Mexico renews steel safeguard duty after it lapsed February 1

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February 26, 2019

Mexico will renew a 15% safeguard duty on steel imports from countries with which it doesn’t have free trade agreements, an Economy Secretariat official announced yesterday.

The safeguard measure was first put in place in October 2015 and was subsequently renewed every six months but the current government allowed it to lapse on February 1.

The decision triggered criticism from two industry groups who called the move a grave mistake.

However, industry and trade undersecretary Ernesto Acevedo said the government will renew the safeguard measure, explaining that it will take effect this week and apply to the same 186 steel products as before.

The National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) and the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) were among a range of groups and experts who said that if the government didn’t renew the measure, there would be no chance of the United States removing the tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum imports that it introduced last year on national security grounds.

Acevedo said that the Mexican government will continue to pressure the U.S. government to lift the respective 25% and 10% tariffs, which took effect on June 1.

At a press conference, he described the duties as “an important threat to the Mexico-United States trade relationship.”

Mexico swiftly introduced its own equivalent measures on a range of United States imports including pork, cheese and apples.

Acevedo also said yesterday that the government will sign two decrees to reestablish 25% and 30% tariffs on textile and shoe imports from countries with which it doesn’t have trade pacts. The previous duties on the products expired in January.

Source: Reuters (sp)

Oaxaca teachers demand creation of 13,000 jobs, automatic placement

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MND Staff

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February 26, 2019

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Teachers' campsite in Mexico City this week.

Teachers from Oaxaca are protesting in Mexico City to demand the creation of 13,000 jobs in the state and the automatic appointment of teaching graduates to the positions.

The leader of Section 22 of the CNTE teachers’ union said that protesters want the General Professional Teaching Service Law – part of the 2013 education reform – to be cancelled so that positions can be allocated to graduates of Oaxaca’s teacher training colleges in accordance with bilateral agreements between teachers and the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP).

Eloy López Hernández said the teachers also want promotions to be given in accordance with the scale system as set out in Article 123 of the Mexican constitution.

In addition, teachers want the concept of bicultural education to be changed to multicultural education so that the curriculum is inclusive of all of the different indigenous groups in Oaxaca and across Mexico.

To pressure the legislative branch of government, members of the dissident union yesterday began a 72-hour protest in front of the lower house of Congress.

Teachers also marched through the streets of the capital to the Venezuelan embassy to show their support for President Nicolás Maduro, who is currently under intense international pressure to step down.

Despite the presence of teachers in Mexico City, education authorities in Oaxaca said that classes proceeded as normal in 90% of schools yesterday.

CNTE leaders had called on all teachers in the state to stop work on February 25, 26 and 27 to travel to Mexico City to protest.

But only around 800 Oaxacan teachers – a small minority of the state’s educators – are currently camped out in front of the San Lázaro Legislative Palace.

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

In Oaxaca, ‘Yalitza effect’ triggers move to revitalize Oaxacan culture

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MND Staff

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February 26, 2019

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The 'Yalistour," a 438-kilometer roadtrip from Mexico City to Tlaxiaco.

Oscar-nominated actress Yalitza Aparicio is an international agent of change, according to the governor of Oaxaca, where her fame is prompting authorities to act.

The success of the 25-year-old Mixtec star of Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma has triggered a swift reaction from Oaxaca authorities, who have announced plans to revitalize the artistic and cultural life of the state’s indigenous communities and pledged to improve the labor rights of domestic workers.

Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat has also announced a new tourist route from Mexico City to Aparicio’s home town of Tlaxiaco.

The preschool teacher-turned-actress missed out on an individual Oscar at Sunday night’s Academy Awards but Murat still described Aparicio – who plays the role of a domestic worker in Roma – as a winner and a star who is capable of helping to change discriminatory attitudes towards indigenous people around the world.

The governor said that state authorities are looking at proposals to improve the labor rights and benefits of domestic workers, stating that the government will provide them with social security, a retirement pension and housing credits.

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Murat added that his government will seek to create a culture in which people treat women working in their homes as another member of the family rather than just an employee.

The governor also said the people of Oaxaca are very proud of Aparicio, the success of Roma at the Oscars and the fact that Cuarón continues to help promote the state as he did in his 2001 film Y Tú Mamá También, which features the Oaxacan coastline.

Murat explained that there was a possibility that the state government would invite Cuarón, his production team and the cast of Roma to Oaxaca to work together on a new project.

“The important thing is to speak to them, with Yalitza . . . with Cuarón to see what they wish to do,” he said.

Murat said that he had already collaborated with Cuarón’s production team after it requested that Roma be screened in Tlaxiaco.

Oaxaca Culture Secretary Adriana Aguilar said that Tlaxiaco, located around 160 kilometers northwest of the state capital, has a lot of potential as a cultural destination because it is not only the birthplace of Aparicio but also singer Lila Downs.

Aparicio with her mother, Margarita Martínez, at the Oscars on Sunday.

She added that the city will be invited to participate in this year’s Guelaguetza, an annual festival that celebrates Oaxacan culture, with a specific focus on Tlaxiaco’s food and architecture.

Aguilar also said that state authorities will seek to reinvigorate the Mixtec artistic, cultural and music scene and, with the support of the National Autonomous University (UNAM), work to preserve the native languages spoken in Oaxaca.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Tlaxiaco has announced that the municipal government will bestow its highest honor on Aparicio in recognition of her status as a distinguished citizen.

The actress has also inspired at least two murals, one in the market of her hometown and another in the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa while singer-songwriter Humberto Reyes has composed a ballad called El Corrido de Yalitza Aparicio.

Although Aparicio’s success has triggered a negative reaction from some, many people are celebrating the actresses’ emergence as a new –and different – role model and her representation of Mexico on the world stage.

Congratulating Cuarón for taking home three Oscars, federal Culture Secretary Alejandra Frausto wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations, you made the world see the diversity of the country we are.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

400 miners join Tamaulipas strikes; Walmart workers announce job action

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Madison Koen

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February 26, 2019

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More workers are going on strike in an effort to match salary increases and bonuses already granted to workers at maquiladoras, or factories, in Tamaulipas.

Some 400 miners at Siderúrgica del Golfo in Matamoros walked off the job yesterday while Walmart employees have announced a strike on Monday. All are demanding a salary increase of 20% and a bonus payment of 32,000 pesos (US $1,700),

Miners’ union president Javier Zúñiga said that even though miners receive some of the highest salaries in Matamoros, workers feel they are owed an increase in their earnings because of the physical demands and risks the work necessitates.

“The majority of the workers decided to strike, and as a union we decided to support them. In the mining industry, we have always had the best salaries. Due to salary increases and the continuing fight by [other] workers, they have caught up to us.”

Tens of thousands of workers in various industries in Matamoros have walked off the job in recent weeks. Over the weekend, nearly 30 employees at a Coca-Cola distribution plant that recently closed its doors due to work stoppages were seen offering to wash cars for 30 pesos (US $1.50). Drivers lined up for several blocks to support the striking workers.

Meanwhile, a union that represents workers at Walmart México announced that a strike will begin on Monday in 10 states to press for a 20% salary increase and better conditions for the 8,000 workers it represents.

The union also hopes to set up a sales commission program that would pay employees 4% for every sale they make. The union also alleged that employees often did not receive compensation for extra hours worked and cited other abuses, such as sexual assault by managers.

A Walmart spokesperson told the news agency Reuters that the company saw talks with the union as positive, though they countered that the allegations of abuse were without foundation.

Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Farmers (CROC) representative Eduardo Miranda said that talks will continue until March 5, though he added that after three meetings with union leaders, Walmart has yet to come up with a new salary proposal.

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

World-class music school in Zihuatanejo remains a dream

By

Elisabeth Ashe

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February 26, 2019

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Guitar students at Zihuatanejo's school of music.

A music school that caters to the poorest of the poor in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, is facing eviction barring a miracle.

Elvis “Aikeke” Rose is the director of the school of music and art, best known as EMAZ, a school that operates on a shoestring budget and on borrowed or donated instruments, which are still in short supply.

Although the government has set aside land to fulfill the dream of a world-class school, the reality is that for now the school is set in a courtyard adjacent to a cabana-like structure where Aikeke lives.

No one with talent is turned away. Somehow Aikeke makes it work and has turned out fine students over the years who have gone on to sing in opera houses in Mexico and play with groups or as solo artists locally and beyond.

The few students who can pay barely cover the rent, so the school is facing eviction this month if a miracle doesn’t happen soon.

Christopher on the piano, watched by his sister and teacher Aikeke.

An accomplished musician who began playing professionally at 11, Aikeke is proud of his military musical training at the United States Navy School of Music in Virginia. He describes it as the best training anyone could possibly have, with emphasis on theory and technical proficiency.

Following service in the U.S. Army, the native of St Vincent in the Caribbean honed his craft by working as a studio musician for some of the greatest in Jazz — Rubén Blades, Roland Prince and Elsworth (Shake) Keane to name a few.

Aikeke played drums for a touring band known as The Equitables, playing throughout the U.S. and Canada, but it was when he came to Mexico around 1995 that he first discovered Zihuatanejo and decided he could make a difference here.

He asked me to visit the school to meet one of his most promising students, Christopher, age 24. Christopher started to play the piano a short year ago and is now playing full compositions in many genres. Among his favorites is John Lennon’s Imagine, which he played for me, but he is proficient with many more.

Aikeke used the word genius to describe him. He is also Aikeke’s first autistic student who is blind.

The pair first met at a local school that specializes in helping children and young adults who are challenged either physically or mentally or sometimes both.

An architectural rendition of the proposed new music school.

Although Aikeke has taught other blind students, it has taken an inordinate amount of patience to be successful with an autistic student like Christopher, but the effort has been well worth it.

In addition to his playing ability, Christopher can sing in perfect pitch and loves to perform for anyone who will listen. For Aikeke, music has been the perfect way to help students like Christopher reach their potential.

As I listened to Christopher play, I could feel the passion this young man had for the music, and I wiped away a tear when Christopher finished the number.

For Christopher’s parents, music is a way for their son to grow, to learn and best of all, find normalcy in his life.

For Aikeke, music has been the perfect way to help students like Christopher reach their potential. “I don’t just teach kids who can afford to play,” Rose stated. “I teach kids with talent. And Christopher has talent.”

Unfortunately, judging by the school’s dire financial straits, “payment in apples, oranges and sometimes coconuts doesn’t pay the bills.”

• To find out how you can help, either by sponsoring a student or supplying instruments or just donating, visit the school’s website. EMAZ is a fully recognized Mexican charity.

Christopher

Watch this video on YouTube

EMAZ student Christopher at the keyboard.

Party leader claims crash that killed Puebla governor was no accident

By

MND Staff

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February 26, 2019

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The Christmas Eve helicopter crash that killed the governor of Puebla and her ex-governor husband was no accident, claims the national president of the political party to which they belonged.

Martha Erika Alonso, who was sworn in as governor on December 14, Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, two pilots and a political aide all died after the Italian-made Agusta helicopter in which they were traveling plunged to the ground just outside the city of Puebla in the municipality of Coronango.

National Action Party (PAN) president Marko Cortés told the newspaper El Universal that there has been a “suspicious silence” from the federal government about the crash, leading him to believe that it was caused deliberately.

“There’s a black hand in this [crash] that was presented as an accident, and today – with scant evidence and without an official and scientific verdict 60 days later – we see that it wasn’t an accident but rather a provoked incident . . . Being a day with good weather, the equipment [the helicopter] in good order and expert pilots, it makes you think that it [the accident] was provoked,” he said.

“Furthermore, the helicopter fell head first . . .” Cortés added, referencing the helicopter’s unusual almost vertical descent.

The PAN president also said the investigations into the crash are “at a standstill,” a situation he argued is generating uncertainty in the lead-up to a new election for governor that will be held on June 2.

“The investigations undertaken by the federal government are conspicuous by their absence,” Cortés declared while demanding that the López Obrador-led administration provide clarity about the causes of the crash.

Two days after the incident, the president rejected accusations that his government was responsible, declaring that such claims were only made by a “mean” and “neo-fascist” minority.

“As a matter of principle, we would never act against anybody,” López Obrador said, adding that the government was fully committed to finding out what caused the crash.

Yesterday, presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said that a report on the progress of the investigations would be made public soon.

“There has to be a report because it’s an open case of national interest, a report about the state of the investigations will be given in the coming days,” he said, adding that experts’ reports completed outside Mexico will be included.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Business travel sector cancels 2 billion pesos in spending

By

Madison Koen

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February 26, 2019

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Uncertainty in the Mexican economy has led foreign investors to cancel 2 billion pesos (US $105 million) of spending on business travel, an industry spokesman says.

Jaime Salazar, president of the Business Travel Industry Council (Comir), told the newspaper El Financiero that eight foreign companies that had planned to hold large corporate events in Mexico over the next three years have cancelled their plans due to “uncertainty in the financial sector and a lack of clarity from the federal government.”

He added that all events associated with federal agencies will likely be cancelled or significantly reduced.

“As a result, we are expecting a 30% drop in events nationwide in the business tourism sector.”

Salazar said there is a lack of confidence in the Mexican market due to the disbanding of the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM), and the decision to move the responsibility for tourism marketing toMexico’s embassies around the world.

Comir has attempted to fill the void left by the CPTM’s dissolution and has since been present at several large tourism conventions to try to attract businesses to Mexico for conferences and meetings.

“We have decided to organize pavilions for several of the industry’s most important events, like AMEX Las Vegas, and we won’t stop until the country’s embassies are truly truly qualified to take over promotion.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Agents charge immigrants ‘fees;’ government plans a clean-up

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MND Staff

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February 26, 2019

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Sánchez has promised a clean-up at immigration agency.

The federal interior secretary has pledged to carry out a “general clean-up” of the National Immigration Institute (INM), explaining that the government has become aware of immigration agents who engage in “illegal conduct.”

Olga Sánchez Cordero told a press conference yesterday that the government has heard from people who have been extorted by immigration agents when they arrived in Mexico.

She added that there is evidence that INM officials even charge different “fees” if the person entering the country “is Venezuelan, Indian or Chinese – in a nutshell, it depends on the nationality.”

The interior secretary’s comments came in response to a question about a 2017 audit recently released by the Federal Auditor’s Office (ASF), which identified legal and ethical shortcomings at the INM and recommended a “profound reengineering” of the institute.

“We’re going to do a general clean-up. These ethical and legal voids it had, of course we’re reviewing them,” Sánchez said.

In response to the ASF audit, the INM itself also said that it would conduct an in-depth review of its processes as well as its staff and the treatment they provide to migrants.

The review will be carried out “from a perspective of unconditional respect for human rights,” the organization said.

The INM also said it will progressively change its personnel in the short term, while over a longer period it will modify its processes and develop new practices with a specific focus on the modernization of technology.

“In doing so, the intent is for the institute to be recognized as an agency that is world class in immigration processes. The modernization of the INM implies an open and transparent institute that maintains civil society as an ally,” it said.

Elba Coria, director of the Alaíde Foppa Legal Clinic for Refugees, an organization at the Iberoamerican University, said the ASF’s damning assessment of the INM was a result of the latter implementing a strategy to control Mexico’s borders and national territory with countless roadblocks and inspections, placing migrants in a situation of vulnerability.

Leticia Calderón Chelius, a researcher at Instituto Mora, a Mexico City university, highlighted that Mexico deports more Central Americans than the United States and contended that immigration authorities have acted unlawfully after arresting migrants.

“They detained everyone, and for longer than the legally allowed time. That was the strategy . . .” she said.

Both Coria and Calderón said that political will is needed to implement the changes that are needed to reform the INM.

The National Immigration Institute was also criticized in a 2017 report by the independent INM Citizens’ Council after an investigation found that agents threaten, punish and abuse migrants at detention centers, coerce them to accept voluntary deportation and discourage them from seeking asylum in Mexico.

Both President López Obrador and new INM chief Tonatiuh Guillén have promised that migrants will be treated with more respect and humanity under the new government than was the case during the previous one.

Migration to Mexico has surged in recent months as several large caravans of Central Americans have entered the country at the southern border en route to the United States.

The INM last month issued more than 12,000 humanitarian visas to such migrants but the program has since been discontinued.

Thousands of Central Americans are currently stranded in northern border cities as they await the opportunity to request asylum with United States authorities, a situation that has rankled some residents and authorities in cities such as Tijuana.

Migration continues to be a contentious issue in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States, one that deteriorated after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

Secretary Sánchez and INM chief Guillén will travel to Washington D.C. later this week to meet with United States Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to discuss the two countries’ views on migration and strategies to deal with the issue.

“. . . It’s a common issue that affects the United States, us and also Canada,” Sánchez said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Reaction to actress’ success is pure racism, says UNAM researcher

By

MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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Negative reaction to the success of indigenous Oscar-nominated actress Yalitza Aparicio is pure racism, a sociology researcher contends.

Natividad Gutiérrez Chong, a researcher at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), said in an interview that scornful comments about the 25-year-old Mixtec star of Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma are the product of the average Mexican’s psyche inherited from the Spanish in colonial times.

“When the Spanish arrived, they subjugated native women and their worth was reduced to domesticity,” she said.

Hundreds of years later, the antiquated belief that an indigenous woman’s place is in the home – often carrying out the domestic chores of the wealthy – persists and manifests itself in comments such as that made by telenovela (soap opera) actor Sergio Goyri, Gutiérrez said.

Earlier this month, Goyri called Aparicio “a damn Indian” and declared it was unthinkable that an indigenous woman “who only says sí señora, no señora [yes ma’am, no ma’am]” could be nominated for a best-actress Oscar.

“Yalitza’s talents have been trivialized,” Gutiérrez said.

“People think that she doesn’t act and that’s she’s just being herself in the movie but that’s a big mistake because she’s a preschool teacher . . . so she is acting and responding to the instructions of the director,” she added.

The academic said that discrimination towards Mexico’s native population has always existed but the success of some female members of different indigenous communities, such as Aparicio, is making them more visible and that riles a lot of people, some of whom take to social media to vent.

“This happens because the racist fears that another person – in this case an indigenous woman – is taking something that he or she thinks belongs to him or her [just] for being white,” Gutiérrez said.

“. . . Racism is a brake on social mobility for those below, it’s a brake on the success of those below . . .” she added.

A similar phenomenon occurred with María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, an indigenous woman who unsuccessfully attempted to run in last year’s presidential election.

However, the backlash against the Nahua woman affectionately known as Marichuy was less because no one truly believed that she would achieve the success she sought, Gutiérrez said.

President López Obrador also weighed in on the issue this morning while congratulating Roma director Cuarón for taking home three Oscars last night.

The leftist said that he hasn’t seen the film but agreed with Cuarón’s remarks that racism continues to plague Mexico.

“I completely agree with him. Unfortunately, Mexico still has a lot of racism. I send him a hug from here and I congratulate him,” López Obrador said.

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

Residents go up against soldiers in Guanajuato: ‘We don’t want you here’

By

MND Staff

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February 25, 2019

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A blockade designed to repel federal forces in Santa Rosa de Lima.

Residents of a cartel-controlled community in Guanajuato confronted soldiers and Federal Police officers Saturday, forcing the security forces to retreat.

A group of between 50 and 100 people – mainly women – shouted insults at the federal forces in Santa Rosa de Lima, a town in the municipality of Villagrán that is a stronghold of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, a gang of fuel thieves.

“. . . We don’t want you here . . .” the residents yelled along with expletive-laden abuse, the newspaper Milenio reported.

To avoid an escalation of hostilities, the soldiers and police decided to leave Santa Rosa after which residents set tires at the town’s entrance to prevent their return.

The security forces had been carrying out patrols supported by two navy helicopters.

Saturday’s confrontation was not the first time that Santa Rosa de Lima residents have stood up against security forces.

On January 29, an anti-fuel theft operation in Villagrán that resulted in the seizure of at least 24 tanker trucks filled with gasoline, seven trailers and 5,000 liters of stolen fuel triggered a hostile response from residents who attempted to repel security forces with fiery blockades.

Two days later, a narco-banner appeared in Salamanca warning President López Obrador to remove security forces from the Guanajuato or innocent people will die.

The banner, signed by “El Señor Marro,” also said that “a little gift” had been left at the Salamanca oil refinery.

The gift, the government later confirmed, consisted of explosive devices left inside a vehicle parked in front of one of the refinery’s entrances. The explosives were removed before they detonated and were destroyed by authorities.

The gang is believed headed by José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortiz, who has evaded capture even though federal authorities have a lot of information about him, including ranches he frequents, his closest criminal associates and the locations his gang targets to extract fuel from Pemex pipelines.

His criminal organization is believed to be behind much of the violence that made Guanajuato Mexico’s deadliest state last year.

According to federal intelligence officials, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel is now expanding into Querétaro and Hidalgo to steal fuel from petroleum pipelines in those states.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)