Labor Day celebrated with labor reforms that give workers more say

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May 2, 2019

Food poisoning victims receive medical attention at a Veracruz hospital.

Authorities in Veracruz report that 1,358 people were admitted to emergency rooms on Children’s Day after contracting food poisoning.

Health officials said the Zongolica, Tlaquilpa and Río Blanco regional hospitals looked after 699 of the intoxicated adults and children, while 433 were admitted at the IMSS clinics in Atlahuilco and Tehuipango.

Another 186 received medical care at the health centers in Tilica and Alcomunga, Puebla, while 40 were taken to private medical institutions.

While most of the victims were in no danger after receiving outpatient oral rehydration, some severe cases required intravenous fluid regulation.

Lab results are expected in three to four days and will enable authorities to determine the cause of intoxication.

At the same time, the state government announced that it will be proceeding legally against World Vision, organizer of the annual event. Preliminary reports indicate that children began feeling ill after eating cake.

Education Secretary Zenyazen Escobar García told reporters that the massive food poisoning could have been “tragic,” and that Governor Cuitláhuac García Jiménez had ordered that action be taken against the aid organization.

World Vision said in a statement later the same day that it was fully prepared to work with authorities to investigate the source of the poisoning and promised medical aid to victims.

The organization, which said it had been involved in the Children’s Day event for 10 years, said it was “deeply concerned” over Tuesday’s incident.

There were also cases of Children’s Day food poisoning in Guerrero.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Cost of Maya Train master plan, studies soars 710% to nearly 1bn pesos

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May 2, 2019

Route of the Maya Train, the federal government's signature infrastructure project.

What would a government infrastructure project be without cost overruns?

According to new statistics provided by the tourism development fund Fonatur, the cost of initial studies for the construction of the Maya Train, including a master plan and environmental impact study, have shot up 710%.

The projected cost of 120 million pesos (US $6.2 million) five months ago is now 972 million pesos (US $50.8 million).

Government documents reveal that initial estimates overlooked 14 of 24 necessary studies, which represents a significant increase in cost.

There was also an environmental cost despite claims that the project would not have any serious effect on the environment.

In April, a payment of 48.2 million pesos was made to the Mexican Forestry Fund for environmental compensation for the removal of approximately 750 hectares of forest, an area slightly larger than Mexico City’s Chapultepec park.

Total costs related to feasibility studies have shot up by 1,200% from 14 million pesos to 184 million, while the master plan has risen six times, from 20 million pesos to 120 million.

Among several other studies that ballooned in cost were a legal analysis, from 11 million to 55 million pesos; a financial analysis, from 11 million to 52 million pesos; a social impact study, from 15 million to 81 million pesos; an evaluation of obtaining a right-of-way, from 12 million to 110 million pesos; a market study, from 11 million to 40 million pesos; and an archaeological preservation study, from 7 million to 95 million pesos.

Three new studies were also added to the total, including a 90-million-peso mobility study, a 30-million-peso social sensitivity study and a 40-million-peso study of soil mechanics.

Source: Milenio (sp)

AMLO orders recovery of bodies of 63 victims of 2006 mining accident

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May 2, 2019

A memorial for the victims of the 2006 mining accident.

Relatives of the victims of a mining accident 13 years ago at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila have pleaded for years that efforts be made to recover the bodies, but the mine’s owner has insisted that conditions are too dangerous to do so.

But with a new government in office, the relatives are getting some help.

Only two bodies were recovered after the 2006 explosion that killed 65 people at the Grupo México-owned coal mine. Now, the federal government says it intends to recover the rest.

President Lopez Obrador announced yesterday that he had ordered a recovery operation.

“We are willing to ask for forgiveness . . . in all cases of injustice. We cannot turn our backs on the pain of humanity. This is a humanist government. So we are going to carry out this action,” he said.

López Obrador said in February, on the 13th anniversary of the accident, that his government was open to conducting a recovery effort, observing that it might help reconcile the victims’ relatives with the company that owns the mine.

He said today that Grupo México CEO Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco wrote him to explain that the company had attempted unsuccessfully to recover the bodies, but agreed to help and collaborate in the new effort.

The National Human Rights Commission conducted an investigation at the site following the accident. It claimed that the human rights of the miners that died had been violated, and that government officials had allowed the mine to operate under unsafe conditions.

Almost one year after the accident, the widows of the miners won an injunction that gave them access to internal Grupo México documents, which revealed it had been operating the Pasta de Conchos mine under less than optimal security and safety conditions since at least the year 2000.

Fourteen state officials were suspended from their jobs in 2012 in relation to the case after they were accused of receiving bribes.

Grupo México is the country’s biggest mining company and the third biggest copper producer in the world.

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

Government’s 6-year development plan targets eradication of poverty

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May 2, 2019

López Obrador and the new development plan.

The federal government plans to reduce unemployment to a minimum, increase purchasing power for most, put an end to emigration and eradicate poverty for 25 million people through the national development plan for 2019-2014 that was released this week.

President López Obrador said yesterday that the plan does not cater to the whims of international financial institutions or foreign governments. Instead, it responds to actual conditions in Mexico and will emphasize social development and well-being.

He compared the central aims of the new plan, which seeks to target corruption, lack of development, shortage of jobs and social well-being, with the previous government’s focus on structural reforms in the energy, labor, finance and education sectors. That administration, López Obrador declared, was not in touch with the real problems that plague the nation.

The president highlighted an initiative in the new plan to create employment programs and scholarships to meet the demand for young people seeking employment and create a more able and specialized workforce.

He said that by the end of his term, young people will not miss the opportunity to earn a university degree for lack of space, and that citizens will no longer be condemned to unemployment, underemployment or working in the informal economy.

He also predicted that expanded employment opportunities and decreased insecurity throughout the nation will put an end to emigration by 2024.

He pointed out that during the past 36 years there had been sustained decline, but the new plan will result in benefits such as a 20% increase in average purchasing power, a stronger domestic market and a fairer distribution of wealth.

“No one will go hungry. Extreme poverty will have been eliminated, and no one will lack access to medical services and medicine, and retirees will receive just pensions and will be able to live without material hardship.”

The president said that it was particularly important to implement strategies that prevent poverty from being passed on from one generation to the next and to eliminate the historical discrimination that has constantly belittled many Mexicans’ fundamental rights.

López Obrador observed that for the first time in recent history the national development plan contains the word “corruption,” described as the chief problem facing Mexico.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Jalisco cartel celebrates Children’s Day with gifts of toys in Veracruz

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May 2, 2019

Children’s Day was widely celebrated Tuesday, particularly in Veracruz where the the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) joined in the fun.

Toys were handed out to poor children in 15 municipalities in the mountainous central region of the state, presumably by the notorious drug cartel.

Accompanying each bag of gifts was a card that read, “The CJNG wishes you a happy Children’s Day.”

While its members were delivering the gifts, the criminal organization issued a statement on social media to announce that it had taken on the task of delivering gifts to “the towns most forgotten by the authorities.”

“We bring a moment of joy and happiness to the children. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel not only looks after the safety of the people of Veracruz, it also seeks to give support to those who need it the most,” continued the statement.

A Veracruz girl with her cartel gift. — A girl in Veracruz with her cartel gift.

The cartel’s job, it said, “is to look after and defend the rights of the working people” and prevent others from harming society. “We are here, steadfast and ready.”

The CJNG also handed out gifts in January in celebration of Kings’ Day. Another gang, Grupo Sombra, gave away food and beverages just before Christmas in Tuxpan and Poza Rica, while the Sinaloa Cartel has engaged in gift-giving in the state for which it was named.

The practice appears to be a part of efforts by organized crime to recruit new people. Security Secretary Alfredo Durazo said last September, before he took up his post, that at least 460,000 young people were employed by criminal gangs, according to estimates by various civil organizations.

The figure is well over an estimate of 30,000 by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) in a 2015 report, which said children are recruited from the age of 10 or 11 to traffic in drugs, arms or people and commit other crimes such as assault and kidnapping.

The offer of money, a job and drugs makes it easy for cartels to find recruits among youths living on the street with little to occupy their time and little chance of bettering their condition, says the head of the school of law at the University of Guadalajara.

Source: Crónica de Xalapa (sp), Vanguardia (sp)

Editor’s note: Some readers have wondered why subjects’ faces are often obscured in some photos. Mexico News Daily relies on various sources for photographs, many of whom choose to mask the subjects’ identities. We only publish those photos when an unmasked version is not available.

Search for Cortés’ ships turns up 15th-century anchor off Veracruz

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May 1, 2019

The anchor found off the coast of Veracruz in the search for Cortés' ships.

Could an anchor half buried in the ocean floor off Veracruz be part of the wreckage of one of the scuttled ships of conquistador Hernán Cortés?

The Spanish adventurer had two options in 1519: face mutiny or quell a rebellion by scuttling 10 of his 11 ships, which would give the crews no option but to move inland with him toward the heart of the Mexica empire.

He chose the latter option, which has led to a project whose goal is to locate the remains of Cortes’ fleet.

This week, that project, headed by archaeologist Roberto Junco Sánchez and anthropologist Chris Horrell, made its first significant find — an anchor dating back to the 15th century with wood still attached to it, identified as being a type of oak found only in northern Spain.

Junco, head of the Underwater Archaeology Project at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), explained that the anchor was found just 12 meters below the surface, all but covered by sediment that helped keep the piece in good condition.

Preliminary analyses of the wood have been used to date it, narrowing it down to two periods of time, either from 1417 to 1492 or from 1450 to 1530.

The data is still not enough to link the anchor to one of Cortés’ ships, explained Junco, or with the ships of other Spanish explorers.

The anchor remains where it was found, but experts continue to analyze it using a three-dimensional reconstruction. The plan is to remove and stabilize it in order to guarantee its conservation.

The researchers’ work continues as they prepare a proposal for a second season of exploration season.

The search employs a magnetometer and sonar among other technologies to locate possible parts of the ships.

“The project is in its initial stages. We have before us many more hours of diving and visiting the sites marked by magnetic anomalies, and determining if those correspond to historical or contemporary objects,” said Junco.

The area under exploration is off Playa Villa Roca, about 75 kilometers north of the city of Veracruz.

Source: Notimex (sp)

President says economy fine, dismisses views of ‘conservative analysts’

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May 1, 2019

AMLO is not worried by low growth in first quarter. — AMLO is not worried by slow growth in first quarter.

Dismissing the news that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter of the year, President López Obrador said today the economy “is doing very, very well.”

The national statistics agency said yesterday the first quarter represented the worst economic start to the year in 10 years.

The president charged this morning that “conservative analysts” are trying to argue that the government is not functioning.

“Our adversaries are betting that things are going badly, day in and day out. They’re talking about economic stagnation, that the government is not working. In fact, we are doing well, very well.”

López Obrador recommended that experts and conservative analysts remember the first quarter of ex-president Ernesto Zedillo, who faced what has been called the worst economic crisis in Mexico’s history.

Zedillo governed from 1994 until 2000 and presided over the Mexican peso crisis in his first month in office.

“I would just like to remind you of the first quarter of the Ernesto Zedillo administration when the economy shrank by 7%. Even so, the conservatives consider that administration a success . . . . So, bravo! We’re doing very well.”

However, not as well as the last three presidents. Annual growth from January till March was 1.3% this year, but under Enrique Peña Nieto the economy grew 2.7% in the first quarter. For Felipe Calderón it grew 2.2% and for Vicente Fox, 1.8%.

Source: El Economista (sp)

AMLO defends start of Maya Train tender process without finishing consultation

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May 1, 2019

Fonatur director Varela at the launch of the tender process.

Starting the bidding process on the Maya Train project is valid even though the consultation of indigenous communities has not been completed, President López Obrador said today.

Replying to questions after the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) announced bidding conditions and specifications yesterday, the president said he felt confident that the indigenous communities wanted the project to proceed.

“All of the legal proceedings are being followed in each case, and where the consultation is needed it will be carried out. It’s valid [to begin the tender process] because the majority of the people in the indigenous communities support this plan.

“Of course, there’s some dissent, and it should be respected, but the majority decides in a democracy; the minorities are respected, but it’s the majority that gets the chance to decide in the end. This is what is being done.”

López Obrador said the consultation on the project’s fate will be carried out according to the law. Responding to another frequent criticism of the project, he charged that those who opposed the Maya Train on the grounds of environmental degradation had been silent during decades of “neoliberal economic policies” that had also harmed the environment.

“Where did all these environmentalists come from? When did they oppose, for example, the construction of the airport on Lake Texcoco, which meant the destruction of Lake Nabor Carrillo? Did any of you read reports of anyone against it in the elitist media? Nothing.”

He added that the new administration’s transparency has opened it to disingenuous attacks from critics.

“But now that we’re the government and we have different positions and everything is, I repeat, legitimate, they all start in: have you completed the consultation? Since when have the conservatives defended indigenous communities?

“The truth of it is that they’re all very racist and classist, but they do have the right to express themselves, just as we have the right to communicate our points of view.”

Fonatur legal director Alejandro Varela said on Tuesday that the consultation of indigenous communities on the Yucatán peninsula should be carried out in September. He said the process was complicated by the region’s linguistic diversity.

“We must make sure they understand the project.”

He said publishing bidding specifications is the first stage of the project, in which as many as 4,000 questions are expected from prospective bidders.

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

Quintana Roo’s sargassum nightmare is back but without funds for it

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May 1, 2019