For 30 years, this charity has quietly changed young lives in Morelia

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August 1, 2022

Michoacán is in the news more often for violent crime reports than for positive stories, so it’s easy to overlook the success stories that are out there. NOE International is one of them.

For 30 years, this unique Christian nonprofit in the state capital Morelia has quietly labored to bring educational opportunities to low-income communities. It currently serves more than 1,100 students in three locations around the city with the assistance of donors, volunteers, sponsors and hundreds of supportive financial partners.

Among its main objectives is providing a safe environment for children that keeps them off the streets and out of trouble, but its efforts also benefit older youth and sometimes participants’ entire families.

NOE teaches core values and personal responsibility in its religious education classes while also providing fun and pratical education in a safe setting. Its newest center, headed by director Juan Peralta — a former participant himself — is a bright, well-maintained building bustling with activity from enthusiastic yet well-behaved children.

Noe International Director Juan Peralta — Director Juan Peralta benefitted from NOE International’s programs when he was young. Many graduates over the nonprofit’s 30-year history have returned to teach or volunteer.

Participants can choose from a range of elective activities: they can get academic help in a homework program. They can take computer classes. There are also health courses, voice and musical instrument instruction, and art or sports classes. NOE also offers English instruction, which is popular, as are its vocational training courses in carpentry, plumbing and electricity — the latter group of classes available to participants of any gender.

These courses are open to anyone age nine and up, and so parents will often end up taking classes too as their children participate independently.

It should be stated that the programs are not completely free. But that is by design, something about which Peralta has strong feelings. “If you don’t have any cost attached,” he said, “we find that not only will the children not value the program, but their parents won’t put in the effort to make sure their children attend.”

But costs for these classes are mostly nominal, ranging from 250 to 900 pesos. The highest-priced one is a three-month English course for which the student receives a state-certified diploma upon completion. Although most can manage the prices, NOE also provides scholarships for the neediest participants.

One program offers scholarships to single moms, for example, who make up 20% to 30% of recipients. They receive half to full financial support. Another program, the Angel Program, matches students with sponsors — mostly foreigners, although some Mexicans are on the roster as well. Sponsorship levels begin at US $30 a month.

This program boasts college graduates in law, medicine, music and education, to name a few.

Another allows graduates with advanced English to be part of a “Dream Team Exchange Program” that visits Portland, Oregon, or Charlotte, North Carolina, for four weeks — expanding not only the participant’s worldview but also that of the family that hosts them in the U.S. All the participating student’s expenses are paid for by NOE.

Peralta is currently eyeing Canada as a possible country to send deserving students who meet the criteria, having visited there several times himself. He also notes that immigration rules make it much easier for students to enter Canada. “We are hoping to find a Christian community there that would take on the task of finding host families for us,” he said.

NOE relies on more than 100 volunteers to deliver classes, activities, and ministry offerings yearly. Some are alumni like Peralta who have returned as teachers or volunteers.

“It’s our way of giving back to the organization that has given us so many opportunities,” said Peralta.

To find out more about how you can get involved, visit NOE International’s website or contact them by phone in their Portland offices at 971-255-9140 or by email at [email protected]

The writer divides her time between Canada and Zihuatanejo.

Querétaro launches online booking system

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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The online booking platform features a wide variety of tourist activities and services in Querétaro.

Querétaro has launched an online booking system for tourists to help facilitate contact and sales between local tourism providers and visitors.

The Querétaro Tourism Ministry (Sectur) and the company PriceTravel Holding have joined forces to create the webpage under the domain queretaro.travel, where travelers can find destinations in the state, search for experiences, discover discounts and make reservations.

Information is available in Spanish and English and the language can be changed by clicking on the “Idiomas” icon, which is a small globe on the top right hand side of the page.

The head of Sectur, Mariela Moran Ocampo, said the new platform could see the state’s tourism reach new heights. “This commercial alliance has come to strengthen and widen the tourism promotion efforts that we have implemented from the start of Governor Mauricio Kuri’s administration. We have the objective of taking Querétaro to the next level as a tourist destination through the growth of sales and opportunities for our tourism providers,” she said.

Moran added that the website would make tourism more accessible for potential visitors.

The director of commercial alliances at PriceTravel, Juan Socas, said the new platform meant more business for Querétaro. “We are happy to concrete our first alliance with Querétaro, a standout tourist destination in Mexico which has a unique history. We are sure that the technological experience of PriceTravel Holding will allow a greater number of sales and will benefit all travelers,” he said.

PriceTravel will also offer a 24/7 contact center specific to the state, the news site Agencia Informativa de México reported.

One of Querétaro’s main attractions is the Wine and Cheese Route (Ruta de Vino y Queso), which shows off its dairy farms and proves its credentials as Mexico’s second largest wine-producing area.

There are four Magical Towns in the state, which are Tequisquiapan, Bernal, Cadereyta de Montes and San Joaquín.

Querétaro city also offers another way to sightsee in style, in electric replica Model T Fords on citywide tours.

With reports from Agencia Informativa de México

6-month remittances total up 16% over last year

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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U.S. fiscal support and a competitive exchange rate have boosted remittances this year, one expert said. — 2024 was likely a record year for remittances to Mexico. (File photo)

Remittances totaling US $27.56 billion were sent to Mexico in the first half of the year, a figure that represents a new record for the January to June period.

Central bank data shows that remittances — which are mainly sent electronically by Mexican workers in the United States — rose 16.6% in the first half of the year from $23.65 billion in the same period of 2021.

The bank Banorte said the annual growth “is even more notable when considering some tentative signals of a slowdown” in the United States.

In June, remittances totaled $5.15 billion — a 15.6% annual increase — and were received by some 4.9 million Mexican households. It was the second consecutive month that Mexicans working abroad sent over $5 billion home.

Alberto Ramos, chief Latin America economist at Goldman Sachs, said the United States government’s generous fiscal support and a “competitive” dollar-to-peso exchange rate contributed to the high level of remittances in the first half of the year. A greenback was worth about 20.4 pesos on Monday afternoon.

The 12-month figure for remittances to the end of June was also a record at just over $55.5 billion. The figure represents just over 4.2% of Mexico’s gross domestic product, according to Ramos, and is almost double the revenue brought in from crude oil exports, which totaled $30.2 billion in 12 months.

Ramos said the “solid flows of remittances” have helped Mexico’s current account and supported private consumption, especially that of low-income families, “who have a high propensity to spend and are the main recipients of the transfers.”

If remittances remain at the level registered in the first half of the year, 2022 will be the best year ever for incoming monetary transfers. A new calendar year record was set last year when over $51.5 billion in remittances flowed into the country. Banorte is forecasting remittances will total $56.5 billion in 2022.

The newspaper El Financiero reported that over $154 billion in remittances has been sent to Mexico since President López Obrador took office in December 2018. The president has characterized Mexicans working abroad as “heroes.”

Remittances sent to Mexican families are particularly valuable right now as inflation is at a two-decade high of 8.16%. López Obrador has predicted that inflation will begin to moderate in October or November, but the Mexican economy could subsequently fall into recession, according to Moody’s Analytics.

With reports from El Economista and El Financiero

Conagua confirms construction of 15-billion-peso aqueduct in Nuevo León

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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El Cuchillo dam in Nuevo León. Gobierno municipal de Camargo

A new 15.7-billion-peso (US $770.5 million) aqueduct will be built to convey water to Monterrey, the head of the National Water Commission (Conagua) said Friday.

The El Cuchillo II aqueduct will transport water approximately 100 kilometers from the El Cuchillo dam in eastern Nuevo León to the state capital, where harsh water restrictions have been in place since early June.

Conagua director Germán Martínez Santoyo told President López Obrador’s press conference that half of the funds for construction will come from the federal government via the state-owned development bank Banobras and the other half will come from state and municipal authorities. He predicted that the project would be completed by late 2023.

However, López Obrador on Monday set out a more ambitious timetable. “The plan is to do it in eight months, 10 months, but starting now,” he said.

Residents line up at a water truck in Monterrey. In some parts of the city, water service has been unreliable for months due to the drought.

The president said that officials including Interior Minister Adán Augusto López and Martínez would travel to Monterrey on Monday to meet with Governor Samuel García to discuss the aqueduct project. “We also want [private] companies to participate,” López Obrador said, explaining that the government officials would seek a commitment to that end from the Nuevo León business community.

“… We’re going to provide the resources, it’s a tripartite investment: federal government, state government, municipal governments. But the issue isn’t just investment, but rather the fact that we have to finish this project in eight months and we can do it if it’s divided into 10 sections [with] 10 serious, responsible companies [working on them],” he said.

AMLO advocated a similar approach to that taken by military engineers that built the Felipe Ángeles International Airport in 2 1/2 years, saying that work should be undertaken “day and night” with “everyone helping” to get the aqueduct finished.

He noted that “there’s water in the dam,” but getting it to Monterrey is a problem. Much of Nuevo León, like most of northern Mexico, is currently in drought, a situation that led Conagua to declare an emergency last month.

Federal Interior Minister Adán Augusto and Nuevo León Governor Samuel García at "Together for the Water of Nuevo León," a recent press event held by the state. — Federal Interior Minister Adán Augusto and Nuevo León Governor Samuel García at “Together for the Water of Nuevo León,” a recent press event held by the state.

In a video message posted to social media on Friday, Governor García pledged that the aqueduct project would begin “now” to ensure it’s ready for use next year. “It will give us double the water,” he said without citing specific quantities.

García also raised the possibility of desalinating water from the Laguna Madre in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas and bringing it to Monterrey, but didn’t say how or when such a plan could come to fruition.

With reports from El Economista and Reforma

Following 2 deaths, authorities shut down 23 cosmetic clinics in Baja California

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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Permitting irregularities, fake doctors and bad practices were a few reasons some clinics were shuttered. DepositPhotos

Clinics and other facilities that perform cosmetic surgeries in Baja California have come under increased scrutiny after the death last week of a 37-year-old woman undergoing liposuction in Tijuana.

The death of Lilian Carolina Gastélum, the mother of three children from ages 7 to 11, allegedly occurred when she was having a Brazilian butt lift on July 27 at a clinic called Beauty Diagnosis in the busy, upscale Zona Río shopping area.

On the facility’s website, a Brazilian butt lift (BBL) is offered as part of a “Mommy Makeover” and several other surgery packages.

One local newspaper reported that last week’s death was the third such fatality this year at a cosmetic surgery facility in Tijuana — “one of the capitals of medical tourism and international cosmetics,” it added — and another reported it was the second. Regardless of the correct figure, it was enough to send the state’s health protection commission (Coepris) into action.

An ad from the shuttered clinic for a liposuction and BBL surgery package deal.

Beauty Diagnosis, which had previously been cited by Coepris in 2021 for not having proper permits, was suspended shortly after Gastélum’s death — bringing to 23 the number of similar clinics in the Tijuana area that have been suspended so far in 2022 for bad practices, fake doctors, and/or lack of proper permits and documents.

Erwin Areizaga Uribe, the state Coepris commissioner, said inspectors immediately went to Beauty Diagnosis after being notified of Gastélum’s death and shut it down “due to lack of documents.” Apparently there was no open investigation or active suspension of the facility despite it getting into hot water last November.

Areizaga also said that Coepris will become more proactive going forward and not wait for fatal cases to occur.

“It is clear to me that this should not happen and that is why we will increase our performance as a verification institution,” he said. However, he did stress that it won’t be Coepris, but rather the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE), that will investigate Gastélum’s death and whether negligence was involved.

Erwin Areizaga Uribe, the Baja California health comissioner. — Erwin Areizaga Uribe, the Baja California health commissioner.

Coepris, meanwhile, will continue to review all aspects of Beauty Diagnosis, such as clinical records, maintenance logs of surgical equipment, and documents that certify the medical and nursing staff.

The family of the woman who died at there was up in arms last week over irregularities and being kept in the dark, telling the Punto Norte newspaper that it will “sue the responsible doctor for wrongful death and negligence.”

The family reported that Lilian entered the operating room shortly before 10 a.m. for BBL liposuction, a popular procedure that takes a couple of hours. Lilian’s sister, Karen, apparently stayed at the clinic, asking “every half hour” how her sister was doing, “and the doctors answered that everything was going well.” Around 12:15 p.m., the doctor “came out of the operating room and gave a thumbs up.”

However, Karen said she began to feel that something wasn’t right. She felt the procedure was taking too long, and she also noticed that some women who entered the operating areas for breast implants came back out without having had any procedure performed. She allegedly was told that their surgeries were called off because “the medical devices were not working well.”

Karen told Punto Norte that as late as 3:15 p.m. staff told her that her sister was fine and the surgery was almost done, but at 3:30 p.m., she was told to go into the recovery area and speak with the doctor, who allegedly told her that Lilian had died between 2 and 2:30 p.m. due to complications. Karen said Lilian was a healthy woman, without any chronic diseases and had undergone all preoperative exams.

Zeta Tijuana reported it was the second fatality at a cosmetic surgery clinic in recent weeks. The first was suffered by María José Chacón Herrera at the Jerusalem Hospital, a private facility in Playas de Tijuana, “which was supposed to have been suspended from Jan. 31.” Chacón was the wife of Henry Ortiz, the Guatemalan consul in Denver.

With reports from Punto Norte and Zeta Tijuana

Citizens protest addition of bullfight to Puebla town festival

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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Protesters said there was no need for bullfighting at the annual apple festival. Facebook / Protectores Animalistas de Zacatlán

Protesters in a Magical Town in Puebla have demanded that a bullfight be pulled from the schedule of an upcoming festival.

Members of animal rights groups and other citizens protested peacefully outside the Zacatlán government building last week to demand that the event be scrapped from the town’s 80th Feria de la Manzana (“Apple Festival”).

Mayor Pepe Márquez previously announced the event would take place and, speaking at the coronation of the festival’s beauty queen, said the bullfight had been requested by citizens.

However, protesters denied that the blood sport was in popular demand and said it wasn’t traditional to the festival. “It’s an activity requested by a very small group, what the residents of Zacatlán really want is for our traditions to be promoted, not for animals to be killed,” one protester said, according to the newspaper E-Consulta.

“Our municipality has many things that make it unique which have nothing to do with animal abuse. That is why it’s a Magical Town,” another protester told the news site.

The festival runs from August 13-21 and the bullfight is planned for August 20.

Bullfighting is an ancient tradition which was repopularized in medieval Spain and later exported to its empire. In more recent times, the sport’s future has been put in doubt: in some parts of Spain, it is now illegal.

Likewise, in Mexico, there have been a number of high-profile court decisions on bullfighting. A definitive ruling in June banned bullfights at Mexico City’s Plaza México and later that month the Supreme Court invalidated a three-year-old decree that gave bullfights and cockfights intangible cultural heritage status in Nayarit.

With reports from E-Consulta

Jalisco woman continues to hold record for most body modifications

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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Cristerna's first body modification was a nose piercing at age 12. Guinness World Records

The “Mexican Vampire Lady” is still turning heads a decade after Guinness World Records recognized her as having the most body modifications of any woman in the world.

María José Cristerna of Guadalajara, Jalisco, “has a total of 49 body modifications, including significant tattoo coverage, a range of transdermal implants on her forehead, chest and arms, and multiple piercings in her eyebrows, lips, nose, tongue, ear lobes, belly button and nipples,” Guinness World Records said in February 2012.

Ten years later, she is still the world’s most modified woman, and continues to catch the curious — and sometimes envious — eyes of passersby when she’s out in public, according to a Milenio report.

Cristerna — who is also a mother, lawyer, tattooist, exercise fanatic and avid beer drinker — spoke to that newspaper about the modifications she has made to her body, the meaning behind them and the discrimination she faces due to her unusual appearance.

Cristerna on a night out with friends. Instagram

“The first piercing [I got] was one I did myself in my nose when I was about 12,” said the mujer vampiro, who was given her nickname during an appearance on Mexican TV.

“Then [I got] a tattoo of the logo of a black metal band when I was 14,” added Cristerna, who is now in her mid-40s. “It was strange, something different for our culture, and even more so at that time.”

She told Milenio that she began making more extreme modifications to her body after leaving an abusive relationship while still a teenager. However, the transformation of her appearance occurred over a period of years.

“After I turned 18 is when I started doing more things,” Cristerna said. “I worked in the tattooing and piercing field, but [the transformation] has been gradual, it’s taken several years.”

She explained that each of her tattoos and piercings has meaning and is very important to her. “They’re usually [related to] internal things and [getting a tattoo or piercing] is my way of bringing what’s on the inside to the outside,” Cristerna said.

Making a modification to one’s body is a meaningful commitment, she said, adding that she thinks deeply about any potential changes to her appearance. “I’m not the kind of person who gets a tattoo every day,” Cristerna said.

She advised others to think carefully before making a permanent body modification and urged caution “because I’ve heard of cases of women suffering assaults” committed by tattooists and other body modification artists.

Although tattoos and other body modifications are more common now than 10 years ago when Cristerna officially became a world record holder, she told Milenio that she still faces discrimination.

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A post shared by MaryJoseCristernaMujerVampiro (@marycristerna_la_mujer_vampiro)

“There are still a lot of prejudiced people,” she said. “… [Body modification is] demonized mainly due to religion but it’s an ancient art, as Meso-Americans we must understand that it’s cultural.”

Ancient Mayans, for example, intentionally modified the skulls of some would-be warriors so they would resemble jaguar heads.

Cristerna said people should realize that “a tattoo doesn’t make the person” and warned that those who least suspect it might one day find that their own child has adorned their body with ink. “You’re not going to discriminate against your child” so there’s no reason to discriminate against other people with tattoos, she implied.

“People have to understand that there is an evolution and we have to progress hand in hand with what’s new out there,” Cristerna said.

As for the criticism she receives for the extensive modifications she has made to her own body, the mujer vampiro — who has embraced her nickname and even named her Instagram account after it — says it’s like water off a duck’s back.

“It slips off me, I don’t give it any importance,” she said, because “I’m a person like anybody else.”

With reports from Milenio

Name change urged for gorditas: it’s discriminatory, say critics

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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A wide variety of the fried or baked dough balls known as gorditas can be found across Mexico.

Many of Mexico’s favorite snacks are noted for their colorful names, but one term for a stuffed corn tortilla has fallen foul of some social media users.

Gordita is the feminine form of the word for “chubby,” which some say is inherently discriminatory and should therefore be changed.

Proposals for a new name include masa con relleno (“dough with filling”) and masa frita (“fried dough”), the newspaper Proceso reported. Baked and deep-fried variants of gorditas are found all over Mexico.

Although the proposal gained some support on social media, other users considered the campaign misguided.

“They’ve been called that for a lifetime. It’s like wanting to change the name of burritos,” wrote one user, referring to another stuffed corn snack which translates literally as “little donkeys.”

“They have been, are and always will be gorditas. If anyone is offended, lose weight,” another user crudely suggested.

It’s not the first time a snack’s name has caused controversy. In 2013, the bread company Bimbo changed the name of its cake from Negrito, a racially derived nickname common in Mexico, roughly translating to “black boy,” to the less controversial Nito.

Faced with a similar issue last year, Swiss food giant Nestlé changed the name of a cookie from Negrita, roughly meaning “black girl,” to Chokita.

With reports from Proceso

Kindergarten teacher accused of abusing 6 children in Guanajuato

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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The kindergarten teacher was at his new post for less than four months before the group of mothers reported him, leading to his resignation. Kimberly Farmer / Unsplash

A kindergarten teacher in a remote village in Guanajuato is accused of sexually abusing six girls.

Ernesto “N,” known by his students as “Teacher Ernesto,” was a trainee teacher who had only arrived at the José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi kindergarten in Camino Real on March 1, but was deemed ready to teach classes alone. He allegedly abused the children after covering the windows of the classroom under the pretext of showing movies, the newspaper Reforma reported.

Mothers from the village of some 280 inhabitants became concerned about Ernesto’s unconventional teaching style but were assured by the kindergarten that his classes were educational. Suspicions of abuse surfaced after a 5-year-old girl told her mother that Ernesto had touched her.

Other parents asked their children, and their fears were confirmed: five other children also said they were abused. The 25 square meter (82 square feet) kindergarten only had a total of 18 students, from 3-6 years old.

On June 24, the victims’ mothers made a legal complaint in Silao and said their concerns had been ignored by officials at the kindergarten. That same day, Ernesto resigned.

According to education experts in the state who spoke to Reforma, it’s common for trainee teachers to teach groups alone in remote communities, a decision which rests with the administrator of the kindergarten.

An investigation was launched into Ernesto on June 27 and the administrative officials at the kindergarten have been suspended.

The Guanajuato Education Ministry (SEG) has offered legal and psychological support to the victims and parents. A new trainee teacher was assigned to the kindergarten on July 4.

With reports from Reforma

Vote-buying and violence mar Morena party’s internal election process

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MND Staff

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August 1, 2022

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violence at Morena Party internal elections in Gomez Palacio, Durango — A man, left, holds up a chair as if to throw it at opponents at a polling station in Durango on Sunday. Voting was suspended at some polls across Mexico due to such violence. Internet

The ruling Morena party’s internal elections were marred by violence and other irregularities for a second consecutive day on Sunday, but President López Obrador nevertheless characterized the democratic exercise as a success.

Morena members went to the polls Saturday and Sunday to elect party officials across 300 districts. Some of the successful candidates will take a seat in Morena’s National Congress, the party’s most important decision-making body.

Incidents of violence, vote-buying and acarreo — in which voters were not only given an incentive to vote for certain candidates but also transported to polling places — sullied the elections, according to various reports.

Violence led to the suspension of voting at polling places in some parts of the country, such as Gómez Palacio, Durango, where there was a clash Sunday between supporters of opposing candidates. The newspaper Reforma reported that chairs were thrown, ballots were burned and one man was hit with a baseball bat during the confrontation.

Ballots set on fire at Morena internal election in Chiapas — Ballots set on fire in Chiapas. Internet

Ballots and/or voting booths were also burned at polling places in some other states such as México state and Chiapas.

Vote buying and acarreos were reported in several states including San Luis Potosí, Morelos, Guanajuato and Querétaro.

In Morelos, Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco was accused of supplying government buses to transport Morena members to polling places so that they could cast a vote for his brother. In Guanajuato, voters were taken to polling places in taxis, buses and Uber rideshare vehicles, El Financiero reported. Their votes were allegedly “bought” for packed lunches, groceries, or cash — 1,500 pesos or about US $75 — in some cases.

Similar incentives — which were widely used by the once-omnipotent Institutional Revolutionary Party — were on offer in other states: social media posts showed that some accareados — as herded voters are known — carried slips of paper to remind them who to vote for.

Morena party members also denounced other irregularities such as the failure to guarantee a secret ballot, inadequate checking of voters’ credentials and the exclusion of designated scrutineers.

John Ackerman, a Morena supporter, academic and husband of former cabinet minister Irma Sandoval, denounced “shameless acarreo and voter pressure” in Coyoacán, a Mexico City borough. “Enormous disappointment. We’re gathering an unbelievable volume of evidence,” he tweeted Saturday.

In another Twitter post on Monday, Ackerman said the Morena National Convention would put together a “fraud expo to demonstrate that the irregularities … weren’t ‘isolated’ but generalized.”

He also said that the national convention was committed to “cleaning up the process” used to elect party officials.

Voters waiting in line at Morena internal elections 2022 — Morena members elected party officials in 300 districts. Some polling sites saw large crowds; in Cuernavaca, hundreds slept overnight in the Palace of Government’s atrium.

Alejandro Rojas, an advisor to Morena Senate leader Ricardo Monreal, described the internal elections as “the fraud Olympics.”

“We saw all the practices of coercion and vote buying as well as manipulation, deceit [and] the rude and outrageous mobilization of beneficiaries of the [government’s] social programs,” he said in an interview.

On Twitter, Rojas called the elections “a carnival of acarreo and simulation” and asserted that Morena had “opened the doors to the scourges of politics: patronage, self-interest and cronyism.”

“This is the first step toward a new state party and an anti-democratic and authoritarian regression,” he added.

For his part, Morena national president Mario Delgado said Saturday that where there was evidence of acarreo, election results would be annulled. Old practices of other parties won’t be allowed in Morena, he said.

López Obrador – Morena’s founder – accepted that the elections were marred by acarreo and other bad “practices,” but rejected claims of widespread irregularities.

“[The irregularities occurred] at very few polling places. It wasn’t generalized,” he told reporters at his regular news conference on Monday. “It wasn’t as the opposition would have liked.”

AMLO highlighted that some 2.5 million people cast a vote and declared that the elections were a good democratic exercise. “The participation was massive for an internal election,” he added.

Government buses in Cuernavaca, Morelos — Morelos Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco was accused of using government-owned vans like these to transport voters to the polls so that they could vote for his brother.

The president also responded to criticism from opposition political figures, asserting that the irregularities reported over the weekend were nothing compared to those that have plagued their own parties.

With reports from Reforma, El Financiero, Animal Político and El Universal