Members of the national bank's governing board said they took high inflation and global financial trends into account in their decision.CC BY-SA 3.0
Citing high inflation and the tightening of global monetary and financial conditions, among other factors, the Bank of México (Banxico) has raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 7%.
Four of five members of the central bank’s governing board voted for a 0.5% hike at a meeting on Thursday. The fifth member voted in favor of a 0.75% increase.
The bank has now raised rates at seven consecutive board meetings, with 0.5% hikes at the last four.
In making the decision to up the overnight interbank rate, the governing board “evaluated the magnitude and diversity of the shocks that have affected inflation and its determinants,” Banxico said in a statement.
It noted that headline and core inflation reached 7.68% and 7.22%, respectively, in annual terms in April, “their highest levels since January 2001.”
Worldwide inflation has continued increasing due to pressures caused by bottlenecks in production, by the recovery of demand, and high levels of food and energy prices, which have risen in part due to war in Ukraine.
At Thursday’s meeting, the board members also assessed the risk of inflation persisting over the medium and long term, Banxico said.
In addition, they considered “the increasing challenges posed by the ongoing tightening of global monetary and financial conditions, the environment of significant uncertainty, and greater inflationary pressures associated with the geopolitical conflict and with the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in China, as well as the possibility of inflation being affected by additional pressures.”
The bank sees core inflation declining to 5.9% in the fourth quarter of this year, 3.1% in the last quarter of 2023 and 3% — its ultimate target — in the first quarter of 2024.
Irene Espinosa was the only member of the governing board who voted for a 0.75% rate increase.
“Given the growing complexity in the environment for inflation and its expectations, taking more forceful measures to attain the inflation target may be considered,” it said.
Three economists cited by the newspaper El Economista believe that there will be additional interest rate hikes at the four remaining board meetings this year and that a steep 0.75% hike at a single meeting is possible.
Jessica Roldán of brokerage house Finamex and Janneth Quiroz of the Monex financial group both predict a benchmark rate of 8.5% at the end of the year, although they didn’t rule out the possibility of it exceeding 9%.
Pamela Díaz Loubet of the French bank BNP Paribas anticipates a 2.5% jump to 9.5% by the end of 2022.
“Without a doubt the door was left open to more aggressive three-quarter point increases in the future,” Roldán said.
Quiroz said the tone of the Banxico statement was hawkish, indicating that the board members have little tolerance for high inflation and are prepared to keep increasing interest rates to keep it in check. Díaz agreed that the content of the statement pointed to a further tightening of monetary policy this year.
A house concert in Playa Blanca featuring budding musicians from Barra de Potosí.
The premier fundraising event in Zihuatanejo each year for children is — hands-down — Sailfest, an annual event where sailors primarily from the United States and Canada arrive for a week of sailboat races, chili cookoffs, a run, walk, and bike event as well as a live auction, opening concert and gala dinner to raise money for the local Por Los Niños children’s charity.
Despite COVID-19 restrictions, 2022 was a banner year for the event, with a total of 3.4 million pesos net and expenses running only at 6.4%, thanks to a remarkable increase in donations.
One reason for their success appears to have been the creation of what Sailfest called house concerts.
The concept was simple: local expats opened their homes to a select number of guests — from 40 to 75 attendees. They also selected the band or group to perform and arranged all the food, mainly finger foods, expertly prepared by a chef. Local musicians donated their time and energy but made so much in tips that it often was better than a paying gig for them.
Attendees paid 700 pesos per person, which included a couple of drinks and the opportunity to buy raffle tickets for prizes donated by local merchants.
Violinist Gemma DeRagon performs at one of Sailfest’s house concerts.
Zihuatanejo Mayor Jorge Sánchez and his wife Lizette Tapia, huge supporters of Sailfest, even hosted the last house concert of this season last month. Their concert featured the musical duo Grace and Pierre, canapes, paella and dessert in their beautiful home.
Carol Romain, chairperson of Por Los Ninos says, “The house parties were started because we weren’t sure how many boats were going to come to Sailfest this year, with COVID at our heels. We are always looking for ways to bring more fun to [the event], as well as ways to generate more income for the students. It just seemed logical to take the next step and start offering house concerts. They have been very successful.”
In fact, they were so successful — selling out every show — that Por Los Niños was able to buy 28 laptops this year for Mexican students with high marks but very low income. “Our goal is to put as many students through university as possible,” she says. “Lack of funds should not be a reason not to attend.”
Because of the concerts’ popularity, “we will start them again in late October of this year and run them through April 2023,” says Romain.
Something to look forward to indeed as we sail into the new year ahead.
To find out more about Sailfest and Por Los Ninos, the charity it benefits, or how to open your home to a concert next year, visit the Por Los Niños website.
The writer divides her time between Canada and Zihuatanejo.
President López Obrador has received a barrage of criticism over remarks he made at his Thursday press conference.
Politicians, leaders of civil society organizations and others took aim at President López Obrador after he said Thursday that his government looks after criminals by avoiding armed confrontations.
Speaking at his regular news conference, López Obrador highlighted that the number of people killed in armed clashes between the military and cartels has declined since he took office.
“Before it was kill them in the heat of the moment and they finished off the wounded,” López Obrador said, referring to killings by the armed forces after former president Felipe Calderón launched a militarized war on cartels in late 2006.
By avoiding confrontations, he continued, “we look after the members of the armed forces … but we also look after the members of the gangs – they’re humans [too].”
The national leaders of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) were among the political figures that criticized the president for his remark and policy of “looking after” criminals such as cartel henchmen.
Alejandro Moreno, national leader of the PRI opposition party, was one of those critical of the president’s remarks.
PRI national president Alejandro Moreno asserted that the role of the armed forces is not to look after criminals but to “serve, protect and defend the nation.”
“Our army has always been a source of pride, the degradation to which it is subjected today is regrettable,” Moreno tweeted, referring to incidents such as the disarmament of soldiers by criminals and the use of intimidation to drive them out of a certain areas, as occurred in Michoacán this week.
“Never before had soldiers, marines and [air force] pilots suffered humiliations like those they face today. They give their lives for our country and citizens, the least that the federal government should do is … respect their commitment,” said the PRI chief, who is also a federal deputy.
PRD national president Jesús Zambrano claimed that the federal government chooses to look after criminals rather than confront them because they are its allies.
“Morena is organized crime,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to the ruling party that López Obrador founded. “And who protects society Andrés Manuel?” Zambrano asked.
Former president Vicente Fox claimed that AMLO’s remark confirmed that Mexico is a “narco-state” under his leadership, while National Action Party (PAN) Senator Josefina Vázquez Mota countered that criminals should be brought to justice rather than looked after.
SOMOS YA UN NARCOESTADO ?? Tanto y tanto amooor🎹🎸🎻!!!…..
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) May 12, 2022
Former president Vicente Fox, a prolific Twitter user, reacts to López Obrador’s statements.
“Citizens demand security and an end to impunity. Enough of this violence against journalists, women and the army itself,” tweeted Vázquez, who was the PAN’s candidate at the 2012 presidential election.
“There have been more than 120,000 homicides [since López Obrador took office]. No more hugs for criminals,” she wrote
Max Kaiser, a political analyst, head of the anti-corruption commission at the employers federation Coparmex and a former government auditor, charged that AMLO’s remark was “one of the most serious declarations” he has heard from a president.
“I’ve been dedicated to the study and analysis of politics, from within government and from outside, for 20 years,” Kaiser tweeted.
“I’ve seen terrible, inexplicable, frustrating things that make you very angry [but] today is the first time I feel physically disgusted … by what I see,” he wrote.
The director of the National Citizens Observatory, a crime watch group, said López Obrador’s defense of the army in justifying its decision to not use force against a group of presumed criminals that ran soldiers off a checkpoint in Múgica, Michoacán, on Tuesday showed that the government endorses impunity.
⚡️Civiles, presuntamente vinculados al Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación, “corretean” a elementos de @SEDENAmx en Nueva Italia; Michoacán. Extraoficialmente se habla de 10 elementos lesionados tras una volcadura. El ejército mexicano no ha emitido postura
On Tuesday, a widely-shared video captured military vehicles followed by armed civilians shouting insults in Múgica, Michoacán. The president called the military’s decision to avoid a confrontation a “responsible attitude” in the circumstances.
The conduct of the army was “shameful,” Francisco Rivas Rodríguez told the El Universal newspaper, adding that their actions showed that Mexico is “being pushed around” by organized crime groups and has been overtaken by them.
“What is exposed is that citizens don’t have anyone to protect them,” he said.
“The response that the president gives is one of impunity,” Rivas said. “It’s a response that doesn’t recognize … that the institution of security is failing. Before … saying that they’re protecting the rights of criminals he should think about … what should and shouldn’t be done when it comes to complying with the law.”
The president of government watchdog group Causa en Común said that López Obrador’s remark will only encourage criminals to continue breaking the law.
“It’s not the first time that the president has declared himself in favor of criminals, he’s made a lot of declarations,” said María Elena Morera. “What he hasn’t done is make declarations in favor of victims,” she said.
It seems that the president “doesn’t understand that criminals dismember people and burn, torture and terrorize entire communities,” Morera added.
“Some of them are very bloodthirsty and despite all that he says we have to look after them because they’re human beings too. … I think it’s extremely serious that the president makes these declarations.”
Ordinary citizens were also critical. “These declarations are an embarrassment for the country,” said Twitter user Mara Vega.
“And the citizens? Who looks after us?” asked Rafael Avante.
López Obrador says he won't attend summit if Venezuela's Madero, right, and two other leaders are not invited.
Respect for democracy is an essential condition for attendance at the Summit of the Americas, a senior United States official said Thursday.
The U.S. government appears unlikely to invite the presidents of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the ninth edition of the regional forum, which will be held in Los Angeles between June 6 and 10.
President López Obrador declared earlier this week that he won’t attend the summit unless all countries of the region are invited.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said Thursday that “Western Hemisphere leaders have placed strengthening democracy at the center of their efforts to improve the lives of the people of our hemisphere since the first Summit of the Americas in Miami in 1994.”
Speaking virtually to the Americas Society/Council of the Americas’ 52nd Annual Washington Conference on the Americas, Nichols said that each subsequent summit “has reaffirmed our shared dedication to democracy.”
He noted that regional leaders directed the creation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter at the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001. The charter was adopted by the Organization of American States (OAS) later the same year.
“In Quebec City the region’s leaders upheld the strict respect for democracy as an essential condition for participation in all future summits,” Nichols said.
“Since then any … interruption of the summit democratic order has presented an obstacle to summit participation. Democracy is vital not only to governments and leaders but to our citizens around the world and in our hemisphere in particular,” he said.
Cuba, whose OAS membership was suspended between 1962 and 2009, was prohibited from attending the first six Summits of the Americas, but sent representatives to the two most recent events in Panama in 2015 and Peru in 2018.
Nichols previously said that the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments have demonstrated that they don’t respect democracy and would be unlikely to be invited to the upcoming summit. He has acknowledged that United States President Joe Biden will have the final say on whether they have a seat at the table or not.
In addition to López Obrador, the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Honduras have called for all countries of the region to be invited to the summit as have leaders of several Caribbean nations.
Summits have always had a shared dedication to democracy, says Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols.
Meanwhile, the Mexican president on Wednesday responded to a tweet by prominent United States-based Mexican journalist Jorge Ramos, who said that he “has every right not to go to the Summit of the Americas if he doesn’t want to but what he’s asking is that thugs, torturers, censors and oppressors be invited to the party.”
López Obrador questioned the validity of Ramos’ assertion, which he made in reference to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
“Who are we to call some people thugs, torturers and oppressors and not others? Do we consider ourselves supreme judges now? Are we going to decide about others? With what right?” the president said.
“If we enter that terrain we’ll never get out of the debate. What we seek is unity, not confrontation,” López Obrador said.
He said that Mexico is seeking an agreement so that “we all participate” in the summit, “all of America.”
“If there are differences, let them be exhibited, there should be dialogue,” López Obrador said.
“… I’ve said that no one should exclude anyone. We’re going to seek unity – unity is in our interest. That’s what politics is for, that’s what diplomacy is for,” he said.
Ramos countered that his opinion of the “brutal dictatorships” in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela is supported by “numerous reports about violations of human rights by Amnesty International and other organizations.”
“… There are hundreds and hundreds of political prisoners in Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan jails. The Mexicans must take sides but our side must be that of democracy, justice, freedoms and respect of human rights,” he said in a video message.
“Mr. President we’re still in disagreement. I believe that the thugs mustn’t go to the party.”
The six Honduran immigrants were found inside new cars being carried over Mexico's southern border.
Six Honduran migrants were detained by immigration authorities Thursday after they were found hiding in new cars being transported through Chiapas on a car carrier trailer.
The National Immigration Institute (INM) said three adults and three minors were found during a routine check of the cars after the trailer was stopped at a checkpoint in Palenque, which is near the southern border with Guatemala.
“The foreign migrants were lying down on the reclined seats of different cars,” the INM said in a statement.
It said they were unable to prove they had entered Mexico legally. The INM said the driver of the trailer, as well as his vehicle and the new cars he was transporting, were turned over to the federal Attorney General’s Office, which will conduct an investigation into the apparent migrant-smuggling operation.
The migrants were transported to an INM facility and will likely face deportation.
The migrants were transported to an INM facility and will likely be deported.
The institute didn’t say where the trailer was headed, but most migrants who enter Mexico via the southern border travel through the country with the intention of claiming asylum in the United States or entering that country illegally.
An average of more than 4,000 migrants – largely from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Haiti – crossed the southern border every day last year, an increase of over 40% compared to 2020.
Over 1,000 soldiers have arrived in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán the week.
Additional troops were deployed to two Michoacán municipalities Wednesday after presumed cartel henchmen forced soldiers to abandon a checkpoint in the Tierra Caliente town of Nueva Italia, where the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is known to operate.
At least 290 additional soldiers and National Guard troops were deployed to Múgica, of which Nueva Italia is the municipal seat, and the neighboring municipality of La Huacana, according to military sources cited by the newspaper Reforma.
The CJNG has narcotics laboratories in the area that it is seemingly prepared to defend at any cost.
Michoacán, where the Jalisco cartel is engaged in a fierce turf war with the Cárteles Unidos criminal gang, is currently Mexico’s second most violent state after Guanajuato with over 750 homicides in the first three months of the year.
The security reinforcement in Múgica and La Huacana followed the deployment Tuesday of 900 additional troops to Michoacán, where close to 5,000 members of the armed forces are now stationed. It was triggered by some 16 soldiers being run off a checkpoint the same day by a large number of men in pickup trucks and SUVs.
Presumed criminals recorded while chasing soldiers off a checkpoint in Michoacán
A video posted to social media shows the presumed criminals pursuing the soldiers, who were traveling in three vehicles, as they shouted obscenities at them. No shots were fired.
The newspaper El País said that the scene was reminiscent of a Mad Max movie.
Meanwhile, President López Obrador addressed the act of intimidation at his regular news conference on Thursday.
“A video circulated on social media yesterday in which some presumed criminals are behind some army trucks, they’re following them,” he said, adding that the footage was used by famous people and the “conservative party” – presumably the National Action Party – to denigrate Mexico.
They claimed that the army was humiliated, noted the president, who clearly didn’t agree with the assessment.
“We have to acknowledge the responsible attitude of the army in these times,” López Obrador said.
“It was different before, there were constant confrontations and members of criminal groups lost their lives – innocent citizens too and soldiers and marines,” he said.
The CJNG has clandestine drug labs in the area it’s apparently willing to defend at any cost.
“Those above didn’t care because it’s very easy to say, ‘I’m enforcing authority, I won’t be afraid,’” said López Obrador, who has adopted a so-called “hugs, not bullets” security strategy, which is partially encapsulated by his directive to the military to not use force unless absolutely necessary.
He said the army, the navy and the National Guard have all been trained to avoid confrontations and to use “intelligence more than force.”
“… Before it was kill them in the heat of the moment and they finished off the wounded,” López Obrador said, referring to killings by the armed forces after former president Felipe Calderón launched a militarized war on cartels in late 2006.
He said the number of people killed in confrontations with official security forces was higher than the number of wounded and detained, and presented statistics to support his statement. The statistics also showed that the ratio has changed since his government took office.
“We look after the members of the armed forces, of the army and National Guard but we also look after the members of the gangs, they’re humans [too],” López Obrador said.
“This is a different policy, completely different. That’s why the … [forced abandonment of the checkpoint], which many people … [claimed] was the world upside down, was a responsible attitude for me,” he said.
In accordance with his “hugs not bullets” stance on dealing with criminals, AMLO defended the soldiers’ decision to retreat from the men pursuing their vehicles. File photo
López Obrador also said that 300 or 400 troops were deployed to the area around Nueva Italia and that arrests were made but “confrontation, murders, deaths were avoided.”
Under previous governments the dominant way of thinking was to “confront violence with violence, evil with evil as if fire could be put out with fire,” he said.
“… It was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and we said no, because we’re all going to be left toothless and one-eyed, blind – no, no, no,” López Obrador said.
“We have to go to the causes [of crime],” he said, enunciating his “hugs, not bullets” approach.
“Remove the breeding ground [for criminals], something the corrupt [past governments] never did. They never attended to the young people, never attended to the humble people, the poor people. … They dedicated themselves to stealing.”
The Guardianes del Teotón are a group of local volunteers who explore and protect the Teotón site on their own initiative. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
Santos Popoca Fernández and I were standing at the edge of a small orchard outside of San Pedro Yancuitlalpan, Puebla, when he pointed into the distance.
“That is Teotón,” he said.
I nodded, unsure why he bothered to point it out. It looked like a fairly unimpressive hill.
“It is not a hill, it is Teotón,” he said. “It is a pyramid.”
“A pyramid?”
Is this hill in the background hiding a pre-Hispanic pyramid? Locals in San Pedro Yancuitlalpan, Puebla, have believed so for generations. Internet
“Yes,” he replied. “It is larger than the pyramid in Cholula.”
I stared at it for a while, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that what looked like a hill was a pyramid that, according to Santos, was larger than Tlachihualtepetl, the pyramid in Cholula that, by volume, is the world’s largest.
A few months after I first laid eyes on the pyramid, I took a tour of it organized by Los Guardianes del Teotón, a group of volunteers who explore and protect the pyramid.
“Teotón is a Náhuatl word that means either “great god” or divine god,” Santiago Popoca Fernández told our small group. “This was a very important ceremonial center. It was probably 400 hectares (1,000 acres). The hill was modified by our ancestors; they modified it and made a temple.”
Unlike Tlachihualtepetl, he told us, this pyramid may have been built by covering a hill with stones, somewhere between 850 and 1,000 B.C.
We proceeded up the pyramid, stopping several times along the way.
These two caves contain niches with idols or other offerings. Locals say they have always found artifacts in the area around Teotón.
A very large, flat stone called El Águila stands near Teotón’s top and overlooks the valley below. It’s believed by many San Pedro residents to have been a sacrificial altar, but Santiago strongly disagrees.
“No sacrifices were done on El Águila. This is a place of life,” he said. “We believe that water was poured on El Águila that trickled down the hill. In this area, they probably performed fertility rites. El Águila is protecting the valley, the fertility.”
He did say that there’s a sacrificial stone on top of Teotón, where a small chapel stands. Santiago pointed to El Águila, repeating that it was a place of life, then pointed to the chapel at Teotón’s peak. “That is a place of death,” he said.
Bonifacio Cholula, a local expert on Teotón, believes El Águila was a Neolithic monument.
“It was made when people stopped being nomads,” he said. “It was used for astronomical sightings.”
Below El Águila are two small, adjacent caves facing west; it’s not clear if they’re natural or manmade. One cave has two small niches inside, and the other has one. Idols or offerings were typically placed in niches like these in pre-Hispanic times, says Javier Márquez Márquez, a self-taught expert on pre-Hispanic cultures who has worked with several archaeologists.
Outcropping at Teotón. Facebook
When I pointed out a small plaza in front of the two caves, Santiago did a little dance. “It was for priests to dance,” he said.
Several rocks in one area of the site have carvings — thin lines, some of which look like they represent a human figure, maybe a god. Others are indecipherable. I sent photographs of them to archaeologist Juan Zimbrón. Lines as thin as the ones on those rocks are typically made with a metal implement, he said, so they were likely made after the conquest but could still be indigenous and hundreds of years old.
Much of what I’ve learned about Teotón is from San Pedro residents, and almost all of that has been oral history. Oral histories are often very accurate, but until the site is excavated, no one can say for sure what’s there.
I contacted four Mexican archaeologists who work on pre-Hispanic sites, and none of them had even heard of Teotón. A fifth I spoke to had seen it from a distance but has never visited. There’s some information online about Teotón, but most sources simply call it a pyramid without offering any hard evidence.
In a video featuring archaeologists discussing Teotón, however, they show a map believed painted around 450 years ago, known as the Cuauhtinchan Map #2, that has a glyph representing a pyramid where Teotón is located, giving supporting evidence to the idea that Teotón is a pre-Hispanic pyramid mistaken for a natural hill, not unlike how Cholula’s great pyramid was initially mistaken for a mountain.
While Adriana Saenz, an archaeologist who works with INAH in Puebla and who was interviewed in the video, doesn’t believe it was a pyramid, James Brady — an archaeologist with California State University, Los Angeles, who has researched sites in Mexico and throughout Latin America — believes it could be.
One of the carvings that may represent a person or a god. Their narrow width suggests they were made with a metal tool, says archaeologist Juan Zimbrón.
“This is definitely elite architecture,” he says in the video. “What does it represent? We don’t know. It does look like it is of considerable size. Could it be a pyramid? Could it be a palace? We don’t know. Is it something important? Obviously. The step glyph on the map is ancient and commonly used to represent a hill, mountain or pyramid.”
The video speculates that Teotón had an astronomical function: on May 15, the day of the zenith sunrise (when a vertical pole casts no shadow), the sun rises over La Malinche volcano in Puebla and Tlaxcala and then strikes the top of Teotón, whose shadow then appears on the Popocatépetl volcano. This marks the beginning of the rainy season and would have indicated that it was time to plant crops.
Although Teotón has had no systematic excavations, residents and archaeologists have found thousands of figures, bowls, pots and other ceramic pieces in the area, including ones from Teotihuacán and from the Mayan and Olmec civilizations.
The presence of pieces from several important cities and civilizations confirms residents’ belief that Teotón was an important cultural or ceremonial center — residents of San Pedro refer to their pueblo as “the first Cholula.”
“Here is the beginning,” said Victor Romero Silva, a Guardianes member. “We believe that here, Cholula was founded, that here Cholula started.”
They believe that whatever indigenous group occupied the area fled when Popocatépetl erupted 2,000 years ago, settling in what’s now known as Cholula. Bonifacio Cholula thinks that whatever Teotón is — and he firmly believes it’s a pyramid — it exerts a powerful force on the area.
“In Teotón, there is no winter,” he said. “There is no ice. And we can have macadamia nuts and peaches because Teotón discharges energy. Because of this energy, there is no winter.”
Sometimes it’s frustrating to know that there may be a pyramid in San Pedro Yancuitlalpan — a pyramid larger than Tlachihualtepetl — that was built by a civilization that we now know nothing about — and will know nothing about because INAH, Mexico’s archaeological agency, lacks the money, or the will, to explore it.
But then I listen to the Guardianes, to Bonifacio Cholula and to other residents of the pueblo, and realize that whatever’s there will be protected and revered. And maybe that’s enough.
In another blow to the United States’ anti-narcotics efforts in Mexico, federal authorities have effectively forced the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to withdraw its Mexico-based aircraft.
Citing three unnamed sources, the news agency Reuters reported that the DEA has stopped stationing its anti-narcotics plane at the airport in Toluca, México state, because its parking spot was rescinded.
A United States government official and two security officials with knowledge of the issue told Reuters that the DEA’s twin-turboprop King Air plane has been moved to Texas. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the issue.
The DEA had stationed its own aircraft in Toluca since at least the early 1990s, using the planes in operations against Mexico’s notorious drug cartels. Reuters reported that the planes were used to transport both U.S. agents and elite Mexican units to time-sensitive raids.
The Beechcraft plane has the capacity to carry about 10 people and was used in operations in Mexico and Central America. Reuters said it played a key role in capturing powerful cartel capos and was used in raids against Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the former Sinaloa Cartel honcho who is now in prison in the United States.
Two DEA pilots were on standby at all times, the news agency said, adding that the agency’s aircraft were used to rescue agents facing death threats in Mexico.
A security source told the news agency that problems with the King Air plane began shortly after López Obrador took office in late 2018.
The National Defense Ministry, which controls Mexican airspace, began demanding in 2019 that the U.S. government submit a written request two weeks before any flight. The Reuters source said that the requirement made missions unworkable because anti-narcotics operations demand flexibility and speed.
The DEA lobbied the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the requirement to be dropped but was unsuccessful and the use of its plane consequently stagnated.
The U.S. government official told Reuters that the anti-drugs agency moved the aircraft about a month ago after the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) asked it to relinquish its space in the FGR hangar at the Toluca airport.
The U.S. government plane was parked at Toluca International Airport prior to the withdrawal of its parking space.
The absence of a DEA plane in Mexico “will bring things to a halt,” one of the security sources said. “We can’t drive through parts of Mexico, it’s too dangerous.”
Leonardo Silva, a former DEA agent who worked in Mexico, told Reuters that the plane was “invaluable to our missions.”
“It’s very important to the DEA’s ability to function and be effective in Mexico,” he added.
Another unnamed former DEA agent who worked in Mexico told Reuters that the absence of a DEA plane in Mexico would likely place extraditions of traffickers at risk because the agency often only has hours to take drug lords to the U.S. before their lawyers initiate proceedings that complicate the process.
López Obrador has accused the DEA and other U.S. authorities of failing to respect Mexico’s sovereignty while operating in the country.
“We maintain cooperation with international security organizations but we make sure our sovereignty is respected. Before they entered and left the country and did … what they wanted, they even fabricated crimes,” he said in late April.
“… It’s no longer the time of those operations, like ‘Fast and Furious,’” López Obrador said, referring to the 2009-2011 scheme under which the United States government allowed people to buy guns illegally in the U.S. and smuggle them into Mexico so that the weapons could be tracked and law enforcement officials could locate and arrest crime bosses.
Notwithstanding Mexico’s limitations on and reduced cooperation with the DEA, bilateral security relations have improved since the low point precipitated by the former defense minister’s arrest, with the two countries entering into a new security agreement last December.
The state public works minister said the government would fill in the tunnel to prevent future accidents. Secretaría de Obras Públicas Sinaloa
An escape tunnel used by organized crime had an unexpected and no doubt startled visitor early Tuesday when a Sinaloa man fell into it while sleeping on a couch in his living room.
A large hole suddenly opened in the floor of the man’s Culiacán home due to the presence of the subterranean passageway below, causing him to drop into the tunnel in an event that must have seemed like a bad dream.
The Sinaloa government said in a statement that an approximately 25-year-old man suffered minor injuries after falling about 2 1/2 meters.
The tunnel, which the government said had been used as an escape route by members of organized crime, leads to a nearby house that was seized by the army 11 years ago.
Citing neighbors, an Imagen Televisión report said that the house is now used as a garbage dump.
The young man fell more than two meters and sustained minor injuries.
The Sinaloa government said that the tunnel is presumed to run beneath at least eight homes in the Juntas de Humaya neighborhood before opening at a canal.
Imagen Televisión said that several houses have sunk due to the presence of the tunnel and have structural problems.
Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya dispatched his public works minister to the home where part of the living room floor collapsed to inspect the damage. José Luis Zavala Cabanillas said that workers from his ministry would fill in the tunnel to avoid additional collapses in that home and those around it.
Numerous narco-tunnels used by cartels to smuggle drugs into the United States have been found on Mexico’s northern border.
A 1.3-kilometer subterranean passageway between Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, California, that was discovered by U.S. authorities in 2020 is the longest cross-border drug tunnel ever found.
Convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – who has been described as a tunnels mastermind – famously used a tunnel to escape from a México state maximum security prison in 2015.
The final report found that both initial construction problems and lack of routine maintenance contributed to the crash, which killed 26 and injured more than 100. File photo
A report into the causes of the Mexico City Metro collapse that killed 26 people last year pointed to failures across the administrations of two mayors who are now presidential hopefuls.
Initial results from an audit by Norwegian consultancy DNV last year said the crash was caused by a series of faults during construction of Line 12 of the Metro, which was built by billionaire Carlos Slim’s Carso Infrastructure and Construction while Marcelo Ebrard, currently Mexico’s foreign minister, was mayor.
In a final report published on Wednesday by the city government, DNV said there was also no evidence that routine maintenance to find potential problems had been performed after its completion, implicating subsequent administrations including that of current Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.
Last week, Sheinbaum, who commissioned DNV to run the audit, accused the company of conflicts of interest and said there were inconsistencies between their initial and most recent reports. She said she would rescind the company’s contract and has threatened to file a criminal complaint against its representatives.
“We think there is political bias in the last report,” Sheinbaum said this week.
President López Obrador on Wednesday backed Sheinbaum, saying she was an honest woman who was being put under enormous pressure.
Ebrard last year defended the design and building of the line and said all decisions were “based on efficiency and technical aptitude” by experts and officials.
DNV did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement last week, it said that it stood by its methodology and that no experts involved in the report had conflicts of interest.
Ebrard and Sheinbaum are tied in voter preferences among presidential candidates to succeed López Obrador, according to a poll by Reforma newspaper published on Monday.
The rejection of the report and threats of criminal action against the consultants caused alarm in the country’s private sector. They also fueled fears that the technical and criminal investigations will not hold those responsible accountable.
“The Mexico City authorities look more interested in stopping justice being done,” said Marco Fernández, a researcher at think tank México Evalúa and professor at the Tec de Monterrey’s School of Governance.
“Everything points to serious problems of negligence in the construction and the supervision . . . and obviously the negligence that’s very uncomfortable for the current government on the lack of inspections.”
No one has been charged in connection with the collapse more than a year since it happened. Prosecutors have said they may soon bring charges.
Slim’s company Grupo Carso last year reached a deal with the city government to pay to repair the line and fund compensation for victims, although it said at the time that it did not accept responsibility for the crash. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
