Pemex chief Octavio Oropeza had claimed that in June that Pemex crude processing had reached 1.4 million barrels per day, a figure almost twice as high as official numbers for July. (Pemex/X)
State-owned oil company Pemex is increasingly slipping behind its ambitious production goals as crude processing fell in July to its lowest point so far this year.
Pemex’s domestic refineries processed 768,732 barrels per day (bpd) in July, well below President López Obrador’s target of between 900,000 and 1 million bpd target by 2024.
An area near Pemex’s Nohoch-A offshore platform in Campeche, which was involved in a fire in July. (Carlos Alvarez/Twitter)
Pemex’s processing had increased steadily from around 600,000 bpd at the start of AMLO’s administration in 2018 to a high point of 915,000 bpd in April of this year. However, a series of setbacks since May has caused processing to drop to an average of 821,233 bpd this year, only slightly above the 815,790 bpd registered in 2022.
July was a particularly difficult month for Pemex. A fire on anoffshore platform on July 7 killed two workers and caused crude production to temporarily drop by around 100,000 bpd;oil spilled from a nearby underwater pipeline shortly afterwards; and a leak forced the company toshut down Mexico’s largest oil-exporting terminal on July 26.
As a result, Pemex’s total crude production fell to 1.573 million bpd over the month, the lowest level this year. Crude exports fell by 13% from an annual high in June, while processing was also affected. Pemex was forced to import 317,879 bpd of gasoline and 142,167 bpd of diesel over the month, compared to domestic production of 265,771 bpd of gasoline and 153,553 bpd of diesel.
The disappointing performance stood in contrast to claims by Pemex director Octavio Romero Oropeza in June that Pemex had reached a fuel processing capacity of1.4 million bpd, putting it on track to meet AMLO’s goal of fuel self-sufficiency for Mexico by 2024.
Mexico’s energy policy has been the subject of much debate recently as President López Obrador prioritizes investment in state-run projects like this refinery in Dos Bocas, Tabasco. (Gob MX)
At the time, El Economistanewspaper raised concerns that Pemex was increasingly relying on residual heavy fuel oil, which is more polluting and less efficient than other fuels, to boost its total production.
The paper’s analysis suggested that lack of investment in updating Pemex’s machinery – in part due to López Obrador’s austerity plan for the struggling company – meant that its refineries lack the infrastructure needed to transform oil into lighter fuels. Pemex remains heavily indebted, with liabilities overUS $110 billion in the second quarter of the year.
Despite these difficulties, the government remains committed to its fuel self-sufficiency target. The new Olmeca refinery inaugurated last year in Dos Bocas, Tabasco, is predicted to boost processing by340,000 bpd, but only began initial processing operations in July of between 80,000 and 100,000 bpd. It is unlikely to come fully online until late this year, at the earliest.
The new airport, located in México state, saw it's busiest month on record, with more than 250,000 passengers passing through. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Over 250,000 passengers used the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in July, more than in any other month since the facility opened in March 2022.
AIFA data shows that 256,590 passengers passed through the airport last month, a 17.5% increase compared to the previous record set in May. The increase compared to July last year is a whopping 607%.
Passenger traffic at Felipe Ángeles airport in Mexico City went up 607% in July compared to 2022. (Gob MX)
AIFA reported that just over 93% of passengers who used the airport in July traveled domestically to destinations such as Cancún, Guadalajara and Tijuana, while just under 7% were on international flights to or from countries including the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Panama.
The army-built airport, located about 45 kilometers north of central Mexico City, got off to a slow start with fewer than 40,000 passengers in each month between March and July last year.
However, passenger numbers had increased significantly by the end of the year, exceeding 200,000 in both November and December. They dropped below that number in the first three months of 2023, but increased above 200,000 in April and have remained there ever since.
The AIFA opened in March 2022 and is one of President López Obrador’s flagship projects. (Gob MX)
There were just 356 takeoffs and landings by commercial airlines during the airport’s first full month of operations in April 2022, but operations reached a record high of 2,029 last month, an increase of 470% in just 15 months.
While the increase in passenger and flight numbers is undoubtedly good news, AIFA is still operating well under capacity, which, according to the government, is 20 million passengers per year.
In the first seven months of this year, 1.43 million passengers used the airport. That figure is just 5.1% of the 27.87 million people who, in the same period, passed through the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), where both terminals have reached saturation point, according to the federal government.
The main objective in building AIFA was to ease pressure on the AICM, but as the numbers above indicate, the new airport has not yet been able to do that to any meaningful extent.
The Felipe Ángeles airport remains underused, despite seeing continued growth this year. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
One factor that has hindered the growth of the airport is that the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating from Category 1 to Category 2 in 2021. As a result, Mexican airlines – with one exception – have been banned from adding new flights to the U.S. for over two years.
Among the factors that have dissuaded some people from using the new airport is that it is quite far from the capital – especially its southern boroughs – and the planned rail link between the Buenavista suburban train station in central Mexico City and AIFA has not yet been completed. Once operational, getting to AIFA by train from Buenavista is slated to take just 39 minutes. López Obrador has said that the service will commence in the first quarter of next year.
Before that, flights between AIFA and the as yet unfinished airport in Tulum, Quintana Roo are expected to commence. Budget carrier Viva Aerobus and a relaunched, state-owned Mexicana will commence flights between the two airports in December, according to announcements by Viva and the federal government.
Qatar Airways is also set to begin using the airport, according to an Aug. 25 post on the X social media platform by the Federal Civil Aviation Agency. The agency said that the Middle Eastern airline planned to operate two routes to AIFA, but didn’t say what they would be.
With a passionate welcome from Mexican Swifties – as Swift’s fans are known – the singer left the country feeling grateful and in love with Mexico.
Fans exchanged friendship bracelets, a “Swiftie” tradition between concertgoers. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)
“After years of wanting to play in Mexico City, I just got to play 4 of the most unforgettable shows for the most beautiful and generous fans,” Swift wrote on Twitter and Instagram on Monday. “Feeling so grateful for the memories we’re making together on this tour … TE AMO,” she added, using a Mexican flag emoji to represent the popular phrase “Te Amo México.”
Videos on social media showed how Mexican fans embraced the Eras Tour, giving it a touch of Mexico’s unique culture.
Video shot prior to the concerts shows Swifties leaving a friendship bracelet at a statue of Tlaloc, the Mexica god of rain and lightning, so the artist would be spared bad weather. “Tlaloc is a Swiftie,” the video’s caption reads.
Other videos showed friendship bracelets customized with inscriptions like “Taynochtitlan,” a play on the name of the former capital of the Mexica empire or “Taymales,” among other Spanish-language puns. Even Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldívar was seen exchanging bracelets with fellow fans at Swift’s first concert.
Even Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldívar was spotted in the crowd, with friendship bracelets and a “Swiftie” jacket. (Arturo Zaldívar)
But many fans were left behind, unable to watch the artist perform live: while some never found tickets to the show, others were victims of ticketing scams.
The newspaper El País reported that some 200 people from Guatemala, who paid between US $1,500 and $3,000 per travel package to watch the show, were scammed by a company called Global W Producciones.
But Swift promised to visit Mexico soon again, giving hope to those who were unable to see her show this time around. Milenio reports that nearing the end of the last concert, the singer said: “Mexico, I love you very much… thank you very much, we’ll be back soon, you can count on it.”
Paul McCartney has visited the Mexican capital several times, including this trip in 2012. (Sara Ortíz/Cuartoscuro)
Sir Paul McCartney will bring his Got Back Tour to Mexico this year, at Foro Sol in Mexico City on Nov. 14.
The last time the former Beatle performed in Mexico City was in 2017, with a show at the Azteca Stadium.
The veteran Liverpudlian (second from left) will play a selection of his solo music, as well as major hits from former bands Wings and The Beatles. (UPI)
The Got Back tour is expected to take fans across Sir Paul McCartney’s 60-year career, including dozens of songs from Paul’s solo repertoire, Wings and of course, The Beatles.
Pre-sale tickets for the show started on Tuesday while the general sale will kick-off on Sept. 2 from 2 pm.
Ticket prices range from 680 pesos (US $40) to 12,080 pesos (US $717), and are available from Ticketmaster. Due to high demand, a virtual queue will open 30 minutes before sales start and organizers expect the show to sell out.
The 81-year-old Liverpudlian first came to Mexico in November 1993, playing what was only the second-ever show at the Foro Sol itself.
Organizers Ocesa say they anticipate the shows will sell out entirely. (Raph PH/Wikimedia)
The British singer came back again in November 2002, 2010 and 2012 – this time, adding a one-night-show in Guadalajara. That same year he gave a free concert in Mexico City’s Zocalo.
Tomás Zerón, seen here in 2016, was instrumental in the construction of the "historic truth" presented by the attorney general's office about the Ayotzinapa case in 2014. He is wanted on charges of torture and tampering with evidence.(SAÚL LÓPEZ/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Former federal law enforcement official and fugitive from justice Tomás Zerón has denied any involvement in the purchase of the Pegasus spyware system during the 2012-18 administration of former president Enrique Peña Nieto and rejected the suggestion that he fled to Israel because that country doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Mexico.
The Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) announced in May that it was prosecuting the former head of the now-defunct Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) and three other ex-officials in connection with an “illegal” purchase of the Israeli-made Pegasus system in 2014.
Tomás Zerón gave an interview on Israeli television on Saturday. (Screenshot/Channel 12)
The FGR said the four ex-officials were accused of embezzlement, fraud, abuse of power and criminal association in connection with a 460-million-peso purchase of Pegasus, which can infiltrate and extract information from cellphones. It said that the purchase was made by the PGR, as the Attorney General’s Office was formerly called.
Zerón also faces charges related to the disappearance and presumed murder of 43 students in Guerrero in 2014, a crime he was tasked with investigating as head of the AIC. Those charges include torture and tampering with evidence. The current government has been asking Israel to extradite Zerón to Mexico for over two years.
In an interview with Israeli television in Tel Aviv, the ex-official asserted that he is a victim of “political persecution” in Mexico and said that he has the evidence to prove it.
The president discusses the Zerón case at a daily press conference in July 2021. (GALO CAÑAS/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
“I took the decision to leave my country, I went to Canada and later flew to Israel,” he told Israel’s Channel 12.
When the interviewer asked whether his decision to go to Israel was because that country doesn’t have an extradition agreement with Mexico, Zerón gave a strange and less than convincing response.
“No. There are other countries in the world. Why come to a country where my language isn’t spoken? Why not go to Chile? Why come to a country that complicates everything for me?”
The interviewer then remarked that “people in Mexico think that you fled here because you had connections … to NSO,” the company that makes Pegasus.
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in an archival photo from 2016 after being recaptured by Mexican authorities. He had escaped in 2015 from a prison while awaiting formal sentencing. (Photo: Pedro Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
“There is no way. I don’t know anyone from NSO, I don’t have a relationship [with the company], I never sat down with them, there is no proof, ” Zerón said.
After he spoke about his involvement in the 2014 capture of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zerón responded to the assertion that he was living in Israel “like a criminal.”
“It’s not an easy situation. In the end my objective is to be able to return to my country, return to my family … and for justice to be served,” he said.
“… It’s not easy to live in another country,” he reiterated at the conclusion of a 12-minute news story that included other interviews as well as information about the 2014 disappearance of the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College students in Iguala, Guerrero.
“… I live alone without my family, without my people. Now I have only one target in my life in Israel and the target is [to] fight for my life,” Zerón said.
Protesters outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City in September last year, demanding Zerón’s extradition. (ROGELIO MORALES /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Last Friday, the day before the interview with Zerón aired on Israeli television, Mexico’s Interior Ministry (SEGOB) released a statement in which it said that “investigations, evidence and testimonies” implicate the former AIC chief in the torture of a presumed member of the Guerreros Unidos, a crime gang allegedly involved in the abduction and murder of the Ayotzinapa students.
“Physical and psychological torture of people was one of the multiple lies that inspired the construction of the poorly named ‘historical truth‘ about the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa teaching students,” SEGOB said.
“… Despite a million-dollar campaign to make [Zerón] look like a politically persecuted person, Mexican authorities have asked Israel to extradite him. The Mexican state maintains that no government should protect a torturer,” the ministry said.
López Obrador said in late July that he had received a response to a letter he sent to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek the extradition of Zerón. He said there was “willingness” on the part of the Israeli government “to help us,” but didn’t confirm that it would actually agree to the extradition.
Despite a fall in worldwide grain prices, the savings have not been passed on to consumers, say agricultural analysts.(Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Importing yellow corn, wheat and soybeans into Mexico is costing less these days — thanks to a drop in grain prices on the world market, and the peso’s newfound buying power.
However, food prices in Mexico are not going down accordingly.
Food prices rose significantly in response to inflation in the past three years. (Dassaev Telléz Adame/Cuartoscuo)
“In theory, they should lower the prices [of food], but in reality, it does not happen — in Mexico or anywhere,” said Juan Carlos Anaya, director of the Agricultural Markets Consulting Group (GCMA). “This is a complaint heard in other countries.”
In the last 12 months, international grain futures prices have dropped significantly, according to GCMA data: yellow corn costs 29% less; wheat for baking flour is down 24%; durum wheat to produce pastas is down 16%; and soybean paste, which is used by livestock farmers, is down 10%. Mexico uses primarily domestic white corn in food production, but imports yellow corn for use in livestock feed.
Moreover, importers are benefiting from the stronger peso, which has appreciated around 16% this year against the dollar, opening this week at 16.74 per US dollar.
Yet tortilla prices reportedly have gone up 9.7% nationwide this year, cornmeal has risen 13.3% and cereal flakes are up 12.5%. Products made from wheat derivatives are higher, as well, as are prices for pasta.
Juan Carlos Anaya, director of the Agricultural Markets Consulting Group (GCMA) called on Profeco to investigate the price rises. (Juan Carlos Anaya/X)
“They are not going down because it is a captive demand,” Ayala said. “These are staple products.”
Food producers and retailers “argue that when [the cost of these products] rose [with inflation] they had to maintain their prices and reduce their profits” to remain viable, Ayala said. “And now that prices are falling, they are trying to maximize their profits.”
Ayala stopped short of accusing companies of price fixing, but he urged the government’s consumer watchdog agency, Profeco, to look into the drop of grain prices — which has caused Mexican grain farmers to seek increased government subsidies — compared to the prices consumers are paying. “Profeco should review who is getting the most benefit,” he said.
According to the GCMA, Mexico imports 39% of the yellow corn, 95% of the soybeans and 54% of the wheat consumed in the country.
Mexico says it is phasing out GM corn imports by 2024 to protect Mexicans’ health and Mexico’s native corn from contamination. The U.S. says Mexico’s concerns are not based on science. (Government of Mexico)
In June, Mexico implemented a 50% tariff on white corn imports to reduce the amount of genetically modified corn used in the country’s food supply. Import levies on white corn had been lifted earlier in the year in response to high inflation and elevated food costs, but the government stated that the exemption had not “generated a significant impact on the decrease in prices in the national market” when it decreed the 50% tariff.
“It is a measure that is not understood, because Mexico is not self-sufficient” in corn production, said Mario Jorge Yáñez, a Mexico-based partner at Hogan Lovells, a law firm with expertise in foreign trade.
Mexico imported only 614,000 tonnes of white corn from January to October last year, but produced 23 million tonnes domestically. However, yellow corn imports from the United States alone are worth about US $5 billion a year. The U.S. announced it would request a dispute settlement panel under the USMCA free trade pact on Aug. 17 in response to Mexico’s stance on GM corn.
Prices for most foods in Mexico are still rising, even as headline inflation declines, with the processed food, beverages and tobacco category up 8.75% annually in the first half of August, and fruits and vegetables up 8.66% according to data from the national statistics agency (INEGI).
Janet Blaser has lived in Mazatlán for 20 years, and contemplates the many changes she has witnessed, while seeing Mexico through the eyes of a newcomer. (Dianne Hofner Saphiere)
Yesterday I had to take my computer for a (thankfully) small repair, to an expat who’s had a business here for more than a decade. Through the years, he has moved steadily into less expensive, more “Mexican” neighborhoods, whether out of necessity or desire I don’t know.
Using the Google map he sent, I packed up my laptop and headed inland, driving away from the beachfront malecón, away from the main expat enclaves in centro histórico and the hotel zone. As I went deeper into the neighborhoods, I passed cocinas económicas, several tapicerías, a storefront church next to an alcohólicos anónimos (AA). Each block had its own little tienda with the same onions, tomatoes and bedraggled video game machine on the sidewalk; there was no Walmart, Sam’s Club or Home Depot, Wings Army or McDonald’s. Abuelas were outside sweeping and chatting; a few dogs meandered here and there.
The author at her favorite local taco stand, Raymundo’s, where she’s watched the family’s babies grow up to have kids of their own. (Matt Mawson)
Memories came flooding back of the Mazatlán I’d found when I first moved here almost 20 years ago, of a vastly simpler city and way of life. It was only a few minutes’ drive, but it felt worlds away from the overwhelming tourism, traffic and development that characterizes Mazatlán—and, dare I say, much of Mexico—today.
Like many of you, I’m full of conflicting emotions about the giant condo towers, the tremendous and constant tourism, the traffic, the crowded beaches, restaurants, stores, plazas and sidewalks. There’s a secondary set of problems as well: the insufficient infrastructure and management for trash, water and cell signals; woefully inadequate parking for the thousands of people coming on vacation; the sudden need for reservations at even the smallest neighborhood café or coffee shop.
As the city has “grown up” and taken its place as a popular (very popular!) tourist and vacation destination, both for foreigners and folks from other parts of Mexico, the small, unpretentious town I was originally attracted to is all but gone. And it’s not only here in Mazatlán; I hear the same thing from friends in San Miguel de Allende, Puerto Vallarta, Ajijic and Guanajuato. I know the other side of this is increased income and opportunity for many locals, and from my privileged American position I do appreciate that. Yet I still have to ask, “At what cost?”
A new friend I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately, who is also new to Mexico, affords me a different perspective. Let’s call her Annie. She moved to Mazatlán last fall, following her dream of a new and different life, with less stress, a lower cost of living, more adventure and better weather than her home in the Pacific Northwest.
I have a car (she doesn’t) and so I’ve been taking her out and about on errands to help get her apartment set up. I’d forgotten what it was like to be the “stranger in a strange land,” the almost guaranteed frustration and aggravation that often accompanies even the most basic of chores here as one attempts to get settled. Mostly she remains enthusiastic, patient and open to whatever it is that’s coming next. Often (embarrassingly) I’m the one who’s irritated and annoyed.
Being around her has made me remember when I first got here, the struggles and challenges and “surprises.” I remember my first few years as an expat, before any of the big chain stores even existed, when the only places to shop were small local stores. We had to learn about our neighborhoods, practicing our Spanish with incredibly tolerant locals, to try and find things and services we needed or wanted. I used to have an ongoing list of stuff to bring from the U.S., and I can still recall the excitement of “finally” having turmeric, organic cotton sheets, Edison bulbs or a really nice stainless-steel pan. One learned to do without and to let go of so much, and to really live simpler, without so many material options.
The city has changed in so many ways it’s hard to even remember what it was like—or what I was like—whereas Annie’s outlook is fresh and optimistic, full of good-natured enthusiasm. She’s appreciative to be “living the dream” she’d imagined for so long. For her, Amazon Mexico, those big box stores and U.S. fast food chains are just accepted as part of her experience here; there’s no judgment or concern that her “Mexican experience” has been changed by their presence.
Truth be told, I don’t shop at the little tienditas or mercados much anymore either, preferring instead the clean, air-conditioned comfort and convenience of the big chains. (Once the weather cools off and the weekly organic farmers’ market begins in November my habits will change, though.) I find myself eating less traditional Mexican food and more plant-based, “heart-healthy” meals, and as some of you know, Italian food is my go-to for comfort.
Here on the coast, we’re deep in the throes of the summer doldrums, and it’s too hot, day and night, to do much of anything. Perhaps there’s too much time to think, but hanging out with my new friend has been a wake-up call for me, another reminder to count my blessings. Her buoyant happiness even as the power goes out (again), there’s a cockroach in the toaster oven (again) or a hundred other only-in-Mexico scenarios unfold makes us both chuckle (again).
The six aspirants have been touring the country since the candidate selection process began in June. From left to right: Manuel Velasco, Marcelo Ebrard, Adán Augusto López, Claudia Sheinbaum, Ricardo Monreal and Gerardo Fernández Noroña. (Morena/X)
The aspirants to Morena’s 2024 presidential election nomination closed their campaigns on Sunday ahead of a weeklong polling process that will determine who the ruling party’s new standard-bearer will be.
In their final pitches to citizens, the three leading Morena hopefuls – former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, ex-foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard and former interior minister Adán Augusto López Hernández – all expressed confidence that they will prevail in the contest to represent Morena at the June 2, 2024, presidential election.
The six Morena hopefuls: from left to right (top), Adán Augusto López, Manuel Velasco and Marcelo Ebrard; from left to right (bottom), Claudia Sheinbaum, Ricardo Monreal and Gerardo Fernández Noroña. (Morena/X)
They also emphasized their closeness to and admiration for President López Obrador, the founder of Morena and the leader of what he and his government colleagues call the “fourth transformation” (4T) of Mexico.
A day after holding a rally at Mexico City’s Monument to the Revolution, Sheinbaum spoke in front of some 5,000 supporters at an event in the Veracruz capital of Xalapa on Sunday.
“Our movement is the present and future of the nation,” said the ex-mayor, who polls show is the most popular of the six Morena aspirants.
“… There is no turning back, no backward steps or steps to the right, only the continuation of the transformation,” Sheinbaum declared.
Claudia Sheinbaum is leading in the polls and says that Morena is the “present and future of the nation.” (YERANIA ROLÓN/ CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Among those listening to the 61-year-old physicist and environmental scientist was the president’s brother, Ramiro López Obrador, who described her as the “best” person to lead Morena at next year’s election.
Sheinbaum said that honesty is the “main attribute” required of the person who will lead the “defense of the fourth transformation.”
Among the other attributes needed are “love for the homeland, love for the people, love of our history and love for our movement,” she said.
Morena will never “divorce” itself from the people of Mexico, asserted Sheinbaum, who declared late last year that she was ready to become Mexico’s first female president.
President López Obrador founded Morena and won a landslide election in 2018. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
“This is a social movement that will continue fighting for justice. That’s why we say loudly and proudly … it’s an honor to be with Obrador,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that the past ten weeks she spent traveling in Mexico as she attempted to sell herself as the best option for Morena had been “unforgettable” and thanked her supporters for speaking about “the continuation of the transformation” with “the face of a woman.”
She described López Obrador, her boss when she was environment minister in Mexico City in the early 2000s, as a “great leader.”
Speaking to residents of Veracruz as well as people who were bussed in from the neighboring states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Puebla, Sheinbaum took a shot at probable opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, although she refrained from mentioning the senator by name.
“There are those who don’t know the southeast [of Mexico], who speak disparagingly of the men and women of this region, who criticize the Maya Train [railroad] – a project of the present and future of Mexico,” she said.
Sheinbaum told those in attendance at the Xalapa International Velodrome that it won’t be the last time she sees them “because I’m going to come back as national coordinator of the committees of defense of the fourth transformation,” the title the winner of the Morena selection process will assume before officially becoming the party’s 2024 presidential candidate.
Marcelo Ebrard and his wife at the Sunday event where he delivered his final address before polling begins. (Marcelo Ebrard/X)
At Arena Ciudad de México, a concert hall in the Azcapotzalco borough of the capital, Marcelo Ebrard delivered his final address as a Morena aspirant to some 20,000 supporters.
“This is a festive meeting, a celebration. We’re finishing one stage of work and starting another. The future of Mexico begins today, today we begin on the road to win the 2024 elections, to defend the fourth transformation, to take it to the next level,” said the ex-foreign minister, who was mayor of Mexico City between 2006 and 2012.
He said his aim was not to “stay where we are,” but to build on the “transformation” initiated by López Obrador when he took office in late 2018.
“We want a better country, [improved] security, a universal health system, gender equality, very well paid jobs, economic growth, a better justice system, education – a winning country,” said the 63-year-old, who also served as a minister in Mexico City when López Obrador was mayor.
Ebrard said that the transformation already has “very large foundations” and acknowledged “the great work that my friend and colleague Andrés Manuel López Obrador has done” since becoming president.
He called on his supporters to open the doors of their homes to pollsters who will conduct surveys across Mexico between Aug. 28 and Sept. 3 to determine whose name will appear on ballot papers in 2024.
Mario Delgado, the president of Morena, shows the polling ballot at a press conference on Monday. (Morena/X)
“We need to participate in the poll. Only 12,000 people will be polled. … When you take a decision, when you put [the name of] who you want on the ballot, you’re representing thousands and thousands of people,” Ebrard said.
“In an election in Mexico 63 million of us vote, but they’re only going to poll 12,000 people. What I ask of you, colleagues, is to help me … and [with that] we’re going to win the poll next week,” he said.
Ebrard, who has claimed that sections of the government have favored Sheinbaum during the Morena selection process, said he will host another “party” on Sept. 6 to celebrate his victory.
“See you on Sept. 6 … at the party, the second chapter of this party. Long live Mexico, we’re going to win. … Those of you here are free, you’re convinced [I’m the best person to lead the country] and you’re committed. And that’s why we’re going to win,” he said.
Across town at the Monument to the Revolution, Ebrard’s former cabinet colleague López Hernández was accompanied by thousands of supporters at his final public event of the contest to select the presidential candidate for Morena and its allies, namely the Labor Party (PT) and the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM).
He noted that Saturday marked the second anniversary of his resignation as governor of Tabasco so that he could he could “accept the most honorable assignment” of his life: “accompanying the greatest president in history as interior minister.”
Adán Augusto López at an event in Toluca on Saturday. (Adán Augusto López H/X)
That role, López Hernández said, allowed him to “build a dream that will undoubtedly become reality.”
“We’re going to win and we’re going to represent the people of Mexico,” he said.
López Hernández, who, like the president, is a native tabasqueño, said he was convinced the 4T would continue and declared that the transformation is “for you and with you.”
Imitating López Obrador, he pledged to follow the orders of the Mexican people as president, and asserted that there is strong support for the current government across Mexico. After noting that he has recently visited the capitals of the majority of Mexico’s states and many of its municipalities, López Hernández said that citizens don’t want the government’s welfare and social programs to stop and don’t want generous pensions for ex-presidents to return.
The former interior minister called on the other Morena aspirants to maintain unity and support whoever becomes the party’s presidential candidate.
“We need all of us, we can’t afford the luxury of not building collectively due to personal ambitions,” he said.
“… You, the Mexican people, deserve everything. I already put my heart in your hands. Together we’re going to build the better Mexico of the future. … The country needs all of us, the country belongs to all of us,” López Hernández said.
Ricardo Monreal at a rally in Mexico City on Friday. ( PEDRO ANZA /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
The three other aspirants to the Morena-PT-PVEM nomination also closed their campaigns on Sunday. Gerardo Fernández Noroña, a former PT deputy, held a rally in Zacatecas city while former Chiapas governor and ex-PVEM senator Manuel Velasco spoke at an event in the Santa Fe business district of Mexico City. Former Morena senator and ex-governor of Zacatecas Ricardo Monreal addressed supporters in the Three Cultures Square in the capital’s Tlatelolco neighborhood.
Recent polls conducted by the El Financiero and Reforma newspapers found that Sheinabum is the most favored Morena aspirant ahead of Ebrard. López Hernández ranked third in the El Financiero poll, but fifth behind Fernández Noroña and Velasco in the Reforma one. Numerous earlier polls found that he was the third most likely candidate behind Sheinbaum and Ebrard.
Morena will announce the winner of its selection process on Sept. 6, three days after the Broad Front for Mexico (FAM) opposition bloc names its 2024 candidate. Gálvez, a National Action Party senator, and Senator Beatriz Paredes of the Institutional Revolutionary Party are the only aspirants left in the FAM contest.
Published on Monday, the results of the El Financiero and Refoma polls indicate that Morena will win next’s presidential election with either of Sheinbaum or Ebrard as its candidate.
Unemployment increased slightly from the last quarter of 2023, but remains lower than this time last year. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s unemployment rate was 2.8% in the second quarter of 2023, the national statistics agency INEGI reported Monday.
The rate is slightly higher than the record low of 2.7% recorded in the first quarter of the year, but 0.4 percentage points lower than unemployment in the April-June period of 2022.
Statistics showed that just 46.1% of women were working, or actively seeking work. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
INEGI said that 1.7 million of 60.2 million “economically active” people were unemployed in the second quarter of the year. An additional 4.7 million people were underemployed. That figure, representing 8% of Mexicans with jobs, was 391,000 lower than a year earlier.
Just over three-quarters of Mexican males aged 15 and older were in work or looking for paid work in Q2, while the figure for females was significantly lower at 46.1%.
Mexico City had the highest unemployment rate in the country – 4.4% – followed by Tabasco, 4.1%; and Coahuila, 3.7%. Guerrero had the lowest rate – 0.9% – followed by Oaxaca, 1.2%; and Yucatán, 1.6%.
Of the 58.5 million people with jobs in the second quarter, 6.6 million worked in the primary sector of the economy, 14.6 million worked in the secondary sector and 36.9 million worked in the tertiary sector, according to INEGI.
Many Mexican workers (such as street performers) are members of the informal economy, and do not pay tax or qualify for benefits. (Juan Pablo Zamora/Cuartoscuro)
Almost 32.3 million people – 55.2% of those with jobs – were working in the informal sector, meaning that they don’t pay taxes and don’t have benefits such as paid vacations or health insurance that would allow them to seek treatment at IMSS or ISSSTE hospitals and clinics.
With 80.3% of workers in informal sector positions, Oaxaca had the highest informality rate in the country followed by Guerrero (78.1%) and Chiapas (76%). The states with the lowest rates were Coahuila (35%), Chihuahua (35.1%) and Nuevo León (36.1%).
Almost half of all workers in Chiapas – one of Mexico’s poorest states – were deemed to be in “critical” financial situations despite having a job. Tlaxcala had the second highest rate in that category, with 42% of workers in “critical” situations, while México state ranked third with a rate of 39.5%.
The number of Mexicans living in poverty declined by 8.9 million between 2020 and 2022, the federal government’s social development agency Coneval reported earlier this month. However, 46.8 million people were still living in poverty last year.
While poverty has declined under the current Morena government, there were still some 46.8 million Mexicans below the poverty line in 2022. (Adriana Álvarez/Cuartoscuro)
President López Obrador focused on the positives of the Mexican economy in a 30-second video uploaded to social media on Sunday to promote the government’s fifth annual report, which he will outline in an address in Campeche this Friday.
More than 30,000 people entered the marathon in the Mexican capital this year - 58% more than last year. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
More than 30,000 runners competed in the 40th edition of the Mexico City Marathon on Sunday, but none of them was as fast as Bolivian Héctor Garibay Flores.
In fact, no one in the history of the race had ever been so fast.
Bolivian Garibay beat out the hotly-rated Kenyan entrants, including last year’s winner, Edwin Kiprop Kiptoo, who finished third. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
The 35-year-old needed just 2 hours, 8 minutes and 23 seconds to run 42 kilometers (26.1 miles) through the capital, breaking the CDMX Marathon record by a whopping two minutes.
Competing in his very first Mexico City Marathon, Garibay Flores bettered the record of 2:10:38 set by Kenyan Titus Ekire in 2018, when the route of the marathon ran from the central Zócalo square to the Olympic stadium, in Coyoacán.
This year’s route instead started at the Olympic stadium at 6 a.m. under a light rain, progressed up to the Insurgentes roundabout and along the Bosque de Chapultepec to Reforma Avenue, finishing in the Zócalo. The number of participants increased by 58% over last year, when 19,000 people, mostly recreational runners, signed up.
In the women’s competition, Kenyan runners swept the top three places, with Celestine Chepchir (2:27:17) taking first.
Celestine Chepchirchir took the honors in the Women’s race, with a time of 2:27:17. Kenyan runners took all three podium places. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Kenya’s men also were expected to dominate — and they almost did. But about halfway through the race, the Bolivian kicked it into high gear and moved past last year’s winner, Edwin Kiprop Kiptoo. Kiptoo responded and regained the lead, but Garibaysurged ahead and never looked back.
Kiptoo ended up finishing third, behind fellow Kenyan Leonard Langat. Both were nearly 3 minutes behind Garibay, a world-class runner who had previously qualified for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Despite that accomplishment, the native of Oruro, a city of about 260,000 in the Bolivian highlands, has been strapped for cash and was working as a taxi driver to raise money. Due to his lack of funds, he decided not to travel to Hungary for the recent World Athletics Championships.
Instead, he decided to pony up for a trip to Mexico — “and thanks be to God, it was worth it,” he said afterward. The first-place prize was 550,000 pesos (US $32,814) and a Garmin watch, plus he reportedly received another 550,000 pesos for breaking the record.
He conceded the prize money is also “very important” because it will help him prepare for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Working as a taxi driver has robbed him of valuable training time, he said.
“I’m very happy because I only came [to Mexico] to get a podium,” he said, alluding to being one of the top-three finishers. “We are very short of money, but the truth is [finishing in the top 3 is what’s] important for me.”
Legendary Ethiopian long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, 50, a two-time gold medalist in the Olympics and a four-time world champion, attended the awards ceremony.
