López Obrador vows to sign accord that he won’t seek another term

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March 15, 2019

Opposition deputies protest amendment with cutouts of former President Maduro and signs declaring 'No re-election.'

President López Obrador vowed today to sign a declaration that he will not seek another term in office after opposition lawmakers said that a constitutional change allowing for a referendum to cut short the six-year presidential term opened the door to his re-election.

The president said at his morning press conference that he will present a signed commitment on Monday declaring that he will not stand for re-election in 2024.

“I give my word and what I consider most important in my life is honesty but in any case, I’m going to make a public commitment,” López Obrador said.

The Chamber of Deputies yesterday approved a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to have their say on a president’s performance three years after taking office.

The vote would be held on the same date as mid-term congressional elections. López Obrador says that if citizens choose to revoke his mandate, he will resign.

Supported by lawmakers from the ruling Morena party and its coalition partners, the reform received the required support of two-thirds of members in the lower house. The reform will now be passed to the Senate for debate and another vote.

“It’s a trick,” said National Action Party (PAN) Deputy Marcos Aguilar Vega of the midterm vote.

“We must switch on all the warning signs because the examples are clear: revocation of mandate was proposed in Venezuela and that opened the door to the ambition of Hugo Chávez to perpetuate his power.”

PAN Deputy Xavier Azuara said “these changes will allow the executive [branch of government] an intense political campaign in a shameless way in 2021 just when this chamber and 13 governorships are renewed.” It’s a “path to re-election,” he added.

On Twitter, PAN national president Marko Cortés wrote: “Today Morena and the Mexican government begin their quest to perpetuate themselves in power. The National Action Party categorically rejects the terms in which the popular consultation and revocation of mandate proposals were presented . . .”

Politicians from other opposition parties also voted against and criticized the approval of the constitutional reform.

“The next step is re-election,” said Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Deputy María Alemán Muñoz Castillo, warning that Mexico could head down a path similar to that taken in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador.

Citizens’ Movement lawmaker Alan Falomir charged that the reform is a political ploy designed to not only perpetuate López Obrador’s power but also to ensure that his Morena party is successful in the 2021 midterm elections.

“They need daddy AMLO” to campaign for the continuation of his rule in order to be swept to power by the tide of the president’s popularity, he contended.

López Obrador today acknowledged the criticism before reasserting his commitment to serve just one term.

“I heard the statements made by PAN lawmakers, saying that it [the revocation of mandate vote] is a rehearsal for re-election,” the president said before outlining details of what he intends to say in his public declaration.

“I will say that I am a supporter of democracy, that I agree with the [revolutionary and former president Francisco Madero’s] maxim of ‘effective suffrage, no re-election,’ that I am a maderista [adherent of Madero], that I’m not overambitious.”

Three and a half months after he was sworn in as president, López Obrador continues to enjoy strong public support, according to recent opinion polls.

A poll published earlier this month by the newspaper El Financiero showed that 78% of respondents approved of the president’s performance, while another published by El Universal this week to coincide with the completion of the government’s first 100 days in office gave an almost identical result.

Considering the survey results, there appears to be little chance that Mexicans would choose to remove López Obrador from the top job in a referendum on his rule.

In other business, lower house lawmakers also passed constitutional amendments that make it easier for the government to hold public consultations such as those held on the Mexico City airport project and a thermal power plant in Morelos.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp), Reuters (en)

UNAM researcher named one of world’s most promising young scientists

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Madison Koen

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March 15, 2019

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Award-winning scientist Sofía Varela in Paris yesterday.

A researcher at the National Autonomous University has been named one of the world’s 15 most promising young scientists by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Ana Sofía Varela Gasque, a researcher in the university’s chemistry department, was recognized along with 14 others in a ceremony yesterday at the organization’s headquarters in Paris.

Varela said she was singled out for her work on new materials that could allow carbon dioxide to be transformed into non-pollutants.

“What I do is basic science. I am working to understand a chemical process that in the future will help to convert CO2 emissions and reduce its presence in the atmosphere. We work with hydrogen batteries, which is to say that we fuel a battery with hydrogen and transform it using an electrical current. We are looking for materials to make this process as efficient as possible.”

She said the challenge was to find low-cost alternatives to carbon as the catalyst in the reaction. Metals such as copper, gold and silver could be used, for example, but carbon is much more abundant.

Varela said she hoped her research would demonstrate how to best reduce carbon dioxide during the long transition from the burning of fossil fuels to the use of renewable energy sources.

Along with the international exposure to help their professional careers, the young scientists also receive a grant for their research. The awards, which are offered through a partnership with the L’Oréal Foundation, have been presented to 107 promising young scientists since their inauguration.

Another 3,000 scientists have been awarded research scholarships.

The goal of the UNESCO-L’Oréal partnership is to attract more women to a career in science by supporting and recognizing accomplished women researchers, encouraging more young women to enter the profession and to assist them once their careers are in progress.

Source: Notimex (en), ContraRéplica (sp)

19 bodies found in plastic bags in Jalisco canal

By

Madison Koen

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March 15, 2019

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Officials inspect one of the 19 bags containing bodies.

Nineteen bags containing human bodies were found in a canal on Thursday in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, located in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The bags were located in La Rinconada near the highway between La Capilla and La Alameda after authorities received an anonymous tip. Police found the bags under a bridge.

The attorney general’s office stated that police and firefighters began removing the bags from the channel using boats to prevent their equipment from getting tangled in the weeds, but abandoned the work at 8:00 last night because of safety risks. The work was to resume again today.

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The anonymous tip said there were four bags, but so far 19 have been found.

The bags are being sent to the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Science for examination.

The discovery brings to 27 the number of bodies found in distinct points in greater Guadalajara in a 24-hour period yesterday.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Private sector readies tourism marketing agency after feds pull out

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MND Staff

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March 15, 2019

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Mérida will host next year's big tourism marketing event, Tianguis Turístico.

The private sector will assume responsibility for marketing Mexico as a tourism destination in light of the federal government’s decision to disband the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM).

A new privately funded tourism marketing agency will start operations later this year, the president of the Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco) said yesterday.

José Manuel Campos said that a range of organizations and companies from the tourist sector will be invited to participate in the formation and running of the agency.

“It’s an effort that must be done together to promote Mexico as a country . . .” he said.

However, Campos didn’t reveal the size of the budget that the new organization will have.

The government’s decision to disband the CPTM shortly after it took office last December has been widely criticized by members of the tourism and business sectors, including Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) chief Gustavo de Hoyos, who said it “makes you think that tourism has stopped being a priority.”

Tourism academic Gerardo Herrera and the president of the Latin America Culture and Tourism Association (ACTUAL), Armando Bojórquez, partially attributed a decline in international tourism to Cancún in January to a lack of promotion.

“I believe that there is a perception that tourism will just happen and that’s not right. No product sells itself, it needs advertising,” Herrera said.

However, creating a new marketing agency won’t be easy, according to the vice-president of tourism company Grupo Xcaret, because it will entail bringing together a wide range of different viewpoints about tourism and how Mexico should be marketed.

“All business people would have to agree [on a marketing strategy] . . . and that’s a culture that doesn’t exist, there’s nothing in the country that is promoted that way,” Carlos Constandse said.

He asserted that promoting a destination such as San Luis Potosí requires a very different approach to promoting Quintana Roo, where Grupo Xcaret’s business interests are located.

Consequently, reaching agreement between different members of a new tourism promotional council will be complicated, Constandse warned.

The businessman added that he has proposed that marketing experts from all of Mexico’s tourism companies meet to analyze the best ways to promote Mexico’s diversity of destinations.

Constandse also raised the possibility of bringing international celebrities to Mexico to help promote the nation’s image abroad.

Mexico’s largest tourism showcase, the Tianguis Turístico, will be held in Acapulco, Guerrero, next month and it has been decided that Mérida, Yucatán, will host the 2020 edition.

Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco announced yesterday that the Yucatán capital has been selected as the host after receiving the votes of 12 selection committee members.

Mexico City, the only other candidate to host the event, garnered just one vote.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Scientists estimate just 10 vaquita porpoises remain, urge gillnet ban

By

MND Staff

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March 14, 2019

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A dead vaquita in the Gulf of California two years ago. sea shepherd conservation society

Only 10 vaquita marina porpoises likely remain in the world, scientists announced today, but the number might actually be nine after the environmental group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society found the decomposed body of what appeared to be one of the highly endangered cetaceans.

The population estimate was made by scientists of the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA), which also called on President López Obrador to end all gillnet fishing in the upper Gulf of California by adopting a “zero tolerance” policy on the practice.

The vaquitas often die after becoming trapped in gillnets that are used to catch shrimp and fish species such as totoaba, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in China and demands high prices.

“One of Earth’s most incredible creatures is about to be wiped off the planet forever,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“Yet Mexico has only made paper promises to protect these porpoises from deadly nets, without enforcement on the water. Time is running out for President López Obrador to stop all gillnet fishing and save the vaquita.”

CIRVA said that the population of the species declined by 50% last year, leaving an estimate of around 10 remaining vaquitas although the number could be as high as 22 or as low as six.

The higher estimate was the number of vaquitas detected using a network of acoustic monitors last fall while the lower figure is the number that was actually seen by researchers.

“The few remaining vaquitas inhabit a very small area, approximately 24 by 12 kilometers, most of which lies within the vaquita refuge. However, high levels of illegal fishing for totoaba occur in this area,” the CIRVA report said.

“There is only the tiniest sliver of hope remaining for the vaquita,” said Kate O’Connell, a marine wildlife consultant with the Animal Welfare Institute.

“Mexico must act decisively to ensure that all gillnet fishing is brought to an end throughout the upper gulf. If the vaquita is not immediately protected from this deadly fishing gear, it will go extinct on President Lopez Obrador’s watch.”

Meanwhile, Sea Shepherd said today that two of its patrol boats found a net on Tuesday that contained what is believed to be the remains of a vaquita. They have been turned over to authorities for further study.

Sea Shepherd has been collaborating with security forces including the navy to carry out patrols to stop illegal fishing and to search for and remove gillnets.

But the organization’s vessels have come under attack in recent months and with the peak totoaba season approaching, some environmentalists fear that the vaquita could be wiped out as soon as this year.

CIRVA, however, believes that there is still hope for the species.

It said that recovery remains possible because the remaining vaquitas are healthy and still producing offspring.

Source: Associated Press (sp)

Federal land is being subdivided illegally into lots in Sinaloa

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MND Staff

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March 14, 2019

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Subdivided federal land next to Sinaloa highway.

Dozens of Sinaloa residents are attempting to illegally expropriate federal land located next to the highway between Culiacán and Navolato.

The unlawful subdivision was first reported by social media users and subsequently confirmed by the newspaper Reforma, which said that people have driven wooden posts into the ground and cordoned off lots they wish to claim alongside a 12-kilometer stretch of the highway.

Manuel Clouthier Carrillo, a businessman and former federal lawmaker, was among those who denounced the “invasions” online.

“Culiacán is waking up to land invasions on Highway 50 . . .” he wrote on Twitter.

“Authorities must put a stop to the current invasions in the Valley of Culiacán . . . The invaders are like hawkers: at first they arrive afraid on a corner but if they see that nothing happens, they take over a little bit more of the sidewalk until they end up with the whole corner as if they were the owners,” Clouthier wrote in later posts.

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People who were cleaning one of the illegally claimed lots told Reforma that the land grab began on March 10.

One man said he didn’t know much about laws but added that on the side of highways “there are normally houses, corrals, stalls, other kinds of businesses.”

He hinted that he and others who have claimed lots were acting out of economic necessity.

“If the government comes to realize the situation we are going through, they should support us in one way or another, [such as] a salary we can live on,” the man said.

The Sinaloa government said in a statement that it had called on people to respect the law, while Sustainable Development Secretary Carlos Gandarilla García told a press conference that alternative housing options would be sought for those who most need it.

The federal attorney general’s office has opened an investigation into the illegal land expropriation in conjunction with the National Water Commission, as there are federally-owned irrigation channels nearby.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Walmart says 5.5% wage deal ends strike threat but union disagrees

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MND Staff

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March 14, 2019

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Walmart de México (Walmex) announced today that it reached a wage deal with a trade union that will avoid job action planned for next week. But the union said that negotiations are ongoing and that a strike remained a possibility.

The big-box retail chain said in a statement that it reached an agreement with the Revolutionary Confederation of Laborers and Farmworkers (CROC) that offered workers an average annual pay rise of 5.5%.

In addition, Walmex said that workers will get a productivity bonus linked to the company’s sales.

However, CROC spokesman Eduardo Miranda said that Walmex and the union had not signed an agreement and that workers still plan to strike if negotiations haven’t concluded by March 20.

The 5.5% salary increase on offer is well short of the 20% raise that the union demanded last week for around 8,000 Walmart, Sam’s Club and Bodega Aurrera workers it represents.

Cashiers and other low-ranking employees at Walmart earn on average between 140 and 150 pesos (US $7 to $7.50) per day.

If it goes ahead, the March 20 strike is expected to affect 121 Walmart stores in 10 states as well as Sam’s Club and Bodega Aurrera outlets.

In a call with analysts, Walmex said Tuesday that the CROC represents only 6,500 workers who had agreed to participate in a strike, or less than 3% of its unionized workforce.

The company’s shares fell by 2.25% this morning in line with losses across the Mexican Stock Market’s benchmark index.

Walmart workers’ threatened strike follows widespread job action in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where thousands of factory workers have won 20% pay increases and annual bonuses of 32,000 pesos (US $1,650).

Source: Notimex (sp), Reuters (en)

Grupo Xcaret continues to invest, its confidence in Mexico unshaken

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MND Staff

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March 14, 2019

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High-speed ride on a jet boat is one of the attractions at Xcaret's new park.

Tourism company Grupo Xcaret continues to invest in new projects because it has “great confidence” in Mexico, despite having some reservations about the new federal government.

Vice-president and founding partner Carlos Constandse told a press conference yesterday that Xcaret’s latest theme park called Xavage will open next month.

Located just off the highway between Cancún and Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, the US $78-million park will allow visitors to participate in a range of adventure experiences on water, land and in the air.

Next year, Xcaret will open its second hotel – a US $85-million all-inclusive resort in Cancún called La Casa de la Playa (The Beach House) – for which orchestra conductor Alondra de la Parra will be an official ambassador.

“We’re at a key moment for the group in its three business divisions [theme parks, hotels and tours] and despite everything we’ve opted not to stop [investing]. We’re moving forward with our whole heart in it . . . The results are clear: last year we had close to 4 million visitors at our facilities, which represents a 19% increase with respect to 2017,” Constandse said.

The businessman expressed misgivings about the government’s decision to disband the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) but added that Grupo Xcaret is part of a working group of the National Tourism Business Council (CNET) that in conjunction with the federal Secretariat of Tourism is developing a new organization to replace it.

“[Mexico] is a very big country and together we’ve been through a lot of crises but we’ve come out of all of them. Now, we’re not in a crisis but in times of change. We all wanted a change and the change is happening, possibly not as we wanted it but it was necessary,” Constandse said.

He also said that Grupo Xcaret is interested in participating in the government’s ambitious Maya Train project.

“It’s a decision . . . that we have to support . . . There are natural attractions [on the Yucatán peninsula] that only a few places in the world have and we have to make the most of it.”

Source: El Economista (sp)

National guard declared constitutional following states’ approval

By

César Hernández

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March 14, 2019

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Congress today declared the new security force constitutional.

The new security force known as the national guard is on its way to becoming a reality following unanimous approval by all 32 states and both houses of Congress.

It is the first time in 30 years that a constitutional amendment has been approved unanimously.

After the completion of the vote by state congresses yesterday, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate today declared the National Guard is constitutional.

Approval by only 17 states was needed for the amendment to proceed, but the lower house of Congress decided to wait until all 32 had debated it.

The last step in the process is promulgation by President López Obrador.

Congress will then prepare the secondary legislation necessary to create the new force.

Source: El Economista (sp)

64 blocks of bricks form a new art installation in Oaxaca

By

César Hernández

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March 14, 2019

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Atlantes, the new art installation at Casa Wabi, Oaxaca. — Atlantes, the new art installation made from thousands of bricks.

A beachfront site near Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, is now home to a unique piece of art — a grid of 64 two-meter-high cubes made from thousands of red bricks.

The large-scale art installation was created by Mexican contemporary artist Bosco Sodi at Casa Wabi, an artists’ retreat and art center designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando for his Casa Wabi Foundation.

Called Atlantes, a reference to the pre-Hispanic motif of stone columns carved to resemble human figures, Sodi’s installation is comprised of stacks of bricks arranged in an eight-by-eight-foot grid. Identical spaces are left around each to create a symmetrical arrangement that draws on the concept of a chessboard.

“I wanted to do 64 cubes because I wanted to use the same structure as chess,” Sodi told the architectural and design magazine Dezeen. “I wanted it to be very mathematical. The cube is a completely human form; you do not find the cube in nature.”

Each of the 64 blocks is made of 1,600 clay bricks that Sodi and a team of local craftsmen made by hand — a total of 102,000 pieces.

ATLANTES PAVILION 1 from Studio Bosco Sodi on Vimeo.

To make the bricks, the team used raw earth and mixed it with water and sand to form clay, and then shaped and smoothed each one by hand. They were then left to air-dry in the sun.

Once hardened, the bricks were fired in a traditional kiln near the beach site using local wood, jacaranda seeds and coconut shells. This process imbued the bricks with terracotta hues, as well as green and black streaks.

“This concept, of getting materials that come from the earth in all of the four elements – earth, fire water, air – to form clay, and after time, to bring it back to its origins [is important to me],” Sodi said.

The installation took over two years to complete, but will eventually disintegrate.

The bricks will slowly deteriorate and the form will become organic again over a period of many years, Sodi said.

“[Eventually] they will become mountains of clay that are completely abstract and random, but in a very human way of arranging them.”

Source: Dezeen (en)