Valladolid celebrates nine years as world’s honey capital

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July 21, 2018

Honey products on display in Valladolid.

Although others claim the title, Valladolid, Yucatán, is celebrating nine years as the honey capital of the world and six years as a magical town by holding an artisanal market and exhibition.

It was during a beekeeper’s congress held in the capital city of Mérida in 2009 that Valladolid, located in the eastern part of the state, was first called the world’s honey capital and it has stuck, despite claims from Texas, Florida, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The celebration is under way this weekend at the municipal hall and the town’s main square, where products made from honey will be on display and for sale. Visitors can purchase candy, propolis (or bee glue), beeswax and honey by the jarful, among other sweets.

The artisanal market, or tianguis, brings together artisans from the area who will exhibit their production processes and products, such as guayabera and filipina shirts and blouses, and palm brooms woven on the spot.

Handcrafted shoes and leather, wood, liana, stone and bone items can also be obtained.

After the inauguration ceremony, municipal authorities symbolically planted a dzidziclhé tree in an effort to promote the cultivation of plants sought by bees.

Source: El Diario de Yucatán (sp)

Nayarit mango plant will process 2 million tonnes per season

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César Hernández

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July 21, 2018

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New plant will process thousands of tonnes of mangoes. — New plant will process Nayarit mangoes.

The state of Nayarit is planning to build a mango processing plant with capacity for processing 2 million tonnes of the fruit per season by 2021.

Initially the project will accept mangoes at the plant in order to prepare them for sale, packing them in compliance with international sanitary requirements and shipped to European and Asian countries.

But a mango pulp processing facility will follow along with drying and freezing facilities.

The state secretary of labor, productivity and economic development explained that the massive plant will be located in the 5 de Mayo agroindustrial park in Tepic.

Sprawling over 50 hectares, the park has the capacity to house 18 fruit producing firms, including producers of avocados as well as mangoes.

“This plant will be able to process 1,500 tonnes per day between the months of March and October every year, or about 2 million tonnes per season. The goal is to have the world’s largest mango processing plant,” said Ernesto Navarro González.

He said there’s enough space available in the industrial park for firms involved in mango handling and shipping to open their own plants.

Navarro said the initiative is expected to attract scientific and technological firms that could contribute by improving mango production and harvesting techniques.

According to official figures, 177,162 tonnes of mango were harvested in Nayarit between March and June. An area of 16,505 hectares is dedicated to growing mangoes, of which 15,912 have been harvested.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Guerrero poppy farmers appeal to AMLO to legalize cultivation

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MND Staff

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July 21, 2018

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A group of community leaders from the Sierra region of Guerrero has appealed to president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador to legalize the cultivation of opium poppies for use in the manufacture of legal pharmaceuticals.

“As a priority, we are seeking the legalization of the cultivation of poppies for medicinal purposes so that farmers in the Sierra are no longer criminalized,” Arturo López Torres, a member of a local union that advocates for economic and social development, told the newspaper El Universal.

The union is also calling on López Obrador to explain whether poppy farmers who have been imprisoned for growing the illicit crop would be covered by the next government’s proposed amnesty law.

“If they legalize poppy crops, the amnesty will fade into the background for the farmers who are currently growing poppies because it would no longer be a crime but it will help those who are in jail at the moment,” López said.

He also said the union has already contacted the teams of future interior secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero and prospective public security secretary Alfonso Durazo to arrange meetings to discuss the legalization proposal, but added that dates have not yet been set.

Sánchez said earlier this week that López Obrador has given her a “blank check” to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs as well as any other measures that could help restore peace to Mexico.

Another member of the Union of Commissioners for the Development of the Guerrero Sierra said Thursday that around 80 families have left his community — Filo de Caballos in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo — due to violence and a decline in opium paste sales. Similar exoduses have occurred from other communities in the region.

“The people of the Sierra are living in extreme poverty and we want the government-elect to turn its eyes to the [area],” Alfonso González Pacheco said.

López, who also lives in Filo de Caballos, said that while there continues to be poverty due to a lack of job opportunities, legalizing poppy cultivation is necessary.

Of 100,000 residents in the Sierra region — which is made up of 14 municipalities in the geographical center of the southern state — around 50,000 of them work in opium poppy production, he said.

López explained that declining opium paste sales and a drastic slump in its price have created an economic crisis because most residents have very little money to spend in the local economy.

“If the poppy harvest isn’t sold, avocados and peaches won’t sell. I’ve got pigs; I don’t grow poppies but if people don’t have money, nothing sells,” he said.

The demand for opium paste has declined due to the rise in popularity and greater accessibility of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in the United States, much of which is shipped illegally from China.

State security spokesman Roberto Álvarez Heredia said the Guerrero government is open to having the debate about legalizing opium poppies for medicinal purposes.

With regard to the amnesty proposal, Álvarez said that only people who can prove that their involvement with poppies doesn’t go beyond cultivation should be eligible.

In 2016, Governor Hector Astudillo proposed the legalization of the cultivation of opium poppies as a means to reduce violence but the proposal never gained traction.

Guerrero is one of Mexico’s most violent states, largely due to turf wars between criminal gangs that are fighting for control of different regions, including the Sierra and the notoriously dangerous Tierra Caliente.

It is one of five Mexican states that the United States government warns its citizens against traveling to.

Source: El Universal (sp)

19 different varieties of mole at festival to kick off Guelaguetza

By

César Hernández

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July 21, 2018

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A chef stirs a pot of mole sauce during Oaxaca festival.

The city of Oaxaca is ready to celebrate its 86th Guelaguetza and offer visitors a unique opportunity to get to know the state’s culture and diversity. And few dishes are as intertwined with the identity of the people of Oaxaca as the many traditional mole sauces.

The last two days have been dedicated to the Mole Festival, an event hosted at the city’s Ethnobotanical Gardens where visitors sampled 19 of the mole varieties prepared in the state.

On Thursday, visitors also had the opportunity to witness the preparation of moles including negro, amarillo, coloradito, verde, de caderas and chichilo.

The special focus of this year’s festival was the region of Cuenca del Papaloapan and its mole rojo de mojarra (tilapia red mole), along with cooks from the Technological University of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region.

The chairman of the state chapter of the restaurant industry association Canirac told the newspaper Milenio that the event promotes moles among visitors, and that all were prepared in the traditional manner.

“Oaxaca is known by foodies as the capital of moles, as the largest variety of them is concentrated here,” said Fernando Enrique Martín Serrano.

The culinary abundance of Oaxaca is comprised of rich socio-cultural, historic and traditional values, which are showcased in the annual Mole Festival, he said.

Although formally over, visitors to the capital city of Oaxaca can still try the 19 mole varieties showcased at the festival by visiting participant restaurants, where each will serve one type of mole sauce. The special offer continues until July 31.

Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa said an estimated 114,000 visitors are expected to attend this year’s Guelaguetza and related festivities, and will leave behind more than 300 million pesos (US $15.8 million).

He also explained that his administration is planning to create a traveling version of the festival that could visit several countries and attract even more tourism to the state.

Source: Milenio (sp), Primera Línea (sp)

14 bodies found in hidden graves in Guadalajara metropolitan area

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MND Staff

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July 21, 2018

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Some bodies were found buried in yards of abandoned homes.

Authorities found 14 bodies in hidden graves at three different locations in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, this week.

Seven of the bodies were found on abandoned properties in the Lomas del Mirador neighborhood in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, located around 30 kilometers southwest of the Jalisco capital.

The newspaper Milenio reported that the bodies were buried in the backyards of four abandoned homes on the same street.

According to local residents, officers from the state’s Fuerza Única police force had been stationed outside the homes since last week as they waited for the state Attorney General’s office to obtain a search warrant.

A judge issued the warrant Wednesday, which allowed the officers to enter the properties to recover the bodies.

Attorney General Raúl Sánchez Jiménez told a press conference that “the bodies appear to be five men and a woman,” making no mention of the seventh.

The bodies were taken to a city morgue to undergo autopsies. Police investigations into the crimes are ongoing.

Sánchez said the properties had been located as a result of intelligence work carried out by officers in the state police homicides and missing persons unit.

In the municipality of El Salto, authorities found another six bodies Thursday in a clandestine grave on a property in the neighborhood of El Zalate.

Municipal police said the bodies were wrapped in plastic and that the age of the victims ranged between 25 and 40. They were taken to a morgue for identification.

A single body was also exhumed this week from a makeshift grave in the neighborhood of La Mezquitera in the municipality of Tlaquepaque.

Violent crime has increased in Jalisco this year.

Among the most prominent cases in the state have been the kidnapping and murder of three film students in March, the disappearance of three Italian men in January and an attack on the former attorney general in May.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is suspected of being involved in all three cases.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Tierra Caliente mayor-elect one of two Morena members killed

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Tony Richards

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July 21, 2018

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Mayor-elect Delgado was assassinated in Michoacán. — Mayor-elect Delgado was assassinated in Buenavista.

Morena party members were shot and killed in two states yesterday.

The mayor-elect of a Tierra Caliente municipality in Michoacán was assassinated yesterday while meeting with other Morena party members of the local council.

Eliseo Delgado Sánchez was in a restaurant across from municipal headquarters in Buenavista when a gunman entered and began firing.

One of the councilors attending the meeting was wounded.

Morena, the party headed by president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, swept the municipal election in Buenavista on July 1.

Days before the election armed civilians shot and killed the interim mayor, Javier Ureña González. He was traveling in a vehicle in the community of 18 de marzo on June 27 when the gunmen opened fire from another vehicle.

In Jalisco, meanwhile, armed civilians aboard a truck gunned down Zenón Cocula Fierros, who had been a Morena candidate for council in San Pedro Tlaquepaque. He was killed instantly, the Tlaquepaque police chief said.

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

Bimbo suspends sales in four high-crime areas of Acapulco

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Tony Richards

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July 21, 2018

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A Bimbo delivery truck burns in Acapulco.

Violence in four neighborhoods of Acapulco has driven out Mexico’s largest baker, Guerrero’s economic development secretary said.

Bimbo has suspended sales in the high-crime neighborhoods of Zapata, Renacimiento, La Postal and Unidos por Guerrero following attacks and threats by organized crime.

Two Bimbo delivery trucks were detained on Wednesday and Thursday; one was set on fire and destroyed in La Postal. Drivers were given documents bearing telephone numbers and demanding extortion payments. They were instructed to give them to their employers.

The company’s decision, which took effect on Wednesday, affects eight delivery routes in the municipality.

Economic Development Secretary Álvaro Burgos Barrera said government representatives will meet next week with business owners to analyze the security problem.

Beverage companies Coca-Cola and PepsiCo closed plants earlier this year in the Tierra Caliente region due to violence.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Coahuila spent 25 million pesos on 8 bullet-proof vehicles

By

MND Staff

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July 20, 2018

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The Coahuila government spent more than 25 million pesos (US $1.3 million) to buy eight armored vehicles during its first six months in office, public records show.

According to the state government’s transparency website, the Miguel Riquelme-led Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) administration purchased four bulletproof SUVs from two separate companies between January and May this year.

Each vehicle cost an average of 3.2 million pesos (US $168,000).

The newspaper El Universal reported today that the office of the governor purchased three of the armored vehicles, the state’s Interior Secretariat purchased two and the Attorney General’s office, Secretariat of Public Security and Secretariat of Finance bought one each.

El Universal requested details about the purchase contracts but the government’s transparency unit refused to supply the information on the grounds that the vehicles were bought for use by “first-level officials in charge of public security tasks.”

However, the newspaper pointed out that the secretary of finance — who heads the department that took delivery of the most expensive of the eight vehicles — is not responsible for any public security duties.

Public records also show that the amount spent on the armored vehicles is greater than the government funding allocated to a range of different areas during all of 2017.

Last year, the Coahuila government spent 13.7 million pesos on science and technology, 10.2 million pesos on transportation, 17.4 million pesos to pay off debt and 17.5 million pesos for security materials and supplies.

Nevertheless, a citizen councilor for the state’s anti-corruption system said the amount spent on armored SUVs is not high for a state such as Coahuila, although he added that the government should still publicly explain the expense.

“I don’t think it’s wrong. I don’t know . . . who is using them but I believe that given the conditions in the country, they are required,” Adolfo Von Bertrab Saracho said.

“We’re coming out of a violent electoral process . . . I’m of the opinion that all the precautions that can be taken are valid. It has to be justified but for such a big state, caught up in a national problem and being on the [United States] border, it’s not over the top.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

Pay cuts will produce savings of 38 billion pesos, before lost tax is factored in

By

MND Staff

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July 20, 2018

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Selling the presidential Dreamliner is one of the austerity measures AMLO has announced.

President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed pay cuts for thousands of high-ranking government officials will produce savings of almost 38 billion pesos (US $2 billion), an analysis shows.

The study, which was conducted by specialists close to the incoming administration, shows that 53,997 high-ranking officials including cabinet secretaries, undersecretaries and departmental heads, among others, currently earn gross salaries that add up to a combined 75.16 billion pesos (US $3.95 billion) annually.

The analysis, of which the newspaper El Universal has a copy, says that across-the-board cuts of 50% would reduce that payroll cost to 37.58 billion pesos.

But there’s a catch.

By reducing salaries, the amount of income tax that high-level bureaucrats pay will also go down.

Instead of withholding 27 billion pesos (US $1.4 billion) as is currently the case, tax authorities will only collect 8.5 billion pesos (US $446 million).

That means that the net saving from cutting salaries is a more modest 18.6 billion pesos (US $976.1 million).

The biggest savings will come from the Secretariat of the Interior (Segob), which currently has the highest payroll of any government department, employing 1,290 high-ranking officials to whom combined salaries of 2.27 billion pesos will be paid in 2018.

In the weeks following his landslide victory in the July 1 presidential election, López Obrador and his prospective cabinet have outlined a range of austerity measures they intend to adopt in government.

Pensions for former presidents and private medical insurance for officials are also on the chopping block.

López Obrador has said he will earn a net monthly salary of 108,000 pesos (US $5,670), which is less than half the amount current President Enrique Peña Nieto takes home.

He has also pledged to forego personal security, sell the presidential plane and convert the president’s official residence into an arts and culture center.

Selling the Boeing 787, which was delivered in 2016 after former president Felipe Calderón placed the order for it, could prove costly. The newspaper Milenio obtained documents that showed an analysis by the president’s office in 2015 revealed that the selling price could finish up being $137 million less than the $218.7 million that was paid.

López Obrador will be sworn in for a six-year term on December 1.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Hidden among the chiles, a hot shipment of illegal drugs

By

César Hernández

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July 20, 2018

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Chiles that was being transported yesterday from Guadalajara to Tijuana might have been hot but even hotter was the additional cargo discovered by police.

They found 452.5 kilograms of several different drugs were packed within the shipment of chiles.

The driver, identified only as Luis Miguel T, was traveling on the federal highway No. 2, between the Sonora cities of Sonoyta and San Luis Colorado when he was stopped at a Federal Police checkpoint for a routine inspection.

Police found an assortment of drugs that included 342.3 kilograms of methamphetamine, 42.5 kg of fentanyl, 42.7 kg of cocaine and 25 kg of heroin.

The illegal cargo also included 19,715 fentanyl pills and 175 benzodiazepine capsules.

The driver was arrested for crimes against health, pending further investigation.

The confiscated drugs were weighed and counted before being burned.

Source: Milenio (sp)