Great expectations for AMLO: survey reveals strong support

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August 15, 2018

Poll results are nothing for AMLO to be unhappy about.

There are high expectations that things will get better under the incoming federal government, according to a new national poll that also shows the president-elect has strong support.

The survey conducted by the newspaper El Universal between August 8 and 12 shows that 69% of those polled believe that Mexico will improve when Andrés Manuel López Obrador is president.

In contrast, just 6.5% of respondents said the country will deteriorate during the new government’s six-year term, while 16% said it would stay the same and 7.8% said they didn’t know what would happen.

The poll also shows that support for López Obrador’s performance as president-elect is very strong, with 64.6% of respondents saying that they totally or somewhat approved of his actions since he won the presidential election.

The figure is 11 points higher than the 53% of votes with which the Morena party leader triumphed on July 1 and more than 40 points higher than the approval rating given to President Enrique Peña Nieto in the same poll.

Only 12.1% of respondents said they totally or somewhat disapproved of López Obrador’s performance as president-elect while 12.7% said that they neither approved nor disapproved.

In the six weeks since millions of Mexicans went to the polls to elect a new president and renew both houses of the federal Congress, AMLO, as the political veteran is commonly known, and his nominees for cabinet positions have begun to outline the plans of the incoming government.

They include building new infrastructure such as the Cancún-Palenque train and a new oil refinery in Tabasco, reestablishing a federal Public Security Secretariat, moving some secretariats to regional cities, cutting salaries and benefits of lawmakers and officials, planting trees, establishing a free zone in the northern border region, increasing the minimum wage and reviewing contracts for the oil sector and finishing the new Mexico City airport.

López Obrador and prospective finance secretary Carlos Urzúa also moved quickly to calm fears surrounding the incoming government’s economic plans, pledging that the nation’s finances will be kept under control and that the independence of the central bank will be respected.

Today, ratings company Standard and Poor’s expressed confidence that the new government would maintain a prudent fiscal policy and would avoid instability, and that even a more active government role in economic terms would not likely be anti-market or populist.

Once he is in office, 64.5% of the 1,200 people polled told El Universal that they believed that the López Obrador-led government would deliver on its campaign promises while 18.5% said that he wouldn’t. A further 16.5% said that they didn’t know.

Almost 30% of respondents predicted that Lopez Obrador’s greatest achievement in office will be to combat poverty while 16.5% said that it would be improving the economy.

Just over 9% anticipated that job creation would be AMLO’s most notable accomplishment and a similar number said that it would be stamping out corruption.

On the other hand, 19.9% of respondents said that government corruption would go down as the incoming administration’s biggest failing, while smaller cohorts said that it would be the relationship with the United States, a failure to combat drug trafficking and other crime, management of the economy and treatment of the structural reforms implemented by the current government.

If the election was held again now, López Obrador would triumph anew with 60.3% of the vote, the poll concluded.

El Universal said that the survey has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of +/- 2.9%.

Source: El Universal (sp), La Economista (sp)

Oaxaca to fight expansion of denomination of origin for mezcal

By

César Hernández

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August 15, 2018

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A fight is brewing over denomination of origin rules for mezcal. — A fight is brewing over rules for mezcal production.

According to federal regulations the alcoholic beverage mezcal can only be produced in certain locations in Oaxaca and in some areas of the states of Guerrero, Durango, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.

But 45 municipalities in four other states were added to the list last week, a move that the governor of Oaxaca is determined to fight.

Alejandro Murat Hinojosa is preparing to contest the ruling by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), which granted denomination of origin (DO) to mezcals produced in parts of the states of México, Aguascalientes, Morelos and Puebla.

Murat told the newspaper Milenio that the IMPI’s ruling was carried out in a manipulated manner to benefit the additional areas, which he claimed are not producers of the spirit and in recent years have been dedicated only to adulterating it.

The governor said he will collaborate with several mezcal producers’ and defend the previous DO rules by any means, including protests in Mexico City and taking the case to the courts.

“The decision to expand the denomination of origin to other states that are not producers hurts and offends those with a larger tradition, who have for years worked and fought to protect and consolidate the ancestral and artisanal beverage,” said Murat.

The governor added that Oaxaca must launch a legal battle and defend what is its own, especially when it has worked to earn prestige for the beverage, the product of a commitment by maguey producers, indigenous communities, exporters and vendors.

Several mezcal producers’ organizations echoed Murat’s sentiment, warning that IMPI’s resolution puts at risk the prestige earned by the industry over the years.

Mezcal producers in Aguacalientes, on the other hand, celebrated the decision. The state government says there are 334 small producers and 4,600 hectares of maguey under cultivation.

The IMPI said its research had determined that mezcal production in the state dated back to the 18th century.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Environmental agency seizes tarantulas at Mexico City restaurant

By

César Hernández

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August 15, 2018

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Officials from the federal environmental agency Profepa seized tarantulas in Mexico City yesterday just as they were about to become taco filling.

The red rump tarantulas, a protected species, had been roasted to a crisp and were ready to be served in tarantula tacos for a cool 500 pesos (US $26) each.

Profepa inspectors became aware of the offerings at México en el Paladar through a post it made on Facebook, in which the chef could be seen flambéing (see video below) one of the spiders. Brave and hungry foodies were advised that it was just one of many tarantula preparation methods offered to its customers.

Yesterday, environmental officials visited the restaurant, located in the San Juan Market, and seized four cooked tarantulas after staff failed to produce a document proving their legal origin.

The restaurant has been popular among foodies over the last few months since it began to offer scorpions, escamoles (ant larvae) and chapulines (grasshoppers) on its menu.

The Mexican government currently approves and supports the breeding of tarantulas in captivity, with a yearly production of between 11,000 and 14,000 insects for the lucrative pet market, where a single arachnid can sell for up to 8,000 pesos (just over $415).

Source: El Financiero (sp)

MX, US rewards for New Generation Cartel leader now total US $6.6 million

By

César Hernández

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August 15, 2018

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'El Mencho,' wanted in Mexico and the US.

The governments of Mexico and the United States have raised the rewards offered for the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

Mexico is offering 30 million pesos (about US $1.6 million) for any information that leads to Oseguera’s arrest, while the United States is offering up to $5 million, Mexican authorities told the newspaper El Financiero.

The rewards are part of a series of actions aimed at securing Oseguera’s arrest and part of a broader binational crackdown on violence and strengthened security on both sides of the border.

A binational security team met yesterday in Illinois and the full extent of the agreements reached are to be announced later today.

Acting Attorney General Alberto Elías Beltrán led the Mexican team, joined by high-ranking officials from the Mexican army and navy.

Oseguera, also known as “El Mencho,” is considered to be the principal instigator of violence in Mexico. The drug lord has been behind the expansion of the CJNG over the last three years, putting the organization in direct confrontation with rival gangs throughout the country, sparking violent turf wars for the control of territory.

The cartel’s confrontations with security forces from the three levels of government have also cost the lives of many officials.

Anyone with information about Oseugera can call (55) 5346 3867 and (55) 5346 0000, extension 3825, in Mexico City, while elsewhere in the country the toll-free number is 01 800 831 3196.

Information can also be provided by email to [email protected].

Source: El Financiero (sp)

First sargassum diversion barrier is now in place near Cancún

By

MND Staff

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August 15, 2018

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Sargassum barriers that are being installed in Quintana Roo.

The first section of a floating sargassum barrier has been installed at Punta Nizuc near Cancún, where it is intended to prevent the seaweed from arriving on shore.

Goimar Logística y Servicios reported late yesterday afternoon on the advances made in the barrier project, which will install the system on 27 kilometers of Quintana Roo coastline from Cancún to Chetumal.

The floating barriers are a modification of those used to contain oil spills, and are anchored to the seabed.

Large quantities of sargassum have washed up on Quintana Roo beaches over the past three months, threatening tourism and leading to warnings that the mass arrival of seaweed could trigger a serious environmental disaster and a health crisis.

The Quintana Roo government plans to install a total of seven containment booms off the coast to stop the stinky, brown seaweed from sullying the state’s beaches.

Beaches in tourist hotspots Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are among those to benefit.

Environment Secretary Alfredo Arellano said the state government has arranged to rent four machines to remove sargassum, which could arrive from Florida as soon as this weekend.

“We’re not going to buy the machines because their cost ranges between 4 and 13 million pesos [US $208,000 to $678,000], they will be rented. It’s estimated that the entire cost of the operation to remove and contain the sargassum will be 240 million pesos [US $12.5 million],” he said.

Other removal vessels are on order but are not expected to arrive until November.

The environment secretary explained that the state government has already spent 62 million pesos (US $3.2 million) that federal authorities made available to combat the sargassum problem.

“. . . We are now operating with 20 million pesos that the state government has provided,” Arellano said, adding that Quintana Roo authorities are seeking further federal resources.

“. . . The state governor has declared the sargassum issue a priority and allocated 240 million pesos [to it] and we’re requesting support of 218 million pesos from the federal government. The combined amount will allow us to do the barrier [project] and also make the sargassum vessel deal.”

Source: Milenio (sp), Noticaribe (sp)

Charcoal plant is first in Mexico to make vegetable-based product

By

Tony Richards

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August 15, 2018

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A new charcoal plant has begun operating in Oaxaca, the first in Mexico to produce vegetable-base charcoal.

The Oaxaca-based company Carbosur built the plant in San Juan Atepec, a community located in the heart of the northern sierra, with financial aid from the state government and the National Forestry Commission, Conafor.

The aid came in the form of a 1-million-peso credit line to help build and equip the facility.

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High-technology ovens will reduce emissions by 100%, according to a report by the newspaper El Financiero: nothing but water vapor is emitted.

The ovens can generate temperatures up to 1200 C and will produce 70 tonnes of charcoal a month, worth 7 million pesos in sales.

The nearby logging communities of San Andrés Yatuni and San Pablo Macuiltianguis will supply the plant’s oak wood, which has received international certification from the Forestry Stewardship Council.

The plant employs more than 10 people and supports an additional 40 indirect jobs.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

New administration’s austerity plan will mean a big hit for Metlife

By

MND Staff

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August 15, 2018

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Insurance cancellation could be costly for MetLife.

The incoming federal government’s plan to eliminate private medical insurance for employees will deal a heavy blow to global insurance company MetLife, reinsurance broking firm THB México predicted yesterday.

Around 695,000 federal employees are currently covered by three-year medical insurance policies, for which the government pays the Mexican subsidiary of the New York-based company a combined premium of 6.5 billion pesos (US $339.5 million).

MetLife acquired state-owned insurance company Hidalgo in 2002, which gave it a long-term contract with the government.

THB Méxics CEO Octavio Careaga told a press conference that the government’s contract with MetLife is the largest single insurance agreement in the country and that its cancellation would have a significant impact on the company.

Under the new scenario, MetLife and other insurers will compete to provide personal medical coverage to employees, he added.

“Damage due to the loss of the premiums has not yet been calculated because insurance companies are taking measures [to combat it] such as the creation of products that could give continuity to the coverage of medical expenses,” Careaga said.

“But half of [Metlife’s] premium could be lost, close to 3.25 billion pesos [US $169.2 million] in the first year although it’s not a certain fact because you have to consider salaries and [staff] cuts,” he added.

Cancelling government-paid private medical insurance policies for federal officials is one of several austerity measures president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said his government intends to adopt.

Large wage cuts for lawmakers and officials, a slashing of the bureaucracy, the cancelation of existing life insurance policies and the elimination of pensions for past presidents are among other cost-cutting measures on the agenda.

Careaga said insurance companies will look to lure government employees by offering individual medical insurance policies that maintain their accumulated benefits.

“What’s going to happen is that the federal government will cancel Policy II, as the [private medical insurance policy] was known and . . . federal government employees will have to purchase a personal policy if they don’t want to be attended to at ISSSTE [a clinic or hospital operated by the State Workers’ Social Security Institute],” he said.

“It’s going to be an opportunity for the rest of the insurance companies . . . to sell en masse a competitive product that [government] employees are interested in buying . . . A massive opportunity will open up for the sale of these [medical] insurance policies and they will no longer be concentrated with just one insurance company.”

However, Careaga said that in an optimistic scenario only half of all officials currently covered would buy personal medical insurance due to high long-term costs.

He explained that the government is currently paying less than 4,000 pesos (US $207) annually for an employee’s medical insurance, adding that while insurers could maintain that price for one year, they would have to raise premiums for their policies to be financially viable.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Armed with machetes, Atenco residents call for meeting with López Obrador

By

Tony Richards

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August 15, 2018

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Airport protesters raise their machetes in defiance against the project.

More petitioners turned up yesterday at the transition headquarters of Mexico’s new government in Mexico City, but on this occasion they were armed with machetes.

Opponents of the new Mexico City airport joined the usual crowd of people seeking aid from president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador at his offices in La Roma.

Bearing machetes and a technical study, residents of Atenco demanded the new administration meet with them to review and discuss the options.

“La decision está tomada,” they chanted, “el aeropuerto a la chingada,” or “the decision has been made, to hell with the airport.”

Spokesman América del Valle said they want López Obrador to meet with them, just as he met with the organization building the new facility and with businessman Carlos Slim, who defended the project after López Obrador spoke out against it.

Del Valle said they want to see the project — “the airport of death” — cancelled.

He said his organization had scientific and technical evidence showing that the project was neither viable nor sustainable, and that “it is devastating the entire Mexico Valley watershed.”

López Obrador was a vocal opponent of the airport during his election campaign for president, but has since softened his stand.

Machete-wielding protesters successfully shut down an earlier attempt to build a new airport in the capital. Then-president Vicente Fox cancelled the project in 2002 following violent protests by communal landowners. They too were from Atenco.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Mexico needs another 255,000 nurses to meet health guidelines

By

MND Staff

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August 14, 2018

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Nurses at work: Mexico needs 255,000 more.

Mexico needs another 255,000 nurses to adequately meet the medical needs of all its citizens, according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

The United Nations agency recommends six nurses for every 100,000 inhabitants but Mexico currently only has 3.9 nurses per 100,000 people, a total of 475,295 nurses, according to 2015 data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

With 731,223 nurses to attend to a population of approximately 130 million citizens, Mexico would be able to eliminate barriers to access to health care by increasing medical services, the WHO said.

Currently, only Mexico City and Tamaulipas meet the WHO recommendation while Puebla, Querétaro, Veracruz and Michoacán all have fewer than three nurses per 100,000 inhabitants.

The president of the National Nursing Academy said the shortage is not due to a lack of people choosing to pursue a nursing career but rather because there is a lack of positions available in both the public and private health sectors.

“The reality is that there are young people who are interested in studying nursing, there are 700 registered schools . . . What’s happening is that they are not being offered jobs so they can work,” María Alberta García Jiménez said.

She charged that any per-capita nurse-to-population ratio recommendations should be accompanied by petitions to the government to increase the health budget in order to create more nursing positions.

For many nurses who are in employment, the work and pay conditions they face leave a lot to be desired.

A year after graduating as an obstetrics nurse from the School of Nursing and Obstetrics at the National Autonomous University (UNAM), Karen Díaz works six days a week at a private hospital and is, on average, involved in 20 medical procedures per day. Yet she doesn’t receive any employment benefits.

“. . . Salaries are very low. They go from 9,000 pesos to 15,000 pesos [US $475 to $800] a month but you have to accept working six days a week and being on probation for at least two months,” Díaz said.

She explained that she hoped to get a job at a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospital, where benefits and better conditions are offered to nurses.

Source: Excelsiór (sp)

Defense force founder attends peace forum but won’t forgive his son’s killer

By

MND Staff

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August 14, 2018

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A former self-defense leader from Michoacán agreed to attend today’s peace forum in the state capital of Morelia but said he would not forgive his son’s killers.

Hipólito Mora’s comment came in response to the president-elect’s suggestion at last week’s first peace forum in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, that victims of violence should embrace forgiveness.

“I respect the people who say don’t forgive or forget. I say forgive but don’t forget,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador said.

But Mora, who founded the La Ruana self-defense group in 2013, told broadcaster Grupo Fórmula today that it was not up to him to decide whether forgiveness was in order.

“It’s easy to tell somebody to ‘forgive’ but we have to be careful and know who we are going to say it to. I don’t forgive them [my son’s killers] . . . I leave that work to God. God decides who to forgive and who not to forgive,” he said.

Mora’s 32-year-old son was one of 11 people killed in a gun battle between rival self-defense groups in the municipality of Buenavista, Michoacán, in December 2014.

The ex-self-defense force leader added that he has recently chosen to keep quiet about his son’s death because the current federal government hasn’t made any effort to investigate the case.

However, with a new government taking office in December, Mora said, he will once again seek to exert pressure on authorities in his quest for justice.

For that reason, he decided to go to today’s peace forum, which was also attended by victims of violence, academics, security experts and members of the future government.

“I didn’t want to participate in this forum . . . but I decided to go because I have many things to say that I couldn’t say to the government of President [Enrique] Peña Nieto,” he said.

Mora praised the incoming government’s decision to hold a series of peace forums to refine its security strategy and also said the plan to reestablish a federal Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) was a good idea.

“What [former interior secretary Miguel Ángel] Osorio Chong and his collaborators did, didn’t work because the country was painted red [with blood],” he said.

One person who did not speak at today’s forum, the third of 18, was Michoacán Security Secretary Juan Bernardo Corono, though not for lack of trying. He was there on behalf of the state governor but got no farther than “We are sensitive to your pain” before he was forced to withdraw in the face of shouts and jeers of “Assassin!” “Get out!” and “There is no justice!”

Alfonso Durazo, López Obrador’s nominee to head up the new SSP, took his place and stressed that the new government will not be able to resolve Mexico’s security problems if it doesn’t listen to and learn from citizens, especially victims of crime.

The proposals and demands of those who attend the forums will guide the security and justice policies the next government adopts, he said.

Another founder of the state’s self-defense movement was also there, but he left early, unimpressed. José Manuel Mireles called the forums “a circus” and complained there were no social leaders at the head table.

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