Governor highlights infrastructure projects for Mazatlán

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June 3, 2018

More infrastructure projects are on the way for Mazatlán, the governor of Sinaloa has announced.

Quirino Ordaz Coppel said this week that during the city’s recent travel trade show President Enrique Peña Nieto offered support to replace the seaside malecón’s more than 40-year-old pavement.

Speaking at a Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC) event, the governor explained that the 100-million-peso (US $5-million) plan would also include the repair of the esplanade’s drainage system along the entirety of its 21 kilometers.

“We have to cross our fingers and have trust and faith that this project can be completed, I’m almost certain that it will be. It’s already at the Secretariat of Finance and the president already gave his instructions . . .” Ordaz said.

In the short term, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governor said the first lady and national president of the DIF family services agency, Angélica Rivera de Peña, will officially open a new federally-funded CREE rehabilitation center in three months.

The new Mazatlán General Hospital will also be completed by the start of next year, Ordaz said, and the wastewater treatment plant in the neighborhood of Urias will be expanded.

The latter project will allow the closure of the El Creston plant, which is located below the city’s famous lighthouse.

The governor added that the construction of a new baseball stadium in the city helped Mazatlán secure the 2020 Caribbean Series baseball tournament which will feature champion teams from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico.

In addition, Ordaz said that 400 million pesos (US $20 million) are being spent to build the new aquarium at the city’s central park.

Finally, the governor said that construction work on the 600-million-peso Mazatlán aqueduct is continuing with a scheduled completion date of 2019. The project will guarantee the city’s water supply for the next 25 years, Ordaz said.

This year’s Tianguis Turístico was held in the Mazatlán International Center, an innovative and modern venue that was built in less than a year.

Source: Punto (sp)

Bus-truck collision kills 11, injures 12 in México state

By

Tony Richards

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June 3, 2018

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The wreckage of a bus and truck in the accident that killed 11 yesterday.

The “highway of death” in México state lived up to its name yesterday when 11 people died in a collision between a bus and a truck. Twelve people were injured.

The accident occurred about 9:45am on the Texcoco-Calpulalpan highway near Santa Inés, Tepetlaoxtoc.

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Local residents later seized four buses and used them to block the highway to demand that the bus company, Serutex, assume responsibility for the medical costs of yesterday’s victims and compensation for the families of the dead.

Residents say they warned federal transportation authorities in April that the stretch of road where yesterday’s collision occurred is dangerous and frequently the scene of accidents.

The situation has become worse in recent months, they say, because of an increase in truck traffic delivering construction materials to the site of Mexico City’s new airport.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Heat wave causes 3 deaths, economic boost, melting traffic lights

By

MND Staff

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June 2, 2018

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A traffic light in Torreón, Coahuila, melts in the heat.

Parts of Mexico continue to swelter in a record-breaking, prolonged heat wave that has caused at least three deaths, given a boost to the economy and even caused traffic lights to melt in two northern states.

Authorities in Chihuahua — where temperatures have been as high as 48 C — said an 18-year-old indigenous Tarahumara man and a 17-year-old male died due to heat-related illnesses.

A 33-year-old homeless man also died in Saltillo, Coahuila, due to heatstroke.

According to the National Meteorological Service (SMN), temperatures of up to 49 are expected to continue in the north of the country until next Tuesday, June 5.

“. . . What we’re observing is that as the heat wave progresses, the high [atmospheric] pressure is not decreasing, so it’s going to strengthen in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Léon, Durango and Zacatecas,” SMN general coordinator Alberto Hernández told a press conference.

He added that several states broke temperature records for the month of May, which in two cases go back more than 50 years.

Hidalgo exceeded its previous May record, set in 1964, Chihuahua broke its 1978 mark and Sinaloa beat the high recorded in 1961.

Zacatecas and Jalisco also topped their previous May highs, recorded in 2016 and 2013 respectively.

On May 30, Civil Protection authorities declared extraordinary emergency situations in 573 municipalities in 22 states due to the extreme conditions.

Mexico City also experienced high temperatures this week, although with maximums of around 32 it didn’t come close to matching the scorching conditions in other parts of the country.

That didn’t stop sales of cold beverages, ice creams, popsicles and other items popular during hot weather to spike to such an extent that one Mexico City business chamber estimated the economic spillover effect would be 260 million pesos (US $13 million).

Some record-breaking temperatures in the past.

In a statement, Canacope said the heat had led people to make unanticipated purchases that averaged 60 pesos (US $3) per person this week.

Energy consumption has also risen. It was up by an estimated 7% in the capital this week as people have switched on their fans and air conditioning systems.

While many people across the country might have felt like they were going to melt this week, traffic lights in the cities of Torreón, Coahuila, and nearby Gómez Palacio, Durango, did just that.

Temperatures that soared above 40 caused the plastic casing in which the traffic signals are set to warp, both in the downtown of the former city and on a main road in the latter, but the lights continued to function regardless.

More extreme weather could be on the way next week with the arrival of a tropical cyclone.

Civil Protection general director Ricardo de la Cruz Musalem warned that stronger hurricanes can be provoked by extended hot spells such as Mexico has experienced this week, and they may be more likely to impact Mexico’s coastlines.

The National Water Commission (Conagua) is predicting 32 tropical cyclones will affect Mexico this hurricane season, four more than the average recorded in recent years.

Source: Sipse (sp), Noticias 24 (sp), Vanguardia (sp), López-Dóriga (sp)

3 weeks later, Chiapas official released along with development funds

By

César Hernández

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June 2, 2018

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The prisoner González yesterday, anxiously awaiting his release.

The Chiapas municipal official — or the husband of one, it’s not clear which — was finally released today three weeks after he was detained by residents of the northern municipality of El Bosque in a dispute over government funding.

An agreement was signed Wednesday that was supposed to give Ramiro González Patishtán his freedom after he was apprehended May 13 in the indigenous Tzotzil community of Los Plátanos.

But a a video surfaced yesterday in which González once again issued a plea to the state government to intervene and speed up the release of the withheld funds.

“I continue to suffer here in Los Plátanos, I am still tied up,” said González in the short clip.

Relief finally came this morning when the municipal development funds, reported to be in the neighborhood of 15 million pesos (US $750,000), were released.

A video earlier this week showed González tied to a stake with a pile of kindling at the bottom. He said his captors had threatened to burn him alive.

State Interior Secretary Mario Carlos Culebro Velasco said on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached and the prisoner was to be released on Friday when the municipality delivered the allocated funds.

But González was forced to wait a few more hours to be freed.

Source: Reforma (sp)

‘Queen of the South,’ alleged fuel thief and narco, captured in Puebla

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César Hernández

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June 2, 2018

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The Queen of the South, suspected leader of a gang of pipeline thieves, drug dealers and murderers, was captured this week in Puebla.

Liliana Hernández Carlos has been linked to the gruesome discovery last week of human remains that had been eaten by dogs and the executions of a man and of a 12-year-old girl in the city of Puebla. The girl had been shot five times.

In the case of the first murder, a message was left at the scene: “This is so you learn not to interfere with the Queen of the South.”

Four men who were with Hernández were also arrested.

Hernández’s star rose last year after the death of Jesús Martín “Kalimba” Mirón López in October.

Mirón was wanted by security forces but was killed in an internal Jalisco New Generation Cartel quarrel. At the time of his assassination in Puebla he was recovering from surgery that had altered his face and removed his fingerprints.

The power vacuum was soon filled by Hernández who allegedly took over fuel theft in the municipality of Santa María Xonacatepec.

State authorities said she controlled retail drug sales in the southern part of the city of Puebla, which supposedly led to her adopting her nickname, a reference to the principal character in a book and television crime drama series of the same name.

Source: Sipse (sp), Infobae (sp)

Gunmen kill six traffic police officers in Guanajuato

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MND Staff

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June 2, 2018

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Gunmen killed six unarmed traffic police in Guanajuato yesterday, the state’s Attorney General’s office said.

The attack occurred just after 11:00am in the Salamanca neighborhood of La Gloria, located near a military base where Guanajuato Governor Miguel Márquez was attending a meeting to discuss ways to improve security in the state.

Five officers died at the scene of the crime, while the sixth passed away as he received medical attention.

The police were carrying out routine checks at a roadblock when, according to witnesses, five assailants arrived in a pickup truck and opened fire on the defenseless officers.

Federal Police, local security forces and the army all attended the scene. The motive for the crime is unclear.

The state’s Interior Secretary Gustavo Rodríguez Junquera said that authorities would bolster security in Salamanca following the attack and that “this crime will not go unpunished.”

The newspaper Reforma reported that 34 police officers have now been killed in Guanajuato in 2018.

The latest incident continues a trend of escalating violence in the central Mexican state, where 59 homicides were recorded in just five days last week and an average of more than 11 murders per day were reported in the first quarter of 2018.

The Guanajuato Attorney General said that 85% of last week’s homicides were related “in one way or another” to petroleum pipeline theft.

State oil company Pemex has a refinery in Salamanca, which has also recently been the focus of a federal investigation into alleged fuel theft by company employees.

Beyond Guanajuato, violence also affected several other states yesterday.

A state police officer was shot and killed in Ensenada, Baja California, another officer was killed in La Paz, Baja California Sur, and a municipal inspector was shot dead at a restaurant in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

In Guerrero, a group of armed men killed five people in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo, including a seven-year-old boy.

State security spokesman Roberto Álvarez Heredia said that the attack occurred when the victims — three men, one woman and the minor who are believed to be from the same family — were traveling on a state highway between Filo de Caballos and Puentecillas.

Homicides were also reported in Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí.

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

Election candidates in Puebla, Oaxaca gunned down and killed

By

Tony Richards

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June 2, 2018

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Maldonado, left, and Terán: assassination victims.

Gunmen shot and killed two July 1 election candidates and three other people early this morning in separate incidents in Puebla and Oaxaca.

The Green Party candidate for the district of Huauchinango in the Puebla state Congress and a municipal councilor from Juan Galindo were attacked near Cacahuatlán, Zihuateutla.

Candidate Juana Iraís Maldonado was riding in a vehicle with Erika Cázares when armed civilians opened fire, killing both.

In Oaxaca, a candidate for municipal council in Juchitán, her driver and a photographer were attacked by gunmen after they left a bar in the city center.

Pamela Terán Pineda was running for relection as an Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate for council.

The news agency Quadratín reported that Terán was the daughter of Juan Terán, the presumed leader of the Juchitán Cartel, who was arrested last year.

More than 100 candidates have been assassinated since the election period began last September.

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

Two separate trade agreements could replace NAFTA: Trump

By

MND Staff

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June 2, 2018

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United States President Donald Trump has suggested that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could be replaced with two separate trade accords, one with Mexico and another with Canada.

“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t mind seeing NAFTA where you go by a different name, where you make a separate deal with Canada and a separate deal with Mexico. Because you’re talking about a very different two countries,” Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday.

The U.S. president also reiterated his opinion that the trilateral trade pact has been “a lousy deal” for the United States since its introduction in 1994.

“We lose a lot of money with Canada and we lose a fortune with Mexico and it’s not going to happen like that anymore,” he said.

“Mexico has taken our car companies, a big percentage of them, and we can’t do that. . . I want fair trade, I like free trade, but I want fair trade, at a minimum I want fair trade,” Trump added.

Asked by a reporter about what he says to close United States allies who have complained about the introduction of the new metal tariffs, the U.S. president returned to his often-repeated view that the United States has been the victim of unfair trade deals.

“They’re our allies but they take advantage of us economically . . . I love Canada, I love Mexico, I love them. But Mexico’s making over [US] $100 billion a year and they’re not helping us with our border because they have strong laws and we have horrible laws,” he said, overstating the size of the deficit by around US $30 billion.

“They could solve our border problem if they wanted but they don’t want to and when they want to, then I’ll be happy. But I think we have a good chance of doing some great trade deals that will make America great again, right?”

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renewed their commitment to reaching a NAFTA deal this week, although they also condemned the move to impose duties of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum.

In response, both countries announced reciprocal tariffs on a range of United States imports.

The products selected by Mexico — including steel flats, pork legs and shoulders and a range of fruits and cheeses — were chosen specifically to affect exporters in states that are politically important to Trump.

The Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (Comexi) said that targeting could have domestic ramifications for Trump that may cause him to reconsider the introduction of the metal tariffs.

“We could see a political mobilization from President Trump’s electoral base to warn him that the effects could be very damaging and that they could even cost him at the [midterm] elections in November,” the organization said in a statement.

The tariff tit-for-tat has further complicated a difficult and drawn-out NAFTA renegotiation process that has failed to reach resolution despite repeated claims from leaders and trade officials that progress is being made and a deal is not far off.

Trump’s latest remarks will create even more uncertainty about the future of the 24-year-old pact.

Earlier yesterday, the U.S. president also took aim at the United States’ northern neighbor on Twitter.

“Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers! They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.?” he wrote.

Trudeau has been highly critical of the introduction of the new tariffs this week, describing them as “totally unacceptable” and challenging the grounds on which they were imposed.

“The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable,” he said yesterday.

Mexico said Thursday that the basis on which the tariffs were imposed is “not appropriate or justified.”

Juan Pablo Castañón, president of Mexico’s Business Coordinating Council, said yesterday that the tariff dispute has placed NAFTA negotiations “in serious difficulties” but added that it still may be possible to reach an updated deal before the U.S. midterm elections.

Comexi agreed that the tariff announcement this week didn’t help the renegotiation process, describing the atmosphere it created as “not the best” for constructive dialogue.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Theft proves to be a challenge for China bike-sharing company Mobike

By

MND Staff

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June 1, 2018

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Mobike's bicycles are being targeted by thieves.

Just three months after it started a pilot program in Mexico City, the Chinese-owned bicycle-sharing company Mobike has hit a hurdle: bicycle theft.

The problem has escalated to such an extent that dozens of the scheme’s users have taken to social media in recent days to complain about the lack of available bicycles.

“It’s a situation that unfortunately afflicts our city,” Mobike’s government relations director Armando Reyes told Forbes México, referring more broadly to theft in the capital.

Reyes added that the company has filed official complaints that have led to around 10 arrests, while authorities have been helping Mobike to recover its missing bicycles. However, he declined to say how many have been stolen.

The scheme was introduced in the Miguel Hidalgo borough in mid-February with 500 bikes made available in the upmarket business and residential district of Polanco while Mobike waited for approval to expand to other parts of the city.

The company’s Mexico director, Rene Ojeda, told the news agency Reuters that subscriptions for the service have grown by 70% per week in the short period it has been operating, placing additional pressure on the number of bikes available.

But an investigation by Reuters found that more than 10% of the available bikes are permanently out-of-action — at least for legitimate users.

Using Mobike’s mobile app, the news agency said that it located 60 of the GPS-equipped bikes in the Mexico City neighborhood of Tepito, which is infamous for crime and its street markets where all manner of pirated and illegal goods are available.

Ojeda said that some Mobike users ride the bikes to work and later leave them in the Barrio Bravo (tough neighborhood), which is located outside its operating area just north of Mexico City’s historic center.

But by reviewing the app at various times over the course of this week, Reuters determined that none of the Mobikes in Tepito ever left the neighborhood.

A local resident said that thieves are “using the bikes to move drugs.” Two other residents confirmed that to be the case.

Mobike didn’t respond to the allegations but Reyes said the company is taking “strong actions” to stop its users taking the bikes outside of the Polanco area.

Users can now be fined 49 pesos (US $2.45) for leaving the authorized area designated by the app, an amount that is equivalent to the service’s monthly subscription fee. The bikes are fitted with an alarm that alerts the company when a bike has left its operating zone.

Further sanctions, such as completely banning repeat offenders, are being considered, Reyes said.

Meanwhile, some users say that they are considering switching to one of Mobike’s Mexican competitors given the difficulty of finding an available bike.

EcoBici— a Mexico City government scheme that covers a much larger part of the city — has 6,500 bikes and 260,000 users, while privately-owned VBike operates with around 2,000 units.

One disgruntled former Mobike user told Reuters he has already made the switch. “Mobike was a good option for me since I work in the area”, Fernando Galicia said.

“But I’ve gone to EcoBici, and not because it’s cheaper, but because they always have bikes.”

Source: Forbes México (sp), Reuters (en)

Mexico’s safest state? Chiapas, security watchdog says

By

César Hernández

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June 1, 2018

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High-impact crime, first quarter of this year. Green is best, dark red is worst and yellow is in between.

Chiapas has edged out Yucatán to become Mexico’s safest state, according to Semáforo Delictivo, a citizens’ security watchdog.

The organization’s ranking system is based on an analysis of each state’s crime rates compared to national and historic averages and assigns them a color — green, yellow or red. Green signifies that rates are within the objectives or that security strategies are functioning while red means rates are worse than the average and strategies are not functioning. Yellow is somewhere in between the two.

Chiapas was one of three states — the others were Yucatán and Durango — that did not have any red indicators in the latest quarterly ranking.

The report gave the state green indicators in homicide, kidnapping, extortion, low-scale drug trafficking, vehicle theft, home and business robbery, assault and femicide.

It was the first time Chiapas has been ranked as Mexico’s safest state, beating out Yucatán.

For three high-impact crimes — vehicle theft and home and business robbery — Chiapas ranked substantially below the national average.

Chiapas’ homicide rate was 2.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, well below the national average of 5.3. Colima, on the other hand, was the worst at 21.3 per 100,000.

Semáforo Delictivo indicators showed that Guerrero, Colima, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Zacatecas and Veracruz were the states with the highest incidence of high-impact crimes.

The data coincides with other recent reports by non-governmental and official agencies including Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano, INEGI, the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System and the Institute for Economy and Peace.

Source: El Heraldo de Chiapas (sp), La Razón (sp)