Automated anti-AMLO phone calls under investigation

-

June 8, 2018

Artist's conception of the new avid hotel brand.

The United Kingdom-based hotel firm InterContinental Hotels Group plc, or IHG, has ambitious expansion plans for its Mexican market, one that will give it more than 30,000 hotel rooms by 2021.

The multinational hospitality company’s two-year plan calls for at least 30 new hotels with close to 4,000 rooms, said Elie Maalouf, CEO of IHG’s Americas region.

IHG operated 12 hotel brands in Mexico up to last year, all focused on the various hospitality sectors and all showing steady growth. The expansion plan will be largely represented by IHG’s mainstay brands such as Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, which together represent 64% of the firm’s footprint in Mexico.

But it will also open hotels under other brands, including Crowne Plaza, Staybridge, Indigo, the boutique chain Kimpton and its newest, midscale brand, avid.

The first avid hotel will be located in Zacatecas, Maalouf said, and is slated to open in August. The company sees “great potential” in the new brand.

When it was launched worldwide last fall, Maalouf described the target market as “principled everyday travelers. They’re self-reliant and practical, they know the value of the hard-earned dollar and even when they have a little extra money they take pride in being frugal and not spending it on things they don’t need or want.”

Maalouf said the firm has a very optimistic outlook regarding tourism in Mexico, and the country is among its top-five priority countries worldwide. The outlook is based on the continued growth of the industry, the economy, the population, the middle class, foreign visitor numbers and a free market.

IHG currently has over 80 franchise partners in Mexico, a number the firm expects will continue to grow.

“We’ve had an incomparable experience over the last 40 years [in Mexico],” said Maalouf, “and we hope the relationship to be similar in the future.”

Source: CNN Expansión (sp), Hotel Management (en)

Gangsters’ armored vehicles destroyed in Tamaulipas

By

-

June 8, 2018

Security forces stand guard over an 'artisanal' truck in Tamaulipas.

Artisanal products are usually associated with handmade arts and crafts, often those made in indigenous communities. But in Tamaulipas they can also mean narcos’ wheels.

Security forces have seized some 150 “artisanal” armored vehicles in Tamaulipas in their operations against organized crime. Now, 49 are in the process of being destroyed on orders by the public prosecutor’s office.

The custom-made vehicles were seized in Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros, Río Bravo and some small border towns.

The first 25 were destroyed yesterday afternoon in Reynosa in a process in which the added reinforcements and protections are dismantled, leaving them as unusable scrap metal.

Authorities describe the vehicles as instruments of crime due to the structural alterations by which they were armored and because they were used without the proper authorization.

They also said no one showed up to claim them.

Source: La Silla Rota (sp)

Highway video surveillance goal is 5,000 kilometers by 2020

By

-

June 8, 2018

To combat robbery and improve security on the nation’s highways, the federal government has set itself an ambitious goal: 5,000 kilometers of video surveillance by the year 2020.

Reaching the target won’t come cheap, however, with an investment of 7.7 billion pesos (US $375 million) needed to add approximately 3,000 kilometers to the range already covered by existing cameras.

Transportation Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said yesterday that the aim for this year is to reach 3,700 kilometers of surveillance coverage and the priority will be the country’s busiest highways in Guerrero, Querétaro, Puebla and México state.

However, he added that eventually “the idea is for all highways to be covered by video surveillance.”

Speaking at a freight transport forum in Quintana Roo, Ruiz said that highway concessionaires may collaborate on the project, although there is nothing in their contracts to oblige them to do so.

Pinfra, Meta and Omega are among the concession holders that have already committed to installing new cameras on highways they operate, although the combined distance covered by their pledges is only just over 100 kilometers.

The National Infrastructure Fund (Fonadin) has made a larger commitment, pledging 527 million pesos (US $25.7 million) to install cameras on five highways covering 473 kilometers.

The total investment needed to provide video surveillance to the additional 1,740 kilometers slated for 2018 is just over 3.8 million pesos (US $185 million).

The number of reported truck robberies soared last year to 2,944, almost double the 1,587 cases that occurred in 2016.

At yesterday’s forum, the president of the National Private Transport Association (ANTP) made an impassioned plea to the transportation secretary to address the problem.

“We’re distressed by the increase of robberies because apart from the freight, we now have to mourn the loss of lives. We have to return calm to the sector, secretary. We need it urgently,” Alex Theissen said.

“Be assured that authorities understand. We are following up on an issue that is as important to us as it is to you,” Ruiz responded.

However, the president of the National Chamber of Trucking (Canacar) charged that despite making repeated requests to authorities to beef up security on the country’s most dangerous highways, little has been done.

“We deplore what is happening because they’re not just stealing, they’re attacking our drivers. We’re asking for measures to be taken, in some way . . . A few days ago, we spoke to the Federal Police and they offered to start a highway security operation but nothing happened,” Enrique González Muñoz said.

Many trucking companies have instead resorted to paying for security out of their own pockets.

It’s not just truckers who have been affected by the rising levels of violent crime on Mexico’s roads.

A family of United States citizens suffered a terrifying carjacking ordeal on the Siglo 21 toll highway in Michoacán earlier this year, while a two-year-old infant was killed and two women were sexually assaulted in an incident on the Mexico City-Puebla highway last year.

Priests and politicians have also been targeted in violent highway attacks.

In addition to highway robberies and attacks, train robberies also spiked sharply last year, increasing by 476% between the first and last quarters of 2017.

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

Jack Daniel’s maker braces for tariffs in major growth market

By

-

June 7, 2018

Jack Daniel's products: now subject to tariff in Mexico.

The distiller of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey is bracing itself for the damage that Mexico’s retaliatory tariffs could inflict in one of the company’s biggest growth markets.

In its earnings report released yesterday, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman Corporation referred to “concerns over potential retaliatory tariffs on American spirits” and said that it was hard to accurately predict future sales growth given the uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the tit-for-tat protectionist measures.

Mexico imposed a range of protectionist measures against the United States’ metal tariffs including 20-25% tariffs on bourbon, which took effect Tuesday.

Canada and the European Union have also threatened to slap duties on United States-made whiskey as part of their retaliation against the 25% and 10% tariffs on their steel and aluminum exports, which came into force June 1.

Around 5% of Brown-Forman’s total sales are in Mexico but the value of the market has been growing rapidly. Last quarter, sales were up 15% in this country, more than double the 7% growth recorded in the United States.

The company is still forecasting underlying global net sales growth in the next fiscal year of between 6% and 7% provided nothing major changes.

In order to mitigate the impact of the tariffs on its exports, Brown-Forman began building up its stock in markets outside the United States after the EU warned of retaliatory protection measures earlier this year.

France, Germany, Spain and Poland are among the countries where the company has increased its inventory levels but it didn’t do the same for Mexico.

However, Brown-Forman’s growth and sales here are not entirely dependent on beverages made outside the country. The company owns Jalisco-based Tequila Herradura, which has also contributed to its strong sales figures in Mexico.

Mexico struck back swiftly after the United States announced last Thursday that it would impose tariffs on Mexican metal imports.

The “equivalent measures” imposed target products produced by exporters in states that are politically important to United States President Donald Trump and include pork, some steel products and a range of cheeses and fruits.

This week, Mexico announced that it would challenge the tariffs at the World Trade Organization.

The tariff dispute has further complicated the process to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) but both Mexico and Canada remain committed to reaching a new deal.

Trump, on the other hand, suggested last week that the U.S. could seek to negotiate separate trade accords with its two neighbors, a strategy presidential economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that the president is “very seriously contemplating.”

Source: Bloomberg (en)

Nuevo Laredo families want navy barracks searched

By

-

June 7, 2018

Posters tell the stories of the missing in Nuevo Laredo, describing them as 'victims of the navy.'

Relatives of the 57 missing persons who were allegedly disappeared by the navy in Tamaulipas this year have demanded that federal authorities search the naval barracks in Nuevo Laredo.

Victims’ family members and representatives of the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee (CDHNL) made the plea during a meeting with officials from the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) and the Interior Secretariat (Segob) yesterday.

Representatives from the office of the United Nations (UN) High Commission for Human Rights and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) also attended.

The UN said last week that there are “strong indications” that federal security forces were responsible for the disappearance of 23 people in the northern border city between February and May, but the CDHNL says that it has documented 57 cases in which the navy was allegedly involved.

Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said that “it is vital the Mexican authorities carry out an effective search for those whose whereabouts are still unknown and conduct a diligent, independent and complete investigation to find out what happened, identify those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice.”

The PGR subsequently announced that it would investigate the disappearances.

Outside yesterday’s meeting, the wife of Daniel Trejo García, who disappeared on March 27, told the newspaper Milenio that family members hope their pleas to authorities will not be ignored.

“We’re expecting responses, that the navy takes responsibility . . . that the PGR does something. We didn’t go to file a complaint just for them to throw it onto a whole pile of complaints. [We want] them to support us in the searches, to give us access to the barracks and more than anything to return our family members to us,” Jessica Molina said.

She said navy personnel came on to her property and took her husband and a friend of his from their home.

Molina assured Milenio that she had absolutely no doubt that the two men disappeared at the hands of the navy.

“. . . I was a witness to them taking [my husband] from my house, in my presence . . . I saw fully-equipped, fully-uniformed and fully-trained navy personnel carrying out an operation looking for [someone named] Willy. I have no idea who that person is,” she said.

Following yesterday’s meeting, the PGR, Segob and the Navy Secretariat (Semar) issued a joint statement to say that the office of the Special Prosecutor for the Investigation of Enforced Disappearances has drawn up plans to carry out an investigation to clarify the facts in 20 cases.

The statement also said that the Federal Police has been ordered to conduct a detailed investigation to obtain further evidence and establish criminal responsibility, adding that the navy has complied with the measures that had been recommended.

The three federal government agencies also said the navy “carried out a diligent and effective search for the disappeared persons” with the participation of their family members, describing it as both “impartial” and “exhaustive.”

Family members have previously said they have been forced to conduct their own searches due to the inaction of authorities.

The statement said that family members, witnesses and human rights advocates would be afforded adequate protection to ensure their security as recommended by the UN.

It added that the government and the UN High Commission for Human Rights agreed to meet periodically to review new information and evidence in order to strengthen the investigations into the case of each missing person.

Source: Milenio (sp)

April pipeline thefts soar 94% to a record 1,485 illegal taps

By

-

June 7, 2018

Mexico’s petroleum thieves carry on undeterred, setting a new record for illegal pipeline taps in April.

Theft from Pemex pipelines hit a whopping 1,485 taps in April, up 94% from 763 in the same month last year. Figures for the first four months are also well up this year — a 49% increase over the same period in 2017.

There were pipeline thefts in 21 of the 32 states, and seven registered more than 100.

Puebla has historically seen the highest incidence and last month was no exception; it led with 248.

Veracruz followed with 170, Tamaulipas with 155, Hidalgo 151, Guanajuato 148 and Jalisco 146.

Thefts in Mexico City have yet to surpass 100 but the figures indicate the crime is on the rise: there were 74 pipeline taps in April. In the same month last year there were just 10.

The figures for the first four months of this year are further evidence that the crime is far from being controlled. In January-April 2017 there were 3,467 reported cases. This year the number shot up 49% to 5,176.

An official with a multinational company that provides inspection, verification and certification services suggests that molecular marking might provide a solution.

Álvaro Vallejo Paz of SGS Mexico said such a system can monitor pipeline flow and could help reduce theft, the newspaper El Financiero reported.

There must be controls, he said. “As long as there isn’t control at every level, the harmful practice will continue.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Guanajuato city hires private firm to beef up security

By

-

June 7, 2018

Private security guards on patrol in Salamanca.

The mayor of Salamanca, Guanajuato, has hired a private security company to bolster the city’s law enforcement capabilities amid an upsurge in violent crime.

The private security guards are carrying out similar duties to those of police including patrols of Salamanca’s streets and parks, but they are not armed.

State Governor Miguel Márquez said the state’s police force is unable to assign more officers to Salamanca due to security commitments in other areas.

However, he added that the Federal Police and the army have sent more personnel to the city, affirming that state police “have not been left alone.”

Márquez also said that between 250 and 300 new officers will soon graduate from the state’s policy academy.

Salamanca, located about 70 kilometers south of the capital, and several other Guanajuato municipalities are currently under state police control as part of the mando único (single command) security strategy.

The governor said that municipal authorities informed him that the private guards have been employed to work in close proximity with Salamanca residents. The guards must have passed confidence tests and the firm that employs them must have state authorization, he said.

Meanwhile, 10 Salamanca traffic police resigned this week following the murder of six of their colleagues in the city last Friday.

Interim Salamanca Mayor José Miguel Fuentes Serrato told the newspaper El Universal that the officers quit for personal reasons and that none of them had indicated that fear was a factor in their decision.

He also said the city’s traffic police will now be accompanied by state or federal security forces as they carry out their duties.

Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre said Saturday that there was no evidence that the slain officers had been involved in any criminal activity and described their conduct as “irreproachable.” He also pledged to hold those responsible for their deaths to account.

Violence in Guanajuato has spiked significantly this year. National Public Security System statistics released last month showed there were 1,004 homicides in the first quarter.

Many of those are believed to be connected to the crime of petroleum theft, including deaths resulting from confrontations between rival gangs of fuel thieves known as huachicoleros.

Pemex personnel who work at the Salamanca refinery are also alleged to have been involved in fuel theft and came under investigation for the crime last month.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Fireworks explosion in Tultepec kills seven, injures eight

By

-

June 7, 2018

The building where yesterday's explosion occurred.

Seven people were killed early yesterday morning when a fireworks workshop exploded in Tultepec, México state.

Three people died at the scene of the blast at about 1:00am in the La Piedad neighborhood and four more died later of their injuries, said local authorities.

Eight more people, including four minors aged seven, nine, 15 and 16, were being treated in hospitals in neighboring towns of Cuautitlan, Zumpango and Coacalco.

The blast destroyed 12 vehicles and and 23 nearby homes, five of them severely.

Explosions in Tultepec, known for its fireworks industry, are not uncommon but this was the worst since December 2016 when 42 people were killed after an explosion in the local fireworks market.

Source: Animal Político (sp), Xinhua (en)

Guide for whistleblowers is airport anti-corruption measure

By

-

June 7, 2018