Visitors, big waves converge on Acapulco

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July 27, 2018

Hordes of tourists have swarmed to Acapulco for summer vacation this week but their arrival coincided with that of a big Pacific swell, or mar de fondo.

Civil Protection authorities were warning beach-goers to beware of the big waves, which have cost the lives of five people in Acapulco so far this summer.

More than 200 lifeguards were placed on duty at the popular destination’s various beaches, where waves began to diminish in size yesterday.

What has not diminished are tourist numbers. Hotel occupancy rates have been well above the 70% mark, say tourism officials, who estimated that more than half a million tourists have poured into the city so far during this vacation period, which began just over two weeks ago.

Hotel occupancy rates reached 84.7% in the Dorada district and 72.5% and 41.6% in the Diamante and Náutica areas respectively.

The state tourism secretary announced yesterday that visitors will have the opportunity to see an aerial acrobatics show next month. The air show will bring four or five planes for an air show over Acapulco bay on August 11, organized by Grupo Altius México, the company that stages the annual urban downhill bicycle race known as Downhill Taxco.

Source: Milenio (sp), Televisa (sp)

Goodbye, Barbie: Mattel to close Mexico plants in cost-cutting measure

By

César Hernández

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July 27, 2018

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California-based toymaker Mattel announced yesterday it will sell off its two manufacturing plants in Mexico after a disappointing sales performance that saw a 14% decline.

The Mattel Mexico plants are located in Escobedo, Nuevo León, and Tijuana, Baja California.

Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz also announced that the company will lay off more than 2,200 of its global back-office and support employees.

The layoff of 22% of Mattel’s non-manufacturing workforce is intended to preserve the company’s sales-generating and creative capabilities, Kreiz said. The CEO hopes the company can realign resources toward high-performing toys, improving online sales and developing better toy franchises for the future.

Kreiz also stated that Mattel will stop focusing on manufacturing toys and will instead start developing intellectual property.

The layoffs and the sale of the two plants are expected to cut back Mattel’s costs by US $650 million in two years.

The toymaker’s revenue fell 14% during the second quarter to $840.7 million, below the $863.1 million analysts expected.

Mattel said the biggest reason for the decline was the liquidation of Toys R Us.

One company employee in Mexico expressed regret for the decision with a post on Facebook. Mattel “has left us with many memories but above all many friends.”

Source: Reforma (sp), CNN Money (en)

Jalisco cartel announces that it wants the Morelos ‘plaza’

By

César Hernández

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July 27, 2018

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The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has announced publicly that it is going after the “plaza” in the state of Morelos, posting narco-signs and distributing a video threatening public officials.

In the video circulating on social media the crime gang accuses officials of covering up the extortion of transportation operators in Amilcingo, Huazulco and Temoac, all belonging to the eastern municipality of Temoac.

Holding a high-power rifle, a man identified as Commander Juárez warns that the CJNG is going after “public servant scourges” and anyone who “bothers the working people.”

This morning, state police force took down several signs announcing the gang’s incursion into the state.

A new wave of criminal activity, including extortion, has triggered the formation of self-defense forces in nine municipalities.

Public Security Commissioner Jesús Alberto Capella told a press conference that efforts to counter violence have been redoubled, and offered a guarantee of safety for the public.

Morelos, like several other states, is going through a transition of government following the July 1 elections. Capella said the transition complicates the situation because criminal gangs from other regions hope to establish themselves in certain areas while that process is under way.

He invited newly elected authorities, who take office later this year, to meet with security officials in order to be aware of the challenges and threats and the advances that have been made in fighting crime.

However, in one report, the security commissioner seemed to blame Cuernavaca Mayor and governor-elect Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo of causing the arrival of new criminal gangs.

Without naming the soccer player turned politician by name, Capella said his proposals to disband the single-command state police force “created an internal instability” in the force, with the result that officers relaxed their daily activities.

He said the situation encouraged gangs in neighboring states to enter Morelos.

Source: El Universal (sp), Diario de Morelos (sp)

US court orders ban on Mexican seafood imports to protect endangered vaquita

By

MND Staff

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July 27, 2018

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Vaquita porpoise: on the brink of extinction.

A United States court has ordered the U.S. government to impose a ban on Mexican seafood imports caught using gillnets in the northern Gulf of California as a measure to protect the vaquita porpoise.

But the ruling is expected to have a significant economic impact on fishing communities in the region.

The U.S. Court of International Trade issued the decision yesterday, denying a motion from the administration of President Donald Trump to dismiss the case, writing: “Evidence shows that vaquita are killed by gillnet fishing and are on the verge of extinction: because the statutory duty to ban fish imports resulting in such excessive marine mammal bycatch is mandatory, the government must comply with it.”

The ruling follows a lawsuit filed in March by three conservation groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Animal Welfare Institute — against the Department of Commerce. The suit argued that under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) the U.S. government has a legal obligation to impose a ban on Mexican seafood imports in order to protect the vaquita.

Judge Gary Katzmann agreed, ruling that the “law commands” that “the Secretary of the Treasury shall ban imports of fish and fish products from northern Gulf fisheries that utilize gillnets and incidentally kill vaquita in excess of United States standards.”

Katzmann also wrote “what cannot be disputed is that the vaquita’s plight is desperate, and that even one more bycatch death in the gillnets of fisheries in its range threatens the very existence of the species.”

Giulia Good Stefani, staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, applauded the court’s decision.

“A ban on gillnet-caught seafood from Mexico’s Gulf of California is the lifeline the vaquita desperately needs,” she said.

“Collectively, our organizations have spent over a decade working to save the vaquita — and never has extinction felt so close — but now, the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise has what may be its very last chance.”

But a lifeline for the vaquita means something else for those who depend on the commercial fishing industry.

The leader of the Mexican Confederation of Fishery and Aquaculture Cooperatives (Conmecoop) said that he would meet today with the head of the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca) to determine a strategy to try to have the ban lifted.

José Jesús Camacho Osuna described the ruling as “very bad news,” explaining that the economic impact on local fishermen would be “very big” and hurt a lot of families. He said it will even affect seafood products bound for China, such as jellyfish, because they transit through the United States on their way to their final destination.

The communities most affected by the ban will be San Felipe in Baja California and Santa Clara and Puerto Peñasco in Sonora, Camacho said.

In order for the ban to be lifted, Mexico must meet United States fishing standards, which conservationists say would involve improving regulations and enforcement to ensure that vaquitas are not killed in gillnets.

Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, said the court ruling could further complicate an already strained relationship between Mexico and the United States.

“With a difficult renegotiation of NAFTA pending, a trade skirmish over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs under way and potential auto tariffs on the horizon, the timing of this import ban is pretty awful in terms of bilateral relations,” he said.

“But with the vaquita population dipping . . . perhaps nearing the single-digits, the timing is clearly much worse for the porpoise.”

Scientists estimate that there are just 15 vaquitas left and that the species could become extinct by 2021.

The illegal fishing of totoaba, whose swim bladders are considered a delicacy in China and yield high prices, has been particularly detrimental to the vaquita marina.

A permanent ban on gillnet fishing went into effect over a year ago in the northern part of the Sea of Cortés but environmental groups charge that authorities haven’t done enough to enforce it.

Representatives from the organizations that filed the lawsuit expressed optimism that the ruling would provide much-needed impetus for the Mexican government to act.

“With vaquitas on the brink of extinction, these economic sanctions are painful but necessary to push Mexican officials to finally protect these little porpoises,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“For 20 years, the Mexican government has promised to save the vaquita but failed to take meaningful action. That has to change or we’ll lose these animals forever.”

Susan Millward, director of the Marine Animal Program at the Animal Welfare Institute, echoed the sentiment.

“The Mexican government must now protect the vaquita from gillnets before it is too late and this species disappears forever,” she said.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Independiente (sp), The Hill (en), The Los Angeles Times (en)

2-year-old girl dies from dehydration in Los Mochis, Sinaloa

By

Tony Richards

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July 27, 2018

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The scene of two-year-old's death from dehydration.

The extreme heat being experienced across much of Mexico has claimed another life.

A two-year-old girl died from dehydration after spending two hours inside a sport-utility vehicle in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

Municipal officials in Ahome have established that the child was playing outside the family home in the Cañaveral residential area, and was in the care of a grandparent.

When the family realized she was missing they called police. Officers found the youngster unconscious inside a vehicle on the property and took her to a clinic, but they were too late.

A doctor said she died of cardiac arrest brought on by dehydration.

Authorities in Sinaloa have declared an extraordinary emergency in 13 municipalities, including Ahome, where the two-year-old died. The other municipalities are Angostura, Guasave, Navolato, Culiacán, Elota, San Ignacio, Mazatlán, Rosario, Escuinapa, Choix, El Fuerte and Badiraguato.

The heat is forecast to continue today in 25 states, where temperatures will exceed 35 C. Parts of Baja California, Sonora, Coahuila and Hidalgo will see temperatures higher than 45.

Seven people have died either from heat stroke or heat exhaustion this week in Baja California.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Chona Challenge: hopping out of moving vehicle and dancing is all the craze

By

MND Staff

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July 26, 2018

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A wacky — and dangerous — viral dance phenomenon that first took off in the United States has hit Mexico, with a Latin twist.

In late June, a video challenge in which people act out the lyrics to the song In My Feelings by Canadian artist Drake went viral.

Some participants started jumping out of their moving cars while singing or miming the lyrics “are you riding,” ensuring that the craze became even more popular.

Now, in Mexico and other Latin American countries, the In My Feelings challenge has morphed into La Chona challenge, replacing Drake’s hit with the 1995 song La Chona by the Mexican norteña band Los Tucanes de Tijuana.

However, as in the original challenge, people are still jumping out of their cars and doing so remains just as dangerous — particularly when it’s the driver: all that has changed is the soundtrack.

It’s behavior that one might expect authorities to frown upon. But that’s not necessarily so.

In videos posted to social media and later pounced upon by news websites, a municipal police officer, a soldier and a machine-gun-toting state police officer in Nuevo León all take up La Chona challenge.

The northern border state’s Secretariat of Public Security issued a statement saying that it knew who the participating officers were but didn’t say whether they would face any kind of penalties.

But in Querétaro there is speculation that a municipal employee who posted a video of herself taking part in the viral challenge was dismissed for doing so and Mayor Marcos Aguilar Vega issued a statement this week calling on residents of the city to act responsibly and not accept “absurd” challenges that could cost “the lives of those who take it on.”

▶ Con todo y metralleta, un policía de #NuevoLeón se una a #LaChonaChallenge https://t.co/sIgmb1rWG2 pic.twitter.com/dc5XFgYhZ9

— Milenio.com (@Milenio) July 26, 2018

One woman who did take on La Chona challenge provided a stark example of what can go wrong.

After jumping out of the driver’s seat, she jogs alongside her slowly-moving car while someone in the passenger seat films her through the open door.

The woman clearly enjoys her performance and hams it up for the camera but when she tries to get back into the vehicle, in a manner akin to mounting a bobsled, she trips and instead of ending up behind the wheel as she intended, finds herself lying on the road.

Source: Diario de Querétaro (sp), The Daily Mail (en), Milenio (sp)

LA CHONA CHALLENGE 😩😂 This Hurt SOOOO BAD!!!!!

Watch this video on YouTube

Mexico, Canada insist on three-way deal as NAFTA talks resume

By

MND Staff

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July 26, 2018

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NAFTA (TLCAN in Spanish) talks took place today in Washington.

Mexican and Canadian officials insisted yesterday that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) remain a three-way pact as speculation continues that the United States will seek separate trade deals with its two neighbors.

After a meeting in Mexico City, Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said they were still optimistic that an agreement to update the 24-year-old treaty can be reached.

They also reiterated their opposition to the so-called sunset clause that the United States has been pushing for, which would see NAFTA automatically terminated if the three countries don’t renegotiate the deal after five years.

Trilateral trade discussions started last August and were originally scheduled to conclude by the end of 2017 but have dragged on due to differences on key issues such as rules of origin for the automotive sector.

In the lead-up to Mexico’s presidential election, the talks stalled again amid increased trade tension arising from the United States decision to impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum.

During the drawn-out negotiation process, United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to pull out of NAFTA if a deal that better favors the U.S. is not reached.

Last month, he said that two separate trade deals with Mexico and the United States could replace the trilateral agreement and floated the idea again last week.

However, in a letter to president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador dated July 20 Trump wrote: “I believe a successful renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement will lead to even more jobs and higher wages for hard-working American and Mexican workers — but only if it can go quickly.”

He continued, “otherwise I must go a much different route,” adding “it would not be my preference, but would be far more profitable for the United States and its taxpayers.”

Trump’s missive came in response to a letter sent earlier this month by AMLO, as the 64-year-old president-elect is known, in which he wrote he wanted to maintain a three-way NAFTA and called for a swift conclusion to negotiations.

United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue yesterday raised the prospect that the U.S. could seek separate deals, and that an agreement with Mexico could come first, in September.

But Guajardo — who traveled to Washington D.C. today with Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray and AMLO’s prospective chief NAFTA negotiator Jesús Seade to resume talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer — stressed that the goal was to maintain a three-way pact.

“The fact that we are going to Washington to participate in bilateral talks is to reinforce the concept of the trilateralism of this agreement,” he said. “The essence of this agreement is trilateral, and it will continue being trilateral.”

Mexico’s next foreign secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, also expressed support for NAFTA to remain a trilateral treaty.

“It should and can be modernized but we’re not thinking about it having a different nature to that of today,” Ebrard said, speaking outside López Obrador’s transition headquarters after the president-elect met with Freeland.

At that meeting, AMLO personally told Freeland he supported a trilateral trade treaty and also proposed that Canada increase its investment in Mexico in order to contribute to the country’s economic development.

Specifically, the president-elect invited the government of Canada to participate in the Cancún-Palenque train project and the development of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, Ebrard said.

The prospective foreign affairs secretary also said that López Obrador and Freeland agreed to widen cooperation between Mexico and Canada in areas such as the aerospace industry and transportation logistics.

While the communication channels between the three countries are open, some analysts believe that a deal remains unlikely in the short term in contrast to Guajardo who said last week a new agreement could come as soon as next month.

“It’s hard to see an agreement in August without the U.S. falling off some of its positions,” said Bill Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Eric Miller, a former Canadian diplomat who is now a Washington-based trade consultant, said the White House’s NAFTA strategy to conquer and divide through hardline tactics such as the imposition of tariffs and now the proposal to negotiate separate deals is nothing new.

“The NAFTA negotiations appear to be repeating the same pattern that they have followed since the beginning: the United States sets unrealistic deadlines and tries to pressure their counterparts into a deal,’’ he said.

Source: Reuters (en), El Universal (sp), El Financiero (sp)

La Perla Records & Books in Guadalajara: a passion for great literature and music

By

John Pint

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July 26, 2018

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Domene with a collectible Beatles album.

Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of its proprietors, La Perla Records & Books may be the biggest and best used book and record shop in Latin America.

Some 15,000 books in English line the shelves of this establishment and touring them with their owner, Gerry Smith, is quite an experience.

“If you’re interested in gastronomy,” he told me, “I have about 300 books on cooking and food, but if you’re looking for literature, you might enjoy these great books by Willa Cather, or those by Upton Sinclair, over there.”

Smith handed me one of the volumes by Sinclair. “Albert Einstein said if you really want to understand the history of the first half of the 20th century, read Sinclair’s Lanny Budd series. These are the books to read. I love them. I think I’ve read them five times.”

As you must have already guessed, the books in this shop did not land on its shelves by accident, but were hand picked with understanding, care and, I would say, with love. “This next section is Western Americana,” Smith went on. “Most of these come from my personal collection.” Note that, with a few exceptions for rare books and first editions, most books at La Perla sell for between 70 and 200 pesos.

We wandered out to the store’s balcony overlooking Guadalajara’s Zona Rosa and I asked Gerry Smith to tell me a bit about himself.

“When I was in my 20s,” he said, “I turned into an avid reader. Books became my great love and I’ve spent the last 30-some years reading. Wherever I lived, all the librarians knew me and whenever I traveled, I’d stop at every bookstore I could find and any junk shop I thought might have books. I’ve surely been in a thousand bookstores in the U.S. And I also started buying books in those days.

“So I ended up with a houseful of books and then I started filling my brother’s house with them. And now, after about six years in Mexico, I ended up with yet another house full of books. Inadvertently, I had become a book expert, so I finally decided to open my own bookstore.”

La Perla Records & Books is located in the middle of Guadalajara at 1530 Calle Pedro Moreno. The entrance is small and unassuming, but as you climb the stairs you are greeted by the faces of Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash and other rock legends. These posters and album covers make it clear that at La Perla you will find not only books, but an extraordinary collection of vinyl records as well, owned by Ernesto “Bola” Domene.

“Bola really knows music,” Smith told me. “He has a great collection that nobody else can match . . . and he has a passion for music.”

A few weeks later I returned to La Perla and had an opportunity to interview Bola Domene.

J.P. Why do they call you Bola?

I’m the 12th child in my family and I was born fat, so they called me Bola (Butterball). I’m the owner of La Perla Records and Books. Gerry and I collaborate together. I started with this as a record shop, a subsidiary of Roma Records of Mexico City. Then Gerry came along and said, “You know, my dream is to rent a room where I can put shelves full of books.

Well, I liked the idea of books and records together because there’s a movement now to go back and rescue technology that we’ve left behind. We are saying ‘Stop the frenetic rush! Stop and make time for your soul.’ So I love the idea of having records and books together.

Gerry and I are very happy we did this. For both of us this place has turned into a kind of sanctuary, our refuge. At a certain time we also tried to put a restaurant here. Well, it didn’t work out, but the beer fridge stayed and we are delighted that now we have both beer and culture in the same establishment and as far as I am concerned, these two should be together all the time!

J.P. How did you get interested in music?

Well, I’m a drummer and since the age of 15 I’ve been with a legendary band from Guadalajara called Rostros Ocultos. It has nothing to do with the occult: the name just means Hidden Faces.

As for the music industry, I think it has undergone more changes than any other during the last few decades. We made a great leap from analog to digital, but a teacher of mine, a painting teacher, opened my eyes to a new way of looking at an old LP. He saw each record album as a work of art: the music, the cover and even the information on the jacket: where was it recorded? Who played which instrument?

All of it together is like an engraving or a limited-edition book. It’s fascinating and it makes you want to collect them, to play them and even to caress them. So if the perfect client comes along and I know he’s going to love this album the way I do, well, then I sell it. So you could say I now have a transitory collection.

J.P. Can you show me an example of a really special album like that?

(Bola led me to a little, hidden-away closet.)

OK, these are some Beatles records that were made in Mexico City by an outfit called Musart during a short period of six months. They were simply labeled Beatles 1, Beatles 2, etc. They only got to five when EMI came along and said, “Stop! We have the rights for these!” So a limited number of those five Mexican Beatle albums are still floating around and in some places like Japan or England maybe, they are highly prized. It would be like finding a José José record made in China.

J.P. So if people come here to La Perla, they can end up getting a lesson in music history.

Actually, I learned a lot myself, just this way, from record stores. You would go in and talk with a guy who knew everything about everything and you’d ask him, “Hey what do you think about this band? Should I buy this record or that one?” And he would always say, “Wait a minute, man, have you heard about this other band? I bet you’d like it!”

So people come here and ask me about music, but at the same time I myself am learning more about music than ever before in my life. Even though I’m a musician, when somebody comes along and asks me a question about some band and I don’t have a clue, that customer is really opening a door, a door to a long corridor of music, and that’s beautiful.

“There is more music than life,” is a saying I like, which means that if you put all the records available in big stacks, you are never going to have enough time in one life to listen to them all, even once. Just here in this store we have maybe 10,000 records.

I’m happy that every day a kid will come along, maybe a 13-year-old and he walks in here and looks at one of these LPs and he’s amazed because it has music on both sides. And I say, “Yeah, check it out my friend, there’s a Side B too.” That’s one more youngster getting on the boat — and that’s cool.

A frequent customer of La Perla Records & Books is Clemente Orozco, grandson of Mexico’s famed muralist, José Clemente Orozco. “It’s one of my favorite places, perhaps the best in Latin America,” he told me.

So if you have an appreciation for music on vinyl or books on paper, you may agree with me that La Perla is truly a pearl without price. The telephone number is (52) 331 525 3015 and everyone there speaks English. On top of that, they actually have a couple of parking spots in front!

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.

[soliloquy id="57362"]

Gunmen attack vigil for assassination victim and kill six more

By

César Hernández

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July 26, 2018

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Police at the scene of the funeral vigil.

Assassins shot and killed a man in Michoacán on Tuesday but they weren’t done yet. Later that day they showed up at his funeral and killed six more.

The first victim was killed in Uruapan, Michoacán, and his body abandoned near an area known as La Pinera.

By nightfall, the family of the deceased had gathered for a vigil when they were interrupted by an armed gang that killed six and wounded four others.

The state Attorney General’s office said the four wounded were rushed to a hospital, which was being kept under under tight surveillance.

The attack was followed by a deployment of security forces to patrol the area of the attack and mount a special operation throughout the city in response to reports of the presence of armed civilians.

Located 112 kilometers to the west of the capital city Morelia, Uruapan is considered to be territory controlled by the Los Viagras crime gang, which is embroiled in a violent turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Another similar attack was reported in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, two weeks ago when 17-year-old Diego Rosendo was shot and killed outside a nightclub on July 14. On the night of his funeral a group of armed men attacked, killing six and wounded 16.

But the attackers were not finished.

Tuesday was the last day of the nine-day novena following Rosendo’s death and his family had gathered for the occasion. Armed civilians burst into the Rosendo family home, killing the youth’s father and a female relative.

Authorities have theorized that a wave of violence in the state could be linked to rivalry between the Gulf and Northeast cartels.

Source: El Universal (sp)

‘We’ve had it with organized crime:’ self-defense forces now in 9 municipalities

By

MND Staff

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July 26, 2018

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Armed civilians on patrol in Tlayacapan.

Constant extortion of public transportation operators has now triggered the formation of self-defense forces in at least nine Morelos municipalities, the newspaper Milenio reported today.

Residents of Totolapan, Tlalnepantla, Tlayacapan and Atlatlahucan formed self-defense forces last month to combat rising levels of extortion and other crimes allegedly committed by a gang known as La Maña.

Milenio said today that civilian security groups are now operating as well in the municipalities of Tetela del Volcán, Ayala, Ocuituco, Zacualpan and Yautepec and that residents of Temoac, Jantetelco, Jonacatepec and Axochiapan have attended meetings at which they expressed their willingness to participate in community-based security operations.

In Tlayacapan and Tlalnepantla — both located in the north of the state — armed and masked civilians have set up checkpoints where they decide who can and can’t enter their municipalities.

Community guards in other municipalities have employed similar strategies although some are armed only with radios rather than weapons and work with authorities rather than outside the law.

“We don’t use weapons, we don’t put hoods on, we’re people who just protect [the town], we’re eyes for the authorities, who intervene in the case of someone suspicious [being detected],” said Jair Villanueva, a community guard in Totolapan.

María de Jesús Vital, mayor of the same municipality, told Milenio that local authorities have decided to financially assist self-defense members who collaborate with official security forces so that their rudimentary blockades made out of sandbags can be replaced with formal security checkpoints equipped with cameras.

She said she was aware of the reports of extortion against local transportation operators but added that authorities couldn’t act because no official criminal complaints have been filed.

In Tetela del Volcán, a municipality in the northeast of the state that borders both México state and Puebla, local residents swung into action after twice being forced to collect 300,000 pesos (US $16,100) to pay off criminals threatening public transportation drivers and licensees.

Apart from forming a self-defense force, residents also held a mass protest on the highway to Cuautla and for a while detained two municipal officials.

They also declared they would no longer make extortion payments to criminals.

On July 16, a driver from Hueyapan was attacked by gangsters who warned him that the extortion payments would be permanent but residents continue to be defiant in their refusal to succumb to threats.

Ana Karina Pérez, a Hueyapan resident and wife of the Tetela del Volcán municipal assistant, said if they continue to make the payments extortion would become more widespread, affecting not just transportation operators but also shopkeepers and farmers, among others.

In the municipality of Ayala, located to the south of Cuautla where residents claim organized crime has a stronghold, a self-defense group has also sprung up to combat rising levels of extortion, homicides and kidnappings.

“Thank god, there are a lot of us. We’ve already put the first barricade in place in the neighborhood of Benito Juárez,” a masked self-defense leader known as El Comandante said in a video posted online.

“We’re going to continue neighborhood by neighborhood. Autodefensas will go to every street [if that’s what’s needed] to bring confidence and security [to the people] . . . We’re going to install loudspeakers and alarms so that if an asshole comes along and wants to charge extortion payments, the alarms will go off and we’re already organized,” he continued.

“Now, we’re ready for everything . . . If it’s a question of going to war with the government, we’ll do it. We’ve had it with organized crime.”

Source: Milenio (sp)