Cars being manufactured at the Audi plant in San José Chiapa, Puebla. Carlos Aranda/Unsplash
The World Bank has adjusted its growth forecasts for the Mexican economy in 2022 and 2023, offering a slightly rosier outlook for this year but a more pessimistic prediction for the coming one.
In a report published Tuesday, the World Bank forecast growth of 1.8% this year, an increase of 0.1% compared to its outlook in June. It anticipates GDP will expand 1.5% next year – a reduction of 0.4% compared to its previous forecast – and 2.1% in 2024.
The World Bank is forecasting 3% growth across the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region this year and a 1.6% expansion in 2023.
“By the end of the year, economic activity will have largely recovered to its pre-pandemic levels, although with substantial variations across [LAC] countries,” the international financial organization said in its report titled New Approaches to Closing the Fiscal Gap.
A chart showing Mexico’s GDP growth from 1961. With pandemic restrictions in place, 2020 was Mexico’s worst year for growth in nearly six decades. Mouse over the graph to see each year’s figures.
“Among the largest economies, GDP in Chile and Colombia is expected to be 10% above 2019 levels, while in Brazil and Mexico it remains unchanged.”
The Mexican economy slumped by more than 8% in 2020 due to the pandemic and associated restrictions before recording almost 5% growth last year.
The World Bank said Tuesday that “strong global uncertainty as a result of the war in Ukraine, higher interest rates in developed countries and the persistent inflationary pressures will impact economies in the region.”
“… Inflation, while for most countries is at OECD levels, will require continued efforts to reduce to previous target levels,” it said.
William Maloney, the World Bank’s chief economist for the Latin America and Caribbean region, approved of the Bank of Mexico’s efforts to tackle inflation, currently at 8.76%.
Presenting the LAC report on Tuesday, the World Bank’s chief economist for the region, William Maloney, noted that inflation in Mexico is high: 8.76% in annual terms in the first half of September. But he expressed support for the central bank’s efforts to combat the unwanted phenomenon.
The Bank of México lifted its benchmark rate by 75 basis points to 9.25% last week, the highest level since a new monetary policy regime was introduced in 2008, after two previous 0.75% hikes.
Maloney noted that the World Bank is not forecasting an economic contraction in the United States despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes in that country, but warned that if the world’s largest economy does go into recession there will be an impact on all other nations in the region, including Mexico.
The Senate on Tuesday approved a proposal to authorize the use of the armed forces for public security tasks until 2028, delivering a crucial victory to President López Obrador, who says that the ongoing presence of the military on the nation’s streets is essential to guarantee peace.
Eighty-seven senators voted in favor of the constitutional bill that seeks to extend the military’s involvement in public security by four years, while 40 opposed it.
Support for the bill was just over the two-thirds majority required to pass a proposal that seeks to modify the constitution. The proposed reform will now face a vote in the lower house of Congress, where lawmakers already approved an earlier version of the same bill.
Senators modified the bill after the ruling Morena party used its majority in the upper house to block a vote that would have killed off the proposal two weeks ago. Senator Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s leader in the Senate, said at the time that the vote was postponed to “broaden the debate and reach agreements.”
Senators voting on the extension of military use for public security on October 4. Senado de la República
The modifications were sufficient to win the support of some Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) senators who opposed the bill passed by the Chamber of Deputies in mid-September.
Among the modifications are provisions that establish congressional oversight of the public security actions of the military and create a fund that will provide resources for the professionalization of municipal and state police forces.
Monreal said that Congress will become a “watchdog” of the armed forces and hold them to account. He described the congressional oversight mechanism as historic and unprecedented. There will be “parliamentary controls” over the armed forces that “haven’t existed until now,” the senator said.
The chiefs of the army and navy will be required to submit regular reports to Congress and could be summoned to appear before lawmakers.
The current government created the National Guard to lead its public security strategy, but three years after it was inaugurated violent crime remains a significant problem in some parts of the country.
Put forward by a PRI deputy, the original bill proposing a four-year extension to the military’s involvement in public security said that that a “solid and effective” police force “is not built overnight” and therefore, while the National Guard “develops its structure, capacities and territorial establishment,” the president of the day can use the armed forces for public security tasks in an “extraordinary, regulated, controlled, subordinated and complementary way.”
Municipal and state police forces – many of which are made up of poorly paid officers who lack training – have long struggled to contain violence on their own.
The National Action Party (PAN) vehemently opposed the constitutional bill, arguing that it would further perpetuate a long-running militarized public security strategy that has failed. The PRD – part of an opposition alliance that also includes the PAN and PRI – had also opposed it, but two of its senators ended up voting in favor of the modified proposal.
On Sunday, the anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre of 1968, in which between 200 and 300 student protesters were killed in clashes with the military, participants decried the current militarization of the country. Daniel Augusto Sánchez Moreno/Cuartoscuro
There was a heated debate in the Senate before a vote was held Tuesday night, with PAN senators warning that the ongoing involvement of the military in public security increased the risk that Mexico would see other events like the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre of students in Mexico and the 2014 disappearance of 43 students in Guerrero.
Senator Julen Rementería, PAN’s leader in the upper house, accused Morena of buying votes in order to approve the continuation of a security strategy “that has been a failure.”
López Obrador – who said last month that he changed his mind about the need to use the military for public security tasks when he saw the security problem he inherited – expressed his satisfaction with the Senate’s approval of the bill.
“I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the senators because the constitutional reform was approved yesterday,” he said at his Wednesday morning news conference.
“… We have confidence [in the armed forces] because a different idea about [the need for] absolute respect for human rights now prevails,” said López Obrador, who has used the military for a wide range of non-traditional tasks including infrastructure construction and management of customs, and recently succeeded in putting the National Guard under the administrative and operational control of the army.
“… This [reform] has to do with public security, it’s about protecting citizens even while we’re maintaining the security strategy of attending to the causes of violence,” he said.
San Miguel de Allende is the world’s best small city, and Mérida is the fourth best big one, according to readers of Condé Nast Traveler.
The magazine announced the winners of its 35th annual Readers’ Choice Awards on Tuesday. San Miguel Allende, a colonial city in the Bajío region state of Guanajuato, was also crowned the world’s best small city in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.
Mérida, the capital of Yucatán, won the same award in 2019, but appeared in the big cities list for the first time this year.
Announcing the results of its latest reader survey, Condé Nast Traveler described San Miguel de Allende – a UNESCO world heritage site since 2008 – as a “jewel” and a “hub for expat artists.”
Mérida’s striking downtown landmark, The Homeland Monument. Mérida has been on Condé Nast Traveler’s list before, but this is the first time the publication considered it a big city. Jorge Ramírez/Unsplash
“This highland city is known for its Spanish colonial architecture and colorful facades. You could spend hours browsing the galleries and pop-up shops at Fábrica La Aurora, a former textile factory that is now home to local artisans,” the magazine said.
It also recommended the Rosewood hotel, calling it a “hidden oasis in the heart of the city,” and the restaurant Áperi, “for one of the best dining experiences in the city, full of fresh flavors from the region.”
Other small cities popular with Condé Nast Traveler readers include Oxford, United Kingdom (voted 10th best); Salzburg, Austria (5th); San Sebastián, Spain (3rd); and Victoria, Canada (2nd).
Singapore was voted the best big city ahead of Bangkok, Thailand; Tokyo, Japan; and Mérida, which has a population of about 1 million.
As one of Mexico’s earliest cities, San Miguel de Allende holds onto its original colonial charm with cobblestone streets, but it’s also got a vibrant modern arts community. Jezael Melgoza/Unsplash
“The streets of Mérida are bursting with the colorful facades of Spanish colonial architecture, but the capital of Mexico’s Yucatan state is also steeped in Mayan history,” Condé Nast Traveler said.
“Centrally located on the Yucatán Peninsula, the city is an easy day trip to UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the ancient cities of Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, and the beaches on the Gulf shore in Progreso.”
The magazine said that locals of the ciudad blanca (white city) recommend visiting Fundación de Artistas, a nonprofit featuring art exhibits in a 19th-century home and the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, a modern cultural museum in the city’s north.
Mérida Mayor Renán Barrera acknowledged the city’s new accolade in a social media post. “You’re great #Mérida!” he wrote on Facebook.
Condé Nast said a suggested place to visit in Mérida is the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, the Great Museum of the Mayan World. Shutterstock
“We’ve become the fourth best city in the world in the ‘Best Big Cities’ category … in the 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards of the Condé Nast Traveler magazine. We’re still working to be among the best tourism destinations in our country,” Barrera said.
Another Mexican award winner was Isla Holbox, which Condé Nast Traveler readers deemed to be the “top island” in North America outside the United States. The popular tourism destination is located just off the northern coast of Quintana Roo.
Isla Mujeres, located off the coast of Cancún, and Cozumel, southeast of Playa del Carmen, ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the “rest of North America” category for “top islands.”
Condé Nast Traveler readers ranked Mexico as the 36th best country in the world to travel to, with Portugal, Japan and Thailand taking the top three spots in that category.
Work is beginning of Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) to shore up its supports. It will take 10 months. AICM/Instagram
Work to repair structural damage at Terminal 2 of the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) will begin “in a few days” and take 10 months to complete, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday.
Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference, Sheinbaum said the project will cost about 400 million pesos (US $20 million) and is required due to problems related to how the 14-year-old building was designed.
López Obrador said in late July that the terminal has structural damage, is sinking and needs to be shored up to ensure it doesn’t collapse. The College of Mexican Aeronautics Engineers rejected the claim that the building was sinking, but Sheinbaum repeated the president’s assertion on Tuesday, saying that the land on which the terminal was built has sunk by as much as 1.2 meters since it opened in 2008.
“In this area of the city, there is subsidence that ranges from 30 centimeters to 1.2 meters. … It was decided to build a very heavy, very large, two-story building that had to have foundations with piles that reached the hard part of the soil,” she said, adding that the sinking phenomenon has caused “cavities between the piles and the ground.”
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum made the announcement at President Lopez Obrador’s daily press conference. VICTORIA VALTIERRA/CUARTOSCURO
“These cavities have also caused cracks in the beams [that support the terminal]. It’s a building that was built … [without] the design that was needed,” Sheinbaum said.
“… It was a building that was planned for only 15 years despite it costing 10 billion pesos because it was supposedly going to be demolished because the international airport was going to be built in Texcoco,” she said, referring to the México state airport construction project canceled by López Obrador.
The mayor said that the repair work is needed to counter possible risks posed to the terminal by earthquakes, which frequently affect Mexico City.
“The first thing that has to be done is to fix all the beams,” Sheinbaum said. … On the other hand, … permanent filling [is needed] in the area where there are cavities,” she said.
Terminal 1, which will also see repairs after Terminal 2, actually has “greater deterioration,” AICM’s director said. AICM/Twitter
The required studies have been completed, and the work will start “in a few days,” the mayor added. She said the project won’t interrupt the operations of Terminal 2 because all the work will be carried out in its “lower part.”
Earlier in López Obrador’s press conference, new AICM director Carlos Velázquez said that there had been a lack of investment in the airport during the 2012–2018 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto. He noted that the Terminal 1 building is almost 70 years old and that the airport’s infrastructure has deteriorated over the years.
“[The deterioration is] mainly in Terminal 1, largely as a result of the lack of investment from 2014 to 2018 due to its projected closure,” Velázquez said, noting that the canceled Texcoco airport was under construction in that period.
The current government, in contrast, has allocated over 5.9 billion pesos (US $295 million) for maintenance and repair projects at AICM, he said, adding that the airport has contributed 1.3 billion pesos of its own resources to improving the facility.
An executive with the Keller Williams real estate company has proposed converting offices into homes to alleviate the housing shortage in Mexico City.
The Valley of Mexico branch of national housing association Canadevi says that 20,000 additional homes need to be built in the capital every year to keep up with demand, but construction figures have been much lower than that in recent years and have declined annually since 2017.
Due to the current shortfall of housing stock, Jorge Carbonell believes that some office buildings – many of which have fewer tenants than they previously had due to the shift to remote work during the pandemic – should be turned into apartment blocks.
“There is a decline in construction and real estate development and converting some offices into homes could be an option,” he told the newspaper Reforma. “It’s a great option to alleviate the crisis” given that there is so much office space in Mexico City, Carbonell added.
According to real estate company JLL, there are 7.5 million square meters of office space in the capital and just under 1.76 million meters – 23.5% of the total – were unoccupied at the end of June.
“Within what is the new reality [created by the pandemic], office spaces are the most affected division of the real estate business,” Carbonell said.
But offices converted into furnished homes could be “very profitable” for their owners if they rented them to vacationers or people in Mexico City for business, he said, citing annual returns of 8-12% of the initial investment.
“… Today it’s easier to remodel than to build a [new] building, the permits in the city are very complicated. The transformation of [office] buildings … to homes could be a great option,” the real estate executive said.
Carbonnel also said that his idea could increase housing stock in central areas of the capital whereas a lot of construction occurs on the outskirts. Office buildings that are good candidates for conversion to apartment blocks are in central locations, up to 50 years old and have vacancy rates of 50% or more, he said.
Leopoldo Maldonado, Director of Article 19 in Mexico, said he has "little confidence" that the criminal complaint the organization filed against the military with the federal Attorney General will be treated with "independence and professionalism." Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro
Press freedom advocacy organization Article 19 announced Monday that it had filed a criminal complaint against the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) for allegedly intercepting the private communications of a human rights defender and two journalists by using spyware to infiltrate their cell phones.
The announcement came after three civil society organizations including Article 19 published an investigation titled Ejército Espía (The Spying Army) that found that Sedena illegally used Pegasus spyware against journalists and human rights defenders in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto in Canada and the Mexican media outlets Animal Político, Aristegui Noticias and Proceso collaborated on the investigation, which gathered evidence that shows that Sedena purchased the spyware during the current government despite President López Obrador’s pledge that his administration wouldn’t spy on citizens and assertions that it isn’t doing so.
“The investigation, by Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D), Article 19 Mexico and Central America, and SocialTIC, with forensic analysis and support from Citizen Lab, found the new cases of surveillance occurred during the current government … despite repeated reassurances from the president that the government did not have current contracts with the [Israeli company] NSO Group, which manufactures the [Pegasus] spyware,” Article 19 said in a statement.
Animal Politico‘s director Daniel Moreno said Pegasus spyware gave the government access to his paper’s entire site, allowing officials to spy on one of their journalists. Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro
“The report reveals that Raymundo Ramos, president of the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee, Ricardo Raphael, journalist and writer, and a journalist from Animal Político were all targeted,” the NGO said.
“The investigation exposes the existence of contracts between the Mexican army and the company Anstua, which signs agreements on behalf of the NSO Group. The journalists and a human rights defender were conducting investigations into serious human rights violations committed by the armed forces at the time they were targeted,” it said.
“Article 19 has filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office [FGR] for the illegal interception of private communications. However, there is little confidence that the Attorney General’s Office will conduct the investigations with independence and professionalism.”
Leopoldo Maldonado, Article 19’s Mexico and Central America director, told a press conference Monday that either López Obrador has knowingly lied about his government not spying on citizens or Sedena is using the spyware behind his back.
Raphael, one of the three espionage victims identified by the Ejército Espía investigation, said that the findings of the probe demonstrated that Mexico’s intelligence apparatus is dominated by the military, although the FGR has also purchased software to conduct cell phone and internet espionage in recent years, according to a 2021 report by the newspaper El País.
The journalist said that his personal communications were passed on to other people for undisclosed reasons. He said that filing a criminal complaint against Sedena was necessary, but noted that he has little faith that Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero will oversee a rigorous investigation.
“I don’t believe in the attorney general,” said Raphael, who contributes to media outlets including Proceso and the newspaper Milenio.
Animal Político director Daniel Moreno told the same press conference that the espionage was illegal as none of the three identified victims had broken the law. He added that the infiltration of the telephone of the unnamed Animal Político journalist gave the army access to the entire operations of the news website.
In July 2021, AMLO showed reporters a contract between the former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s government and the NSO Group to buy Pegasus spyware. He said that his government wouldn’t spy on citizens.
Ramos, the human rights defender, said that he has been under surveillance by the army for more than 20 years as a result of his work investigating human rights violations committed by the armed forces in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
“They won’t stop us because they infect our … [phones],” he said.
The espionage victims and the organizations involved in the investigation urged other activists and journalists to check their phones for signs they were also targeted by Sedena’s alleged use of Pegasus, spyware that the previous government also used.
After the newspaper The Guardian reported in July 2021 that at least 50 people close to López Obrador, among many others, were potentially targeted by the previous administration of president Enrique Peña Nieto after it purchased Pegasus, the president declared that government espionage was a thing of the past and ordered the cancelation of any active Pegasus contract.
On Tuesday he rejected the revelation that his government is using Pegasus to spy on journalists and activists.
“We’re not the same as the previous [governments], it’s not true [that we’re spying]. I made the commitment that no one would be spied on,” López Obrador told his regular news conference.
He said that the army – which has been given responsibility for a wide range of non-traditional tasks during the current government – carries out intelligence work but doesn’t spy. Espionage is “different,” López Obrador said before reiterating that his government doesn’t spy on opponents.
“What our adversaries are seeking is to compare us with those who governed previously but we’re not the same,” he said.
The publication of the Ejército Espía investigation came just days after it was revealed that the army was targeted by the international hacking collective Guacamaya, which stole a range of sensitive information from Sedena’s IT system including details about the president’s medical problems.
Article 19 said “the facts” the Ejército Espía probe reveals “must not go unpunished.”
“It is essential to clarify how many people have been spied on, which officials participated or had knowledge and how the information obtained has been used, including with whom it has been shared,” it said.
Audi will begin producing electric vehicles at its San José Chiapa plant in Puebla, where it has been producing hybrid vehicles since 2019. Hilda Ríos/Cuartoscuro.com
German automaker Audi intends to start manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) at its Puebla assembly plant in 2027.
Tarek Mashhour, executive president of Audi México, told a press conference Friday that the automaker will make a multimillion-dollar investment to ready its San José Chiapa plant for electric vehicle production.
He said the company will add new sections to its plant to allow it to make EVs. Mashhour also said that Audi will provide additional training to its employees so they are equipped for EV production.
Audi currently manufactures its Q5 crossover SUV at its plant in San José Chiapa, located about 60 kilometers northeast of Puebla city. It has made the hybrid version of the same vehicle in Puebla since 2019.
The 2022 Audi Q5 SUV. Audi
Mashhour said the automaker will confirm in early 2023 which electric vehicle it will make in Puebla, but it appears likely to be an electric Q5. Audi began operations in the state in 2016 and is currently doing well, according to the executive president.
“We’re in a good situation. The Q5 is selling well. We’re receiving the semiconductors we need, that means we can produce without closing the plant and … we’re producing according to our [planned] schedule, with complete shifts. We have [the] parts [we need] and we can produce,” Mashhour said.
He noted that the Puebla plant has manufactured some 876,000 vehicles since it opened six years ago.
In addition to expanding its plant for EV production, Audi wants to install a solar power facility in San José Chiapa. Mashhour said that the company has once again requested a permit to build a 7-10 megawatt solar park at its plant. The federal Environment Ministry rejected its application in July due to an administrative error.
Mashhour said that the planned solar park would cover part, but not all, of the plant’s electricity requirements. The renewable energy facility is slated to be up and running within 15 months of approval.
Mashhour noted that Audi is aiming to reduce its worldwide emissions to zero by 2025, and highlighted that its already 80% of the way there. The San José de Chiapa plant has reduced its water consumption by 50% and put new processes in place to cut gas and electricity use, he said.
Meat prices are up 10% compared to the same period in 2022. Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro.com
The federal government has reached a new agreement with a range of private companies that aims to keep prices of basic food products down amid inflation that reached almost 9% in the first half of September.
President López Obrador and Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O on Monday presented an enhanced version of the purported inflation-busting plan that they first announced in early May.
Its objective is to keep the cost of a canasta básica — a selection of 24 basic products including beans, rice, eggs, tortillas, sugar and soap — at 1,039 pesos (US $52) until the end of February 2023.
In an attempt to help them keep their costs down, companies that signed the new deal will be exempt from a range of regulatory requirements. Among the signatories are tuna company Tuny, tortilla maker Gruma, chicken and egg producer Bachoco, several meat producers and the supermarkets Walmart, Chedraui and Soriana.
President López Obrador, posing with government officials and business leaders, displays the new agreement at his Monday morning press conference. Presidencia de la República
Ramírez said that signatories will be granted a temporary license that exempts them from paying a general import tax on canasta básica items and being subject to quality checks undertaken by health regulator Cofepris and agriculture sanitation authority Senasica.
The federal government will “suspend … all regulation that is considered to prevent or raise the price of importing … food and moving it within the country,” the finance minister said.
“This includes tariffs, non-tariff barriers to foreign trade and other requirements for … [the] entry and national circulation [of essential products],” he said.
Ramírez said that the companies themselves will be responsible for ensuring that their products are of high quality and free of health or other risks. He also announced that the government would maintain its fuel subsidy and freeze highway tolls until the end of February.
For his part, López Obrador said that no companies were pressured to join the plan and expressed confidence that it will help control inflation. “It will have a very positive effect, it will help us, I’m sure,” he said.
“… And we’re going to continue driving the production of basic products because the more production there is the more supply there is and there is less inflation,” López Obrador added.
“We’re going to continue supporting the countryside, … [offer] guaranteed prices to compensate the producer for his effort and work and [provide] fertilizers at accessible prices, … for two million small producers fertilizer will be delivered free, but that’s another plan to reinforce everything we’re doing,” he said.
The president also committed to keeping electricity rates at their current level. “The prices of gasoline, of diesel, of electricity and basic foods won’t go up, that’s the essence of everything,” he said.
Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O exchanges words with Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier at Monday’s press conference. Presidencia de la República
The success of the original version of the government’s anti-inflation plan — which also involved an agreement with the private sector but largely focused on boosting production of foodstuffs such as corn, beans and rice — is disputed. Data published in July by the national statistics agency INEGI showed that 17 of the 24 canasta básica prices had in fact increased since the original plan was introduced.
But the government argues that INEGI’s data doesn’t accurately reflect the effectiveness of its anti-inflation plan, which is officially called the Packet against Inflation and Scarcity, or PACIC. Finance Ministry official Rodrigo Mariscal told the news agency Reuters that INEGI measures a selection of products made by a range of different companies whereas PACIC only covers a limited number of specific brands and products within a larger basket of goods.
Presenting the proposed 2023 budget in September, the Finance Ministry said that PACIC prevented “7.5 percentage points of additional inflation among the 24 products in the canasta básica.”
It estimated that the cost of the PACIC canasta básica items fell 0.4% between early May and the second half of August, while a basket of alternative brands and products increased by just over 7% in the same period.
INEGI data showed that food, beverage and tobacco prices were 13.27% higher in the first half of September compared to a year earlier, with inflation rates for produce and meat even higher at 14.68% and 15.71%, respectively.
Headline inflation was 8.76% in the first half of last month, a two-decade high that prompted the central bank to raise its key interest rate by 0.75% last week. López Obrador predicted in July that inflation would begin to ease in October or November, but it appears unlikely there will be much relief this month or next.
The president asserted Monday that inflation would be worse without his administration’s efforts to contain it, but conceded that high food prices are hurting household budgets.
“We have been able to stop the growth of inflation with a control on fuel prices, a subsidy for gasoline and diesel and that’s helped a lot. We don’t have much inflation in energy, but in food, even when the increase hasn’t been much, inflation is affecting us, it’s causing … families, people, to lose purchasing power,” López Obrador said.
“… We all know that controlling inflation is very important because it … affects us a lot and it affects those who have less income even more. We can increase salaries, people’s income can rise but if there is inflation purchasing power is reduced, so we have that challenge,” he said.
The government of Mexico filed the lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Boston in August 2021. deposit photos
The federal government has announced it will appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit against United States gun manufacturers.
The government filed a US $10 billion lawsuit against gunmakers, including Smith & Wesson and Barrett Firearms in August 2021, accusing them of negligent business practices that have led to illegal arms trafficking and deaths in Mexico, where U.S.-sourced firearms are used in a majority of high-impact crimes.
In a claim filed in Massachusetts, it alleged that the companies have undermined Mexican gun laws by designing, marketing and selling high-powered weapons that appeal to criminal organizations in Mexico.
Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor dismissed the claim in federal court in Boston on Friday, saying that U.S. law “unequivocally” prohibits lawsuits that seek to hold gun manufacturers responsible when people use their products for their intended purpose.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard, seen here on a U.S. tour meeting Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, said he didn’t agree with the ruling that U.S. manfacturers’ legal immunity extends beyond U.S. borders. Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter
The judge said there were some narrow exceptions in U.S. law but none applied in Mexico’s case against the gunmakers.
Saylor explained that Mexico’s case couldn’t surmount a provision in the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits over “the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products … by others when the product functioned as designed and intended.”
In a 44-page ruling, the judge wrote that “while the court has considerable sympathy for the people of Mexico, and none whatsoever for those who traffic guns to Mexican criminal organizations, it is duty-bound to follow the law.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), which filed the suit, said that the government would challenge the ruling.
“The government of Mexico will appeal the decision of the federal judge and continue insisting that the weapons trade must be responsible, transparent and with accountability,” it said in a statement.
The SRE also said the government would continue to argue that “the negligent way in which … [firearms] are sold in the United States facilitates criminals’ access to them.”
The ministry said that the filing of the lawsuit was an “unprecedented and brave action of the Mexican government to prevent firearms, many of which are high-powered, causing violence in our country.”
It also said that its lawsuit has received “worldwide recognition and has been considered a watershed in the discussion about the gun industry’s responsibility for the violence in Mexico and the region.”
President Biden has been waging a focused attack on gun stores and manufacturers. The NSSF has reported a 500% increase in dealers being closed under this administration. We decided to ask the NSSF’s top lawyer about how they’re pushing back. #NRA#2Ahttps://t.co/RThJR3OJ3x
Gun industry general counsel Lawrence Keane, seen here in a recent National Rifle Association magazine profile, called the lawsuit “baseless.”
Lawrence Keane, the general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a U.S. trade association for the firearms industry, approved of the dismissal of the “baseless” lawsuit.
“The crime that is devastating the people of Mexico is not the fault of members of the firearm industry, that under U.S. law, can only sell their lawful products to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights after passing a background check,” Keane said.
However, the SRE said it’s not giving up on the suit.
“… The government of Mexico will continue taking action to end the illegal trafficking of weapons. The civil lawsuit for damages against those who profit from the violence that Mexicans suffer moves to a second stage,” it said.
In an interview with news magazine Proceso, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that the government knew from the outset that the dismissal of its case was a possibility.
“The judge’s argument is that the PLCAA law, which took effect in 2005, provides immunity to the firearms industry in the United States with respect to civil lawsuits … but he recognizes the impact of the negligence of the firearms industry in our territory,” he said.
Ebrard said that the government didn’t agree with Saylor’s extension of immunity beyond U.S. borders.
“We don’t accept that and therefore we’re going to appeal, saying that the judge already recognizes the link between the negligence of the firearms industry and the damage to Mexico in terms of thousands of people who have lost their lives,” he said.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that 70% of firearms confiscated in Mexico and given to them for tracing between 2014 and 2018 were U.S. sourced. U.S. GAO
“… What we’re saying is that the damage occurs outside the United States and therefore PLCAA doesn’t apply. We will appeal saying that outside the territory of the United States that law doesn’t apply,” Ebrard said.
The judge “is interpreting the law in favor of the firearms industry saying, ‘it isn’t responsible [for people’s actions with their weapons] anywhere, not in the United States or outside the United States,’ but that’s his interpretation, not that of the [U.S.] Congress,” he said.
Ebrard said that Mexico’s appeal will be filed soon and that the government would “look for all the precedents” in U.S. law to support its case. “We think we have a good case,” the foreign minister added.
In its lawsuit, the government estimated that 2.2% of almost 40 million guns manufactured annually in the United States are smuggled into Mexico. As many as 597,000 firearms that flow into Mexico each year are believed to be made by the defendants, among whom were also Colt’s Manufacturing Company and Glock Inc.
In addition to the violence generated by the use of U.S.-sourced guns, the SRE argued that the trafficking of weapons has harmed Mexico in other related ways. Among those cited were a decline in investment and economic activity here and the requirement to spend more on public security measures.
Mexico also alleged that U.S. gun companies are aware that their business practices caused illegal arms trafficking in Mexico.
The government argued that other arms manufacturers also design weapons to appeal to criminal organizations in Mexico, among which are drug cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
National Hurricane Center map showing path of category 1 Hurricane Orlene. It made landfall at about 8:45 a.m. Central Time.
Hurricane Orlene made landfall in southwestern Mexico at around 8:45 a.m. Central Time, just north of the Sinaloa/Nayarit border, according to satellite imagery, the National Hurricane Center reported.
According to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service, the storm touched down 5 kilometers west-southwest of Isla del Bosque, located in the Sinaloa municipality of Escuinapa.
The NHC said that Orlene landed with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour with higher gusts. At 9 a.m. Central Time, it was located 75 kilometers east of Mazatlán, the NHC said.
The hurricane, which strengthened into a Category 4 storm over the weekend before weakening, is moving north-northeast at 17 km/h, the NHC said. It is now a Category 1 storm, according to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service.
Satellite image showing the storm making landfall just north of the Sinaloa/Nayarit border this morning. NOAA
A hurricane warning is in effect for San Blas, Nayarit, to Mazatlán, Sinaloa.
“On the forecast track, the center of Orlene will reach the coast of mainland Mexico within the warning area this morning,” the NHC said.
“Rapid weakening is forecast after Orlene moves onshore, and the system should dissipate tonight or Tuesday, the NHC predicted. “Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 km),” it said.
SMN said that Orlene would cause torrential rain in Sinaloa and Nayarit, intense falls in Durango and Jalisco and very heavy falls in Colima.
On this rain map, the areas enclosed in green predict a rain accumulation of 25-50 millimeters in the next 24 hours. Purple areas could get as much as 250 millimeters of rain in the same period. Conagua
“These rainfall amounts are likely to lead to flash flooding, as well as possible landslides in areas of rugged terrain,” the NHC said.
The NHC predicted 3 to 6 inches (8-15 centimeters) for Nayarit and southern Sinaloa with “local amounts of 10 inches” or 25 cm. It forecast rainfall of up to 5 inches (13 cm) in Jalisco, Colima and southwest Durango. Conagua predicted as much as 25 centimeters (nearly 10 inches) could accumulate in some areas of Sinaloa and Nayarit.
States as far away as Michoacan, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas could experience heavy rains as a result of Orlene, Conagua said.
“A dangerous storm surge is likely to cause coastal flooding in the Islas Marias and along the coast of mainland Mexico in the warning area in regions of onshore winds,” it also said.
The hurricane center also predicted large swells for the western coast of Mexico, southern parts of the Baja California peninsula and the Gulf of California “over the next day or so.”
“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC said.
