Spain, ‘the worst of the races,’ should apologize on its knees: deputy

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March 29, 2019

Mexico was “colonized by the worst of the races,” a lawmaker from Tabasco said yesterday while defending the letter President López Obrador sent to the king of Spain to ask him to apologize for the Spanish conquest.

Speaking in the Congress of the Gulf coast state, Charlie Valentino León Flores Vera, a deputy with López Obrador’s Morena party, said that corruption in Mexico and other Latin American countries is a product of Spanish colonization and that Spaniards should show remorse for the actions of their ancestors.

“. . . Unfortunately, we were colonized by the worst of the races, which is the Spanish . . . I wouldn’t ask them to [just] apologize but rather kneel down before our country because thanks to them we’re living through all this corruption,” he said.

“In Canada, there were French and English colonies. Look at the difference! In the United States, there were English colonies . . . In Belize, there was a colony of black English people and I think that they [the Belizeans] live better than us,” León Flores added.

The lawmaker described the conquering Spanish as a “band of thieves” and charged that they are the reason why “all of Latin America is collapsed.”

León Flores’ outburst earned a rebuke from Ecological Green Party (PVEM) Deputy Carlos Mario Ramos, who called on his colleague not to use discriminatory language in the Congress.

López Obrador published a video Monday 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.

The government of Spain “vigorously” rejected the request, stating that “the arrival 500 years ago of the Spaniards on territory that is now Mexican cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations.”

In Mexico, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Senator and former interior secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong was one of several opposition lawmakers who criticized the president for his apology request.

“President Andrés Manuel López Obrador should be subjected to constant medical evaluation,” Osorio said. “That apology that he requested from the king of Spain and the Vatican about the conquest, that’s out of order.”

Source: Reforma (sp)

Quintana Roo’s coral reef under threat from sargassum and disease

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MND Staff

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March 28, 2019

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Quintana Roo's coral reefs are not only threatened by sargassum but by a new bleaching disease.

Coral reefs off the coast of Quintana Roo are under threat from an aggressive bleaching phenomenon and sargassum, experts warn.

María del Carmen García Rivas, director of the Puerto Morelos National Reef Park, said that 30% of coral colonies in the park have died over the past four months due to bleaching, a phenomenon that occurs when water is too warm.

However, she warned that the expected invasion of sargassum later this year will also pose a threat to the reef’s health, explaining that when the seaweed decomposes it emits sulfuric acid which could have a catastrophic effect on the marine ecosystem.

García said that she hoped that all three levels of government will take strong action to combat the arrival of sargassum and avoid what could be an environmental disaster.

Lorenzo Álvarez Phillips, head researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), said that coral bleaching and sargassum are affecting the entire reef system from Isla Contoy, located off the north coast of Quintana Roo, to Sian Ka’an, a biosphere reserve in the municipality of Tulum.

Reefs located off the coast of Cozumel as well as Mahahual and Xcalac in the south of Quintana Roo have also been affected by the bleaching disease.

Álvarez said the bleaching phenomenon off the coast of Quintana Roo is so aggressive that an entire coral colony which took thousands of years to form can be killed in a single month.

The phenomenon has spread quickly, he added, explaining that reefs in “practically the whole state” have been affected.

The reefs are part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System that stretches over 1,000 kilometers from Isla Contoy to the Bay Islands in Honduras.

Source: El Economista (sp)

Pemex to cut at least 16,000 jobs after going over budget last year

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MND Staff

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March 28, 2019

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Salary costs went higher than budgeted last year. el universal

More than 16,000 Pemex workers could lose their jobs this year as part of cost-cutting measures at the beleaguered state oil company.

Pemex said in a 2019 budget document that it was forecasting adjustments to the size of its workforce to reduce costs.

The state-run company planned to operate this year with 111,855 employees but finished 2018 with 128,021 workers, 16,166 more than the number for which it budgeted.

The Pemex board has set a budget ceiling of 90.83 billion pesos (US $4.7 billion) in 2019 to pay salaries and benefits to current workers and pensions to retired ones – 3 billion pesos less than last year.

Other cost-cutting measures planned by the company include reducing the number of trips taken by employees to attend conferences and meetings, eliminating air travel in first and business classes, installing motion sensor lights at its facilities and suspending the vehicle leasing program for high-ranking officials.

Pemex has debt in excess of US $100 billion and its oil production has been declining for years.

To reduce its financial burden and strengthen its capacity to invest in exploration and production, President López Obrador announced a 107-billion-peso (US $5.5-billion) rescue package for Pemex last month.

The president said the state-run company will receive a cash injection, its tax burden will be reduced and it will be cleansed of corruption.

However, financial institutions rejected the bailout package, describing it as insufficient and disappointing, while Fitch Ratings warned that it doesn’t insulate the state oil company against future cuts to its credit rating.

Now there are reports that three independent board members are planning to resign because they disagree with López Obrador’s strategy for managing the company.

The Wall Street Journal said in a report published today that board members María Teresa Fernández, Carlos Elizondo and Octavio Pastrana plan to leave the company within weeks.

Sources told the newspaper that the three board members “have grown increasingly at odds with the government’s strategy.”

One concern is that the López Obrador administration didn’t provide a technical analysis to the board for the new refinery at Dos Bocas, Tabasco, to support the project’s profitability.

There are already two vacant seats on the 10-person board that approves Pemex’s business plan, meaning that the government would be able to appoint all five new independent board members.

The other five board positions are filled by the energy and finance secretaries and other government officials.

The Journal said that that the three imminent departures could give López Obrador “tighter control over Pemex as he seeks to shore up the state firm’s dominant role in an oil industry that was opened to private and foreign investment in 2013 as part of a broad energy sector overhaul that he opposed.”

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

Sargassum a ‘natural disaster’ that will require 800 million pesos this year

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MND Staff

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March 28, 2019

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Sand and sargassum in Quintana Roo. — Sand and sargassum in Quintana Roo last year.

Quintana Roo will need 800 million pesos (US $41.3 million) to combat the expected invasion of sargassum on the state’s coastline this year, the governor said yesterday.

Carlos Joaquín González said that 400 million pesos will be required to collect the seaweed after it washes up on Caribbean coast beaches and the same amount will be needed to pick it up at sea, install containment barriers and monitor its approach.

The governor said that officials are lobbying the federal government to obtain additional resources because it has only allocated 62 million pesos to combat sargassum, which has the potential to cost Quintana Roo huge amounts of tourism revenue.

Joaquín explained that a massive quantity of the seaweed is expected to arrive on the coastline this year, adding that the state government has asked the Secretariat of Finance (SHCP) to consider the invasion as a natural disaster so that resources from the federal Natural Disaster Fund (Fonden) can be accessed.

He said that money is usually allocated by Fonden when human lives are threatened but added, “in this case, it’s an issue that goes against economic development.”

Boats are surrounded by sargassum in last year's invasion. — Boats are surrounded by sargassum in last year’s invasion.

During last year’s sargassum season, up to 48 tonnes of the seaweed was collected on a daily basis from the state’s 480 kilometers of coastline, the governor said.

While Quintana Roo authorities are aiming to secure funding to combat sargassum this year, the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) is seeking US $50 million to finance a comprehensive anti-sargassum plan into the future.

One aspect of the plan is the establishment of a coastal management center in Quintana Roo from which sargassum studies and monitoring, among other activities to combat the seaweed’s arrival, would take place.

Pablo Careaga, a high-ranking official at Fonatur, said the seaweed represents a threat not just to marine ecosystems but also the health of Quintana Roo’s economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism.

The tourism sector took a hit last year due to the sullying of otherwise pristine Caribbean beaches by large amounts of unsightly and smelly sargassum and Careaga believes that if the same happens this year, already high levels of crime in Quintana Roo could go up even further.

“In the face of a reduction of tourists, the logical increase of unemployment will open up even more space to the scourge of insecurity that since last year has been extremely worrying in all the important tourist destinations in the state,” he said.

The US $50-million sargassum management plan will be formally presented to the federal government on April 4, Careaga explained.

Source: Por Esto (sp), El Universal (sp)

Mexico resort company Vidanta launches new luxury cruise line

By

Madison Koen

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March 28, 2019

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The Vidanta Elegant, Mexico's new cruise ship.

Mexico’s largest hotel and resort conglomerate has announced the launch of a Mexican cruise line.

With its new Vidanta Cruises, Nayarit-based Grupo Vidanta now has travel operations on both land and sea.

The company told a ceremony in Mexico City this week that it has invested 2.7 billion pesos (US $139 million) in the 153-meter Vidanta Elegant.

The ship will carry up to 298 passengers in its 149 cabins and suites and offer a crew-passenger ratio of 1-1 instead of the usual 1-5 in order to ensure a private and exclusive experience for customers.

The Vidanta Elegant has six public decks equipped with a wide range of gourmet restaurant options, 11 bars and lounges, a virtual reality area, a spa and gym, several Jacuzzis and an open-air swimming pool on the top deck.

Grupo Vidanta vice-president Iván Chávez highlighted the launch as a historic moment for the national travel industry.

“For the first time in history, Mexicans will be able to board a luxury cruise in their own country. It’s outrageous that to take a luxury cruise we [currently] have to get on a plane and fly to another country, only to board a ship that much of the time takes us back to visit our own coastline.”

He said Vidanta will apply its 45 years of experience in the luxury resort business to a sea-going vacation experience.

The company plans to begin offering cruises in the fall.

It will operate out of Vidanta’s resort in Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit, and give travelers the option for a cruise and resort vacation.

Grupo Vidanta operates luxury resorts in seven destinations in Mexico.

Source: El Sol de México (sp), Travel Weekly (en)

These eco-shoes are made with sargassum seaweed and plastic bottles

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César Hernández

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March 28, 2019

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In Quintana Roo, sargassum seaweed is a curse, but for a Guanajuato inventor it has the potential to become environmentally friendly footwear.

A new line of eco-shoes — made with recycled plastic and sargassum — has been designed by the firm Renovare, which had already spent several years experimenting with PET plastic.

Renovare founder Jorge Castro Ramos told the newspaper El Financiero that it took the company five years of trial and error to reach the stage where it could obtain clothing-grade textile fibers out of recycled plastic bottles.

The resulting polyester, he explained, has been patented as a Mexican product and can also be used to manufacture handbags, backpacks and sportswear.

Last year the company began working with sargassum, and about eight months ago came up with a shoe whose sole was made with 100 grams of sargassum and the rest with five recycled plastic bottles.

Recycled seaweed forms the sole of the eco-shoe.

Along with being an environmentally-friendly product, the shoe is also water-resistant. Renovare estimates that a pair can last up to two years, after which the shoes can be returned to Renovare for recycling.

The manufacturing process has been certified by several research centers, including the Center for Innovation Applied to Competitive Technologies (Ciatec), an agency that operates under the National Science and Technology Council (Conacyt).

While the sargassum and recycled plastic shoe has yet to hit the market, Renovare has been working to build demand. The next step is to hire up to 150 people and turn out 20,000 shoes a month.

In the meantime, the company has to work out the means of collecting and processing the seaweed.

Renovare is not alone in having found something useful to do with the unwanted weed, hundreds of tonnes of which have arrived on Quintana Roo beaches in recent years, threatening tourism and the environment.

A Puerto Morelos businessman has built a house with it and is now planning a sargassum-brick hotel in Tulum.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Heart attack victim died after she was diagnosed with bronchitis

By

César Hernández

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March 28, 2019

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The IMSS hospital where a woman was misdiagnosed and died.

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has ordered that the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) pay reparation in the case of a misdiagnosis that led to the death of a 51-year-old patient in June 2015.

The death occurred at the La Quebrada IMSS General Hospital in Cuautitlán Izcalli, México state, after the female patient was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. In reality she was suffering from a heart attack, the CNDH investigation found.

The mistaken diagnosis and inadequate treatment were the consequences of medical staff neglecting to conduct a full protocol of studies, resulting in her death.

“It has been proven that three people — public servants — violated the human right of protection of health, leading to the loss of a life,” the commission ruled.

It also found that the patient’s file was not compiled correctly, as physicians included incomplete medical notes.

Source: Reforma (sp)

El Popo volcano alert raised to yellow Phase 3 after increased activity

By

MND Staff

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March 28, 2019

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El Popo lets off some steam this morning.

The National Disaster Prevention Center (Cenapred) today raised its alert for the Popocatépetl volcano from yellow Phase 2 to yellow Phase 3 due to increased volcanic activity.

El Popo, as the volcano located in Puebla and Morelos is commonly known, recorded one of its strongest explosions in recent years last week and another eruption occurred at 6.50 am today, sending a 2.5-kilometer ash plume into the air.

Several other explosions have occurred in recent weeks.

Cenapred said in a statement issued at 11:00am today that 61 exhalations had occurred at the volcano during the past 24 hours and warned people to not go near the volcano and especially the crater due to the danger of falling ballistic fragments.

The yellow Phase 3 alert is the highest warning level before the red phase in which people living near the volcano are advised to be ready to evacuate. Around 275,000 people live within a 30-kilometer radius of Popocatépetl, which last recorded a major eruption in the year 2000.

Following today’s elevation of the alert level, Civil Protection chief David Romero urged citizens to remain calm, explaining that the increased activity at Popocatépetl represented a “normal change in the volcano.”

However, he added that authorities will carry out inspections of temporary shelters and evacuation routes to ensure that they are ready should the alert level be raised again. A 12-kilometer “security radius” has already been implemented.

Civil Protection authorities in Puebla warned that falling ash could affect the municipalities of Tochimilco, Atzitzihuacan, Huaquechula, Tepemaxalco, Acteopan, Cohuecan, Tepexco, Tepeojuma and Izúcar de Matamoros over the next 12 hours.

In the case of ashfall, Cenapred recommends that people cover their noses and mouths with a handkerchief or face mask, clean their eyes and throats with water, avoid the use of contact lenses to reduce eye irritation and close windows in their homes.

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

Initial contracts have been signed for Maya Train project

By

Madison Koen

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March 28, 2019

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The first contracts have been signed for the Maya Train project, the general manager of the National Tourism Development Fund (Fonatur) announced yesterday.

The consultancy Steer Davies Gleave has been engaged to prepare a master plan for the 1,500-kilometer passenger rail service that will run between Cancún, Quintana Roo, and Palenque, Chiapas.

Fonatur’s Rogelio Jiménez Pons said contracts have also been signed with the professional services firms Deloitte and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The former will be involved in organizing the real estate investment trusts and the latter will prepare a cost-benefit analysis.

The contracts were signed without going to tender due to a short timeline, Jiménez said, but bids will be sought on other parts of the project that will be undertaken this year.

He said that completion of the initial steps, including the master plan, financial planning, environmental impact studies and consultations with indigenous communities, will require a 1-billion-peso (US $51-million) investment.

The train’s route has been extended more than once since it was first announced, and Jiménez announced another during his presentation about the train at Exporail 2019, an international conference of the railway industry held this week in Mexico City.

The line will be extended some 30 kilometers to reach the port of Seybaplaya, Campeche.

The government has estimated the entire project will cost between 120 billion and 150 billion pesos, although a think tank warned last week that deficiencies in planning could result in a cost 10 times higher.

The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness report was based on an analysis of 23 similar rail projects around the world, including the still-incomplete Toluca-Mexico City commuter rail line.

Source: Milenio (sp), Sin Embargo (sp)

Cancelling Special Economic Zones risks losing billions: private sector

By

MND Staff

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March 28, 2019

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sez — Puerto Chiapas, one of the Special Economic Zones.

The private sector has spoken out against the possible elimination of the country’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs), warning that there is a risk of losing billions of dollars of investment.

The previous federal government created seven SEZs in Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas; Salina Cruz, Oaxaca; Lázaro Cárdenas-La Union, Michoacán and Guerrero; Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz; Seybaplaya, Campeche; Dos Bocas, Tabasco; and Progreso, Yucatán.

Each zone offers generous financial incentives to attract investment including a company tax rate of zero for a period of 10 years.

Some companies have already committed to an investment of US $3 billion and at least 83 others have expressed interested in business ventures worth an additional $8.6 billion that would create tens of thousands of jobs.

Over the next 15 to 20 years, investment of US $42 billion had been predicted by the former head of the federal agency responsible for the SEZs, Gerardo Gutiérrez Candiani.

The economic zones are intended to encourage economic development in poorer regions. el economista

But his successor said Tuesday that the government is analyzing the viability of maintaining the zones and will make a decision on their future in two months.

Rafael Marín Mollinedo said the Secretariat of Finance (SHCP) has taken the view that it will be more beneficial to concentrate government resources on the establishment of a trade corridor on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

“There are experts who have come to speak to us about the SEZs, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank . . . [who say] establishing one SEZ is good, two maximum, but seven? . . . What has to be done is completely develop one area as will be the case with the Isthmus of Tehuantepec,” he said.

Finance undersecretary Arturo Herrera appeared to indicate that the government has already made the decision to cancel the SEZs.

“The [special] economic zones haven’t been working. Little by little, we’re going to move to another model . . . or we’re going to seek different development mechanisms,” he said.

Enoch Castellano Férez, president of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation (Canacintra), responded to the comments by saying that cancelling the SEZs would be bad news for Mexico’s poorest states because they will lose a huge amount of private investment.

He also contended that the government has a misguided view about how much it will need to spend on the zones.

“I believe that it’s not being measured well. We’ve spoken about it with some officials, [and] I have the impression that they believe that a lot of investment needs to be put into the SEZs,” Castellano said.

“There will be some that do need that but it’s very clear that in Coatzacoalcos, Salina Cruz, Lázaro Cárdenas and even Tapachula [Puerto Chiapas], the investment [required] from the government is a lot less than any of the other projects of this administration,” he added.

Former SZE chief Gutiérrez, who used to be head of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), told the newspaper Milenio that a lot of investment projects planned for the SEZs are on the verge of beginning and that the government would be unwise not to take advantage of the economic initiative.

He pointed out that the SEZs were designed to create jobs and attract investment and thus close the economic gap that exists between the south and southeast of Mexico and other regions of the country.

Business people and associations in Michoacán and Veracruz also rejected the possible elimination of the SEZs and urged the government to reconsider its intentions.

Jesús Melgoza, secretary of economic development in Michoacán, said he will meet next Monday with his counterparts from all of the states with designated SEZs in order to develop a formal proposal that they will submit to the federal government to advocate for the continuation of the zones.

Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles said that if the government cancels the SEZs, it would be shooting itself in the foot, adding that he didn’t understand why “many officials of the current government want to destroy everything.”

Chiapas Economy Secretary Yamil Melgar Bravo said the SEZs will be a trigger for industrial development and expressed confidence that they won’t be cancelled. The SHCP is simply reassessing how to move forward with their development, he said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

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