Amid many shows of support, México state legislators voted Tuesday to make same-sex marriage legal in the state.
The Congress of México state legalized gay marriage Tuesday, leaving only three states without laws permitting matrimony between same-sex couples.
Fifty of 75 lawmakers in the unicameral Congress voted in favor of legalization, seven National Action deputies abstained and 16 Institutional Revolutionary Party representatives opposed the bill. Two other deputies were absent.
Same-sex couples will be able to marry in Mexico’s most populous state once Governor Alfredo del Mazo Maza promulgates the law via publication of a decree in the state government’s official gazette.
México state, which almost completely surrounds Mexico City, is the 29th federal entity to legalize gay marriage, and one of the last: Tamaulipas, Tabasco and Guerrero are now the only states where such laws don’t exist.
Exuberant members of the LGBT community gathered outside the state’s congress building to celebrate the affirmative vote. Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro
Morena party Deputy Anais Burgos, a leading proponent of the reform to state marriage laws, said that the Congress was legislating in favor of “a sector of the population that has been humiliated for years.”
The rights of gay people in México state have been ignored, their dignity has been insulted, their identity has been denied and their freedom has been repressed, she said.
“With the approval of this bill the opportunities and rights of mexiquenses will increase,” asserted Burgos, using the Spanish language demonym for residents of México state.
“This victory doesn’t belong to us as deputies, it belongs to hundreds of collectives; it’s your victory,” she added.
Even mariachis turned out to celebrate the vote. Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro
Daniel Sibaja González, another Morena deputy, apologized to the LGBT community for the discrimination, aggression, ill-treatment and hate crimes they have long suffered.
Members of that community gathered outside the state Congress in Toluca on Tuesday and celebrated the approval of the marriage equality bill.
The reform also formally recognizes relationships between unmarried same-sex couples who live together and gives them the same rights as those enjoyed by married couples.
México state is the fifth state to legalize gay marriage this year after Durango, Jalisco,Yucatán and Veracruz. Several other states, including Guanajuato, Querétaro and Zacatecas, approved marriage equality in 2021.
Zacatecas Governor David Monreal and U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar shake on the new security deal. Twitter @USAmbMex
A new security agreement between the state of Zacatecas and the United States government is illegal and invalid, President López Obrador said Monday.
Citing a provision in the Mexican constitution, López Obrador said it’s “expressly prohibited” for state governments to enter into agreements with foreign governments.
However, he told reporters at his regular news conference that the federal government wouldn’t “make a fuss” because the pact announced by Zacatecas Governor David Monreal and United States Ambassador Ken Salazar last Thursday is only a verbal agreement. Monreal also clarified later on Monday that “there is no signed accord or agreement between the government of Zacatecas and the U.S. government.”
The announcement of the agreement came after what Salazar described as a “historic meeting on security in Zacatecas” involving personnel from various U.S. agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the United States Agency for International Development.
Reunión histórica en Zacatecas con INL, FBI, DEA, USAID, Departamento de Estado y el Cónsul General de Monterrey–todo con respeto a la soberanía de México y Zacatecas. https://t.co/yvI4iXM1hQpic.twitter.com/WwMV0tSETb
Salazar shared a graphic on Twitter highlighting how the U.S. government is collaborating with the state of Zacatecas on security issues.
“We reinforced our whole-of-government commitment to collaborating with Mexican local, state, and federal authorities, with full respect for sovereignty, to support efforts to improve security in Zacatecas,” the ambassador wrote on Twitter.
Under the agreement that he and Monreal announced, the U.S. agencies are slated to donate equipment and software to aid operations and investigations against criminal organizations that operate in Zacatecas, one of Mexico’s most violent states. They also committed to assisting the training of police and other law enforcement officials.
In a statement, Salazar stressed that “with security there is prosperity, investment arrives and trust in institutions grows.”
“We’re optimistic that we’ll achieve … [security] but maintaining coordinated, continuous and permanent work is necessary,” he said, adding that “the people of Zacatecas can count on the United States in this challenge.”
“… Our governments have the Bicentennial Framework and the High Level Security Dialogue, which will allow us to continue deepening our cooperation in Zacatecas and the entire country,” Salazar said.
In response to reporters’ questions, López Obrador said Monday that the agreement between Zacatecas and the U.S. government is both illegal and invalid, but added that his government “has confidence in Ken Salazar.”
“He’s visiting the states and there’s a good relationship,” he said, adding that “there’s no need to do anything big” in response to the announcement of the agreement because it’s just a “statement” and “there’s nothing written down.”
The president also said he had no interest in arguing with the U.S. government. “We have to act judiciously and not fight each other [but rather] seek good relations,” López Obrador said.
“So much so that members of Mexico’s security cabinet are going to participate [in a meeting] in Washington on Thursday with their counterparts from the United States government to deal with matters of cooperation in security,” he said.
The HireAHelper company cited recent high-profile Supreme Court decisions, a spike in the cost of living, and unaffordable housing as contributing to “a persistent global perception that the United States is a less desirable place to live” among U.S. residents. deposit photos
Mexico was the most popular landing spot for United States citizens who moved abroad last year, according to data compiled by moving service provider HireAHelper.
The Oceanside, California, company said in a blog post that 16,022 U.S. citizens “moved to Mexico as temporary or permanent residents in 2021.”
The figure was 38% higher than in 2019, when the coronavirus pandemic had not yet had an impact on people’s decisions about where they wanted to – and where they were able to – live.
“… Moves to Mexico outnumber those to the United Kingdom (14,626), and Canada (11,955), which are the second and third most popular destinations. The fourth most popular destination is Australia, where an estimated 7,948 Americans relocated in 2021,” said HireAHelper, which compiled data from authorities in 15 countries to which U.S. citizens commonly move.
Nearly 100,000 people from the U.S. left the country in 2021 to live in other countries
The company also said that 10,594 Americans moved to Mexico in the first seven months of this year. “If migration to Mexico continues at its current pace, the country will receive over 18,000 U.S. citizens as new residents [in 2022],a new five-year high,” HireAHelper said.
Chet Kittleson, the CEO of a new Seattle startup that advertises properties for sale in Mexico to people in the U.S, said that his company Far Homes recorded a notable increase in online searches for homes in Mexico in recent months as many U.S. companies announced work-from-home policies. The real estate company Point2Homes said in September that the number of searches for homes in Mexico has seen a 60% rise.
Among the major issues contributing to “a persistent global perception that the United States is a less desirable place to live” — and thus possibly leading to more moves south of the border — are “recent high-profile Supreme Court decisions, a spike in the cost of living and chronically unaffordable housing,” in the U.S., HireAHelper said.
It added that “it’s hard to pinpoint the exact reasons pushing Americans to move abroad,” but did note that a recent article in Entrepreneursuggests that “the recent strengthening of the dollar and the rise of remote work play a part.”
“… The truth is it’s still too early to definitively tell whether recent political events in the U.S. will shape immigration. However, what we do know is there continues to be an increasing number of reports of young Americans and people of color leaving the country in search of a safer and more equitable place to live,” HireAHelper said.
The overall cost of living is lower in Mexico than in the United States, but inflation is also high here, and locally paid salaries are generally much lower than those north of the border.
However, foreigners who work remotely in Mexico and earn in currencies such as the U.S. dollar often find that they can afford much more here than they could at home.
Among the U.S. citizens who have recently moved to Mexico – most of whom don’t show up in the statistics cited by HireAHelper because they live here while on tourist visas – are digital nomads, many of whom have settled in hip Mexico City neighborhoods such as Roma and Condesa as well as coastal destinations such as Playa del Carmen.
According to InterNations, an organization that describes itself as the largest global community for expats, foreigners “find it extremely easy to get settled in Mexico and are happy with their personal finances” while living in the country.
InterNations said that more than three-quarters of Mexico-based expats are happy with their financial situation, and 70% find housing to be affordable. It also said that 90% of expats in Mexico describe the local residents as friendly, and 75% find it easy to make friends among them.
Traveler at Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport.
More than 2 1/2 years into the coronavirus pandemic, airline passengers in Mexico can finally take their face masks off.
The federal government announced Tuesday that the use of masks is no longer mandatory in airports and airplanes.
The Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) made the announcement in a statement after noting that the government had issued new COVID guidelines advising that the use of masks should no longer be obligatory in outdoor and indoor spaces.
The agency acknowledged that the government recommends the ongoing use of masks in enclosed spaces with little or no ventilation, but asserted that airports are made up of “large and sufficiently ventilated spaces,” while planes have High-Efficiency Particulate Air filters that “eliminate 99.9% of macro-particles, bacterias and viruses.”
“For that reason, we inform that from this date, and while health authorities don’t change health protocols relevant to the use of face masks, the use of masks will not be compulsory in airport facilities or aircraft passenger cabins,” said AFAC, which is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport.
However, airline and airport staff should direct anyone with symptoms of COVID or other respiratory diseases to use a face mask to prevent contagion to others, the agency said, adding that aforementioned personnel should always have a “sufficient quantity of masks” to distribute to passengers “if necessary.”
The government advises that the use of face masks shouldn’t be obligatory in open spaces where people can maintain a “healthy distance” from each other but recommends wearing one outdoors if social distancing isn’t possible. It offers the same advice for enclosed spaces.
The government also recommends the elimination of the use of tapetes sanitizantes – “sanitizing mats” placed at the entrance to shops, restaurants and other businesses – and filtros sanitarios, health checkpoints where people are screened for COVID, usually via temperature checks.
The new IMSS guidelines also has implications for procedures in schools, which have enforced mask rules and other sanitary protocols. SEP
“It’s important to mention that there’s no evidence that disinfectant mats work so their use is being withdrawn. They shouldn’t be used!” the new document states.
It also says that employers can’t force employees to take COVID-19 tests or prevent them from working – dismiss them, in other words – if they are not vaccinated against the disease.
“Workplaces may carry out tests … with the consent of workers … [but] in no case should the taking of a test be mandatory in order to return to work,” the document says.
While the government recommends vaccination against COVID, it states that a person’s vaccination status “mustn’t be a determining factor [used to] stop people from carrying out their work activities.”
Also among the new guidelines are a range of “general measures” to mitigate the spread of COVID, such as washing hands frequently and covering one’s mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
The government says that the guidelines in its new document should be applied “at a national level in all workplaces.”
Their objective is to “establish specific measures … for the continuation of work activities in a safe and responsible way.”
Publication of the new guidelines comes over two and a half years after the coronavirus pandemic began in Mexico. The government initially decreed a national social distancing initiative – a quasi lockdown that wasn’t enforced – to combat COVID, but the disease nevertheless quickly took hold across the country in the first half of 2020.
Memorial to lost loved one lost left at the Guadalupe Basilica’s remembrance wall for COVID victims in Mexico City. The nation ranks fifth for total COVID deaths and 32nd for per capita deaths, with 258 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to John Hopkins University. Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro
After five waves of the disease, Mexico has now recorded more than 7 million confirmed cases and over 330,000 COVID-related deaths, figures that are considered significant undercounts, mainly due to a lack of testing. There are currently just over 5,500 active cases, according to Health Ministry estimates.
The country ranks fifth for total COVID deaths after the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, and 32nd for per capita deaths with 258 fatalities per 100,000 people, according todata compiled by John Hopkins University.
“Love is in the Air,” a 2003 stencil mural in the West Bank, territory that is claimed by both Israel and Palestine. Sotheby’s
An exhibition featuring more than 150 works by enigmatic street artist Banksy will commence in Mexico City this week.
The Art of Banksy “Without Limits” exhibition – which is not authorized by the artist – will start Saturday at the Antiguo Hotel Reforma in the inner-city neighborhood of Tabacalera. The exhibition has previously been shown in several countries including the United States, Australia, Chile, South Korea, Germany and Turkey.
According to the exhibition website, original works, prints on different kinds of materials, photos, sculptures, murals and installations will be on show. Tickets, which cost between 250 and 350 pesos (US $12-17), are available on Ticketmaster.
The identity of Banksy, who is known for his whimsical and political street art, has never been confirmed. Numerous media reports describe the United Kingdom-based artists as “elusive,” although he has a website and an Instagram account with over 11 million followers.
A visitor at an unauthorized Banksy exhibit takes a photo of a piece from the “Girl with Balloon” series. Depositphotos
He is perhaps best known for his “Girl with Balloon” series of stencil murals, which appeared in London 20 years ago.
The artist says on his website that “members of the public should be aware there has been a recent spate of Banksy exhibitions, none of which are consensual.”
“They‘ve been organized entirely without the artist’s knowledge or involvement. Please treat them accordingly,” he adds.
Despite his lack of endorsement, the exhibitions have been popular, attracting over 1.3 million people around the world, according to the Art of Banksy website.
Banorte’s digital bank Bineo will be the 51st bank operating in the Mexican market. Banorte
Banorte has won approval to operate a 100% online bank, a development the bank says will help it strengthen its position as a digital leader in the Mexican banking market.
The bank last week advised the Mexican Stock Exchange that the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) had authorized the creation of Bineo, as the digital bank will be called.
The authorization is an “important step in the development of our digital bank,” Banorte told investors, adding that it will “allow us to move closer to the consolidation of our medium term corporate strategy and of our position of digital leadership in the Mexican market.”
The newspaper El Universal reported that Bineo will become the 51st bank operating in the Mexican market. Banorte is the first established bank in Mexico to receive authorization to operate a stand-alone, fully digital bank.
Santander is seeking CNBV authorization to bring its online bank Openbank to Mexico, while Banregio is awaiting approval that will allow its Hey Banco digital bank to operate independently.
Online banking is growing in popularity in Mexico. CNBV data shows that there were over 68.2 million digital transactions in the first six months of the year, a 20% increase compared to the same period of 2021.
Banorte general director Marcos Ramírez said last week that the objective of the “digital transformation” is to “create an [online banking] experience without friction, … [and] improve [waiting] times for a vast number of processes.”
An army official carries high-caliber weapons collected at an event for the voluntary surrender of firearms in Oaxaca last month. Such weapons are nearly impossible to obtain legally. Cuartoscuro.com
Members of the The Mexican army sold weapons to a México state-based drug cartel, according to a report leaked by Guacamaya, a hacking group that infiltrated the IT system of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena).
In a 2019 intelligence report obtained by the non-governmental organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), Sedena said it was aware that a soldier offered weapons and tactical gear to a crime group in May of that year. The soldier also provided information about military movements and operations to the Tejupilco-based cartel, the report said.
The soldier offered 70 fragmentation grenades to “operators of the crime group” at a cost of 26,000 pesos (US $1,300 at today’s exchange rate) each on May 31, 2019, the report said. The unnamed cartel bought at least eight grenades, which were delivered in Atlacomulco, México state, it added.
Via an analysis of the metadata of the soldier’s cell phone, authorities determined that he was based in Almoloya de Juárez, a México state municipality that is part of the metropolitan area of state capital Toluca. The supplier of the weapons and tactical gear to that soldier was another presumed soldier who was believed to be based at an army facility in Mexico City, according to the Sedena report.
The cartel members referred to the supplier as “antiguo” (oldie), but neither he nor the vendor were formally identified in the Sedena report.
MCCI said that Sedena intercepted calls in which a criminal leader sought to buy from the army 2,000 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 5,000 rounds of AR-15 ammunition and 50 magazines for each of those firearms. It was unclear whether that request was fulfilled.
The anti-graft group also said that the Almoloya de Juárez-based soldier, apparently a bodyguard for a colonel, offered to tip criminals off as to the whereabouts of a regional prosecutor in Amecameca – a México state municipality 60 kilometers southeast of central Mexico City – as they allegedly planned to murder him.
Guacamaya, a Latin American hacktivist group, recently stole 6 terabytes of data from Sedena servers. Among the information that has been leaked are details about President López Obrador’s poor health and plans for an army-operated commercial airline.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard displays a copy of the lawsuit filed on Monday.
Just over a week after its case against United States gun manufacturers was dismissed, the federal government has filed a lawsuit against five gun stores in Arizona, accusing them of involvement in illegal arms trafficking to Mexico, where firearms are used to commit tens of thousands of homicides annually.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said in a statement that the government filed the suit in a U.S. federal district court in Tucson on Monday.
Three of the accused stores are in that city. Another is in Phoenix and the fifth is in Yuma, located just east of the border crossing between Andrade, California, and Los Algodones, Baja California. Mexico is seeking unspecified monetary damages from the stores and demanding that they hire independent monitors to ensure compliance with gun purchase laws.
The SRE said that the government’s lawsuit alleges that the five stores “routinely and systematically participate in the illegal trafficking of arms, including military-style ones, for criminal organizations in Mexico through sales to straw purchasers and sales directed to arms dealers.”
The five gun stores are located in Tucson, Phoenix and Yuma, all near the U.S. border with Mexico. Internet
“The lawsuit points out that the five stores are among the vendors in Arizona whose weapons are recovered with greatest frequency in Mexico,” the ministry added.
The stores named in the suit are Diamondback Shooting Sports, SNG Tactical and The Hub Target Sports – all in Tucson – as well as Ammo AZ in Phoenix and Sprague’s Sports in Yuma.
Alejandro Celorio Alcántara, the SRE’s legal advisor, said the government chose to name “the five worst stores” for illegal trafficking in the United States, where a recently enacted federal law defines straw purchasing as a crime. The law stipulates sentences of up to 25 years if the offense is related to drug trafficking.
“They are not careful when they sell products, so they allow straw purchasers to buy guns,” Celorio said, adding that the stores have sold multiple weapons on multiple occasions to some buyers.
“We are saying they are negligent and facilitate straw purchasers, to the point of being accomplices,” he said.
The official said that criminal probes in the U.S. had traced weapons purchases to the five stores named in the lawsuit. There was evidence that they didn’t file all the required information when making some sales, he said.
“The main argument of our lawsuit is that these businesses are an organized part of a criminal enterprise, a mechanism to facilitate criminals and cartels in Mexico being able to use their weapons,” said Celorio.
He acknowledged that the first hearing related to the lawsuit might not occur until the summer of 2023.
The SRE said in its statement that the litigation against the stores is part of a “multifaceted strategy of the government of Mexico to stop the avalanche of weapons, particularly assault weapons, from the United States.”
The weapons, it added, “empower criminal groups, cause bloodshed in Mexico and contribute to the trafficking of drugs to the United States.”
The judicial action in no way questions the constitutional right of U.S. citizens to carry arms nor the right of gun stores to sell their products responsibly, the SRE said, noting that its lawsuit is the first such civil action filed by a national government against U.S. weapons vendors. It said that the suit sets out “various arguments,” including that the stores violate their duty of care, use “deceitful and biased” advertising, sell guns that can be converted into automatic weapons and “violate state and federal laws” in the U.S. – conduct that “causes tremendous harm in Mexican territory.”
The lawsuit’s filing came 10 days after a Massachusetts federal judge dismissed the Mexican government’s case against U.S. gun manufacturers, which were accused of negligent business practices that led to illegal arms trafficking and deaths in Mexico, where U.S.-sourced firearms are used in a majority of high-impact crimes. The SRE said it would challenge Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor’s ruling. U.S. law “unequivocally” prohibits lawsuits that seek to hold gun manufacturers responsible when people use their products for their intended purpose, Saylor determined.
In its latest statement, the ministry said that a favorable sentence in Arizona would support the lawsuit in Boston as “it would prove that the manufacturing companies are negligent by not monitoring or disciplining vendors that sell their products.”
“… The government of Mexico is confident that both the Boston lawsuit against manufacturers and the Arizona lawsuit against vendors will succeed,” it said. “The actions undertaken by Mexico have already contributed to promoting conversations and actions around the world to stop the trafficking of weapons as well as the dangerous practices of the arms industry.”
IMSS director Zoe Robledo announced the open call for international medical specialists at the president's daily press conference. He said Mexican doctors are welcome to apply. Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro
The federal government is looking beyond Mexico’s borders to find specialist doctors to fill more than 700 positions in 15 states.
The director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) announced on Tuesday an international campaign to recruit 749 doctors across 43 specialties to work in 54 public hospitals.
Mexican doctors can also apply for the jobs, but Zoé Robledo said the campaign is targeted at “specialists from other parts of the world who are interested in coming to Mexico to work for a period of one year.”
The IMSS chief asserted that the recruitment drive – which formally commences Wednesday – will allow the government to recruit specialists for places where they are most needed.
IMSS chief Zoé Robledo said the public health system can’t find specialists because in the last 30 years, 80% of medical school candidates have been rejected.
The foreign doctors are slated to work in 13 hospitals in Sonora, seven in Baja California Sur, seven in Chiapas, six in Nayarit, four in Oaxaca, three in Colima, two in each of Michoacán, Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Zacatecas and Chihuahua and one in each of Baja California, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Campeche. Many of the hospitals are located in remote communities in those states.
In addition to having relevant medical qualifications, doctors must be fluent in Spanish to be considered for the positions and are required to present a letter from their most recent employer.
Robledo told President López Obrador’s regular news conference that applications will be considered by a committee of experts and the government will arrange the appropriate visas for successful candidates.
After the government announced it was bringing Cuban doctors to Mexico earlier this year, the heads of 30 medical colleges, associations and federations rejected the claim that there was a shortage of medical professionals and described the hiring of foreigners as a “serious offense” against Mexican health professionals.
Earlier this year, the nation looked to Cuba to fill vacant doctor positions. At the time, President López Obrador said no Mexican doctors wanted to fill the positions, a claim many unemployed doctors refuted. Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro
López Obrador and Health Minister Jorge Alcocer have both said that Mexican doctors are unwilling to work in remote areas and for that reason, the government decided to hire Cubans.
Robledo said Tuesday that there is a lack of specialists in Mexico because 80% of people who have sought to enter university to study medicine over the past 30 years have been rejected.
A large group of unemployed Mexican doctors, including specialists, launched a social media campaign in May to highlight that they are ready and willing to work but unable to find a job.
In addition to announcing the international recruitment campaign for specialists, Robledo said that the government was also looking to hire 1,750 general practitioners and 550 specialist nurses.
