacity and project portfolio.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Oaxaca mayor accused of spending public funds on residential project

By

MND Staff

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October 8, 2018

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The property where public funds were spent on infrastructure. — The property where public funds were allegedly spent on infrastructure.

The mayor of Juchitán, Oaxaca, spent millions of pesos to complete urban infrastructure work in a residential project in which she has a personal financial interest, a local official has denounced.

Municipal trustee María Cruz Vásquez said that Mayor Gloria Sánchez López allocated more than 6.4 million pesos (US $341,000) to pave streets in the as yet unoccupied neighborhood of Guiexhuba.

The money was taken from a 2017 federal government allocation of 31.7 million pesos (US $1.7 million) earmarked exclusively for road surfacing projects, Cruz added.

The trustee said the mayor’s family sold the lots in the planned residential estate, suggesting that Sánchez acted in her own self-interest by allocating funds to Guiexhuba while other parts of Juchitán were neglected.

In addition, the newspaper El Universal reported that there are two large signs in Guiexhuba, featuring the municipal government insignia, that claim that more than 1.5 million pesos (US $79,000) were spent on water supply and drainage projects completed in July and August that supposedly benefit 375 people.

However, there is currently nothing more than scrubland and a single half-finished home in the area, El Universal said.

Cruz Vásquez, who has carried out her own investigation into the use of public money and infrastructure projects in Juchitán, accuses Sánchez of acting with a lack of transparency.

“In May 2017, I started investigating this project and how it was going to be carried out. I found several irregularities and I documented them and I’ve presented them to the relevant authorities,” she said.

Cruz added that more than 59.3 million pesos (US $3.1 million) earmarked for various infrastructure projects in Juchitán in 2017 were largely allocated to neighborhoods controlled by Sánchez and her political allies.

The mayor will leave her post later this year to take up a new role as a deputy in the Oaxaca Congress.

Juchitán, the commercial hub of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, suffered widespread damage in the first of the devastating September 2017 earthquakes.

In the aftermath of the quake, Sánchez was accused of handing out provisions directly to local residents in defiance of state and federal government directives that all aid be distributed via the military.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Hurricane triggers tropical storm warning for Yucatán peninsula

By

Tony Richards

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October 8, 2018

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Hurricane Michael's position at 11:00am EDT. us national hurricane center

Tropical storm Michael has been upgraded to a hurricane, triggering a hurricane warning for western Cuba and a hurricane watch for the northeastern gulf coast, the United States National Hurricane Center said this morning.

Michael was located about 220 kilometers east-northeast of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, at 11:00am EDT and heading north. Maximum sustained winds were 120 kilometers per hour and further strengthening is forecast.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Tulum to Cabo Catoche at the northern end of the Yucatán peninsula.

The National Meteorological Service warned this morning that strong winds with gusts up to 60 kilometers per hour are forecast for the coasts of Quintana Roo and Yucatán, along with two to three-meter waves.

The hurricane is predicted to move into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by tonight and become a major hurricane by Tuesday or Tuesday night.

Mexico News Daily

Lime scooter rentals launches in Mexico City

By

MND Staff

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October 7, 2018

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Lime e-scooters now in Mexico City. — Lime e-scooters offer another transportation option.

United States micro-mobility company Lime has launched its electric scooter rental service in Mexico City.

The battery-powered, shared scooters can be hired in the neighborhoods of Polanco, Anzures, Juárez, Condesa and Roma, all located to the west of Mexico City’s downtown.

To access the service, Lime users pay 10 pesos to unlock a scooter via a mobile application and then 3 pesos per minute.

When a ride is completed, the dockless scooters can be parked by the curb of any street in the designated operating area.

“Lime is committed to providing Mexico City with easy, quick and sustainable travel solutions,” said Alexander Wieland, Lime’s Mexico general manager.

“E-scooters are relatively new in Mexico, and we believe our partnership with Mexico City will help them achieve their clean-air goals while creating a positive economic impact through job creation . . .”

The company is working with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and other partners to ensure that the introduction of the scooters on the capital’s traffic-clogged streets is safe.

“Lime, like other mobility solutions for last mile connections is great news for Mexico City. We should have more options other than private cars but . . . of course they should operate with order, safety and be part of a public policy of sustainable mobility,” ITDP Mexico director Bernardo Baranda said.

Lime launched in June 2017 and has since entered more than 100 markets across the United States and Europe with its scooters and electric bikes.

It is the second scooter company to enter the Mexico City market after the Mexican company Grin, whose scooters are currently available in Roma and Condesa.

Some Mexico City residents have complained on social media that the scooters clog up public space such as sidewalks and are an eyesore but others have welcomed their arrival.

Mexico City also has a well-established, city government-run shared bicycle scheme called EcoBici, which last year added 340 electric bikes to its inventory.

The Chinese company Mobike entered the market this year but soon hit a significant hurdle: bicycle theft.

Mexico News Daily