Transit operators halt Mexico City traffic in bid for higher tariffs

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June 2, 2022

Protesters carry a sign saying that the demonstrations were caused by "the CDMX government for not fulfilling agreements regarding the fare increase," and apologizing to the general public for the traffic "chaos."

Public transit operators – owners and/or drivers of buses, vans and minibuses called peseros – blocked at least 16 major roads in Mexico City Thursday to pressure the government to allow them to increase fares.

The transportistas, as the transport operators are known, are pushing for a 3-peso increase to minimum fares, which would lift them to 8 pesos (US $0.40).

Blockades began at 7 a.m. Thursday and were scheduled to continue until the afternoon but police managed to clear them sooner. Mexico City Governance Minister Martí Batres told a press conference late Thursday morning that all 16 blockades had been cleared.

“It’s worth pointing out that there were fewer blockades than expected. Secondly, the expectation was that these blockades would continue until three in the afternoon … but they were cleared before 11 a.m.,” he said.

Mexico City Governance Minister Martí Batres and transportation officials addressed Thursday's planned protest at a press conference Wednesday evening. — Mexico City Governance Minister Martí Batres and transportation officials addressed Thursday’s planned protest at a press conference Wednesday evening. Twitter / @martibatres

The government had estimated that about 20% of 18,000 transportistas – who provide services that complement those offered by government-owned buses and trains – would participate in the blockades. Most of the protesters are part of a group called Fuerza Amplia de Transportistas, or FAT.

Among the roads blocked were Calzada Iganacio Zaragoza, Avenida Constituyentes, Calzada de Tláhuac and Avenida Insurgentes Norte.

The protests caused traffic chaos in the capital, and some passengers on buses that continued to operate chose to disembark and walk to the nearest subway station to continue their commute.

Transportistas say they reached an agreement with the Mexico City government in April to allow fares to be lifted, but Batres denied that was the case.

“There has been no agreement with any organization and there has been no decision from the city government” with regard to fare hikes, he said Wednesday.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said in a video message Thursday that transportistas are asking for a fare increase of up to 5 pesos and that such a hike is “unacceptable.”

The transportistas, who have government permits that allow them to operate in the capital, have maintained that they are only seeking a 3-peso hike and have pointed out that fares haven’t risen for three years. But Sheinbaum argued that an increase isn’t justified.

“Our responsibility is to protect family’s finances and improve the quality of public transport. That’s why I want to tell you that since 2020, to avoid an increase in fares, we’ve been supporting the transit operators with fuel vouchers,” the mayor said.

Liberándose Calzada de Tlalpan y Division del Norte. pic.twitter.com/jip4S8XKzf

— Martí Batres (@martibatres) June 2, 2022

On Twitter, Batre shared helicopter footage of what he described as the “freeing” of one road blockade.

Sheinbaum said that between 4,000 and 6,000 pesos (about US $200 to $300) per month had been allocated to transit operators to help cover their fuel costs and that allowances have now been increased by 250 pesos.

“This represents an investment of 1.3 billion pesos [US $66.5 million] in fuel vouchers that have been given to transit operators to avoid fare increases,” she said.

The mayor also said the government has offered a range of other support measures, including loans to buy new vehicles and benefits for drivers. In exchange, she said, transport operators have been asked to do a range of things such as keeping their vehicles in good condition, having valid insurance and driving responsibly. However, they haven’t kept their side of the bargain, she said.

“It’s about putting franchised transport in order. It’s true that the [minimum bus] fare in … [Mexico City] is the lowest in the whole country. But [transit operators] have been given support like nowhere else and they haven’t put [their vehicles] in order,” Sheinbaum said.

“There is no justification for the strike, … we reject the excessive increase they’re requesting. Any demand for an increase must be associated with strict compliance of [providing] better public transport service to citizens,” she said.

The mayor said her government is open to dialogue but stressed that “there must be a commitment to improve the city’s public transport.”

Before Sheinbaum’s latest remarks, FAT representative Enrique Hernández charged that the mayor was guilty of “exercising profound political, economic and social violence against those of us who move the greatest number of people in the country’s capital.”

He pointed out that minimum bus fares are significantly higher in other parts of the country including México state, which adjoins the capital. Minimum fares in that state as well as Nuevo León capital Monterrey are 12 pesos, he said, adding that they are even higher in Saltillo (13 pesos) and Mexicali (14 pesos).

With reports from Reforma, El Financiero and El Universal

Archaeologists report discovery of Maya corn god statue in Palenque, Chiapas

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MND Staff

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June 2, 2022

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The artifact was exposed to humidity and is now undergoing a slow drying process, after which it will be restored by specialists. Youtube screenshot / INAH TV

An approximately 1,300-year-old sculpture of the head of the Maya maize god has been uncovered at the Palenque archaeological site in the southern state of Chiapas.

Experts with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found the effigy of the young god last year but the discovery wasn’t reported until this week. INAH said in a statement that it was the first time that a stucco head of the important Maya deity had been found at Palenque, which started out as a village around 150 B.C. before becoming a powerful Maya city.

An interdisciplinary team working on a United States government-funded conservation project found the sculpture last July in the Palace, a large, elevated complex of several connected and adjacent buildings and courtyards.

“The team … observed a careful alignment of stones while removing the filler in a corridor that connects rooms of House B of the Palace to those of the adjacent House F. Inside a semi-square receptacle … and beneath a layer of loose dirt the nose and partially open mouth of the divinity emerged,” INAH said.

The mouth and nose of the maize god were the first features of the sculpture to emerge. Proyecto Arqueológico Palenque. INAH

“As the exploration advanced it was confirmed that the sculpture is the centerpiece of a rich offering that was placed over a pool with a stuccoed floor and walls … to emulate the entry of this god to the underworld in an aquatic setting.”

INAH Chiapas researcher Arnoldo González Cruz said the discovery “allows us to begin to understand how the ancient Maya of Palenque constantly relived the mythical … [story] about the birth, death and resurrection of the maize god.”

The length of the stucco head is 45 centimeters while its width is 16 centimeters. It was found lying in an east to west position, “which would symbolize the birth of the corn plant with the first rays of the sun,” INAH said. Experts described the maize god’s facial features as “graceful.”

“The chin is pointed, pronounced and split [and] the lips are thin and project outwards,” said González and two of his colleagues, according to the INAH statement. “… The cheekbones are smooth and rounded and the eyes are long and thin. From a broad, long, flat and rectangular forehead a wide and pronounced nose grows.”

DESCUBREN Joven Dios del Maíz en Palenque, Chiapas

Watch this video on YouTube

An INAH video shows the statue and the location where it was found (in Spanish with Spanish subtitles).

The sculpture, “conceived originally as a severed head,” was found on a broken “tripod plate” made from clay, INAH said. “Due to the ceramic type of the tripod plate that accompanies the head of the young, tonsured maize god … the archaeological context has been dated to the late classic period (A.D. 700-850).”

INAH said that vegetable matter, bones of various animals including turtles, quail and domestic dogs, shells, crab claws, ceramic pieces, miniature anthropomorphic figurines and pieces of obsidian blades and seeds among other items were also deposited in a closed-off compartment where the sculpture – which lay hidden for about 1,300 years – was found.

“The positioning of these elements was … concentric, … covering 75% of the cavity, which was sealed with loose stones,” González said.

“Some animal bones had been cooked and others have … teeth marks,” he said, explaining that indicated that meat was eaten by the inhabitants of Palenque as part of a ritual.

The maize god head was exposed to humidity and is currently undergoing a process of gradual drying, INAH said, adding that it will subsequently be restored by specialists.

Mexico News Daily

Feeling in danger, taxi drivers block highway to Acapulco

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MND Staff

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June 1, 2022

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A huge blockade staged by drivers of taxis, combis and other public transportation vehicles from the central areas of Guerrero halted four lanes of traffic Wednesday morning at a busy junction on the Autopista del Sol, the highway that connects Acapulco to the state capital of Chilpancingo.

The drivers were protesting the state government’s lack of diligence in providing proper security for taxi drivers and other drivers and transportation workers.

The action took place at the Parador del Marqués on the southern outskirts of Chilpancingo. Alternate routes between Guerrero’s two largest cities were also said to be blocked.

The protest drew at least 500 people, according to the newspaper Milenio, and perhaps upwards of 1,000, according to the newspaper El Sol de Acapulco.

The drivers, who say they feel threatened and unsafe while working, were joined by relatives of disappeared and murdered transportation workers in the region.

Their demands for better security stemmed from several recent incidents in which drivers were victims of violence, including the reported murder of transportation leader Francisco García Marroquín in Chilpancingo earlier this week. Drivers are also angered by the reported disappearance of carrier Francisco Imer. Imer and his vehicle disappeared without a trace a month ago. Another driver was rescued by police after criminals reportedly kidnapped and shot him.

The protest began taking shape between 7 and 8 a.m. on Wednesday, when drivers left their regular activities and gathered at El Parador del Marqués, using their vehicles to block traffic. Slogans on their vehicles included, “Governor, we do not want one more missing or dead taxi driver.”

Elements of the Ministry of Public Security, many dressed in riot gear, showed up at the protest. According to one report, some of the protesters were “secured” by police. Other government personnel arrived and assured the protesters that the necessary measures were being carried out to guarantee their safety and demanded that the drivers stop blocking the highway because they were committing a crime.

At the time, it was not ruled out that a police action would be necessary to restore traffic.

Around 1 p.m. the Guerrero Ministry of Government announced that one lane on each side of the highway had been opened after state Director of Transportation Arturo Salinas and Director of Government Francisco Rodríguez agreed to enter into dialogue with the protesters. But the highway remained largely blockaded throughout the day.

With reports from Milenio and El Sol de Acapulco

Harvesting cacao for chocolate still a manual process in Mexico

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Joseph Sorrentino

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June 1, 2022

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cacao pods — Cacao comes from the bitter seeds inside these tough-skinned fruits. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino

José reaches up with a long stick and deftly knocks another yellow cacao pod onto the ground — the color indicating that the seeds are ripe and ready to harvest.

I am in a cacao-growing area of Tabasco, and it’s harvest time. Eventually, these bitter seeds inside the pods will be processed to become the high-quality, delicious Mexican chocolate enjoyed around the world. But right now, it’s time for José to gather and carry them to where Santan and other workers are hacking away at harvested pods with machetes to expose the white flesh inside.

The farmers gave me some seeds to eat and, at this stage, the flesh and seeds have a bitter and very slight chocolate taste. Some enjoy snacking on them. I prefer the end product.

Fortunately, a couple of millennia ago, someone figured out the multi-step process to creating the treat many still love today.

A Tabasco cacao farmer transports his latest harvest of seeds to a warehouse.

Chocolate is one of many Mexican products with a long history, stretching back to the pre-Hispanic Olmecs. Archeologists have found traces of theobromine, a substance found in chocolate, in Olmec pots dating to 1,500 B.C. The genus name given to the cacao tree is Theobroma, which translates as “food of the gods.”

Cacao knowledge was passed on to the Mayans and Aztecs, two civilizations that revered chocolate, consuming it as a drink during ceremonies. The indigenous Mexica people (Aztecs) believed that cacao was brought to them by the god, Quetzalcoatl — who, according to legend, stole a cacao tree from paradise. It’s also believed the Mexica also used the beans as money.

I spent five days in Villaflores, a Tabasco ranchería to document life in that cacao-growing region.

On my first day there, I attended a meeting of cacao growers, and it was announced that I needed a place to stay; for my photography projects, I generally show up with someone who knows the area and hope to crash somewhere for a few days. I waited outside the building as people discussed where I could stay.

Máximo, an elderly gentleman with a beautiful smile, approached and handed me a 10-peso coin.

“What is this for?” I asked.

“It is to help you pay for a place to stay,” he replied. I thanked him, returned the money and told him that I was getting a place to stay for free.

I was eventually given a small house that hadn’t been occupied for a while. A long while, in fact.

In addition to the dirt, many of the window panes were broken. The back door was made of thin metal rods through which any number of animals could fit. It housed some of the largest spiders I’ve ever seen.

“Do not worry,” I was told. “They are not dangerous.”

I fervently hoped he was right. I’m not at all embarrassed to say I slept with the (one) light on.

On my second night, I was introduced to some of the other residents occupying the house. I’d gone out to buy a couple of rolls and some cheese for dinner, and when I got back, I laid the bag with the food on a counter and went to wash up. When I returned, there was only one roll in the bag.

Most cacao farmers in Mexico make no more than US $3,000 a year, not enough to afford to buy the chocolate made with their harvest.

I was confused. I could’ve sworn I’d bought two rolls, but I figured I must have left one at the tienda by mistake. But then I leaned over the counter.

There, on the ground, sitting on that second roll, were two of the largest cockroaches I’ve ever seen. Now, I don’t know if they’d dragged that roll out of the bag but I’m telling you, they could have. “¡Provecho!” I said, leaving them to their meal.

Cacao trees grow in hot regions that have substantial rainfall, making Tabasco the perfect spot. Unfortunately, it’s also the perfect spot for insects that have nasty bites. But I was there to document the harvest, not the insects.

Once the cacao seeds are extracted, they’re shoved into large bags and taken to the warehouse in Huimanguillo, usually on heavy-duty three-wheeled bikes. Each bag weighs about 50 kilograms (110 pounds). Someone will usually pedal for about 20 minutes with two or three bags on his bike to the warehouse.

It’s there that the magic happens.

Esteban, the head of the local cacao cooperative (ALAPCH), was kind enough to give me a tour of the warehouse in Huimanguillo and explain the process to me. It was humid inside and smelled a bit like chocolate. As we walked through the warehouse, campesinos trickled in with buckets or bags of cacao seeds.

How someone figured out the steps needed to go from a bitter-tasting seed to chocolate is nothing short of amazing: to get to that final point, the seeds are first put into large vats (wooden ones in Villaflores) where they’ll sit for about a week, fermenting. The fermentation is driven by naturally occurring bacteria and yeast.

The seeds are then dried. In Villaflores, this is done by putting the seeds on a platform out in the sun, where they’re occasionally turned. This step takes a few days, depending on conditions. Once dried, the seeds are roasted and ground and are then ready to be used to make chocolate.

Tabasco produces almost 70% of the total cacao grown in Mexico. Growers in Chiapas harvest a little under 30% and others in Oaxaca and Guerrero chip in about 1%.

In the early 2000s, Mexico was producing about 50,000 metric tons of cacao, but that’s now fallen by half. Much of that decline is due to a fungus that arrived from Central America around 2006 and infected 80% of the pods. With efforts to grow resistant trees, production is beginning to rebound.

Although Mexico is where cacao was first cultivated, it currently produces only 0.01% of the world’s cacao supplies, ranking No. 8 in cacao production worldwide. The majority is now grown in Africa.

At the end of the tour, I mentioned to Esteban how much I enjoy chocolate. He told me, “Campesinos do not eat chocolate.”

I expressed surprise that the people who grow cacao don’t eat it.

“They cannot afford it. Chocolate is a luxury that only people with money can afford.”

These farmers who grow cacao earn, on average, US $2,000 to $3,000 a year — barely enough to survive. Learning that they grow cacao but can’t afford to buy chocolate made me appreciate it all the more.

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Mexico’s Pemex plans to repay US $2 billion to suppliers by offering new debt

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Christine Murray

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June 1, 2022

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Mexico’s national oil company will offer to pay back about US $2 billion it owes big-ticket suppliers with new debt, potentially easing conditions for some of its biggest contractors.

In recent years Pemex has been racking up debts to its suppliers, which stood at $13.5 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to its financial filings.

The company did not name which suppliers would benefit from the offer, but said it would exchange invoices for notes with a coupon of 8.75% due in 2029 to suppliers with more than $5 million outstanding.

In January, oil services group Schlumberger said it was experiencing payment delays from its primary customer in Mexico and that it was owed about $500 million. Rival Halliburton also said about 10% of its receivables were from Mexico, where it had also had payment delays.

Schlumberger and Halliburton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pemex has outstanding debt of more than $100 billion, making it one of the world’s most indebted oil companies. Despite recording large quarterly losses, many emerging market funds hold its bonds because of strong government backing and the company’s higher yield compared with Mexico’s sovereign bonds.

The government of nationalist President López Obrador has vowed to “rescue” Pemex after years of privatization, which he has said was aimed at destroying it.

The deal announced on Tuesday covers a total of $2 billion in liabilities, making it neutral to Pemex’s credit profile, said Nymia Almeida, analyst at rating agency Moody’s.

She added that the move was a good step for the company to protect its supplier base.

“Everybody uses suppliers as a source of financing . . . but this amount has increased in the last few years, it’s actually becoming difficult for suppliers themselves to survive,” Almeida said. “I think from that perspective it’s positive that the company is doing something about it.”

López Obrador has made it a priority to support Pemex financially, cutting an important tax rate on its profits to 40% in 2022 from more than 65% in 2019. The company also recently agreed to buy back some bonds and swap others for the amount of more than $3 billion.

At the same time, the government has pursued a strategy of being energy “self-sufficient” that includes spending billions for Pemex to build an oil refinery in the president’s home state. The plan is unlikely to maximize profits for the state-owned company, analysts said, and crude oil production has continued to decline.

Government analyzes elimination of daylight saving time

By

MND Staff

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June 1, 2022

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The practice of changing clocks twice a year at the start and end of daylight saving time could soon become a thing of the past.

President López Obrador said Wednesday that there is a good chance that the controversial custom will be terminated this year.

“We have an inquiry open to make a decision and they already delivered the documents and we’re going to disclose them to you because the savings [generated by daylight saving time] are minimal and the harm to health is considerable,” he told reporters at his morning news conference.

López Obrador, a longtime critic of daylight saving time – first introduced in Mexico in 1996 – said that a study completed by the Energy Ministry in conjunction with the Health Ministry and the Federal Electricity Commission concluded that daylight saving time generates savings of about 1 billion pesos (US $50.8 million) a year across Mexico.

“The conclusion is that the damage to health is greater than the importance of economic savings,” he said.

A 2021 study by the National Autonomous University’s Faculty of Medicine found that the twice-yearly time change can cause or aggravate flu, drowsiness, eating and digestive disorders and headaches, among other problems.

“It’s proven that health is harmed,” López Obrador said, adding that the decision on whether to eliminate daylight saving time or not will ultimately be dictated by what people want.

“Remember, [to govern] is to command by obeying. In other words if we see that there is majority support one way or the other no consultation” would be needed, López Obrador said, apparently referring to a referendum on the issue.

“We could measure [public support] with a survey, without the need for a consultation,” he said.

Later on Wednesday, the government released a Health Ministry report that advocated eliminating the practice.

“Why should we abolish summer time? The first thing we must consider is that the choice to have summer time is political and can therefore be changed,” it said. “… If we want to improve our health we mustn’t fight against our biological clock. It is advisable to return to standard time.”

The report attributed a range of ailments to summer time including biological, psycho-emotional and social disorders, drowsiness, irritability, and attention span, concentration and memory problems. It also said the observance of daylight saving time can increase people’s appetites at night, cause fatigue and diminish performance at work and school.

It takes adults up to seven days to adapt to a time change, while children take even longer, the Health Ministry report said.

“Some studies suggest an association between summer time and an increase in the occurrence of heart attacks, especially in the first week after being implemented,” it said.

“The time change alters the time … [people are] exposed to the sun and upsets our biological clock. The desynchronization with the environment alters our internal temporal order, causing physical and mental problems, and these problems arise more often in the days following a time change.”

With reports from Reforma

Spanish energy giant fined 9 billion pesos for violating electricity law

By

MND Staff

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June 1, 2022

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An Iberdrola generating plant in Durango.

The Spanish energy company Iberdrola has been fined more than 9 billion pesos for violating a now-defunct electricity law.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), an ostensibly autonomous federal body, fined the firm 9.14 billion pesos (US $464.2 million) for violating the Public Electricity Service Law (LSPEE), which was repealed in 2013.

According to the CRE, Iberdrola sold electricity directly to customers that didn’t appear on permits issued while the LSPEE was still in effect. It supplied power generated at its Dulces Nombres plant in Nuevo León to “simulated” partners between January 2019 and June 2020, the CRE said.

The newspaper Reforma reported that the fine imposed on the company is equivalent to 56.4% of Iberdrola México’s income in the first quarter of 2022.

Óscar Ocampo, an energy expert with the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a think tank, said the fine is the largest ever issued to a participant in Mexico’s energy sector.

He said it would generate uncertainty in the sector and predicted that Iberdrola – which President López Obrador holds up as an example of what he calls unscrupulous foreign firms that have “looted” the country – would challenge it.

“Iberdrola will probably defend itself and it will be a long [legal] process,” Ocampo said. “… It won’t have to pay out the money, at least not in the short term.”

The IMCO energy coordinator raised concerns about the disproportionate size of the fine and the message it sends to other private energy companies, which have faced a hostile government since López Obrador took office in late 2018.

Writing in the El Economista newspaper, columnist and former federal lawmaker Gerardo Flores Ramírez said it was clear that the CRE’s “mega fine” was an “administrative outburst” from the federal government, “which has decreed that Iberdrola is an enemy that must be vanquished and destroyed if possible.”

For his part, López Obrador described the 9-billion-peso fine as “fair” and reiterated that “Mexico is not a land of conquest.”

“I had no knowledge [of the fine] because revenge isn’t my forte,” he said Saturday while touring northern Mexico.

Iberdrola, which has a presence in 15 states, is one of the largest private energy companies in the Mexican market, but its investment here fell to just US $16.1 million in the first quarter of 2022, a 93% decline compared to five years ago and a 60% drop in the space of a year.

In late 2020, Iberdrola threatened to stop investing in Mexico altogether due to a lack of clarity about how the government would treat foreign companies.

CEO Ignacio Galán said in late April that the company didn’t expect to invest heavily in Mexico in the near future, even though a proposed electricity reform that would have favored the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission over private firms failed to pass Congress.

With reports from Reforma and El Financiero

Polls suggest Morena party will win 4 of 6 states in Sunday’s elections

By

MND Staff

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June 1, 2022

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Jara with Mario Delgado National President in Oaxaca — Gubernatorial candidate Salomón Jara, right, gets some heavyweight help from Morena national president Mario Delgado, left, at a rally in Oaxaca. A new poll favors Jara to beat PRI/PRD hopeful Alejandro Avilés. Twitter

New polls indicate that Mexico’s ruling Morena party will claim four additional governorships this Sunday and that its candidate in Durango could also triumph in a close race.

Gubernatorial elections will be held June 5 in the following states, listed below with the party of its current ruling government:

Hidalgo: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
Oaxaca: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
Quintana Roo: Democratic Revolution Party (PRD)
Tamaulipas: National Action Party (PAN)
Aguascalientes: National Action Party (PAN)
Durango: National Action Party (PAN)

The results of polls conducted by the newspaper El Financiero show that Morena – founded by President López Obrador – is likely to win in Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo and Tamaulipas.

The poll favored Morena gubernatorial candidate Julio Menchaca, seen here on the campaign trail in Molango, Hidalgo, on Tuesday. Twitter

Of 800 Hidalgo residents polled in the second half of May, 54% said that they would vote for Morena candidate Julio Menchaca, a former federal senator and judge. The Morena/Labor Party (PT)/New Alliance candidate garnered 20% more support than the joint PAN/PRI/PRD candidate Carolina Viggiano, a former federal deputy.

In Oaxaca, the Morena/Green Party (PVEM) candidate Salomón Jara — a former federal senator and state agriculture minister — attracted 56% support from poll respondents, more than double the 27% backing of PRI/PRD hopeful Alejandro Avilés, a state deputy.

The results of the Quintana Roo El Financiero poll show Morena/PT/PVEM candidate Mara Lezama with a 13-point advantage over PAN/PRD candidate Laura Fernández, a former federal deputy and state tourism minister. Lezama, mayor of Benito Juárez (Cancún) until March, was supported by 44% of those polled compared to 31% who backed Fernández.

The Tamaulipas poll shows a slightly tighter contest, with Morena/PT/PVEM candidate Américo Villareal attracting 49% support, 10 points ahead of PAN/PRI/PRD hopeful César Verástegui.

The poll put PAN/PRD Quintana Roo gubernatorial candidate Laura Fernández at a 13-point disadvantage against Morena candidate Mara Lezama. Screen capture

Villareal is a medical doctor and former federal senator, while Verástegui served as government secretary in the current administration led by Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, who is accused of organized crime and money laundering by federal authorities.

PAN rule in Aguascalientes, Mexico’s third smallest state by area, looks set to continue with PAN/PRI/PRD candidate Teresa Jiménez attracting 48% support from poll respondents. The ex-federal deputy and mayor of Aguascalientes city was 13 points ahead of Morena candidate Nora Ruvalcaba, who formerly served as the federal government’s development programs chief in the state.

In Durango, El Financiero said that its poll produced a statistical tie with a difference of just one point between the two leading candidates. PAN/PRI/PRD candidate Esteban Villegas, a former state health minister and mayor of Durango city, attracted 46% support, while 45% of respondents said they would vote for Morena/PT/PVEM aspirant Marina Vitela, a former federal deputy and mayor of Gómez Palacio.

If Morena wins four of the six gubernatorial contests, the number of federal entities it governs will increase from 16 to 20. When the presidential election was held in July 2018, the party wasn’t in power in any of the 32 states.

In Durango, the poll predicted a tie between Morena coalition candidate Marina Vitela, center, and Durango city Mayor Esteban Villegas.

The elections this Sunday come a year after elections at which Morena won 11 governorships but lost its majority in the lower house of federal Congress and the two-thirds supermajority it shared with its allies.

Authorities in Tamaulipas and Durango have announced that the sale of alcohol will be banned for 48 hours until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, while a ley seca, or dry law, will be in effect for 24 hours in Aguascalientes. With the exception of one municipality in Hidalgo – Huejutla de Reyes – alcohol bans haven’t been announced in the other states.

But criminal organizations will pose a bigger problem than drunk citizens for new governors once they take office later this year.

The newspaper El Economista identified the crime groups that have a presence in the six states where voters will elect new governors on Sunday.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Old School Zetas operate in Hidalgo, while the CJNG, the Pantoja Cartel and Los Chukys are active in Oaxaca.

The CJNG, the Gulf Cartel, Los Pelones, the Old School Zetas and a group called Comandante Coronavirus all operate in Quintana Roo, El Economista said, while at least nine groups are involved in criminal activity in Tamaulipas. They are Los Treviño, Los Metro, the Narco Rap group, the CJNG, the Gulf Cartel, The New Era Gulf Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, the Old School Zetas and the Tropa del Infierno, or Hell’s Army – the armed wing of the Northeast Cartel.

The new governor of Aguascalientes will take control of a state where Mexico’s two most powerful cartels – the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel – both operate, while the incoming Durango leader will take the reins in a state where the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Cabrera – an armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel – and the Western (or Laguna) Cartel all hold sway.

With reports from El Financiero, El Economista and AS

High gasoline prices make fuel theft profitable in Mexico

By

Henry Shuldiner

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June 1, 2022

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Mexico is seeing a rapid spike in oil theft across much of the country, with observers divided as to whether high gas prices have led to more robberies, or vice versa.

On May 23, Defense Minister Luis Crescencio Sandoval announced at the government’s monthly security briefing that oil theft had increased from 5.1 million barrels in January to 7.5 million barrels in April.

On the same day, a report by La Razón highlighted the scale of the crisis with the western state of Jalisco seeing a staggering 944% rise in cases of oil theft between January and March 2021 to 2022. These increases seem highly focused on northern Mexico since the border state of Sonora saw oil theft grow by 140%, followed by Durango at 100% and Nuevo León by 87.8%.

Earlier this month, industry experts told Mexican media Publimetro that this rise was in part due to more attacks on gas tankers alongside the traditional taps of oil pipelines. Registered attacks on tanker trucks rose from 125 in the first quarter of 2021 to 412 in the same period of 2022.

According to the report, criminal groups have set up checkpoints and blockades across several states in Mexico to systematically rob trucks, causing logistical problems for the state-owned petroleum company, Pemex. Some gas stations have been forced to close their pumps after running out of fuel, causing long lines at those petrol pumps that still had reserves.

However, the tapping of pipelines remains a real concern. In early May, Cresencio announced that in Puebla – a central state through which several major oil pipelines pass – security forces had recovered 2.3 million liters of stolen fuel and arrested 217 alleged perpetrators. Over 6,000 instances of pipeline tapping had been discovered in Puebla in the last three years, he added.

In the first quarter of 2022, there were 3,199 reports of pipeline siphoning, representing a 14% year-on-year increase.

This increased criminal focus on oil theft has come amid soaring gas prices. In early March, a gallon of premium gasoline sold for nearly US $5.65 in Mexico City, up from an average of $3.97 four months earlier.

InSight Crime analysis

Pipeline tapping and fuel truck robberies have been linked with heightened gas prices and fuel shortages in the past. In 2019, the Mexican government restricted moving oil through the national pipeline system to stem the illegal taps, causing massive shortages in Mexico’s western states, particularly in Jalisco.

While oil theft has been a criminal economy of choice for years in Mexico, a hike in oil prices has incentivized the black market for gasoline more than ever.

In 2022, inflation and the Russian-Ukrainian war have raised oil prices globally. Despite government subsidies that make gas affordable to most Mexicans, companies have run into problems with supply, reported Publimetro. In the northern regions of Mexico, shortages were exacerbated by the influx of Americans crossing the border in search of cheaper gas prices.

All of this has provided criminals with the perfect reason to redouble their oil theft efforts. The Latin America Risk Report points out that criminal groups are not only incentivized to exploit higher prices through theft and contraband sales but also extort energy companies who are reaping the profits of higher prices.

Indeed, it could be suggested that the potential for huge profits on stolen gas during times of scarcity or high price have directly led to the creation of criminal elements in Mexico, which have gone on to do untold damage to the country.

Investigative journalist Daniel Blancas told Aristegui Noticias that the 2017 gasolinazo crisis, caused by the greatest hike in gas prices in 20 years, was responsible for an explosion of pipeline tapping. One of the most notorious groups associated with oil theft is the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. Its operations centered around huachicol, and brought in estimated profits of $800,000-$1.2 million a day at the height of their operations in 2018. Guanajuato, the state where the cartel is based, now ranks among Mexico’s most dangerous.

According to a recent report from the International Crisis Group, fuel theft started to spike in 2010 as the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel entered the illicit economy.

More recently, criminal groups have continued to target insecure oil and gas infrastructure, drilling sophisticated tunnels to access pipelines and ramping up their use of technology to avoid detection.

In 2020, huachicoleo was so rampant that Roberto Díaz de León, president of the national fuel retailers association ONEXPO, referred to fuel thieves as the main competitors of gas station owners. “In this country, there is an illegal parallel network of fuel supply and distribution whose presence and influence is quite strong,” he told Mexico Business News in an interview.

Cachimbas, unregulated roadside stops where motorists can fill their tanks illegally, are the most common way criminal groups resell their siphoned fuel. According to Díaz, there are at least four cachimbas for every one of Mexico’s 13,000 legal gas stations.

Reprinted from InSight Crime. Henry Shuldiner is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime.

Hurricane Agatha leaves 22 people missing and at least 11 dead in Oaxaca

By

MND Staff

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June 1, 2022

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Heavy property damage on Ventanilla beach, 40 minutes from Puerto Escondido.

Hurricane Agatha, which made landfall Monday as a Category 2 storm, has claimed the lives of at least 11 people in Oaxaca, while 22 others are missing, according to preliminary reports.

Governor Alejandro Murat said Wednesday morning that a total of 33 people have been reported as missing, of whom 11 are confirmed dead.

Speaking via video link at President López Obrador’s regular press conference, Murat said that flooding due to overflowing rivers and mudslides was responsible for the disappearances and deaths. He declared that Oaxaca is in mourning.

The governor said Tuesday night that approximately seven people had lost their lives in an area encompassing the neighboring municipalities of San Mateo Piñas and Santiago Xanica. They are located inland from San Pedro Pochutla, the municipality where Agatha made landfall.

The military had to assist vehicles turned over by mudslides on the Pochutla-Huatulco highway near where Agatha made landfall.

Two people also died in Santa Catarina Xanaguía, a community in the Sierra Sur municipality of San Juan Ozolotepec, while three children are missing in the coastal municipality of Huatulco.

Murat said that some parts of Oaxaca, including Sierra Sur municipalities, were still without power Tuesday night but that service was expected to be reestablished by midnight.

He said Wednesday that homes were damaged during the passing of Agatha – the most powerful hurricane to have made landfall in the Eastern Pacific in May – but acknowledged that a census to assess the damage was only just starting.

Roads and bridges were also damaged and/or cut off by flooding, landslides and fallen trees. Federal highway 200 between Puerto Escondido and Huatulco was one of the affected roads but it reopened on Tuesday.

Among the communities where damage was reported were Zipolite, Mazunte, San Agustinillo and Ventanilla.

In Juan Diegal, a small community in Pochutla, every single home was destroyed, according to a resident.

“There are about 28 families here, all [the houses] were completely destroyed,” Aurora Alonso Bastida told the newspaper El Universal. “Thank God people managed to get out but everything was lost,” she said.

While no human lives were lost in Juan Diegal, located in the higher, inland section of the coastal municipality, some animals succumbed to the powerful storm.

Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat reported via video link on the situation in his state to President López Obrador’s regular press conference on Wednesday.

Alonso said that she and other residents, including 12 children, walked two hours amid heavy rain to get to a shelter in the municipal seat of Pochutla.

“We were going to stay. We said: perhaps [the house] will hold up … but the back wall started to come down,” she said, adding that someone could have died if they didn’t get out.

More than 100 people slept Monday night in a shelter set up in a Pochutla cultural center.

“After the hurricane passed, more and more people arrived because they sustained losses or their homes were flooded,” said local official Feliciano Cruz Martínez.

Thousands of soldiers, marines, police, Civil Protection personnel and others were deployed to search for the missing and respond to the damage caused by Agatha, but some parts of Oaxaca are isolated and hard to get to even without the added difficulties created by a hurricane.

Schools in the coastal and Sierra Sur regions of Oaxaca will remain closed until Thursday, education authorities said, while state and municipal authorities are inspecting schools for damage.

Hurricane Agatha made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers per hour and higher gusts but subsequently lost strength.

The National Water Commission (Conagua) said Wednesday that the remnants of Agatha will cause torrential rain Wednesday in Quintana Roo, with rainfall of up to 250 millimeters forecast. Intense rain accumulation of up to 150 mm is forecast in Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Yucatán, while heavy rainfall of up to 75 mm is predicted for the south of Veracruz.

A NASA image from space shows Agatha bearing down over Oaxaca.

“The precipitation could cause landslides, an increase in the levels of rivers and streams and … floods in low-lying areas,” Conagua said in a statement.

“… A low-pressure area associated with the remnants of Agatha increases to 70% the probability for cyclonic development in the 48-hour forecast and … 80% probability in [the next] five days. It’s located on land 75 kilometers west-southwest of Chetumal, Quintana Roo, and is moving toward the northeast.”

With reports from El Universal and EFE