The federal government has spent US $85 million to purchase 571 new tanker trucks that will soon deliver fuel to states where supplies have been scarce for three weeks or more.
President López Obrador told a press conference that the trucks will be able to transport a total of 116,000 barrels of fuel every day with a single trip, more if the trucks take several trips.
The tankers will be National Defense Secretariat vehicles and bear the title of the army’s disaster relief program, DN-III, painted on the sides along with the slogan “Security in Fuel Supply.” The Pemex logo will appear on the rear.
At the same event, National Defense Secretary Luis Crescencio Sandoval said 120 people have been pre-approved to be hired as drivers.
He said 450 more are in the process of being approved, 253 of whom have passed their exams and should obtain their drivers’ license by tomorrow.
Sandoval explained that 6,199 applications were received of which 1,365 were short-listed to write an exam; 804 passed.
They will be paid 14,500 pesos bimonthly (US $750).
Immigration authorities have registered almost 5,000 Central American migrants over the past four days, many of whom entered Mexico at the southern border last week as part of a new caravan.
The National Immigration Institute (INM) registered 4,912 migrants both at the border between Mexico and Guatemala at Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, and in the Tapachula central square, where some of the caravan members have camped out since their arrival.
The migrants are from six countries including Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
Among those who have formalized their entry to Mexico are 1,007 children and teenagers, and members of previous caravans who remained in southwestern Chiapas rather than continuing to the United States border with other migrants.
Authorities said that 59 have already been issued humanitarian visas, which allow them to work and access health care services for 12 months.
One of the recipients, 27-year-old Honduran Bayron Adan Lara Mejia, said “I feel Mexican now,” adding that he no longer wanted to make the journey to the United States border.
Around 400 migrants who entered Mexico illegally early Friday morning and walked to Tapachula returned to the border crossing to regularize their immigration status, the newspaper Milenio reported.
However, about 1,000 illegal migrants are believed to be in the United States-bound migrant caravan.
Milenio reported that some migrants were persuaded by polleros, or people smugglers, in the Guatemalan border town of Tecún Umán not to go through official immigration channels when entering Mexico.
The smugglers reportedly tell migrants that if they register with Mexican authorities, they will be deported en masse back to their countries of origin.
Around 500 members of the caravan, which left the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on January 14, reached Oaxaca yesterday on buses provided by the Chiapas government.
The migrants camped out last night in the central square of San Pedro Tapanatepec, a town in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region.
In contrast to what occurred with past caravans, the migrants were not welcomed into the town by local authorities, church groups and other organizations and were not provided with food, water or medical services.
The latest migrant caravan is the first to enter Mexico since President López Obrador took office on December 1 but thousands arrived as part of several groups in the final two months of Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration.
Many of them remain stranded on Mexico’s northern border, especially in Tijuana, where they face long waits to apply for asylum with United States authorities.
The new government has vowed to treat migrants with respect and López Obrador has suggested that some will be able to find work on projects in the south of the country such as the Maya train.
The 15-year-old victim had ingested more than a kilo of hair.
The death of a 15-year-old girl in Monclova, Coahuila, has been attributed to Rapunzel syndrome, an extremely rare disorder characterized by compulsive hair-eating.
At the time of her death, Katia Jatziri’s stomach contained more than a kilo and a half of her own hair.
The girl’s mother had taken her to a local IMSS clinic but she was later transferred to a hospital due to the seriousness of her condition, but doctors were unable to save her.
Katia’s intestines burst from the blockage caused by the hair as doctors were preparing to take a CAT scan. Due to the fact she weighed just 20 kilograms, they decided they would not be able to operate.
They also noted that the girl was seriously malnourished, anemic and had a very high blood platelet count.
Septic shock was declared the cause of death.
The girl’s mother initially stated that she intended to denounce the clinic’s doctors for negligence but has not done so.
However, the doctors who attended the case indicated they would file a report of possible parental negligence. Due to the volume of hair that was found it is suspected the girl had been swallowing it for at least 10 years.
Sixty per cent of people who suffer from Rapunzel syndrome are 10 to 20-year-old girls. Hair-eating is considered primarily psychological by medical experts and is seen as a way to deal with anxiety, depression and other psychological conditions. Rapunzel syndrome is often accompanied by other eating disorders.
Identifying the remains of people killed in the petroleum pipeline explosion in Hidalgo on Friday night could take months, according to the state governor.
“The remains we have are unidentifiable . . . In many cases, identification can be done [but] it won’t be in a moment or in a couple of hours. There are cases that will take hours and cases that will take days . . . and even months,” Omar Fayad said yesterday after a meeting with family members of the deceased.
The governor said that the remains of 68 people were found at the scene of the explosion – a field in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan – but only nine of those victims have been identified.
Family members of those believed to be among the deceased have provided 54 genetic samples to assist with the identification process, he added.
Fayad said that “the most difficult cases” could be sent to laboratories in the United States or Innsbruck, Austria, for analysis.
Researchers at the Innsbruck Medical University previously carried out DNA testing on bone fragments recovered from a river near the Cocula garbage dump in Guerrero, where the bodies of 43 students are believed to have been burned in 2014.
The death toll from Friday’s explosion has now risen to 89, Health Secretary Jorge Alcocer said this morning.
When the blast occurred, the victims were filling containers with fuel that was shooting into the air after the pipeline had been illegally tapped.
A large fire spread across the field in the community of San Primitivo, engulfing scores of people in flames.
More than 50 victims, most with severe burns, remain in hospital including three people who were transferred to Texas for treatment.
National Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said 25 soldiers arrived at the field when only a small amount of fuel was coming out of the punctured pipeline and that they tried to stop people from approaching it.
However, the soldiers were “overwhelmed by the number of people” and “forced to retreat to one side to avoid a confrontation,” Cresencio said.
Asked yesterday whether the explosion may have been sabotage aimed at testing the government’s resolve with regard to its anti-fuel theft strategy, President López Obrador responded:
“If they are thinking about trying us, if that’s the intention, then once and for all understand that we’re not going to give up . . . I offer an apology to the people if this action causes sacrifices, damages, inconveniences but we have to do it . . . The homeland comes first. Mexico needs to put an end to corruption, it’s not something that’s negotiable.”
President López Obrador has announced the guaranteed prices the government will pay farmers for five agricultural products.
Speaking at an event in Zacatecas yesterday, López Obrador said that more than two million farmers will benefit from the program and that it will help Mexico to achieve food self-sufficiency.
Farmers will be paid 5,610 pesos (US $293) a tonne for corn up to a limit of 20 tonnes; 14,500 pesos (US $757) a tonne for beans up to a limit of 15 tonnes; 5,790 pesos (US $302) a tonne for wheat up to 100 tonnes; 6,120 pesos (US $320) a tonne for rice up to 120 tonnes; and 8.2 pesos (US $0.43) a liter for milk.
López Obrador pledged to maintain the prices and later increase them but didn’t specify when. He bemoaned the fact that Mexico is forced to import a lot of basic food products.
“Corn is originally from Mexico, this blessed plant has fed people for centuries and now because of irresponsible, corrupt technocrats, Mexico buys more corn abroad than any other country. See where we’ve got to,” López Obrador said.
“With rice, we’re worse. We’re buying 85% of what we consume. With wheat, it’s the same. More than 70% is bought abroad,” the president said.
López Obrador blamed past governments for implementing policies that failed farmers.
“They demonized subsidies, they said ‘why would we support the countryside’ and they left the producers in a state of defenselessness,” he said.
“[That’s] something that foreign governments don’t do, they support their farmers . . . In the United States, the government gives the corn grower, the wheat grower, up to 80% of their production cost as a subsidy, they have [access to] cheap credit, they have a lot of support and here the growers were left to their own fate,” López Obrador said.
Ignacio Ovalle, chief of Mexican Food Security (Segalmex), a new agency created by the government, said farmers will no longer be forced to sell their crops cheaply to unscrupulous purchasers.
Government collection centers will be established where producers will take their crops for sale, he said. The first centers will be in Zacatecas, Durango and Chihuahua and mainly benefit bean farmers.
Agriculture Secretary Víctor Villalobos rejected any suggestion that guaranteeing prices was akin to giving a handout.
“What we intend is to give certainty [to farmers] for their effort, fairly compensate their work and foster well-being,” he said.
It’s not just a total lunar eclipse that will occur Sunday night but a phenomenon called the Super Blood Wolf Moon.
The last total lunar eclipse for the next two and a half years will be fully visible from Mexico and will last for a few hours.
A supermoon is the term used when the moon appears bigger than usual. Sunday’s full moon will appear somewhat larger than average because it will be near perigee, the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit.
At its perigee, the moon can appear slightly larger — 14% — than when it is full near apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit.
The term blood moon comes from the moon’s red hue during an eclipse while a wolf moon is a term popularized by the Farmers’ Almanacs published in the United States, which drew inspiration from indigenous cultures and European tradition to give every full moon a distinctive name.
The penumbral eclipse will begin tomorrow night at 8:37pm, Central Time, followed by the beginning of the partial, or umbral, eclipse at 10:41pm.
The maximum eclipse will occur at 11:12pm. The entire event will conclude at 1:48am, when the penumbral eclipse ends.
The umbra is the good part for the casual observer, as it will be quite obvious when the moon starts entering the umbra, the time when the partial eclipse begins.
No special protection or equipment is needed to view the eclipse, but the use of binoculars and telescopes can enhance the experience.
The Science Museum of the National Autonomous University (UNAM) will organize activities around the lunar eclipse starting tomorrow at 6:00pm.
The next partial lunar eclipse will take place on July 16 and will be visible from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, but the next total lunar eclipse will not occur until May 26, 2021.
Mexico's new chief prosecutor takes the oath of office.
The Senate has elected an ally of President López Obrador to a nine-year term as Mexico’s new top prosecutor, triggering criticism that the office he heads will not be independent and impartial.
An overwhelming majority of members of the Senate, which is controlled by a coalition led by the president’s Morena party, voted yesterday for veteran lawman Alejandro Gertz Manero to be fiscal general, a new position that replaces the role of attorney general.
Gertz, a former federal secretary of public security who was a security advisor to López Obrador during last year’s presidential campaign, had been serving as acting attorney general since the new government took office on December 1.
He received 91 votes to beat two other candidates proposed by López Obrador.
Speaking in the Senate after he was sworn in, the 79-year-old lawyer and law professor pledged to build a new prosecutor’s office which defends citizens’ rights and leaves behind the practice of concealing evidence.
He said that prosecuting corruption cases that haven’t been properly investigated will be a priority for the new office.
“All of the pending cases are going to be pursued to their legal conclusion . . . There mustn’t be any more concealments or cover-ups,” he said.
Gertz committed himself to heading up a prosecutor’s office – known as the Fiscalía General de la Republica, or FGR – that “makes the truth known and [acts] in good faith, with clarity and above all with the participation of the victims and the offended parties.”
In an appearance before senators earlier this week, he pledged to be transparent and accountable in the role and noted that “in a country where there are 33 million crimes committed a year and 99% go unpunished, we have a lot to do.”
Before yesterday’s vote, Damián Zepeda Vidales, a senator for the opposition National Action Party (PAN), urged senators not to vote for any of the candidates, charging that due to their proximity to the president, whoever was elected would be a “fiscal carnal” – a government-friendly prosecutor.
“It doesn’t offend anyone to say that [the candidates for the role] are members of the legal and political team of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who clearly sees the Fiscalía General as a branch of government,” he said.
But Morena party Senator Julio Menchaca Salazar said that appointment to the fiscal general role was not “a blank check,” arguing that government lawmakers will be the foremost critics of the FGR.
Outside Congress, the president of the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) also contended that Gertz will be a fiscal carnal.
“We hold that it’s necessary to modify the appointment process for the fiscal general because the way it was agreed on . . . doesn’t in any way guarantee the independence of the fiscal general. The autonomy of the prosecutor’s office is not guaranteed, on the contrary it has been created [as an institution that is] flawed from the beginning, [he’s a] fiscal carnal that will always defend the executive,” Gustavo de Hoyos warned.
“The name of the institution has changed but it remains an arm of the executive,” he contended.
De Hoyos said that all three candidates on the short list for the role were “very close to the president,” adding that when there has been a close relationship between presidents and top prosecutors in the past, there have been prosecutions on request, “comical” pardons, cases of impunity for politicians and persecution of candidates over crimes they allegedly committed.
Public policy think tank México Evalúa said in a statement that the appointment of Gertz showed that “priority was given to closeness, and the use of practices that don’t contribute to the transformation of the country that we deserve.”
The fiscal general role was created during the previous government in a bid to strengthen Mexico’s justice system but until now no appointment to the position had been made.
Mexico City chef Gabriela Ruiz Lugo has been voted the best chef in Mexico by the Mexican Gastronomic Council.
Originally from Comalcalco, Tabasco, the 31-year-old says it is her home state and her family that have inspired her cooking: traditional ingredients found in the Mexican southeast like plantains, black beans and chocolate prepared with pre-Hispanic and Spanish influences.
Seven years ago Ruiz created Gourmet MX, a catering service she operated out of Villahermosa. Her first project then evolved into a restaurant that soon became a fixture in the region.
Later she moved to Mexico City where she opened her current restaurant, Carmela y Sal, in the Miguel Hidalgo borough.
Ruiz told the newspaper Milenio that being recognized as the Best Chef of 2019 has made her proud but at the same time implies a great responsibility.
“I could not believe it. There is still a lot I need to learn, and this is a great responsibility because I admire many chefs that also deserve this recognition,” she said.
Ruiz believes that a good chef must have discipline and respect the team. “I could not do this alone. I want to be a better cook and a good leader, one that listens to the people you spend 10, 12, 14 hours every day with, even more time than your own family.”
The road ahead might take Ruiz abroad because she is interested in opening a restaurant in the United States. Be that as it may, she will never be too far away from her roots and inspiration, because she could never live permanently in another country: “Life in Mexico fascinates me, and living in Tabasco is one of the most unbelievable adventures.”
The Best Chef award is intended to bring young, talented chefs closer to the world of gastronomy and promote their professional development.
'No gasoline:' a common sign at Michoacán gas stations.
Gasoline shortages continue throughout Michoacán where 70% of the state’s gas stations remain closed, Economic Development Secretary Jesús Melgoza Velázquez told reporters yesterday.
He explained that although tanker trucks are delivering fuel more frequently and gas stations have been able to provide more, panic buying has continued to exhaust supplies.
Line-ups at gas stations remain formidable in most parts of the state, but cities in the east, such as Ciudad Hidalgo, Tuxpan and Zitácuaro have not reported fuel shortages in recent days.
On a hopeful note, Melgoza predicted that fuel distribution could be back to normal within two weeks with the reopening of key pipelines.
However, federal government representative Jorge Taddei Bringas said a drop in pressure had been detected in the state’s pipelines and they would be closed if necessary. Lower pressure can be an indication that the duct is being tapped.
Taddei said authorities had uncovered at least one fuel theft operation but would not comment further.
He also responded to rumors of gas shortages in Sonora.
“There haven’t been and there won’t be any gas shortages. Some people tried to raise a fuss about it, but there’s nothing to it.”
Firefighters at the scene of the explosion last night.
A petroleum pipeline in Hidalgo exploded last night after it had been illegally tapped to steal fuel, leaving 66 people dead and another 76 injured, authorities said.
The explosion occurred just before 7:00pm in a field in Tlahuelilpan, a municipality around 80 kilometers west of the state capital, Pachuca.
Video circulating on social media showed a huge fire spreading across the field after the explosion, presumably following the route of the perforated pipeline.
People who had been filling containers with fuel can be heard screaming and shouting as large flames shoot into the air.
At a press conference this morning alongside President López Obrador, Hidalgo Governor Omar Fayad Meneses said that authorities were first informed about the pipeline tap at 4:30pm and the army arrived at the site an hour later and directed people to leave.
“Authorities tried to persuade people who were looting the pipeline [to move away] but the majority didn’t listen . . .” he said.
Before the explosion, geysers of gasoline.
“The death toll is very sad for Hidalgo, which today is in mourning. Up to now there are 66 people who have been killed and 76 people are injured,” Fayad said.
Emergency services, police, the military and personnel from Pemex rushed to the scene of the explosion where they found dozens of burned bodies in the field.
The injured, who according to media reports included 73 men and three women, were taken to several different hospitals in Hidalgo and Mexico City by ambulance and five helicopters that were provided by the Mexico City government.
A list of the deceased and hospitalized will be published on the Hidalgo government website.
Fayad said that investigations to determine the exact cause of the explosion are continuing. The fire was controlled just before midnight.
Antes de explosión en Hidalgo, habitantes recolectaban combustible
The tragedy occurred as the federal government is cracking down on fuel theft by deploying the military and Federal Police to safeguard the nation’s petroleum pipelines, some of which have been closed.
The strategy has caused prolonged gasoline shortages in several states, including Hidalgo, causing long lines at gas stations and leaving motorists and business owners angry and frustrated.
When news of the illegal tap in Hidalgo spread late yesterday afternoon, hundreds of local residents rushed to the field in the community of San Primitivo where geysers of gasoline were shooting into the air.
Between 600 and 800 people arrived at the field, according to National Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval, where they tried to fill all manner of different containers with fuel.
“There were a lot of people who approached [the perforation] with containers, there were women, children, teenagers,” a Hidalgo reporter who witnessed the explosion told the newspaper El Universal.
A large crowd had gathered to scoop up free gasoline.
“People even approached ‘the fountain’ in pickup trucks to get the fuel. People started to play, to act the fool where the fuel was coming out. They were jumping, laughing and fooling around. They got wet and thought it was funny; a lot of people were getting wet with gasoline,” Joselyn Sánchez said.
She explained that the smell of gasoline in the air was so strong that many women were vomiting.
Sánchez said that after the explosion occurred, she saw people running away from the pipeline with their bodies engulfed in flames.
López Obrador visited the site of the explosion last night, where he lamented the tragedy but pledged to continue to fight against fuel theft.
“We will continue and strengthen the fight against the illegality and the oil theft,” he told reporters. “We will carry on until we eradicate this practice.”
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There were 12,581 illegal taps detected on Mexico’s pipelines during the first 10 months of 2018, according to Pemex. Fuel theft costs Mexico billions of pesos a year.
Yesterday’s pipeline explosion is the deadliest in recent history but blasts caused by illegal taps are relatively common and have caused deaths in several states including Veracruz and Querétaro last year.
In 2010, an explosion of a pipeline in San Martín Texmelucan, Puebla, killed at least 27 people. According to officials, that blast was also caused by an illegal tap.
