Maya Train’s study costs are not out of line, says project’s developer

By

-

May 6, 2019

Fonatur's Jiménez: studies' costs within reason.

The costs of initial studies for construction of the Maya Train are below international standards for similar projects, according to the head of the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur).

New statistics provided last week by Fonatur – which is managing the ambitious Yucatán peninsula rail project – showed that study costs have shot up 710% to 972 million pesos (US $50.8 million) from 120 million pesos (US $6.2 million) five months ago.

But Rogelio Jiménez Pons sees no reason for concern, stating that the latter figure was merely a preliminary forecast from the former government – “a favor” to ensure that initial costs for the current administration’s signature infrastructure project were considered in 2019 budget calculations.

“A project of this nature normally involves costs for studies and plans of 2% to 5% of the total cost of construction,” he said.

“For the specific case of the Maya Train we’re thinking that in consideration of the 150 billion pesos [US $7.9 billion] that the project will cost, the maximum cost of the studies shouldn’t exceed 3 billion pesos,” Jiménez added.

“I calculate that we’ll be far [short] of that [figure] . . . If we pass 3 billion pesos, then yes, we would be in a difficult situation.”

The Fonatur chief predicted that more previously unconsidered costs will arise but he also pointed out that the 972-million-peso estimate is more than 2 billion pesos short of 2% of the total projected cost for the Maya Train.

The results of the various studies for the project, including ones on social impact, soil mechanics and archaeological preservation, will inform the environmental impact statement (EIS), which is expected to be presented to the Secretariat of the Environment (Semarnat) in the last quarter of this year at the latest.

The EIS will determine the viability of building a new railroad between Escárcega, Campeche, and Cancún, Quintana Roo.

Tracks already exist between Palenque, Chiapas, and Izamal, Yucatán, meaning that new environmental studies are not needed for that section of the route, the newspaper El Economista reported.

The government has said that rehabilitation work will be undertaken to prepare the existing railroad for incorporation into the 1,500-kilometer-long Maya Train.

Jiménez said that while that work is being carried out indigenous people who live in communities near the train’s route will be consulted about the project in accordance with the International Labor Organization’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.

Late last year, indigenous communities on the Yucatán peninsula rejected the project, declaring that nobody had asked their opinion about it, while environmental experts have warned that construction of the railroad poses risks to the region’s underground water networks and the long-term survival of the jaguar.

In March, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco), a think tank, said in a report that “if planning is not optimal,” the project could cost almost 1.6 trillion pesos (US $85 billion), an amount more than 10 times that estimated by the federal government.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Civil servants’ health service robbed of millions in medications

By

MND Staff

-

May 6, 2019

0

Ten years of robberies at ISSSTE warehouses. — Ten years of robberies at ISSSTE.

Criminal groups have stolen medications worth tens of millions of pesos from the State Workers’ Social Security Institute (ISSSTE) during the past decade, insurance documents show.

In countless robberies of ISSSTE warehouses since 2008, thieves have made off with large quantities of controlled, specialty and high-cost drugs used to treat autoimmune diseases, cancer and psychiatric disorders, the newspaper Milenio reported.

The largest heist occurred in April 2009 when armed men stole medications valued at more than 27.8 million pesos (US $1.5 million at today’s exchange rate).

When Milenio asked ISSSTE for a list of the drugs stolen, the federal agency denied that the robbery had occurred.

However, the newspaper confirmed that both the federal Attorney General’s Office and its counterpart in Mexico City opened investigations into the theft, and insurance records obtained by Milenio show that several costly drugs were stolen on April 8, 2009.

They included Sorafenib, a drug used to treat kidney and liver cancer, Eptacog Alfa, a hemophilia medication, and leukemia medicine Dasatinib.

News of the massive robbery of medications at ISSSTE follows the uncovering last week of a theft scheme involving fake prescription forms at the IMSS national health service.

President López Obrador said last Monday that the health sector is “infested with corruption.”

The government has announced plans to overhaul healthcare services in Mexico and in January the president declared that Mexico will have a health care system comparable to those in Canada, the United Kingdom and Denmark in two years.

Source: Milenio (sp)

FBI investigated 113 cases of kidnapping, extortion in Mexico last year

By

Madison Koen

-

May 6, 2019

0

Many extortion calls are made by inmates in Mexican prisons.

The United States revealed that the FBI investigated 113 kidnapping cases involving U.S. citizens and residents in Mexico in 2018, and warned its citizens to take extra care when traveling to Mexico City because of the “serious risk of crime.”

Of the 113 cases, 64 involved a U.S. citizen, in 10 cases the victim was a U.S. permanent resident of Mexico and in 39 cases, an extortion call or ransom demand was placed to a number in the U.S.

A report by the Overseas Advisory Council (OSAC) found that the general crime rate in Mexico City exceeds the U.S. national average.

“The low rate of criminal convictions contributes to the high rate of crime. Although there is no pattern of criminals specifically targeting foreign or U.S. businesses/personnel, criminals will target anyone perceived as lucrative and vulnerable.”

The report warns visitors of the risk of killings, armed robberies, kidnappings, sexual assault, auto theft, credit card fraud. It also singles out Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas for the added risk of cartel violence and roadblocks, advising U.S. citizens not to visit those states.

The agency has included Mexico on its list of 35 countries where its citizens were at increased risk of being kidnapped and noted that the Mexican government recorded a total of 1,480 kidnaping cases in 2018. The report asserted that the states with the highest recorded numbers of kidnappings were Guerrero, Veracruz, México and Tabasco, warning that “police (or former law enforcement officials) have been implicated in many of these incidents.”

The State Department report added that the increase in crime is due to diverse factors that have strengthened organized crime operations in recent years, allowing them to operate with relative impunity.

“Mexico is experiencing a combination of conditions that collectively degrade the security environment in certain areas. The government has captured some of its most wanted criminals. Consequently, organized criminal groups are becoming much less organized and disciplined. Various groups have splintered into smaller gangs, which have branched out into different illegal business activities, and associated violence is spreading across Mexico.”

The report also expressed a litany of additional concerns, including virtual kidnappings, weak or corrupt police, dangerous travel conditions, cargo theft and some incidences of police harassment.

Source: Milenio (sp)

14 killed after executive jet crashes in Coahuila

By

César Hernández

-

May 6, 2019

0

The wreckage of yesterday's plane crash in Coahuila. — The wreckage of yesterday's plane crash.

A private plane crashed on Sunday in Coahuila, killing all 14 people aboard.

The Bombardier Challenger 601 executive jet was en route from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Monterrey, Nuevo León, with 12 passengers and two crew aboard when it ran into bad weather, according to a preliminary report.

The passengers had been in Las Vegas to attend the Saturday night boxing match between Mexican boxing champion Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez and Daniel Jacobs.

Air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft when it was flying over the municipality of Sierra Mojada, 258 kilometers from the city of Monclova.

The plane was located today in the municipality of Monclova.

According to meteorological data, the aircraft traveled through a cumulonimbus cloud, which can produce severe turbulence and hail.

It crashed in a mountainous region of the state during a severe storm.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Quintana Roo divided into 9 zones in effort to remove sargassum

By

Madison Koen

-

May 6, 2019

0

A woman and child appear unfazed by the surrounding seaweed.

A plan to combat this year’s expected million tonnes of sargassum on the beaches of Quintana Roo is beginning to take shape.

The state government has announced emergency sargassum protocol that will divide the state into nine zones where efforts will be concentrated on preventing the seaweed from accumulating on beaches.

Environment Secretary Alfredo Arellano will head the initiative intended to keep the beaches clean and find a sustainable use for the collected plant matter.

The state has identified beachfront hotel owners and businesses that might be affected by the algae’s arrival, all of whom received a summary of the state’s plan, which outlines cooperation with business owners and residents to erect retention barriers and organize clean-up crews.

In a Friday meeting with hotel owners in Zone 7, which extends from Punta Maroma to Playa Mamitas in Solidaridad, Tourism Secretary Marisol Vanegas Pérez related the state’s plan and stressed the importance of federal support to combat the problem.

This morning, President López Obrador announced a Tuesday meeting with Fonatur director Rogelio Jiménez Pons, Quintana Roo business owners and Governor Carlos Joaquín to discuss solutions for the sargassum, which is expected to continue arriving over the next few months.

Asked at his daily press conference if the federal government will provide economic assistance to industries affected he said “we are going to help.”

The arrival of sargassum over the weekend didn’t quite live up to the forecasts but those are expected to be fulfilled over the next 72 hours, affecting beaches from Holbox in the north of the state to Xcalak near the border with Belize. Authorities are actively monitoring the situation’s progress with the help of satellite images and drones.

The Cancún sargassum monitoring network reports that beaches in Puerto Morelos, Solidaridad (Playa del Carmen) and Tulum are the most affected.

In Solidaridad, paid and volunteer workers have been removing more than 100 tonnes of sargassum a day from the beaches.

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

‘AMLO out:’ 20,000 march in protest against government of López Obrador

By

MND Staff

-

May 6, 2019

0

#AMLOresignation, reads the hashtag on the banner at the Mexico City march.

More than 20,000 people took to the streets in 19 cities yesterday to protest against the federal government and demand the resignation of President López Obrador.

The largest protest took place in Mexico City where about 15,000 people marched along the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard holding signs on which they had written “AMLO out!” and “Wise people made a mistake with you,” among other anti-government messages.

Dubbed “La Marcha del Silencio” (The Silence March), some protesters covered their mouths with masking tape emblazoned with a clear message: “AMLO resign.”

The government’s cancelation of the new Mexico City international airport, insecurity, the staging of legally questionable public consultations, the dismissal of bureaucrats and López Obrador’s use of divisive language. He frequently describes his “adversaries” as fifí (elitist) or conservatives – were the protesters’ main complaints.

Plans to build the Maya Train on the Yucatán peninsula and a new oil refinery on the Gulf coast in Tabasco were also criticized.

Toluca, Saltillo, Veracruz, Mérida, Puebla, Chihuahua, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Morelia and Tijuana were among the other cities that saw protests, which were organized on social media by a group called Chalecos México (Mexico Vests).

Homero Velázquez, one of the group’s founders, told the news website Animal Político that Chalecos México has been organizing protests against López Obrador since before he was sworn in as president last December, and that its opposition to the new government initially focused on the decision to cancel the partially-built airport project at Texcoco, México state.

The group’s leaders and most of the people who participated in yesterday’s protests said they are not members of any political party but rather ordinary Mexicans who are concerned about the direction in which the five-month-old government is taking the country.

However, not all the protesters could claim to be everyday Mexicans.

Former president Vicente Fox, a frequent critic of the president, led a march of about 1,000 people in León, Guanajuato, while carrying a sign that called on the government to use “better criteria” in its decision making.

Former tourism secretary Enrique de la Madrid also took part in the protests although he said that he attended as a private citizen and not as a representative of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost power at last year’s elections.

“It’s a very delicate moment in which freedoms are being lost,” de la Madrid said without explaining what those freedoms were.

Former president Felipe Calderón, who has clashed repeatedly with López Obrador, praised Mexicans who participated in yesterday’s protests in a Twitter post in which he also invited them to join a new political movement in which he is involved.

At his morning press conference today, López Obrador was unperturbed about the protests and reiterated that people have the right to freely express their opposition to the government.

“They have the complete right to demonstrate. I’m even pleased that this protest was organized and hopefully those who are not in favor of the government will continue to protest with freedom,” he said.

“This is logical, it’s natural. When we won we said that there was going to be a change of regime, that we were going to put an end to corruption, privileges, luxuries of government; that we were going to listen to everyone, respect everyone; and that we were going to give preference to the dispossessed . . . for the good of all, the poor come first,” López Obrador continued.

“It’s new politics, a transformation and this of course doesn’t please [some people] . . .”

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

Andrick’s sandcastle dream comes true in Puerto Vallarta

By

César Hernández

-

May 6, 2019

0

Andrick, left, and his family arrive in Puerto Vallarta on Friday. — Andrick, left, and his family arrive for their beach holiday.

A young boy’s dream of building sandcastles on a beach came true last weekend when he and his family were flown from Monterrey, Nuevo León, to the Pacific coast beach destination of Puerto Vallarta.

It all began at the end of the Easter vacation when a television reporter and a camera crew sought to interview low-income families who were unable to go the beach during the holiday.

The reporter found Andrick playing with other children around a fountain, leading to the now viral interview in which the boy said that what he liked to do the most during the holiday was build sandcastles. He told the interviewer that he had never actually been to the beach, and that he only built the castles in his dreams.

It didn’t take long for several companies and organizations in Nuevo León and Jalisco to come up with a plan to make Andrick’s dream come true.

On Friday, he and his family flew from Monterrey courtesy of the airline VivaAerobus. En route, Andrick visited the cockpit, donned a pilot’s cap and sat at the controls.

andrick and sandcastle — The dream fulfilled.

Once in Puerto Vallarta, he and his family were welcomed by tourism officials, who documented Andrick’s holiday and shared photos of his experience on line.

Accommodation was provided by the Buenaventura Hotel where Andrick was given a warm welcome by pirates who gave him a kit of sandcastle-building tools.

In addition to building castles and playing on the beach, Andrick rode a zip line.

Andrick was a special guest aboard a VivaAerobus flight.

Source: Infobae (sp)

Government doesn’t have billion pesos needed to deal with sargassum

By

Madison Koen

-

May 5, 2019

0

Sargassum on a Tulum beach yesterday. cancún sargassum monitoring network

As sargassum seaweed steadily invades the beaches of Quintana Roo, from Isla Holbox in the north to Xcalak near the Belize border, there is no money to do anything about it.

The federal government does not have the billion pesos needed to combat the massive waves of sargassum, revealed Pablo Careaga, the state representative of the tourism promotion fund. Fonatur.

There were hopes that Fonden, the natural disaster fund, could help. But this week it was discovered that under the agency’s rules, sargassum does not qualify as a natural disaster.

With winds and ocean currents driving the seaweed in to shore, it was forecast that by Saturday or Sunday the state’s entire coastline would lie under a bed of sargassum, with no immediate let-up in sight.

One report on Sunday said satellite images indicate the sargassum will continue to arrive over the next 72 hours.

Fonatur’s Careaga said lawmakers are working with businesses, organizations and other government agencies to find a way to free up funds to deal with the problem in the months ahead, which are forecast to see record amounts of the weed continuing to wash up on Quintana Roo shores.

“We are looking into the matter with the secretary of finance to see what other options might exist, but yes, we’re stuck on the funding.”

The Cancún sargassum monitoring network estimates that as much as one million tonnes of sargassum could finish up on the beaches this year. As of Saturday, one of the worst affected areas was Tulum, where a 25-meter strip of sargassum lined the beaches.

Quintana Roo Senator Marybel Villegas said Friday a multidisciplinary task force consisting of federal, state and local authorities, along with businesses, universities and NGOs will be created to address the problem.

Villegas said the problem is a priority for the federal government for its significant economic impact. She said that while an aid package of 240 million pesos (US $12.7 million) was pledged in August of last year, the measures implemented so far have been ineffective.

The Cancún-Puerto Morelos hotels association estimated that cleaning the beaches of sargassum will cost at least 700 million pesos.

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

With cumbia, ranchera, Lila Downs’ latest album pays homage to the chile

By

César Hernández

-

May 5, 2019

0

Lila Downs' new album: dedicated to the chile. — Lila Downs' new album is dedicated to the chile.

Mexican-American singer-songwriter Lila Downs’ new album is dedicated to the chile, is conformed mostly of cumbia beats and and doesn’t shy away from a hot issue in Mexico and the United States — immigration.

Downs said during an interview in New York that immigration is an “uncomfortable” issue for some people, but she could not abstain from addressing it in her new release, called Al Chile.

Al chile is a Mexican expression that means speaking with honesty, being “straight up” or “keeping it real.”

“It’s our personality. We Mexicans are sweet, but also spicy,” Downs said about her album’s title.”We are like that verse from La Llorona: ‘I am like the green chile, Llorona, hot but delicious,'” she sang with a smile.

Downs covers Manu Chau’s iconic song Clandestino, a hymn to immigrants everywhere. She gave the song her own cumbia and ranchera-inspired touch, and modified some of the lyrics to make it more up to date with the times, making it a protest against the immigrant detention and family separation policies in the United States.

“If we don’t fight for the children, what will become of us?” she asks.

Downs said she sings the song from the perspective of a migrant woman because her mother was one.

“My mother was a migrant. She married a gringo, she went to the United States. She came here and suffered. She migrated from her indigenous town to the city, she lived those two periods of her life, which were difficult, and perhaps that is why my perspective is that of the woman,” said Downs.

In Al Chile, Downs offers a diverse selection of music, through collaboration with various Mexican bands playing traditional Mexican music, to a song with jazz artist Norah Jones.

Two of the album’s 11 songs were co-written by Downs and her husband, Paul Cohen.

Source: AP (sp)

Ex-official jailed in 2005 torture case; former governor, 2 others still sought

By

Madison Koen

-

May 5, 2019

0

Nacif, Marín and Karam: arrest warrants outstanding.

One of four people sought for the torture of a journalist in 2005 has been arrested and remanded for trial.

Juan Sánchez Moreno, a former official in the Puebla Attorney General’s Office, was arrested last week for the torture of celebrated investigative journalist Lydia Cacho.

Sánchez is one of four people for whom warrants were issued last month. The others are former Puebla governor Mario Marín, businessman Kamel Nacif and another former senior police official in Puebla, Hugo Adolfo Karam Beltrán.

Cacho was detained by Puebla police in Cancún in 2005 on defamation charges following the release of her book, The Demons of Eden, which exposed a pedophilia ring in Cancún allegedly run by businessman Jean Succar Kuri (who has been tried and convicted) with the participation of Kamel Nacif, the Puebla-based businessman known “the “denim king” for his large textile empire.

While held in custody, Cacho was tortured and threatened with rape in a case that became a national sandal when a tape was leaked of a conversation between Nacif and then-Puebla governor Marín plotting to prosecute Cacho as punishment for her book.

Cacho accused federal authorities last week of allowing Marín, Nacif and their accomplices time to escape by neglecting to issue a red alert through Interpol. She wrote on Twitter that the alert should have been issued on April 13, just after the arrests warrants were issued.

As of Sunday, there was no record of an Interpol alert for either ex-governor Marín or Nacif.

In August, the United Nations denounced the lack of justice for Cacho and demanded that the Mexican government apprehend those responsible for human rights abuses during her imprisonment.

Two police officers accused of torturing the journalist were arrested in August and December of last year, one of whom was sentenced to at least five years in prison.

Source: Reforma (sp), e-consulta (sp)