Homeowner wonders if airport cancellation will allow her to keep her house

By

-

January 2, 2019

home on highway route — Proceed with caution, highway ends.

A homeowner in Atenco, México state, is wondering if the cancellation of Mexico City’s new airport will allow her to keep her house.

The house owned by Nieves Rodríguez, 59, for the past 21 years lies on the route of the Ecatepec-Peñón highway, one of many infrastructure projects whose future remains in limbo after President López Obrador announced cancellation of the airport project.

Work on the highway surprised her, she said, because no one had consulted her or warned her that her house would soon be in the middle of the new road.

“I found out when I started to see a lot of movement. I noticed they were raising the road more and more, and I was still here. I thought, ‘I’m not worried, this is my land, it’s my house,'” said Rodríguez.

Then a year and a half ago a representative of the construction firm paid a visit.

“They told me they needed to move my house . . . and that if I was not OK with that they would have to expropriate,” she recalled.

Despite the cancellation of the airport project work on the road continues, Rodríguez said, as do the threats of expropriation.

The woman is not alone. Some farmers from Atenco who have set up a camp in her backyard claim the project destroyed hillsides and resulted in the illegal occupation of land and illegal mining operations.

“I am not the only one opposing the airport; all I want is to live in peace,” said Rodríguez.

Source: Criterio Hidalgo (sp)

US border agents repel migrants with tear gas after attempt to cross illegally

By

-

January 2, 2019

0

Another attempt by migrants to cross from Mexico into the United States was repelled by U.S. border patrol agents yesterday who fired tear gas over the border.

About 150 Central American migrants, described by a U.S. official as a “violent mob,” tried to cross illegally shortly after midnight near Tijuana, where several thousand migrants have been camping since arriving in Mexico in October and November.

The U.S. said its security forces fired tear gas after migrants threw rocks, but the Associated Press reported that rocks were not thrown until after the tear gas was fired. A report by Reuters said one migrant was struck by a tear gas canister.

About 10 children, bundled in blankets and heavy jackets, were passed over the razor wire-topped border fence, witnesses said.

But U.S. authorities said of the 25 people detained only two were minors.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Katie Waldman said “a violent mob of migrants” had attempted to enter the U.S. illegally “by attacking our agents with projectiles . . . our personnel used the minimum force necessary to defend themselves, defend our border and restore order.”

She said once agents had thwarted the attempt to cross, “the mob began pushing women and minors to the front, forcing minors to climb dangerous concertina wire, and encouraged conveniently invited media to begin filming their illegal acts.”

Waldman criticized the U.S. Congress for ignoring “the professional advice from the men and women of the Border Patrol who have told them that walls work. Congress needs to fully fund the border wall . . . .”

In November, U.S. agents used tear gas to thwart an attempt by migrants to cross the border illegally and closed the border between Tijuana and San Diego for six hours.

Source: BBC News (en), El Sol de Tijuana (sp), NPR (en)

New mayor’s resignation a strategy to keep former mayor in office: critics

By

-

January 2, 2019

0

Sánchez is mayor again after Huerta resigned.

The new mayor of Santiago Tamazola, Oaxaca, and her designated substitute resigned half an hour after taking office yesterday, opening the way for the previous mayor to be sworn in again.

Opposition critics with the Morena party called the move by Anayeli Huerta, sister-in-law of the former mayor, “a farce,” charging it was a strategy to keep Óscar Sánchez Ruiz in office.

They called for an investigation by state authorities and a probe by the state auditor’s office, charging that there might have been a misappropriation of funds by Sánchez.

Another theory in the case is that Huerta resigned over fears for her safety after another Oaxaca mayor was murdered yesterday shortly after being sworn in.

Source: Sin Embargo (sp)

Gunmen kill Oaxaca mayor minutes after swearing-in ceremony

By

-

January 2, 2019

0

Police arrest a suspect in yesterday's murder.

A Oaxaca mayor was attacked and killed by two gunmen just minutes after taking the oath of office yesterday.

Alejandro Aparicio Santiago had been sworn in as the mayor of the High Mixteca municipality of Tlaxiaco and was celebrating with citizens when two men opened fire. The municipal administrator, a councilor and one other person were also hit; the administrator died early this morning.

[wpgmza id=”125″]

Residents on hand for the swearing-in ceremony succeeded in apprehending one of the two attackers and were preparing to lynch him when police interceded and took him into custody. The other man escaped.

The state attorney general said the man who was arrested was too inebriated to make a statement to investigators.

Aparicio was the second Morena party politician to be killed this week. A councilor-elect in Mazatepec, Morelos, was murdered on Sunday, hours before she was to be sworn in.

Source: Milenio (sp), Animal Político (sp)

New Year’s not so happy for some: a stray bullet, fireworks cause injuries in 3 states

By

-

January 2, 2019

0

New Year’s celebrations got out of hand in at least four states, leaving several people injured and a seven-year-old girl in serious condition with a head injury caused by a stray bullet.

The youngster was transferred by air ambulance Monday night from the Oaxaca town of Matías Romero, a victim of New Year’s revelers firing weapons into the air.

She was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and brain swelling.

In Tijuana, Baja California, a 28-year-old man lost an eye when a rocket exploded in his face while three other people lost fingers when playing with fireworks.

A 10-year-old boy and a 25-year-old man each lost a finger and a 25-year-old man lost two.

Five people suffered severe burns in Puebla on New Year’s Day when a rocket ignited other fireworks during a religious procession.

Hundreds of people were participating in the procession Tuesday afternoon in Chalchicomula de Sesma when the explosion occurred.

A child was the most severely injured. He was reported in serious condition after a rocket exploded on his stomach.

In the city of Veracruz, thousands of residents turned up on Manuel Ávila Camacho boulevard to watch the sunrise on New Year’s Day, but for some the party turned into a pitched battle after one man urinated in the sea.

The father of a family who had entered the water to go for a swim at Regatas beach reprimanded the man, triggering a fight involving some 20 people who went after each other with sticks, stones, bottles and even shoes.

The fight broke up half an hour later, leaving one man seriously injured after he was struck in the head with a stone.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Telephone dialing will change and become simpler in August

By

César Hernández

-

January 1, 2019

0

Dialing will become simpler next August. — Dialing will be a simpler process.

Making phone calls in Mexico will become less complicated next summer with the implementation of a new and simplified dialing system.

First announced by the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) in the fall of 2017, the new system will standardize phone numbers, making them all 10 digits long.

Starting August 3, dialing a phone number will only require the input of 10 digits, whether the call is local or domestic long distance or connecting to a landline or mobile phone.

The prefixes being phased out include the 01 entered before long-distance calls or non-geographical numbers (think 01-800 numbers), and 044 and 045, used to make local and long-distance calls to a mobile phone from a landline.

A long-distance call from abroad to a mobile number in Mexico will no longer need the number 1 before the area code.

The new updated system also means that IFT guarantees equal phone number availability for all telecommunications services providers.

The agency said the system will allow for a more streamlined and standardized dialing procedure and a more efficient administration of numeric resources.

Source: Milenio (sp)

In Guanajuato, domestic workers and welders can earn more than police

By

César Hernández

-

January 1, 2019

0

For some, the pay is less than adequate.

Guanajuato’s new governor promised in July to address last year’s surge in violent crime with a new security strategy that would increase the salaries of police officers.

But four months after Diego Sinhué Rodríguez was sworn in, many officers are earning less than domestic workers, according to a survey by the newspaper Milenio.

On average, it found, people employed to clean houses earn an average of 250 pesos (close to US $13) for working four hours a day, or 6,000 pesos per month. Yet a municipal police officer in Pueblo Nuevo is paid 4,800 pesos.

A welder can earn 10,000 pesos per month, while the municipal police force in Apaseo el Grande pays its officers 9,500.

Conditions are also inadequate, according to police interviewed in Apaseo el Grande, Apaseo el Alto, Celaya, León, Irapuato and Pueblo Nuevo.

A patrol car in Apaseo el Alto bears evidence of the criminal violence in the municipality with more than five bullet holes scoring the bodywork, and is missing one of its windows.

He added that life as a police officer is complicated and risky, yet they don’t always have what they need to perform their jobs properly. “We sometimes have to lend each other [bulletproof] vests, we buy our own shoes and mend our uniforms.”

His colleagues in the neighboring municipality of Apaseo el Grande have it even more complicated: average monthly salaries are 6,000 pesos.

Mayor María del Carmen Ortíz Terrazas says she plans to change that and offer salaries between 11,000 and 13,000 pesos per month.

At the other end of the salary scale are police officers in Celaya and Irapuato.

Lower-ranking police officials in Celaya earn about 12,000 pesos, while their superiors can earn over 30,000. In Irapuato, average salaries are above the 14,000-peso mark, but police officers report that they still have to pay for their uniforms and shoes.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Admission charge doubles for foreign tourists at Chichén Itzá

By

César Hernández

-

January 1, 2019

0

Authorities in Yucatán doubled the admission fee for the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá from 242 to 480 pesos (US $12 to $24) effective today, drawing criticism from the tourism sector.

Several state tourism and hotel associations warned in a letter to lawmakers that the new fee will cause financial losses for tourist service providers and a drop in the number of visitors to the state.

They explained that travel agencies, tour companies and cruise lines have yearly agreements with local tour companies. Those agreements were based on the previous admission fee.

The president of Cetur, the Tourist Business Council of Yucatán, asserted that 90% of tourists visiting Chichén Itzá are foreigners, and that 90% of them travel from the neighboring state of Quintana Roo, meaning that the new fee will negatively impact the tourist industry in both states.

Jaime Solís Garza warned that if the new fee is not rolled back tourist service providers will take their clients to the archaeological site at Tulum, where the price of a ticket is 75 pesos (US $3.80).

He said tour companies were not notified of the plan to increase the admission charge.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

‘Mamá Coco’ recognized in Purépecha town in Michoacán

By

César Hernández

-

December 31, 2018

0

'Mamá Coco,' left, and the character in the movie. (File photo)

María Salud Ramírez Caballero has become the face of Santa Fe de la Laguna, a town of Purépecha potters in Quiroga, Michoacán, thanks to the 2017 Disney-Pixar animated film Coco.

Family and friends claim that the character of Mamá Coco, a warm-hearted, supportive and kind great-grandmother was based on the 105-year-old Salud.

Granddaughter Patricia Pérez Hernández told the newspaper El Universal that Mamá Coco’s appearance, gait, way of speaking and other mannerisms are based on those of Salud and that it is a mistake that the film’s producers have not given her official recognition.

Whether Nana Salud, as the woman is affectionately called, is the single source of inspiration for the filmmakers is a matter for another day. In the meantime, the residents of her hometown have embraced her and municipal authorities have gone as far as giving her official recognition and appointing her ambassador of the region’s artisans.

The film did draw inspiration from the town of Santa Fe as it did from towns across the Mexican southeast, and a young potter asserted that sales have improved since Coco’s release.

The film “has benefitted us a lot, because more tourists come. The town is known due to [Salud’s] fame, and [visitors] buy our handicrafts, all our handmade products . . . ” said Gabriela Gabriel Fabián, 23.

[wpgmza id=”124″]

Even though she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease three years ago and prescribed oxygen tanks to help her breathe, Salud remains an active woman, briskly walking the streets of Santa Fe.

After Coco was screened in her hometown, a steady flow of visitors has arrived at her doorstep looking to meet her and get their picture taken with her.

Salud has declared that she is not looking for recognition or money, and that the way her life has changed after the release of Coco has made her happy. Still, more visitors mean that she can sell more of her pottery creations and earn “a few more centavos.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

Zapatistas are back and preparing to confront AMLO over Maya Train, other projects

By

César Hernández

-

December 31, 2018

0

Zapatistas and indigenous groups create Networks of Resistance and Rebellion.

January 1 will mark 24 years since the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) emerged from the rainforests of Chiapas to declare war on the Mexican government.

Now they plan to mount another protest movement, this time against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Maya Train project.

The former army is now a political movement and is preparing to raise its voice against the train and other development projects on the first day of the new year, according to a report by the newspaper Milenio.

The organization and two indigenous groups met in October and drafted a text that claimed the new federal government represented a threat to indigenous communities with the Cancún-Palenque train, its trans-Isthmus projects and expansion of the economic zones.

In response, they said, they would create the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion to fight the federal government’s plans.

They also expressed opposition to López Obrador’s plan to plant a million hectares with fruit and other trees in the south of the country, a project intended to promote economic development, the government’s support for mining, its plans to incorporate 50,000 youths into the armed forces and its approval of the new trade agreement that replaces NAFTA.

Pedro Faro Navarro, director of the Frayba Human Rights Center explained that the networks would not only try to bring together indigenous peoples, as it has in the past, but anyone who opposes the country’s system of government.

He said the Maya Train project is only “the tip of the iceberg” for the EZLN and its allies because bringing such a project into Chiapas represents “the dispossession of the indigenous peoples’ lands” and will translate into “confrontations between the government of the ‘Fourth Transformation’ and the native peoples of southern Mexico.”

Large-scale public works projects like the Maya Train provoke the exclusion of the autonomous organized peoples who outright oppose the project, the activist said.

López Obrador has won support for his plans from some indigenous communities and was even honored by indigenous representatives at his official inauguration as president.

But not all see the new president and his Morena party as their political home.

Source: El Sol de México (sp), Milenio (sp)