Wife of kidnapped mayor takes his place in Guerrero municipality

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November 1, 2018

Mexicans are celebrating the Day of the Dead this week but Mexican bakeries are celebrating Hollywood movies.

Sales of pan de muerto, the “bread of the dead” that is traditional fare at this time of year, are experiencing a boost thanks to Hollywood productions related to the annual Day of the Dead celebrations, say bakery industry representatives.

The movies are last year’s Coco, a Disney Pixar production set around the November traditions, and the 2015 James Bond film Spectre.

Bakeries expect a 4% increase in sales after seeing a 25% drop last year.

The president of a national bakery industry organization said it was expecting sales of just over 30 million loaves of pan de muerto between October 30 and November 2, representing revenue of close to 1.6 billion pesos (US $77.5 million).

Lecaroz, a national chain of 200 bakeries, expects its sales in October and November to jump by 10% over last year. It explained that there is greater demand for pan de muerto as well as other products such as mantemuerto, a pan de muerto made in the form of a cupcake.

“The star for bakeries is the rosca de reyes [kings’ cake], representing 30% of their yearly sales, followed by pan de muerto, which can reach 15%. Daily bread sales represent the rest of their income,” said Berenice Pérez Badillo.

The president of an association of small business owners reported that six out of every 10 tienditas, or mom-and-pop stores, usually sell bread provided by established bakeries, including pan de muerto.

National retailer Soriana expects to sell four million loaves of “dead bread” in its markets with the largest demand, which include the states of Nuevo León, Mexico City, México, Jalisco and Baja California.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Supreme Court ruling means courts must allow recreational use of pot

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November 1, 2018

A pro-marijuana marcher at a demonstration in Mexico City.

The Supreme Court issued two rulings yesterday that paved the way for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

One ruling granted an amparo or injunction to a complainant to allow the cultivation of marijuana for personal use while the other decision allowed a second plaintiff to consume the drug.

The two decisions followed three similar ones between 2015 and 2017, establishing a precedent that a total ban on pot is unconstitutional.

Under Mexican law, five similar rulings on a matter establish a standard that applies more broadly.

The constitutional precedent that has now been set effectively leaves it to lawmakers to regulate the consumption of marijuana.

The court ordered that complainants in individual cases be allowed to use marijuana for recreational purposes, declaring that adults have a fundamental right to choose their recreational activities without interference from the state.

“That right is not absolute, and the consumption of certain substances may be regulated, but the effects provoked by marijuana do not justify an absolute prohibition of its consumption,” the ruling said.

The court ordered the Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risk (Cofepris) to authorize the complainants to use marijuana but not to commercialize it.

While the court’s rulings technically don’t legalize recreational use, “the existence of five precedents in the same vein on the subject” establish that courts must allow it.

However, an individual will still be required to press his or her case in the judicial system if charged with marijuana consumption.

Mexico United Against Crime, a group that opposes the prohibition of drugs, said the Supreme Court’s latest rulings “open the door to the regulation of cannabis” and confirm that “Mexico must move toward the regulation of drugs to improve conditions of justice and peace in the country.”

The group urged Congress to act on the issue.

“The Supreme Court has done its job . . . The responsibility for issuing the corresponding regulation falls on Congress,” the group’s director general, Lisa Sánchez, said in a statement.

Officials in president-elect López Obrador’s incoming government have indicated that they could legalize marijuana and other drugs as part of a strategy to fight poverty and crime.

Future interior secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero, a former Supreme Court judge, said in July that López Obrador had given her a “blank check” to explore the possibility of legalizing drugs as well as any other measures that could help restore peace.

Source: Associated Press (en), Reuters (en)

Authorities turn up heat on migrants; caravan no. 1 says feds blocked bus travel plan

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November 1, 2018

Immigration agents arrest a Central American migrant in Chiapas.

Immigration officials and Federal Police detained and deported 160 members of the second migrant caravan yesterday because they entered Mexico illegally.

The Central American migrants were arrested while walking or hitching rides from Tapachula to Huixtla in the southern state of Chiapas.

Nine kilometers before the caravan reached the latter town, immigration officials and police blocked the migrants’ path with about 30 vehicles.

Some succeeded in outrunning the authorities while those detained were taken to a National Immigration Institute (INM) facility where they were put on buses and taken to the Tapachula airport.

There, they were placed aboard a Federal Police plane and flown to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The INM told the newspaper Milenio that more migrants traveling as part of the first and second caravans who entered Mexico without going through official immigration channels will be detained in the coming days.

The federal government warned two weeks ago that Central American migrants traveling to the United States via Mexico would be detained and deported if they entered the country illegally, but prior to yesterday’s detention authorities have made few attempts to stop migrants from traveling through the country.

Many members of both the first and second caravans entered Mexico by crossing the Suchiate river, which separates Guatemala from Chiapas, by wading, swimming or riding on rafts.

Members of the second caravan clashed with Federal Police at the border last Sunday.

The migrants threw rocks and used sticks against the police after toppling a metal barricade blocking their entry into Mexico on the border bridge.

A 26-year-old Honduran man died during the confrontation, allegedly after being shot in the head with a rubber bullet. But Mexican authorities denied that police fired at the victim.

United States President Trump seized on the clash at a rally in Florida yesterday, telling supporters that the migrants are “not angels.”

“You saw what happened two days ago with the Mexican military and the Mexican police. You saw what happened there, how tough the opposition is,” he said.

“We’re tougher than anybody. We’re tougher than any force. And we’re probably going to have to be unfortunately.”

Trump also floated the idea yesterday that as many as 15,000 troops could be sent to the United States’ southern border just days after the U.S. Department of Defense said that it would send around 5,200 active-duty troops there.

Meanwhile, migrants in the first caravan are continuing their journey through Oaxaca after failing to secure transportation to Mexico City for its approximately 4,000 members.

Migrant advocacy group Pueblos Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders), which is supporting and helping to organize the caravan, accused the federal government of blocking the migrants’ travel to the capital by bus.

“The plan to cross Oaxaca in transportation was blocked by the federal government. Today, there was a possibility of more than 70 buses from different sources of support but under pressure from the federal government of Mexico, they withdrew their support,” the organization said in a statement.

That left the migrants with “the sole option of continuing on foot towards Veracruz, a state with an extremely high risk of violence at the hands of organized crime,” it continued.

“The Mexican federal government will be fully responsible for any aggression against the members of the exodus and accompanying persons.”

At a meeting last night, the migrants decided to change their route and head today towards the city of Matías Romero, about 60 kilometers northeast of Juchitán, where they spent the last two nights.

The highway to Oaxaca city is winding and mountainous and has few towns with the infrastructure to receive such a large group of migrants, Pueblos Sin Fronteras said.

“The delicate health condition of [caravan members], especially of children, implies risks due to the lack of access to medical services in the route towards Oaxaca city,” it explained.

Source: Milenio (sp) Reforma (sp)

Rough week for CFE workers: 3 arrested, 3 kidnapped over lack of electricity

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November 1, 2018

What is a mayor to do when the CFE comes by to cut off the power because the bill hasn’t been paid? Arrest the linesmen, of course.

That’s what happened in Huixtla, Chiapas, where Mayor José Luis Laparra Calderón ordered the apprehension of three personnel from the Federal Electricity Commission who turned up to switch off the power at the municipal offices.

The three climbed a utility pole, turned off the electricity and climbed back down again only to land in the arms of municipal police, who placed them under arrest. Municipal employees then climbed up the pole themselves and reconnected the power supply.

The municipality owes the CFE 1 million pesos (US $50,000).

CFE sources told the newspaper Reforma that the utility company had approached the mayor with the intention of collecting at least some of the owed amount, but he refused to cooperate.

Meanwhile, three other CFE workers met a similar fate in the Oaxaca town of El Pescadito in San Miguel Soyaltepec.

After being without electricity for more than 15 days residents kidnapped the three in protest and demanded that the company reconnect the power supply.

The utility explained that its efforts had been impeded by a rise in the level of a river running through the region.

The state government was to send a team of representatives to resolve the situation.

Damage to the electrical grid was caused by storms two weeks ago.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

Authorities search for US man missing in Chihuahua since Sunday

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November 1, 2018

A search is under way for a United States citizen who was last seen in the state of Chihuahua on Sunday.

Patrick Braxton-Andrew, 34, left his hotel in Urique, a town in the southwest corner of the state, and went for a walk about 4:00pm.

The hotel owner says he never returned. Someone had seen him walking near a ranch that afternoon about four kilometers from the town.

Family and friends fear that he was hurt while walking or hiking, a family friend told The Charlotte Observer.

The last communication his family had with the missing man was a text message at 3:51pm Sunday.

[wpgmza id=”104″]

Described as fluent in Spanish, Braxton-Andrew was supposed to meet his brother in Mexico City on Tuesday but didn’t appear.

He arrived in Mexico on October 25 and rode the Copper Canyon train to Posada Barrancas Divisadero before arriving in Urique last Friday or Saturday.

The newspaper El Diario reported today that police and other state authorities have been searching for Braxton-Andrew in the area surrounding Urique.

Any information about Braxton-Andrew’s whereabouts can be passed along to family friend Nancy Slagle by email or telephone 704-779-2015.

Mexico News Daily

Supreme Court rules Veracruz cockfight ban is constitutional

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November 1, 2018

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a ban on cockfights approved by the Veracruz Congress two years ago is constitutional.

The ruling said there were many benefits from the ban with regard to the animals’ well-being, protecting them from physical injury and even death.

The state’s Animal Protection Act also prohibits hunting and capturing wild animals, animal fights and the inclusion of animals in circus shows.

The law exempts bullfights, horse races and all activities related to the sport of charrería, a competitive event similar to rodeo.

Firms and organizations dedicated to promoting and supplying cockfights had filed an amparo, or injunction, request less than a month after the law was published by the state government.

This group’s main claim was that the livelihood of many people employed directly and indirectly by the activity would be seriously harmed.

As an example they cited the manufacturing of cockfight blades, saying it was worth 368.5 million pesos (US $18.3 million) a year, while the gamecock feed industry consumed an average of 110,000 tonnes every month, representing a gross annual income of 7.2 billion pesos ($357.3 million).

“This financial situation was not taken into account by the authorities responsible for reforming the Animal Protection Act,” said the president of the Mexican Commission for Cockfight Promotion, asserting that it was a form of discrimination and an attack against freedom to work.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Pemex says pipeline theft, hurricane cause of fuel shortages in Guanajuato

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November 1, 2018

Repairing pipeline taps takes time, leading to supply shortages.

Illegal taps on petroleum pipelines coupled with supply chain disruptions caused by Hurricane Willa have resulted in fuel shortages in Guanajuato.

Officials from the state oil company Pemex told the newspaper Milenio that due to a high number of illegal perforations, pipelines between Tula, Hidalgo, and Salamanca, Guanajuato, have been shut off.

“. . . There are supply delays because we have to close the ducts in order to repair them and that to a large extent delays supply to the state,” they said.

Pemex operates refineries in both Salamanca and Tula.

Authorities detected 1,852 illegal taps on pipelines in Guanajuato last year, more than any other state in the country.

The crime, perpetrated by gangs of thieves known as huachicoleros, is considered the main reason behind rising levels of violent crime in Guanajuato, especially in the state’s industrial corridor which includes the municipalities of Celaya, Salamanca and Irapuato.

The Pemex officials also said that poor weather conditions brought by Willa last week made it impossible to unload fuel from ships at some ports, further limiting supply.

The fuel shortage is being acutely felt in León, where at least 20 gas stations out of a total of 183 have reported running out of gasoline over the past two weeks. It’s not just Pemex stations that are affected but those operated by BP and Shell as well.

Pemex is working to reestablish adequate fuel supply to affected municipalities, the company’s officials said.

The shortages apply mainly to the Magna brand of gasoline which, being the more economical, sees the greatest demand. Pemex said in September that nearly 85% of gasoline purchased in the first seven months was Magna. In 2016, Magna represented 78% of the total sold.

The increase has been attributed to fuel price increases.

Source: Milenio (sp), am (sp)

AMLO accuses private sector of big plans to develop existing airport land

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October 31, 2018

AMLO, also known as the 'Tropical Messiah,' defends airport decision. — AMLO, sometimes known as the 'Tropical Messiah,' defends airport decision.

The private sector is upset with the decision to cancel the new Mexico City International Airport project because it had big plans to develop the site of the existing airport, charges president-elect López Obrador.

In a video posted to social media yesterday, López Obrador said the business sector had reached an agreement that would allow it to eventually take possession of the Benito Juárez International Airport, located just seven kilometers east of Mexico City’s downtown.

“Now I can say it. During the consultation, I couldn’t speak because I had to act with impartiality but . . . part of the construction [plan] for the airport at Texcoco was for [the private sector] to keep the land of the current airport,” he said.

“I even saw the blueprint. They had already planned to build a kind of Santa Fe on the 600 hectares of the current airport,” López Obrador continued, referring to the Mexico City business and shopping district.

“I understand that they are upset because they won’t be able to do that business.”

Influential private sector leaders slammed the decision to cancel the 285-billion-peso (US $14 billion) airport announced Monday by López Obrador, a day after the public consultation on the project’s future concluded.

Instead, the incoming government plans to build two new runways at the Santa Lucía Air Force Base in México state and upgrade the existing airport and that in Toluca, a proposal that about 70% of people supported in the consultation.

Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) president Gustavo de Hoyos said killing the airport project would be “the biggest waste of public resources in the history of the country.”

The vote on the future of the project was a “Mickey Mouse consultation” and a “flagrant violation of the law,” he charged.

Economist Enrique Cardenas of the Iberoamerican University expressed a similar sentiment to de Hoyos, writing on Twitter that scrapping the airport project “will be remembered as one of the worst stupidities from a president in contemporary economic history.”

In yesterday’s video, López Obrador sought to reassure investors and disgruntled business leaders about his decision to respect the will of the approximately 1.1 million people, or just over 1% of the electoral roll, who voted in the consultation.

“We’re not going to commit any injustice with the investors and contractors . . . They will be assured that their work can be carried out, only now they won’t be in Texcoco but in Santa Lucía. We’re going to reach an agreement. Settle down, calm down — a change is taking place in the country,” he said.

“There is nothing to fear. We have said 1,001 times that we will guarantee the investments, the contracts.”

After his landslide victory in the July 1 election, López Obrador also sought to calm fears surrounding the next government’s economic plans, a move which analysts believed initially reassured investors and contributed to a strengthening of the peso.

However, following confirmation of the decision to scrap the new airport, which was considered President Peña Nieto’s signature infrastructure project, the peso lost 3.6% of its value in 24 hours to slump to its lowest level since the election of United States President Trump.

According to the currency exchange website xe.com, one US dollar bought 20.3 Mexican pesos at 5:00pm today. In recent years, exceeding the 20-peso-to-the-dollar threshold has set off alarm bells in Mexico.

López Obrador addressed the decline in his video message, declaring that “there was a slide in the peso, not a devaluation, but it will recover.”

However, it’s not just a weaker peso that is causing concern.

Mexico’s benchmark stock index was down 4.2% at the close yesterday while some analysts believe that projected 2019 growth of 2% may have to be downgraded and foreign capital may flee the country.

Critics of the president-elect’s decision and the way it was made said that cancelation of the airport could diminish investor trust in Mexico during the new government’s six-year term, as Mexico’s two largest banks also warned.

“A lot of foreign investors were looking at this airport issue as a litmus test of [López Obrador’s] pragmatism, or of his radicalism,” said Daniel Kerner, managing director for Latin America with the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.

“I think this showed the reality that López Obrador will go ahead and do whatever he wants.”

Banks JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Itau Unibanco Holding SA both said that due to the decline in the peso they expect the Bank of México (Banxico) to lift interest rates by a quarter point when it makes its next scheduled rates decision on November 15.

“Were the peso to remain under pressure, we’d expect Banxico to acknowledge that upside inflation risks have materialized and convergence to target is at risk, and therefore that a policy response is required,” JPMorgan economists wrote in a report Monday.

There is a significant possibility of a further quarter point or half point hike in December, the economists said.

Kathryn Rooney Vera, head of global research at Bulltick Capital Markets in Miami, made an even more ominous warning about the potential consequences that cancelation of the airport might bring.

“[The decision] could start a vicious cycle, smashing any incipient investor confidence, sending the peso plummeting, inflation rising, Banxico forced to hike and slowing an already slow economy that needs foreign portfolio flows,” she said.

Source: El Financiero (sp), The Los Angeles Times (en), Bloomberg (en)

Mexico City restaurant Pujol one of top 3 in Latin America, best in MX

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October 31, 2018