Ambassador rejects CFE claim that pipeline companies initiated arbitration

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July 3, 2019

Seade, left, and Ambassador Alarie. — Seade, left, and Ambassador Alarie, who accused the CFE of being 'disingenuous.'

Canada’s ambassador to Mexico has rejected a claim made by the chief of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) that the companies IEnova and TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) initiated an arbitration process related to the contract for the Texas-Tuxpan gas pipeline.

The CFE announced yesterday that it had filed requests for arbitration in courts in the United Kingdom and France to annul clauses in seven pipeline contracts, including that for the line between Texas and Tuxpan, Veracruz.

The commission said it wants to negotiate a “fairer” outcome to contract disputes.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, CFE director Manuel Bartlett said the pipeline companies sought arbitration before the state utility.

“What did we do? We turned to the same [option] . . . We filed an arbitration request. They were the first to file an arbitration lawsuit, not us . . . They beat us to it but we didn’t get angry,” he said.

Asked about Bartlett’s claim on his way into an event to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Canada, Ambassador Pierre Alarie responded:

“That’s not true. There is a difference between an amparo [injunction] and arbitration. The companies protected themselves [with an amparo] but they didn’t start an arbitration process.”

Alarie accused the CFE of being disingenuous about the arbitration process that seeks to nullify certain clauses in the contract for the US $2.5-billion Tuxpan-Texas gas pipeline, which was completed last month and has the capacity to move 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

“The CFE is only using part of the information and not all of the information,” he said. “There is a lot more information than what the CFE lets you believe.”

The ambassador charged that the state-owned company is generating confusion and uncertainty among investors and said it was regrettable that “it has been impossible to sit down and speak to the CFE.”

“I can guarantee that the Canadian companies are willing to look at the contracts, we’ve been waiting to negotiate for six months,” Alarie said.

He added that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement or the North American Free Trade Agreement could be used to resolve the dispute but acknowledged that wasn’t the current intention.

Alarie also said the situation could pose a threat to the ratification process for the new North American trade pact known as the USMCA.

“In Canada, there is consensus in the country for the agreement to be endorsed. I’m a little bit more worried about what could happen in the United States because in the Texas-Tuxpan consortium there is also an American company,” he said.

“We mustn’t give ammunition to people who oppose the treaty,” Alarie added.

Jesús Seade, foreign affairs secretary for North America, acknowledged at yesterday’s diplomatic event that there are “complex issues” to be resolved but expressed confidence that the parties will overcome their differences.

“I’m sure that no obstacle is insurmountable for two countries that not only share a regional neighborhood but are also partners and allies,” he said.

Carlos Salazar Lomelín, president of the Business Coordinating Council, a leading private sector group, said yesterday that an agreement had been reached with President López Obrador to establish a conciliation board “to try to reach a solution that benefits everyone.”

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

3-year-old girl injured in attack by dog

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César Hernández

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July 3, 2019

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The dog that bit a young girl in Aguascalientes.

A three-year-old girl was the victim of a dog attack yesterday in Aguascalientes.

A man had taken his eight-month-old Rottweiler for a walk without a leash in the Bajío de las Palmas neighborhood of the state capital when it attacked and bit the girl, who was playing outside her home.

The owner himself also suffered minor bites on his hands as he attempted to free the girl’s leg from the animal’s jaw.

The girl was then to an IMSS hospital for treatment.

Municipal police officers detained the man and secured the dog.

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

Murdered Guaymas police officer the ninth victim since October

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César Hernández

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July 3, 2019

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National Guardsmen watch over Guaymas crime scene on Tuesday.

Another municipal police officer has been murdered in Guaymas, Sonora, the ninth since October.

The latest incident took place Tuesday morning outside an Oxxo convenience store located in the northern part of the city.

Gunmen opened fire on officer Marlón González Jarquín, 20, as he was leaving the store, shooting him more than 10 times.

Dozens of people witnessed the attack from the Mar Caribe sports center, located a few paces away from the store.

One of the first responders to the scene was a two-decade veteran police officer who later told reporters “they’re going to kill us all.”

“They are abandoning us, nobody’s defending us, everybody is leaving the force out of fear,” he said.

The newspaper Expreso reported today that nine officers have resigned since an ambush on Saturday.

On Monday, the tally of the ambush on police officers rose to two with the death of a second officer, who had been admitted to a Hermosillo hospital.

No arrests have been made in any of the attacks against police that have left nine officers dead.

Source: El Imparcial (sp), Expreso (sp)

Puerto Morelos gets its first Blue Flag beach designation

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Simon Schatzberg

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July 3, 2019

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Mayor raises the blue flag over a Puerto Morelos beach.

A beach in Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, is the municipality’s first to win a Blue Flag title, awarded by the Danish Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

The designation, for Ventana al Mar beach, is awarded to beaches and marinas that meet the FEE’s standards for sustainability.

In a ceremony on Monday, Puerto Morelos Mayor Laura Fernández Piña raised the blue flag over the beach and noted that the municipality had been working with the FEE for two years to get the title.

“Today, we reaffirm our calling to be a green municipality,” she said. “We also reaffirm our commitment to progress, to address the needs of the present without risking the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs.”

In order to obtain a Blue Flag designation, a beach must demonstrate quality and excellence in environmental management and hold environmental education activities. Fernández said the Blue Flag beaches are inspected every year by the FEE to make sure they still fulfill the requirements.

“This doesn’t just end here,” she said. “We have another challenge coming up, which is to revalidate the certification next year so we can remain a part of the exclusive group of Blue Flag beaches and marinas in Mexico and across the world.”

The mayor also said that the Blue Flag over Ventana al Mar beach is just one of several sustainable development projects the municipality is working on.

“We’re focused on becoming a model for tourism that is totally environmentally friendly,” she said. “We’ll make Puerto Morelos the best place to live, with a modern vision in which development goes hand-in-hand with the preservation of our ecosystems.”

Puerto Morelos is also seeking an international certification as a sustainable tourism destination from the company Biosphere México.

FEE Mexico executive director Joaquín Díaz Ríos recognized the efforts of Mayor Fernández and her cooperation with the state and federal governments to win the Blue Flag title for Ventana al Mar.

“Puerto Morelos is competing with other beaches not just around the country, but all over the world,” he said.

Source: Novedades Quintana Roo (sp)

Oaxaca mayor celebrates annual wedding—to the lizard princess

By

Madison Koen

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July 3, 2019

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lizard princess wedding — You may now kiss the bride.

In an annual fertility ritual, the mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, Oaxaca, has once again married a lizard.

The ritual, which is celebrated every year near the end of June on the town’s patron saint day, saw Mayor Virgilio Fuentes wed “the Lizard Princess,” who is believed to be a representation of a female deity of the region’s Huave people.

According to local officials and academics, the union symbolizes the balance between man and nature and is thought to be able to bestow rain and good harvests on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec community. Additionally, the ceremony also reaffirms a pact of brotherhood between the Huave and Chontal peoples.

To prepare for the wedding, the Lizard Princess — actually a crocodile — is baptized in the San Pedro Apóstol church before she is dressed in a white wedding dress and crowned with a wreath of flowers. A community leader then takes over, cradling the bride in her arms and dancing her door to door through the pueblo, accompanied by a traditional band.

At the same time, residents don costumes and accompany the wedding procession through the town. Before entering municipal headquarters, the bride’s party pauses briefly for the town elders to cast fishing nets to ask for permission to marry off the reptilian damsel.

The bride in her wedding dress — and snout tied shut.

Once inside, city council members gather round to witness the proceedings, where the mayor lays eyes upon his bride for the first time in her wedding dress. Man and crocodile then consummate their union with a kiss.

The marriage sealed, the mayor rushes out of city hall to dance in a display of contentment before the whole pueblo, officially closing the ceremony — until next year.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Huge sargassum arrival blankets beaches of southern Quintana Roo

By

MND Staff

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July 3, 2019

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Huge quantities of sargassum have invaded the coastline of southern Quintana Roo this week, and plenty more is predicted to arrive in the coming weeks.

Around 300 kilometers of beaches between Tulum and Xcalak are affected by the seaweed’s arrival, which was predicted by the Cancún sargassum monitoring network last week and began early Monday morning.

Water at beaches such as Boca Paila, Sian Kan, Punta Yuyum, Zamach, Punta Allen, Uvero, Puerto Bravo and Mahahual is stained brown due to the large presence of sargassum.

Off the coast of Xcalak – a small town near the border with Belize – aerial images show that the water is currently covered with a layer of coffee-colored foam, which makes the sea look more like a swamp.

The scene is similar at Tulum, where the normally turquoise waters have turned a shade of murky brown and the fetid odors of decomposing sargassum linger over the town’s beaches.

The Sargassum Monitoring Network's map as of yesterday — The Sargassum Monitoring Network’s map as of yesterday. Red indicates sargassum in excessive quantities, orange is abundant, yellow moderate and green low.

Satellite images show that a lot of the Caribbean Sea between the Quintana Roo coastline and Jamaica is covered with the macroalgae, much of which is expected to drift to the state’s south.

By the end of the 2019 sargassum season, five times the quantity of seaweed that washed up on beaches last year is predicted to have arrived.

Esteban Amaro, a marine biologist and chief of the monitoring network, told the newspaper Milenio that the large quantities of sargassum are the result of an increase of nutrients in the sea and higher than normal water temperatures due to climate change.

“We have [water] temperatures between two and three degrees above average,” he said.

Amaro said that only minimal amounts of sargassum will reach coastal locations in the north of Quintana Roo such as Cancún, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen, whereas beaches between Tulum and Xcalak will continue to experience “high-intensity arrivals” of the weed.

Ocean currents dictate where the seaweed ends up, he explained.

For hotel owners, the cost of keeping beaches clean has become “unsustainable,” according to an industry leader. Some are spending as much as 900,000 pesos (US $47,000) a month to ensure that beaches meet the expectations of tourists.

However, Tulum Hotel Association president David Ortiz said that the capacity to collect the unwelcome seaweed will be exceeded by the latest sargassum invasion.

He said that the arrival of the navy – which is leading the government’s anti-sargassum strategy – has provided hotel owners with some relief but added that the construction of the seaweed-collecting vessels promised by the government last week is urgent.

Ortiz also said that hotel owners would be prepared to pay a special sargassum tax if they knew that their money would be used wisely.

“There is already the federal land-maritime zone payment that hotel owners with beach [access] pay and there is also the accommodation tax . . . Why not design a new tax? I think that we would be open to it as long as there is timely management of this problem.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Cell phone theft surges in Mexico City; 60 are stolen every day

By

Madison Koen

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July 3, 2019

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Cell phone theft is on the rise in Mexico City: the Attorney General’s Office (PGJ) investigated 21,722 cases in 2018, an average of 60 cell phones stolen every day.

There were significantly fewer incidents the previous year: a total of 14,141 cases for an average of 39 phones stolen daily in 2017. In 2016, 7,314 cell phones were reported stolen, an average of 20 a day.

Since 2016, the frequency of cell phone theft has shot up by 197%.

Thefts conducted using violence far outweighed those in which force was not used last year, and the use of violence has become far more prevalent than it was in 2016.

Last year, cell phone theft with violence was the fourth most common crime in Mexico City behind general larceny in which 14,487 cases were investigated, non-violent robbery of businesses — 15,138 cases and domestic violence — 19,974 cases.

However, authorities have also cracked down on some cell phone thieves.

Yesterday, the Mexico City Metro announced the arrest of “El Chocorrol,” the suspected leader of a band of thieves who operated in Tacuba Station on Line 2. He was identified by police on security cameras.

Authorities said the group selected their victims during rush hour. One gang member would push and shove the unwitting commuter, while another took advantage of the distraction to relieve him of his cell phone or wallet.

Officials continue to search for another four gang members. In the meantime, they urged citizens who believed they might have been robbed by El Chocorrol to report the crime to police as evidence.

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

25 people rescued after being reported kidnapped in Cancún

By

Simon Schatzberg

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July 3, 2019

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Scene of last night's kidnapping in Cancún.

At least 25 people who were kidnapped on Tuesday night from a call center in Cancún have been rescued and are in good health, according to Quintana Roo Public Security Secretary Alberto Capella.

Capella had previously reported the disappearance of 22 people at the call center, located at 39 Avenida Santa Fe in Supermanzana 524, noting that it had been preceded by an “unusual movement of people in a business,” and that it had taken place “without violence or use of firearms.”

According to witnesses who spoke to the media, a group of at least four armed people arrived at the building shortly after 10:00pm and forced a group of people from inside the building to leave aboard two vehicles.

They allegedly stole three cars and a motorcycle from the company, which sells vacation homes by phone.

There were 15 young people and three women among those who were kidnapped.

According to tweets from the Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office, the first lines of investigation were about a disagreement between the two partners of the company over payment and labor conditions.

Capella said that his office will release more information about the case shortly.

Before the victims were rescued, President López Obrador acknowledged the event in his morning press conference, but would not call it a kidnapping.

“We still can’t talk about kidnapping,” he said. “It’s about two gangs, two groups who have some kind of activity that’s in dispute, so we’re not treating it as a kidnapping in the general sense, but rather as a conflict between two groups.”

Source: Noticaribe (sp), El Universal (sp), De Peso (sp), UnoTV (sp)

CFE moves to renegotiate 7 natural gas pipeline contracts

By

MND Staff

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July 2, 2019

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Amid international criticism, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) announced yesterday that it had filed requests for arbitration in courts in the United Kingdom and France to annul clauses in seven gas pipeline contracts.

The CFE said it had lodged preliminary claims to void certain clauses in contracts with the companies Fermaca, Carso, IEnova and TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corporation).

The public utility said last week that it wished to negotiate a “fairer” outcome to contract disputes. President López Obrador has described the terms of the contracts with the pipeline construction companies as “abusive” to the state.

The CFE has previously said that it will have to pay 16 billion pesos (US $840 million) to the operators of the seven pipelines this year even though the projects are not yet operational as they have faced delays due to community opposition.

The London Court of International Arbitration has been asked to hear six cases, while the mediation of the International Court of Arbitration in Paris has been sought in one.

The legal action relates to contracts for the pipelines Tuxpan-Tula (TC Energy); Tula-Villa de Reyes (TC Energy); Samalayuca-Sásabe (Carso); Guaymas-El Oro (IEnova); La Laguna-Aguascalientes (Fermaca); Villa de Reyes-Aguascalientes-Guadalajara (Fermaca); and Texas-Tuxpan (TC Energy/IEnova).

Earlier yesterday, the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) criticized the CFE for seeking to nullify clauses in the contract for the submarine gas line between Texas and Tuxpan, Veracruz, a US $2.5-billion project that was completed last month.

The USCC said in a statement that President López Obrador pledged at the United States-Mexico CEO Dialogue in Mérida, Yucatán, earlier this year, to honor existing contracts.

It also said that there are “few factors more critical to investment and economic growth than the legal certainty and predictability fostered by the respect for the rule of law.”

“For these reasons, we are concerned by CFE’s decision to seek arbitration to nullify several key terms of the contract with the owners of the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline, a key infrastructure project that would contribute to economic development and job creation in the states of southern Mexico,” the USCC said.

“This action risks sending a negative signal to U.S. and other international investors about the business and investment climate in Mexico. We therefore urge CFE and the government of Mexico to reconsider this decision and to observe the president’s pledge to honor the sanctity of existing contracts.”

Canada’s ambassador to Mexico said last week that he was “deeply concerned” about the CFE’s decision to take legal action aimed at nullifying clauses in the contract for the Texas-Tuxpan line.

Pierre Alarie charged that the move showed that “despite López Obrador’s statements, Mexico doesn’t want to respect gas pipeline contracts.”

Fitch Ratings said the pursuit of arbitration was “credit-negative” for the CFE, the companies involved and the energy sector in general.

The president said last week that the government would seek to reach an agreement with Canada’s TC Energy, while the CFE announced yesterday that it had begun talks with Fermaca.

“All the companies have agreed to talk about the contracts. Today we met with Fermaca to determine how to negotiate,” said CFE spokesman Luis Bravo.

He added that the discussions will take place in parallel to the international arbitration process. The two parties agreed to meet again on July 12.

Today, Carlos Salazar Lomelín, president of the Business Coordinating Council, a leading private sector group, said that he had reached an agreement with López Obrador to hold conciliation sessions between representatives of the government and the four companies subject to the CFE legal action.

“We had a very friendly meeting with the president . . . [and] we came to the conclusion that we are going to favor dialogue . . . we’re going to form a conciliation board to try to put aside the legal problem and to try to reach a solution that benefits everyone,” he said.

The business leader explained that the president will decide who represents the government and that he and Mexican Business Council president Antonio del Valle will put together a team to act in the interests of Fermaca, Carso, IEnova and TC Energy.

Although Salazar acknowledged that the CFE will continue to pursue the international arbitration processes it has initiated, he asserted that “we’re going to try to find meeting points instead of being in a legal dispute that doesn’t benefit anyone.”

Source: El Economista (sp), Reuters (en), Milenio (sp)

Construction of Baja natural gas plant to begin in August

By

César Hernández

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July 2, 2019

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Location of the new LNG terminal at Pichilingue.

The government of Baja California Sur has announced that the construction of a US $192-million liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal will begin in August at the port of Pichilingue, La Paz.

To be operated by New Fortress Energy, a United States developer and operator of LNG energy projects, the plant should be ready to receive its first shipment of fuel in July 2020, said Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis.

He described LNG as a cheaper and cleaner alternative for electric power generation, and (the new LNG facility) should have important repercussions in the state.”

Boats, trucks, taxis and all kinds of vehicles can be converted to burn the fuel, along with the Federal Electricity Commission’s generation plants, the governor said.

New Fortress Energy CEO Wesley Edens explained that LNG transportation is among the safest in the world, and that the fuel should become a catalyst for the state’s economic growth.

Source: Milenio (sp)

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