Security firm issues warning based on latest homicide numbers

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March 26, 2019

Mexico’s high homicide numbers during the first two months of 2019 have prompted the world’s largest medical and travel security services firm to issue a warning to the companies it advises.

International SOS (ISOS) said in a travel advisory that the increase in the number of murders is reflective of persistent security risks in the country.

“According to government statistics, close to 5,000 homicides were recorded at a national level during January and February, representing an increase of 13.5% in comparison with the same period of 2018,” the company said.

“The change in the rate reflects the significant and persistent risks of crime despite the promises of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to improve security in the country,” the warning continued.

ISOS, which counts almost two-thirds of the world’s 500 biggest companies among its clients, noted that López Obrador has “inherited” a difficult security situation from his predecessors.

The states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Colima, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Tabasco, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Veracruz are the highest risk areas of the country, the warning said.

ISOS acknowledged that tourists are rarely the direct targets of criminal groups but warned that the rising homicide rate could cause an increase in confrontations between criminals and security forces in public spaces.

With regard to personal safety, the company warned that “if you are approached by a criminal, assume that the aggressor is armed and don’t do anything to resist or confront” that person.

“Such crimes can turn deadly due to the wide availability of firearms,” ISOS added.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Tugboat sinks, spills diesel near marina in Acapulco bay

By

Madison Koen

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March 26, 2019

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Navy personnel were called in yesterday to clean up and contain about 5,000 liters of diesel that spilled into the ocean following the sinking of a tugboat in the bay at Puerto Marqués in Acapulco.

The tugboat belonged to the Cabo Marqués Development Group and was used six years ago in the construction of the Majahua Marina. The vessel began to sink early yesterday.

The spill forced beach-goers to retreat before the incoming oily tide.

The navy responded to the emergency with a helicopter, three boats and 74 troops who deployed a 50-meter barrier in an attempt to contain and recover the spilled fuel. In a statement, the navy announced that the situation was under control and that its personnel were cleaning up affected beach areas.

Some local business owners protested in front of navy headquarters in Acapulco to demand restitution for the loss of tourist dollars caused by the spill. They accused port authorities inaction after warnings that the long-abandoned tugboat had been damaged and was in danger of sinking.

Residents told journalists that authorities did not respond to the spill until eight hours after the boat had sunk. Acapulco Chamber of Commerce president Alejandro Martínez Sidney said it was “very unfortunate” that the authorities did not take appropriate measures to prevent the spill, though he stressed that federal and state authorities had effectively contained the situation.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Government to make more spending cuts as it seeks to avoid deficit

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MND Staff

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March 26, 2019

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The federal government is making more spending cuts in order to avoid a fiscal deficit, the president’s chief of staff said yesterday.

Speaking at an event at the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, Alfonso Romo said that President López Obrador has asked for further reductions to spending by government departments.

“Believe the president that we’re going to go from republican austerity to Franciscan poverty, don’t doubt that, more cuts have been asked for in the past two weeks,” Romo said.

However, the chief of staff indicated that he will defend departments from excessive spending reductions because they are already feeling the pain of cuts made in the federal budget.

“The problem with cutting [spending] by too much is that the secretariats are overwhelmed, that’s why I defend them, a large part of their budgets and people were [already] removed,” Romo said.

“. . . We don’t want to paralyze [the work of the secretariats] but there is a determination not to fall into a fiscal deficit . . .” he added.

Presenting its first budget in December, the government pledged “absolute commitment to fiscal and financial discipline” and a surplus of 1% of GDP in 2019 without introducing any new taxes.

Luis Foncerrada, an economic adviser at the American Chamber of Commerce, applauded the government for signaling its intent to ensure there is a surplus this year, contending that spending cuts are necessary because economic growth in 2019 is forecast by some analysts to fall short of 2%.

“Given that we’re not going to grow as was imagined, we’re not going to have the revenue that was budgeted for . . . a responsible government has to reduce spending,” he said.

Sunny Villa, director of public spending at the Budget and Economics Research Center (CIEP), a think tank, said it is difficult to know what impact the government cuts will have because it is not yet clear where the cuts will be made.

López Obrador has made cutting government spending a priority for his administration.

The wages of lawmakers and other government officials, including the president, have been reduced, 15 secretariats saw their funding cut in the 2019 economic package, the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) has been disbanded and funding for the Magical Towns program was cancelled.

Other austerity measures have included an auction to sell government vehicles, the conversion of the official presidential residence into a cultural center and the disbandment of the president’s personal security contingent.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

With 1,486 participants, Jalisco breaks tequila tasting record

By

Madison Koen

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March 26, 2019

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Tequila tasters break the world record in Guadalajara.

United by a special fondness for Mexico’s national drink, a crowd of 1,486 people gathered in Guadalajara, Jalisco, to taste tequila and beat the world record for the largest tequila tasting ever held.

Official Guinness World Records judge Natalia Ramírez Taledo congratulated Guadalajara residents on the record-breaking tasting, which took place on Sunday as part of the festivities surrounding the first National Tequila Day, designated by the national tequila industry in conjunction with state and local governments.

The distinction had been awarded to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, just last Saturday for a tasting that was attended by 1,448 tequila tipplers. Toronto, Canada, won the title in 2013 for a tasting that drew just 341 participants.

The registration of volunteers for Sunday’s tasting in Plaza Liberación began several days ahead of time, and spaces filled up after just two days. Participants were guided by tequila master Jaime Villalobos Díaz through three different varieties specially distilled for the event.

Tourism Secretary Germán Ralis Cumplido highlighted the success of various initiatives that in recent years have linked the fiery spirit to Jalisco’s capital.

“With the Tequila Route we obtained the World Heritage designation, and today it’s an obligatory stop for anyone visiting Guadalajara. We currently have much more to offer tourists, because right now in addition to sightseers, culinary tourists are on their way.”

In the last 10 years, visitors to the eight municipalities that make up the Tequila Route have soared from 130,000 to one million annually.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Travel service Rutopía links visitors with indigenous communities

By

MND Staff

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March 25, 2019

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Two of the many hosts at indigenous communities on Rutopía's itinerary.

A new travel company with a social conscience is enabling tourists to have unique and authentic experiences in indigenous communities, which in turn benefit financially from sharing their cultural and natural wealth.

Eighteen months ago, four friends and travel enthusiasts created Rutopía, a social enterprise which arranges trips to 12 different communities in six states.

The aim of Irene Heras, Emiliano Iturriaga, Sebastián Muñoz and Diego Espinoza was to show tourists a different Mexico that they can’t easily access on their own.

To get their idea off the ground, the first step was to find communities that were willing to welcome tourists.

The Rutopía founders visited several indigenous towns where they met with residents and proposed to create and promote experiences that would attract visitors.

Weaving in the Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo.

In 12 towns, the people agreed to “share the incredible cultural and natural wealth of their communities with the world,” Espinoza told Newsweek México.

Thus, foreigners and Mexicans alike can book immersive travel experiences of between one and five days in four different destinations in Hidalgo, four in Chiapas, and one in each of the states of Oaxaca, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Michoacán.

Among the experiences on offer are zip-lining and insect-eating in La Florida, Hidalgo, making the pre-Hispanic beverage of pulque and listening to local legends under the stars in El Almacén, Oaxaca, and swimming in a cenote and wildlife spotting in Uxuxubí, Quintana Roo.

The other destinations visitors can choose to visit on a Rutopía experience are Acaxochitlán, Valle del Mezquital and Santiago de Anay in Hidalgo; Tzimol, Tacaná, Tzizcao and El Triunfo in Chiapas; El Viente in Campeche; and Pátzcuaro Lake in Michoacán.

Learning how to make tortillas and mole, collecting and cooking mushrooms and visiting coffee plantations are some of the other activities which visitors can enjoy in the different communities.

“We co-designed experiences that highlight local knowledge and cultural heritage . . .” Espinoza said.

The mushroom hunters' house in Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo. — The mushroom hunters’ house in Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo.

He explained that 70% to 80% of the price visitors pay for their trips goes to the hosts in the community while the other 20% to 30% covers Rutopía’s operational costs.

Espinoza added that many of the communities have previously been deceived by the government or other organizations with whom they have collaborated on tourism projects but Rutopía is gradually earning their trust.

The cost of a Rutopía experience varies depending on the community visited, the length of the trip and the size of the group.

More information about the different indigenous ecotourism experiences can be found on the Rutopía website, through which bookings can also be made.

Source: Newsweek México (sp)

AMLO asks Spain to apologize for the conquest: Spain says definitely not

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March 25, 2019

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López Obrador and his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrrez, recorded today's video message at the Mayan archaeological site at Comacalco, Tabasco.

The government of Spain has “vigorously” rejected a request from Mexican President López Obrador that it apologize for its conquest of Mexico.

López Obrador today published a video in which he advised that he had written both the king of Spain and Pope Francis asking that they apologize for the indignities suffered by the native peoples during the period of the Spanish conquest.

“I sent a letter to the king of Spain and the pope to ask that they make an account of the injustices and apologize to the indigenous peoples for the violations of what are now known as human rights. There were killings, impositions, the so-called conquest was carried out with the cross and the sword.”

The president said he, too, intended to ask the indigenous people for forgiveness, pointing out that they suffered from repression and extinction after the conquest. He cited the Yaquis of Sonora and the Mayas of the Yucatán peninsula in particular.

The year 2021, López Obrador said, will be known as the Year of Historic Reconciliation when Mexico celebrates 200 years of independence and 500 years since the taking of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.

But it appears Spain will not be part of it.

Its government said in a brief statement that it regretted that Mexico’s president had made public the letter to Felipe VI, whose contents “we vigorously reject.”

“The arrival 500 years ago of the Spaniards on territory that is now Mexican cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations,” the statement said.

It noted that the Spanish and Mexican people have always regarded their shared past without anger and from a constructive perspective, “as free people with a common legacy and an extraordinary future.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Security chief doubts findings of Colosio assassination probe

By

MND Staff

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March 25, 2019

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Security Secretary Durazo, left, with Colosio's son at a memorial on Saturday.

The federal public security secretary said Saturday that the investigation into the 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio should “go deeper,” reiterating that he didn’t believe the conclusion that there was only one murderer.

Interviewed after attending a memorial service in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, to mark the 25th anniversary of Colosio’s death, Alfonso Durazo said it was necessary to reopen the case to “dismantle” the theory that only one man was responsible for the murder of the 44-year-old Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate in Tijuana, Baja California, on March 23, 1994.

“I believe that we must continue to deepen the investigations . . .” he said.

Only one man, Mario Aburto Martínez, was convicted of Colosio’s murder but millions of Mexicans doubt that he was the mastermind of, or even committed, the crime.

The most widely believed theory is that the PRI is responsible for the assassination and that then-president Carlos Salinas de Gortari may have ordered it.

Seventeen days before he was killed, Colosio gave a controversial speech in Mexico City in which he was critical of the PRI and said that Mexico was thirsty for justice.

The speech is considered the moment in which Colosio broke ranks with Salinas de Gortari and signaled that he would take the party and the country in a different direction.

Durazo, who was Colosio’s personal secretary at the time of the assassination, said last week that it was “too simplistic” to believe that “in a moment of elevated political confrontation, especially in the context of the mother of all battles for power –presidential power – that the assassination of Luis Donaldo can be explained by the hand of a sole murderer.”

Despite calls for the case to be reopened, the national president of the PRI said Saturday that she saw no legal reason for that to happen, stating that justice had run its course.

Claudia Ruiz Massieu, who also traveled to Colosio’s home town for Saturday’s memorial events, said that the case “pains all Mexicans” but contended that the best way to honor the candidate’s legacy is to work to build the country that he wanted to build.

Durazo criticized Ruiz’s view that it wasn’t necessary to reopen the case, stating that it was “regrettable” that she came to Magdalena de Kino to “put the final nail in Luis Donaldo Colosio’s coffin.”

The secretary described the death of the candidate as “a wound that remains in the spirit of Mexicans, especially those of us who were close to him.”

“. . . There is a debt of justice to the family and to the country because the assassination of Luis Donaldo didn’t just hurt his family, it hurt a country that had the hope that his ideas would translate into acts of government that would allow the country to take a new direction. Mexico’s political development was delayed by many years.”

After heading a march in memory of the slain candidate in Magdalena de Kino on Saturday, Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas said that he expected nothing of the Mexican justice system with regard to the case of his father’s assassination.

Nothing may come of it anyway given the interior secretary’s comments on the case today. Olga Sánchez Cordero said the case would not be reexamined unless new evidence came forward.

She also referred to an investigation by the attorney general’s office that was conducted by special prosecutor Luis Raúl González Pérez, now head of the National Human Rights Commission, who told her that “in reality the case is closed.” His probe ended with the release in 2000 of a 572-page report on the case.

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

Timeshare tourists account for up to 40% of total in Baja Sur

By

César Hernández

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March 25, 2019

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In Los Cabos, timeshare tourists spend more.

Timeshare tourism accounts for between 30% and 40% of the total number of visitors in Baja California Sur, the state tourism secretary said.

“It is a recurrent theme, especially in the municipality of Los Cabos, that a large number of visitors we receive stay in this kind of lodging,” said Luis Araiza.

The revenue generated by timeshare tourism is also considerably larger, he said, because such visitors stay longer and their purchasing habits are different from those of traditional tourists.

“This market segment is very important for us, and I believe it will only continue to grow.”

Although he could not offer hard figures related to timeshare sales, Araiza said they have reported “marginal growth,” with sales increasing in Los Cabos.

“Not only timeshares, but occupancy rates in general,” he said, noting that the resort destination will be able to offer around 4,000 new hotel rooms to its visitors “in the next few years.”

Two of those hotels are among five luxury hotels slated to open in Mexico this year. The 200-room Nobu Hotel opens next month with room rates starting at US $460. The Hard Rock Hotel is scheduled to open in May with an initial rate of $500. It will have 600 rooms.

Both are in Los Cabos.

Source: BCS Noticias (sp)

Chief fired after police go on strike in Comondú, Baja Sur

By

César Hernández

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March 25, 2019

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Mayor Valenzuela addresses members of the police department on Sunday.

The municipal police chief and a deputy have been dismissed in Comondú, Baja California Sur, after officers went on strike Saturday to protest the kidnapping of six of their colleagues.

Armed civilians nabbed the police officers early Saturday morning while they were on patrol. They were found beaten later in the morning in Villa Morelos, about 20 kilometers from where they were taken.

In response, the Comondú police department went on strike, demanding that Mayor Walter Valenzuela Acosta address a series of problems afflicting the force.

Striking police occupied municipal police headquarters in Ciudad Constitución, where they displayed signs demanding a response to insecurity in the municipality.

Two days before the officers’ kidnapping, armed men entered police headquarters in nearby Ciudad Insurgentes, where they helped themselves to the contents of the armory.

Mayor Valenzuela met with police on Sunday, later announcing that an agreement had been reached and that police chief Rusbiel Jabadilla Arista and the deputy chief had been dismissed.

He said the dismissal was intended to avoid putting police personnel at risk.

Jabadilla, who served 18 years in the navy, had been appointed to the chief’s position on January 29.

Comondú, located in the center of the state, has a population of about 75,000.

Source: Milenio (sp), BCS Noticias (sp)

New caravan heads north; migrants accuse immigration agents of corruption

By

MND Staff

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March 25, 2019

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A caravan of around 1,500 migrants from Central America and Cuba left Tapachula, Chiapas, Saturday to begin the journey to the United States border.

In contrast with past cohorts, the migrants formed the caravan inside Mexican territory, the National Immigration Institute (INM) said.

Before leaving Tapachula, Cuban migrants accused INM personnel of deliberately delaying the delivery of visas to allow them to travel legally through Mexico, while Central Americans charged that agents demanded bribes in order to speed up the visa process.

After a 12-hour walk in temperatures as high as 38 C, the caravan reached the municipality of Huehuetán on Saturday afternoon where the migrants rested until resuming their journey today, bound for Huixtla.

Federal Police are accompanying the caravan in order to avoid accidents or other incidents on the highway.

Members of the newest caravan rest in Huehuetán, Chiapas.

Thousands of migrants have entered Mexico in recent months to travel to the United States, drawing the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has described the caravans as an “invasion.”

Earlier this month, the United States government announced that it would return asylum-seeking migrants to Mexico via a second border crossing to await their immigration court hearings.

The Mexican government rejected the expansion of the so-called “Remain in Mexico” plan, calling it “a unilateral measure implemented by the United States authorities.”

President López Obrador has pledged that his government will treat migrants humanely while they are in Mexico and more than 10,000 people have been granted visas that allow them to work and access essential services.

However, there are reports that Mexican immigration officials at the northern border have extorted asylum seekers.

According to a report by the news website Vice that was based on the testimonies of 10 migrants, officials have demanded as much as US $3,500 from asylum seekers in order to access certain points of entry to the United States so they can add their names to a waitlist for an appointment with U.S. authorities.

On March 14 – the day after the Vice report was published – López Obrador said his government was investigating corruption by customs and immigration agents.

“The government is full of corrupt practices, it has been for a long time. But we are cleaning it, we will end corruption,” he said.

Thousands of migrants have been stranded in Mexican border cities such as Tijuana as they wait for the opportunity to plead their cases for asylum.

The United States government has introduced a “metering” system that limits the number of cases immigration authorities will hear on a daily basis, spurring some migrants to attempt to cross the border illegally.

Source: El Universal (sp), ADN 40 (sp), InSight Crime (en)